Fatal MEntal illness

Sickness and operations

 We live longer and so are more subject to chronic illnesses. Often, these illnesses can be well controlled. But the very fact that an illness exists, even when controllable, can lead to feelings of despair or depression. Be sure you talk openly of your feelings about an illness to your doctor. And be open, too, with your spouse and friends. If you need an operation, you have every right to discuss with the doctor just what is involved, what will be done, how long a period of recuperation will be necessary, what the fee will be for operation, and what other expenses will be involved. And remember that almost everyone has some gloomy days after a major surgical procedure, but there come the happy days when the body overcomes the stresses of surgery and anesthesia.

Fatal illness

 Some people think that awareness of a fatal illness must lead to emotional depression. This is not necessarily so. Most people take the fact well. There may be forlorn moments as the situation is first accepted as reality. Most depressions come from misunderstandings, such as that cancer will inevitably produce unbearable pain or will so destroy the body that other humans will shrink from contact. If a diagnosis of cancer causes great anxiety or frank depression, a long talk with your doctor, or with a psychiatrist your doctor can arrange for you to see, can be most helpful. We have seen people who have had a good, rich emotional life grow to even greater appreciation of life as they faced their last days during a known fatal illness.