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.
