claire92
09-07-18, 03:07
Just wondering if anyone has a way of coping with this.
My stepdad died of bladder cancer earlier this year. For the record, he had bad symptoms for months and warning signs (blood in pee) for 2 years before he was diagnosed, and even when he was diagnosed the cancer hadn't spread. Sadly, his death could have been prevented.
Now I can't stop worrying now about myself and my mum - and for some reason I always focus on moles and skin cancer. No idea what started it - I think it's because I tanned far too much when I was younger. I had a mole biopsied last week which came back fine. But 2 months ago when I was freaking out about my moles my mum mentioned that she had one. She said it's not really changed and she can't remember when it appeared but she will get it checked out. I looked at it and I remember saying it looks ok but you should get it checked out, but now I can't remember what it actually looked like etc.
I live in Mexico now and my mum lives in the UK, so I haven't seen her for a couple of months and I only recently brought up her mole again. She hasn't seen the doctor yet, she's not worried about it at all (she is a LOT more rational than me) but says she will get it checked. She's not high risk or anything, I don't think she's ever gone tanning and it's not on an area of her body that's exposed to the sun, she has been on holidays to sunny countries but she's never lived abroad. She also has an extremely healthy diet and has never smoked or drunk in excession etc. No family history of skin cancer.
My rational mind is telling me all of this and saying it will be absolutely fine, but I just worry because she doesn't know when she got the mole. I've just asked her again to book a doctor's appointment, I know that there's nothing more that I can do other than that but I just want to find a way to quieten my mind.
I think I have big regrets about not pushing my stepdad to get screened for bladder cancer earlier, which is causing a lot of my anxiety with this. And watching him suffering in the last weeks of his life haunts me and I'm so terrified now :weep:
I'm booked in to start a CBT programme on Tuesday which I think will really help my health anxiety. But does anyone here have any useful pointers, things I can do to stop worrying?
My stepdad died of bladder cancer earlier this year. For the record, he had bad symptoms for months and warning signs (blood in pee) for 2 years before he was diagnosed, and even when he was diagnosed the cancer hadn't spread. Sadly, his death could have been prevented.
Now I can't stop worrying now about myself and my mum - and for some reason I always focus on moles and skin cancer. No idea what started it - I think it's because I tanned far too much when I was younger. I had a mole biopsied last week which came back fine. But 2 months ago when I was freaking out about my moles my mum mentioned that she had one. She said it's not really changed and she can't remember when it appeared but she will get it checked out. I looked at it and I remember saying it looks ok but you should get it checked out, but now I can't remember what it actually looked like etc.
I live in Mexico now and my mum lives in the UK, so I haven't seen her for a couple of months and I only recently brought up her mole again. She hasn't seen the doctor yet, she's not worried about it at all (she is a LOT more rational than me) but says she will get it checked. She's not high risk or anything, I don't think she's ever gone tanning and it's not on an area of her body that's exposed to the sun, she has been on holidays to sunny countries but she's never lived abroad. She also has an extremely healthy diet and has never smoked or drunk in excession etc. No family history of skin cancer.
My rational mind is telling me all of this and saying it will be absolutely fine, but I just worry because she doesn't know when she got the mole. I've just asked her again to book a doctor's appointment, I know that there's nothing more that I can do other than that but I just want to find a way to quieten my mind.
I think I have big regrets about not pushing my stepdad to get screened for bladder cancer earlier, which is causing a lot of my anxiety with this. And watching him suffering in the last weeks of his life haunts me and I'm so terrified now :weep:
I'm booked in to start a CBT programme on Tuesday which I think will really help my health anxiety. But does anyone here have any useful pointers, things I can do to stop worrying?