Background: 5 years ago DH was diagnosed with testicular cancer. He had an orchidectomy, went under observation and all was well. A year later he started having chest pains and a CT scan revealed an enlarged lymph node in his chest, related to the first cancer. Three rounds of chemo later the cancer was gone. He's been under observation since, and had a routine blood test yesterday. This evening he had a call from his oncologist to say that one of the tumor markers is slightly elevated; her advice was not to panic and she would retest in 3 weeks.
How do we not panic, given his history? What can I say or do to help him? Both times previously there was no "wait and see"; he was diagnosed and treated straight away so despite me being generally an anxious type and a bit useless I could look after him practically when he was sore from surgery and sick from chemo. I need some advice on how not to dwell on what could turn out to be nothing, how not to be snappy and distracted with our 2 very small children.
We live abroad so no family or close friends nearby. I doubt we'll tell our families for now so as not to worry them. DH works long hours and is a man of few words so I don't have anyone to talk to in real life.
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Life-limiting illness
How do I support DH through the next 3 weeks?
29 replies
Mrsfrumble · 22/01/2015 03:57
OP posts:
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