Category Archives: Surviving “Terminal” Illness

Back in the mid-80s when I was diagnosed HIV positive, the condition was considered to be 100% fatal.  Within the gay community there was an overwhelming sense of panic.  Many of us hid behind drug use and compulsive behavior as a smokescreen to avoid dealing with this horrible situation.  Some refused to get tested andContinue reading “Beating the Odds vs Giving Up”

It is common for patients to regard their doctors as authority figures, especially after having received a “terminal” diagnosis.  Being in a vulnerable medical state, it is easy to react to a “death sentence” proclamation as the word of God.  Yet in medicine, as in any other profession, there are good and bad doctors, knowledgeableContinue reading “Your Doctor is Just Your Mechanic”

When one is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, it is common to go through several states of emotion, much like in the grieving process.  The initial shock may be accompanied by anger, sadness, despair, denial, hope, and/or resolve, not necessarily in that order.  Whether the disease or condition is AIDS, cancer, or any other potentially terminal situation,Continue reading “Go It Alone Or Seek Support?”

When your doctor says the dreaded words that you only have weeks, months, or years to live, you can walk sheepishly out of his or her office and resign yourself to the assessment or you can gather up your inner strength and challenge it.  Medical evidence and protocols may point to a grim situation for mostContinue reading “Be Willing To Heal”

Whether you are dealing with an antigen or a deteriorating situation that wants to take over your body, there are usually mitigating factors. A terminal diagnosis can certainly prompt a fatalistic mindset.  However, it doesn’t necessarily have to be that way.  As long as you are still breathing air and are decently lucid, you can still haveContinue reading “Change Your Mindset, Change Your Outcome”

One of the most common reactions to receiving a terminal diagnosis is to deny it.  The lab test was wrong, the doctor is mistaken, somebody else’s chart got mixed up with yours.  One day you’re living to the full and the next your very existence is going to be taken away.  Whether your doctor saysContinue reading “Own Your Disease, Don’t Deny It”

After I was diagnosed with a terminal disease (HIV) in 1986 I went through a panoply of emotions.  30 years later I was told that I had another frightening condition, a tiny malignant neuroendocrine tumor on my pancreas.  In both of these situations, it was like Pandora’s boxes had been opened and a horde of demons hadContinue reading “Victim, Denier, Escape Artist, or Fighter”