Reoccurrence & Testing Anxiety

Once you’ve been diagnosed with prostate cancer, at least once a year, FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, you must take an ultra sensitive PSA test to determine whether or not your cancer that returned.

Almost all folks diagnosed with any type of cancer lives with a certain degree of stress, anxiety, and/or “fear of reoccurrence.”

This sets the stage for another setting for the reappearance of stress, anxiety, and/or fear commonly referred to as “testing anxiety.”

When I was first diagnosed nine years ago, no one mentioned these two common sources of anxiety, fear, etc.

Therefore I experienced this, without knowing what it was, or that folks diagnosed with every form of cancer often experience one, the other, or both.

If you search for:
“Fear of reoccurrence anxiety in cancer patients”
Or
“Testing anxiety for patients diagnosed with cancer” you’ll find thousands of articles about these topics.

Once I understood the concepts, I mistakenly believed the longer I went without a reoccurrence (nine years now, praise the Lord!) the less anxiety I’d feel with BOTH sources of anxiety.

I’ve discovered the OPPOSITE is true. The longer I stay in remission, the more likely I think it is that cancer will inevitably return.

Behaviorally, in order to avoid facing both reoccurrence, and testing anxiety, over the last three years, I’ve found myself letting the year go by without getting tested.

(Thankfully,  Brenda LePoire Redner won’t put up with my feeble attempts to delay testing)

I know I’ve been acting with manta “What you don’t know can’t hurt you.”

When in fact, when dealing with cancer; “What you don’t know, can KILL you.”

There’s a Bible verse that ALWAYS come to my mind when I’m fearing or anxious about something in the future that MIGHT occur:

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
‭‭-Matthew‬ ‭6:34‬-

This verse is a lot easier to read than it is to put into practice!

I’ve discovered in order to apply this verse into potentially bad news situations a few core beliefs must be firmly rooted into your core spiritual being.

They are:
1. God is ALWAYS good even when the worst possible events and situations occur in your life.

2. God will supply ALL of you needs to face the worst, but not a minute BEFORE His help is needed.

3. Like manor supplied in Egypt, today’s grace is only good for 24 hours. If you try to apply today’s grace into tomorrow, it spoils and rots.

4. It’s morning by morning new mercies you’ll receive.

5. What ever news you receive God intends to use it for your good and to make you a blessing to others.

6. I believe whenever you face a physical challenge, you’re also facing a spiritual challenge and/or war. Both God and Satan want to use your crisis for their own purposes
7. Satan’s purpose is to weaken your faith, and trust, in God’s goodness. The end goal is to isolate your from your faith, love from God, love, love from family, and the love and support available in your community of faith.

8. God’s goal is to strengthen your ability to walk by faith, not by sight.

9. God’s goal is to demonstrate the reality He will NEVER leave or forsake you no matter what you face in this broken world.

10. More often that not, your test is transformed into a testimony that’s meant to be shared with others.

So that:
1 “The more we depend on God the more dependable we find He is.”— Cliff Richard

It will take longer than a week for me to receive my test results for 2020. I don’t think I’ll lose a wink of sleep while I wait.

I’ve been blessed the opportunity to share my thoughts, and faith, in various places on Social Media so I can reach hundreds to thousands of folks dealing with similar issues.

Rick Redner & his wife Brenda Redner authored two award winning books, both available on Amazon. They are: 

I Left My Prostate in San Francisco-Where’s Yours?

&

Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Erectile Dysfunction & Penile Implants