Is it normal that 2 yrs after having cancer, i suddenly have anxiety about it?

80% Normal
1 Comment

Two years after being diagnosed with colorectal cancer, I suddenly started having flash backs, anxiety and obsessive thoughts about it. I couldn't get it out of my head.
It was a small miracle that after surgery and healing, according to the surgeon, that I was OK, because of how long he thinks I had it and how big the tumour was. I was OK after and the cancer is now gone.
There were a lot of painful tests before the surgery and a painful recovery, but I was cracking jokes about it all, from the diagnosis to the recovery. I never felt scared or upset about it. In fact I was surprised how easily I took it. Everyone else was upset, but I wasn't. It felt like it was happening to someone else. Then two years later I suddenly started having those anxiety symptoms and flash backs etc. That lasted for a good year and a half to two years and then finally went away.
is it normal that I had a reaction to having cancer two years after the fact?

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80% Normal
Based on 45 votes (36 yes)
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Comments ( 1 )
  • Ellenna
    8 years ago

    The feeling that it was happening to someone else was obviously a defence against acknowledging what was really going on but there's no way you weren't upset underneath, so eventually it came to the surface at a time when you could deal with it.

    This is perfectly normal: having a potentially fatal condition brings a form of grief with it and grief can be dealt with in many different ways and however you dealt with it was normal for you

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