When a Family Member is Ill

Knowing that one of your family members isn'tpeople shy away from or avoid their doctors all
feeling well can really bring down your mood. Eventogether. They are often afraid to make an
worse still is finding out that one of your closestappointment to meet with their physician or even
family members has been diagnosed with breastwith their dentist because they are afraid of the
cancer or some other form of cancer such aspossibility of their doctor finding something wrong
prostate cancer. While there have been many medicalwith them. However, when it comes to this type of
advances with regards to cancer diagnosis andthinking, we must remind ourselves that prevention is
treatment, knowing that a loved one has cancerbetter than cure.
often means a long road ahead, peppered withWhen you go to your doctor, you are doing so with
uncertainty.the idea that if he or she does find something wrong
With regards to cancer, once you reach a certain agewith you, you would have caught the problem early
(usually when you are in your fifties), it is importantenough so that it can be treated and/or possibly
that you maintain a regular annual or biannual trip tocured versus waiting until it is too late to be able to
see your physician for cancer screening as well as ado anything. So, the next time you are starting to
regular checkup. You would think that, knowing this,feel nervous about making doctor's appointments,
more adults (especially older adults) would be on topjust remind yourself that you are doing so for your
of their health. However, as is often the case, manybenefit!