Six and a half years ago, my wife was diagnosed with cancer. I'm fairly level-headed, and there was initially all the project management of tests and doctors' v

Six and a half years ago, my wife was diagnosed with cancer. I'm fairly level-headed, and there was initially all the project management of tests and doctors' visits and insurance company stuff and test results to deal with, which kept the feelings of "poor her", "poor us" at bay. And then I remembered that her son (first marriage) had successfully dealt with HIV, other friends with cancers of various sorts, and so forth. Now cancer is serious, and you're still going through the diagnosis and test roller coaster (and it sucks), but there are lots of different ways that this can come out, and I'd agree the signs, so far, are ok to good. You're not an albatross. This is what insurance is for, precisely. And you're not just a co-worker, you're a friend, a human being, and you'll give your friends and colleagues a chance to express their care and concern, to help. Live a day at a time, take the diagnosis seriously, use all the skills you have to understand what you're dealing with, and hang in there. And it still sucks, and I'm so sorry. PS. After a nasty but standard protocol of chemo (including a drug called -- I kid you not - 4FU, because 2FU just wouldn't do) and radiation, she came out on the other side, and we've been swing dancing, and skiing, and loving, and all that jazz, so nowadays people get lucky a lot.