How to handle stress. Kinda long...

Well, if you have read my earlier posts, you already know my good friend is ill. She has a rare form of lung cancer. They removed one lung 2 years ago and just recently found out she now has it in the other one. She will start a Chemo drug in pill form within the next few days. Anyway, my problem is, I am an emotional eater. (imagine that!) I think most of us are, and when Sherri told me the biopsy came back positive and that it's already in stage 4, the first thing I did was start searching my office for something to eat. The topic last night at support group was about finding ways to reward yourself for doing what you need to do to stay healthy and stay on track. So of course I brought up my situation to find out how to handle this stress in a more productive way. I'm really scared I will lose control and start gaining. (I'm 7 years post op) Up untill now, I have done okay emotionally but am losing it now all of a sudden. Maybe it was shock at first and it's wearing off. (I'm finding that I would much rather remain the "Queen of Denial") Don't get me wrong, I am still believing in a miracle, just having a weak moment. (Okay, a weak 12 hours) I got some good ideas from our group like, exercise and writing notes to Sherri's family. Which is a great idea, because they are all scattered out around the country. I guess my point is and the reason I am sharing this is because we all have common goals with everyday problems and stress and we all need to realize that we really have to keep that in mind and continue to work on emotional issues from here on out. Our counselor Alycia brought up a great point last night. (She is a LPC and does all of our psych evals - she is also a patient of Dr. Merriman's, 4 years post op so she knows our struggles firsthand) She said that basically we are "buying" a tool. It's very important to make sure we take really good care of it because if we break it we'll start having problems. She spoke of one patient that regained alot of weight over time because she kept pushing the envelope. She started out eating a couple of M&M's at a time and at first it would make her dump so she would stop. But eventually her body got used to it and her tool became less sensitive and she didn't "dump" as easily as she did at first. So she was eating more and more crap because she could get away with it, maybe not alot at one time but snacking on that stuff all day long. So what happened? Weight gain of course. I don't know about you guys, but I never want to go back to being that miserable person I was before. I intend to do whatever I need to stay on track. I don't know if this helps anyone out there or not, but I feel better having shared my thoughts and feelings. Thanks for listening.

Thanks a bunch! I think you are saying focus on the solutions and issues instead of focusing on the diversions. Food's a good diversion. In our cases, it also helps to turn the pain toward disappointment that we are failing weightwise instead of what might be a more illusive emotional problem. Thanks, Frances

Thanks for the post and I will be keeping your friend in my prayers daily.I too am a firm believer in the power of prayer and it's ability to affect change in our lives and situations.