How Do You Cope?

This afternoon, I had the opportunity to meet my parents for a leisurely dinner.  On the solitary ride home I had ample time to consider their current health care situations; Dad’s battle with cancer and Mom’s chronic and debilitating digestive problems.  I considered how they are coping and have coped with health care issues in the past.  This led my thoughts to reflect on the variety of coping mechanisms many of us employ when facing health care issues: 

• There are those who choose to relinquish their concerns to a higher power; often utilizing the “whatever will be, will be” frame-of-mind.  Is this really the most effective coping mechanism or is it an abdication of responsibility?

• Others choose to “put on a good face” for those around them; often pretending not to be worried or keeping information from others because if they don’t appear concerned they must be relieving their loved ones from anxieties.  But can this blind-eye coping lead to poor decision making and priority setting for all involved?

• There are those who organize or reorganize their health care decisions; making their well-being a top priority by changing diet, improving exercise regimes, increasing medication compliance and altering lifestyle choices.  Will they be able to maintain these new positive choices over a lifetime or are the changes only a stop-gap measure until the crisis is over? 

• Others worry about everything; each and every ache and pain is cause for grave concern.  How will they cope if something serious occurs and why are they expending so much emotional energy over often trivial concerns?
  

In reality, most of us vacillate between any or all of these coping mechanisms, some of us may have even developed a more unique skill set of our own to cope with health care issues.  Will you share what has proven most effective for you or your loved one?