Learning that your loved one has prostate cancer can trigger many emotions

Your emotions may be so strong that you feel like you're on a roller coaster.

Coping with your loved one’s prostate cancer is a day-by-day experience. One day you may feel incredible sadness or despair, but the next day you may feel hopeful and optimistic. Your feelings may change from hour to hour, or minute to minute, on any given day.

You may already know about Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and her theory about the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. But you may not know that there may be no particular order that you go through the stages. And you may not even go through all of them.

Everyone copes in different ways. There is no “right way” to deal with your loved one’s prostate cancer. Some days it’s just about putting one foot in front of the other and muddling through. That’s okay.

Try not to beat yourself up for what you do or do not feel. It will only make a hard situation even harder.

It’s tempting to want to run from difficult feelings, but they have a way of catching up with us. You may feel less “out of control” if you make time to feel your feelings. To learn some simple coping techniques, visit our section about managing stress.

Remember that feelings are like the weather—they come and they go, unless we hold on to them.

If you are having a tough time coping, you may want to speak with a healthcare professional. You have to care for yourself to be able to care for your loved one. Read support for you and him for some ideas.

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