Gary,
You have hit the nail on the head by focusing on the need to be positive. I am a cancer survivor (lymphoma, 99), so I can tell you that a positive attitude helped save me.
I did surgery (was the easiest part), chemo, and radiation, yet it was a technique I read about on the web that really kept me positive.
This technique is called visualization, and you do it in conjunction with your other treatment. You basically fantasize about the cancer cells being destroyed in a way that makes sense to you. For example, I had been in the USMC as a young man, so I visualized ambushes of the cancer cells by my white blood cells to the point where I designated which white blood cell was the machine gun position, which ones were the pickets, etcetc. I had my white blood cells bayonet the cancer cells, throw grenades at them, and any other method of violently destructive imagery I could think of.
It helped me stay positive by making me feel I was helping in the treatment, but many people feel that this internal imagery primes your mind to train your body to fight the cancer on it's own as well. I can't dispute them, for I had the impression that it worked that way for me.
You need to make the visualization process something that is intensely personal to you, and that resonates with your vision of self.
You have some pain ahead of you, but you are going to have so much pride in yourself after you get well. Kicking death's ass is going to be one of your greatest achievements!
Get well and stay positive!
Hi stevescoins ... you make some interesting points and are going to put some though behind what you say. It certainly sounds that it would have you feel you have more control over the situation, and control provides achievement. Some of the strangest things in life for some reason produce the greatest results. Thanks for your input, appreciated! Kind regards, Gary