Someone I know diagnosed with something scary. WARNING dont read if sensitive

[nole23]

Hi everyone,
OK so this post is going to sound crazy  but if I need to say it so I stop driving myself mad... WARNING: contains cancer/tumor-sensitive info.
A guy I know (not well, but I know a lot of his friends and his sister) was diagnosed last year with a malignant brain tumor. He's 24. They operated and couldn't get the whole thing, but put him on chemo and radiation and he seemed to be doing really well. It kinda freaked me out. Then last year I was out for dinner on my birthday and saw him at the same restaurant... thought it was weird, had a minor freak out, told myself that it was just a sign to be grateful for what I have and not that something bad would happen to me. Then a few months later I was reading the book in which a womans husband dies of a BT, he had the same name as this kid! But worse, the woman meets a man who had the same name as my fiance, and his late wife who dies of BC had the same name as me!!!! So then I was like OMG is this a sign??? My fiance couldn't see how it could be a sign of anything so I got over it. THEN, last week I was in the ER because I had a UTI and as I am walking to do a urine test I see a friend of mine who tells me that he;s at the hospital because this very kid had a seizure and they brought him in. So I was there on the same day... what are the chances??? Am I crazy, or is someone up there trying to tell me something (please say I'm crazy).... I'm a little bit freaked out.

[Odisseus]

Sorry to hear about the kid with BT. No one is telling you anything, God, the Universe, nothing. It's just a bunch of coincidences, which happen to be way more common than we might expect.

Interesting that in most topics people are worrying about their symptoms, and you seem to just be freaked out by some coincidences. Name coincidences are common, and a BT patient having a seizure is pretty much expected. It could mean something bad for him, but could just mean that for some reason his anti-seizure meds are not working properly.

[vardnas]

There's a name for what you're experiencing:  it's the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon, or the frequency illusion. See also, synchronicity.

Also, no one is giving you signs of anything.

[marc]

Coincidence only.

[oregoncoastlady]

I can see how this would freak you out. HA people tend to be a hyper aware of illness. Something similar happened to me recently. We live in a small town...around 2000 people. Within the last three years my mom has had cancer, my dad has had three different cancers, our friend who lived across the street  had brain cancer, and more than fifteen friends of my parents have/had cancer. All of these were cancers that required major surgery and/or chemo/radiation. A few people didn't survive. Most of them did though. Regardless, this had me a little freaked out. It seemed like I was surrounded by cancer! So i talked to my dad's oncologist about it. He reminded me that we live in an area with a high population of retired people. The majority of the people we know who have gotten cancer were over 65. The older we get, the more changes there are of getting a cancer. An unfortunate fact of life. But, people are getting more than one cancer in their lives because they are surviving the previous cancers.   I'm not so freaked out anymore.

[rr2005]

That's interesting. I went to a very small high school and can name 6 girls from that area that have already had cancer. All diagnosed in their 20's and early 30's. My dad lived his whole life in this area and was diagnosed in his 40's. It's freaking me out. Is there any agency that investigates these types of incidents?

[nole23]

Thank you everyone. Everyone in my town has been shaken by the whole thing, so for someone with HA it isn't an easy thing to process. I have also been having headaches for the past few weeks which doesn't help my anxiety. But I am just trying to send love and light his way and not focus on myself.
Oregoncoastlady- that's interesting what The oncologist pointed out... Makes you think. Thks for sharing.