Perhaps because I've been so open about my own health ups and downs, I often have friends, family members and even strangers reach out to me to share their own health stories. As often as not, an initial scare turns out to be less problematic than first feared. Frequently, further testing confirms that everything is OK. Sometimes it signals that a more serious issue may emerge down the road, but with some adjustments, future problems can be averted.

Of course, you never know which way the coin toss will go: worse than you thought or better than you hoped. So I'm not saying that you should simply assume the best, especially if doing so would mean avoiding going to the doctor or delaying a test and not following medical advice provided in the past. I'm simply saying that in the first days or weeks when information is usually scarce that you avoid getting too far ahead in your thinking about all the scary possibilities. Distractions help.

It's also useful to have a confidant in whom you can confide that you received some news that might be worrisome. Ideally, this person would validate your concerns and support you as you feel what you feel. Ideally, they would neither dismiss your concerns outright nor vocalize the worst case scenario. Ideally, they would check in with you from time to time to see how you're coping with the uncertainty and to continue being a confidant as you get more information.

My point is this: the news is rarely all bad. Just today, I followed up with a friend who had received some concerning news a month ago. Subsequent tests showed that her health issues were not as serious as she or the medical professionals had feared. In addition to breathing a sigh of relief, she is taking the results as a wakeup call, vowing to eat more healthily and to take better care of herself.

For my part, my diagnosis with ovarian cancer necessitated surgery, chemotherapy and a maintenance drug, but 3½ years later, I have not had a recurrence. My diagnosis with perianal skin cancer necessitated surgery and radiation, but more than 2 years later, all signs point to my having been cured of that particular cancer. My BRCA2 gene mutation led me to opt for a prophylactic bilateral mastectomy and even though I experienced a complication with the reconstruction, I have healed well and reduced my risk of breast cancer to a tenth of what it was before my operation.

While I've received some bad news over the past 3½ years, I've also received much good news, including that there was no cancer in the breast tissue that was removed during my mastectomy. The news was never all bad.