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Dear Chelee,
I think you are confusing support groups with mental health help. Both of course have their place and usefulness. Support groups are patient savvy information groups and also they can help keep your morale up and you'll find you can help someone else as well. Through a support group you can learn who's the best oncologist perhaps even at your HMO or who to approach as a second opinion, what the interaction of drugs have added or not, for instance none of my oncs ever told me not to take vitamins during various treatments - or they mentioned aspirin and ibuprofen and gingko balboa I think before surgery but during chemo it wasn't discussed until I mentioned it. That may be a small thing but that's support groups.
also this support group explained what the chest pain I had was and that lead me to look it up on the Mayo Clinic and some ibuprofen helped me get rid of it whereas the cardiologist just said let's look at it in a month!!! well it hurt!!!
and don't stop ranting, that's your right as a sick person. we all handle stuff different but none of us would ever accuse anyone with cancer of being a cry baby because we're all crybabies!!! we all hurt and are scared and confused but I don't think you can do it all on your own and this site is not a local support group. maybe there are some members near you that can advise you but otherwise as I've said before, seek out some local support groups - these are the professional patients who've been through it all plus people like yourself who are trying to muddle their way through.
Right now I'm personally going through a stressful time - not medically but because I might move, I have a totally neurotic puppy and some other stuff and right now I'm taking a small dose of a xanax type pill on days I feel overwhelmed which is something you might want to consider also.
but you need people based where you live who can advise you how to deal with things there and who to see there. This site can't help you with that and believe me I love this site but it's not local to you and right now you need local suggestions. A local support group may even be able to tell you what state office or senator (boxer or feinstein) or congress person to call to get help. Maybe it's just someone saying "hey i wrote a letter to the head of the hospital and cc'd it to.... and boy did I get action" you just never know until you talk to others what works.
don't despair, things do become clearer and usually work out whether or not the pros seem to be listening or not.
take care, take a deep breath and do contact some local groups you'll find them an amazing source of important information.
sarah
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