Ostrich or monkey?

When you or a family member find out that you suffer from a serious illness, whether there is a cure for it or not, what do you do?

Do you stick your head in the sand like an ostrich? Pretending that you are not ill? You take your medication because you can see the use of that. But you don't want to read more about the illness. You don't want to get e-mails about it. You don't want to belong to a support group, etc.

For those who have watched / read The Secret: one of the people who spoke, was a woman with breast cancer. She decided to think only healthy thoughts and for months only watch the one comedy after the other. The she claimed she was healed, without chemotherapy and other treatments. Although this sounds very positive to me, I don't think the average person can "think their illness away".

Then there is the monkey - a very inquisitive creature. He want's to know everything! You read up about the illness, speak to professionals, speak to family and friends who has / had it, join support groups, get e-mails with the latest information from some professor in America, etc.
I can see that it is a good thing to know about your illness, so that e.g.
you can make a lifestyle change for the better - but doesn't thinking about the illness ALL the time keep you in that "illness zone" in your mind? And then it is hard to see that you will ever get better or have better days. Or will all that information empower you to do something constructive?

Ostrich or monkey? Which one do YOU think you will be? Why?