I Agree with @Afraser - keeping busy/routine prior to surgery definitely stops a lot of the pondering. Sitting at home will exacerbate it. :( I just went fishing pretty well every day I could between the initial callback & the diagnosis (3 months!!!) as it requires full concentration and I was on the water in my kayak when the call came thru that I needed to see the GP ...
I think that if you need to access funds and you have a life insurance policy that may allow you a payout if ill. (some super funds have one attached to it as well, so worth checking out.) I think @Zoffiel did a lot of research into this a year or two back.
All the best xx