What happens now I'm finished my treatment?
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SYT
Member Posts: 13 ✭
I have been through breast cancer for the last 8 months. I went on to have two surgeries. 12mm lump in my left breast and one lymph node had caught cancer. So all 26 on my left side were removed. Then I had 4 rounds of a/c Chemo. Then onto taxol. I had one only and ended up in hospital with bacterial pneumonia. Kidneys starting to shut down. Allergic reactions to medications and ended up with 4 hospital stays over 5 weeks. So oncologist decided no more Chemo. So then onto 20 rounds of radiation. This finished last week. Now I'm wondering how do I find out for sure that there is no more cancer in me. Surgeon said all was taken. Oncologist said as my cancer was so small they do not expect any further issues. What experience have you had with this?? Thank you. Julie
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Syt, sorry you've had a bad time with chemo. I imagine you have had bone scan, mri scan,and ct scan at beginning of treatment. If all looked good just trust your medical team. I did chemo first to try shrink my tumor and had a zero response to chemo. It failed for me despite doing six months of it. I guess we can only be guided by our doctors.0
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Yes...returning to normal life isn't easy. But years of experience and the women before us found that over testing...yearly bone scans or body CTs hasn't been helpful detecting early if disease has advanced.
So now they just do additional tests if symptons arise and back to the annual screening of mammograms and regular reviews by breast surgeon and oncologist for next 5 years. They might keep an eye on your bone density though. (dexa scan) ..different from a bone scan, looking for osteoporosis. As hormone treatments and chemo can affect that.
My treatment stopped earlier and it was some time before I could think of myself as a survivor. But that is what you need to say to yourself. Eventually you'll believe it and start to go about the process of living again and not just living in fear of return. Kath x
https://breast-cancer.canceraustralia.gov.au/life-after
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Huge, huge congratulations on getting through treatment as well as you did with such troubles! You're a soldier!
It's a strange feeling isn't it. Out the door with no kind of closing 'well done' or anything that signaled that 'oh I can get on with my life now'.
I suppose they avoid it because nobody can usher a feeling of safety from recurrence, that's a huge personal hurdle.
At the end of my rads the supervisor had a chat with me that seemed very well practiced.
I imagine he has it with every patient.
He invited me to join the choir group because, he said "It can be lonely, after such intensive contact with all these people, to suddenly go off and heal by yourself"
Having a kind of 'floating' post-treatment withdrawal apparently isn't an unusual thing.
The best thing we can to for ourselves is - you know, dress for the job you want, call yourself a survivor and do the best you can to put it out of your mind.
I know that's a bit 'Don't think about pink elephants' but it's just one of those things, if it happens it happens, but there's a huge chance it won't, so why torture ourselves with the worry.
As for now what, you can always chill here and talk total nonsense with us lot until you chase that post-treatment blues away. We're rad, imo.
Have you considered attending an in-person support group near you? You don't have to need support, you don't even have to give it to others, it's just really comforting to be around people who at least in some way understand what you've been through and are going through now.
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It is a bit disconcerting. I remember standing in the rain in the car park after my last rad treatment feeling like I'd spent six months in an industrial tumble drier. I must have looked a sight; bald, fried, disheveled and actually panting with stress thinking 'That's it? That's really it?'
Of course it wasn't really 'it' , there where odds and ends to tidy up and I'm still fine tuning myself on the road to recovery. I do feel strangely disconnected from my life and that feeling of being spat out lingers but hey, compared to the first six months of the year, things are fine. Try not to get too wound up about future tests and scans, I think we just have to trust our intuition with that. I figure I knew when something was wrong before, I'll know if things go shit shaped again in the future.
Get out there and get into it, Julie. Putting this all in a box and chucking it overboard isn't that easy, but keeping busy and looking forward helps. Marg xxx3 -
Julie. I remember the same feeling when I finished rads over five years ago. Even though I had anxiety just driving to the hospital every day (& I still do !!) I was able to stop...... Stop worrying about being there every day. Stop wondering how late they would run. Stop wishing they would get some new gowns. Stop avoiding talking to people. Then I rested. I was done, it was over. I had done everything I could to stop Cancer returning & I could get on with the rest of my life. While it took some time to recover, once I felt somewhat better I stared walking every day & just that time in the fresh air helped a lot.
Its like losing a job ......what will I do now. You will find something much more enjoyable to fill your day. Just treat this period like a little holiday & use it to recover your strength. .....& enjoy.
Carmel1
