Post Treatment Letdown
Comments
-
Good Morning
Now I am 6 years later as a Survivor and I can honestly say, you do cope, and you do get through. Not all solutions help each person. I had quite the unique experience of Breast Cancer, no more than you did, or the next. We are all so different at how we cope, who is in our lives and from where we draw our strength. I smiled about the comments regarding Sexual appetite because mine disappeared with my monthly's at the age of 40 ! How different we all are. Lucky for me, I had met a man who also had gone through his peak prior to our marriage at 39. (smiling).
For me, the Post Stress that occurred was surprising, yet brief. Through my own year off with Cancer, I taught myself a lot via reading books and learning about the power of the mind and how to shift my focus. I was cranky after I survived Cancer that I had very little money left, and couldn't afford all the "Bucket List" options, all the wealthy people experience. I had Triple Negative BC, and I was looking over my shoulder for the first 3 years wondering if it would stay away. I hear a lot don't.
The strength I get comes from continuously learning how to use Mindfulness techniques and meditation, problems are always there in life, it is how we learn to see things differently, that makes our lives change.
4 -
Hey all next week for me 7 years unfortunately l also have a rare blood cancer diagnosed 4 years ago so with trying to retain my positivity l thought wtf l can blame either disease for my symptoms or as l call it f...... with my brain
I am a bit of a nutty person and try to be up but l do get the lm not getting dressed today occupation. My bc group of bc friends are my sanity but even after 7 years l get pissed of but above all from this l really like myself l don't care sometimes that my mouth spits out Dragon like disgusting comments l mean l think we've all deserved that badge.xx l don't participate as much online as much but l try to be the best version of a bc bitch lol.xxxx love you all1 -
Thanks for the additional comments. I've been offline since those initial postings. Feeling a bit better this week. I'm in more regular contact with my counsellor and shared how I was doing with close friends and that helped. When I really looked at how I was feeling it was me that was thinking hey all your treatment is over, now time to get on with life! Not really realising that there is a new me that will get on with life and I needed to come to terms with that new person. A process I realise and I am only 3 months post all treatment. Some days I have that positive attitude and others not so much. My strength comes from meditation daily, yoga a huge help and I continue on with my exercise physiology class for women with breast cancer. The physical helps with my mental and I notice when I skip meditation that an irritability tries to sneak in, so try not to. I got the all clear from the plastic surgeon this week to do any exercise I felt my body was ready for, so that was a big step for me so after the school holidays I will add back my second yoga class and see how I go..
I had my 7 year old grandson here for the last 3 days, school holidays and trying to help my daughter out. He left today and while it was good to spend time with him and it felt great to be feeling well enough to help again, I am a bit exhausted!0 -
Everyone is different - our cancers are different, our treatment is different, our lives - pre and post - are different. The only thing I would offer was that what I had to work on most after diagnosis, and it’s still a work in progress, was about attitudes to myself and my life that had nothing to do with bc and predated it. ‘I’m not ageing; I multitask; Give it to me to me, I’ll do/fix it;’ and my best one ‘ I intend to keep in good health and not die’ (thank you Charlotte Bronte). These attitudes are really not sustainable and I had kept them up to 67. I think I am a slightly better person now, not because I had cancer (that’s rubbish!) but because cancer forced me to re-assess some habits that were not helpful to my well being. I was lucky, in many ways, and what I had to sort out wasn’t family trauma, or terrible experiences, just largely my own vanity and a bit of irrational fear. But it’s unexpected, we tend to want the old me back (imperfect as it may be) and it takes time. Best wishes.6
