After Treatment

Hi Jen,

What you are feeling is unfortunately 'normal' for us. I think most of us get through treatment by hanging onto this idea that soon (when treatment ends) we can resume our lives again.

But not only do other people treat us differently (and yes a lot of this could be viewed as discrimination) but we discover that cancer has changed us in many ways too. Most of the people in our lives don't really get these changes and I think personnally it has taken me a long time to understand the different  me too!

Certainly for me the first 12 months after treatment ended was tough. I called it the 'what now' stage. I can't tell you a magic way to get through this and find your new life but I can tell you that it helps to move forward and not keep comparing life before and after bc too much. 

Being diagnosed with a major disease like cancer does forever change you but I have found that many of those changes eventually turn out to be ok, some even really good!

Meanwhile it does help a lot to share those feelings and experiences you will go through. Some of us do that on here, some find a face to face support group works well, some people find talking with a counsellor or other professional can help too. You need to know that you are not alone with this.

I am now over 2 years from the end of my treatment and life is very different but mostly really good. I like the new me now but it does take time to work everything out and find your way out of the cancer vortex. You don't have to do it alone though. Take care. Deanne xxx