My story
Hi, I am in my ten month after having my surgery July will be a year. I have had up and downs with pain as I had a lumpectomy and had a small amount of fluid not enough to drain just give me grief, I...
Forum Discussion
Never feel guilty because you are lucky enough to not suffer every complication under the sun; lymphedema is a shit of a thing which none of us want and having to live with that is a bloody nightmare. This is not a competition and one persons' less stressful process doesn't mean someone else has to do it harder.
I get it with the forums. Anything resembling a support group gave me the creeps and I didn't feel anything they were doing or talking about related to me. Still don't. I was very fortunate after my first diagnosis10 years ago to come across a program called CanNet (that will ring some bells with a few old timers) which opened a door to consumer advocacy which then lead me to heaps of training and ultimately a gig with Cancer Australia reviewing grant applications. It's given me a sense that I'm doing something useful that needs a brain like mine. That, and the practical support I was able to give random people over the years, has been the only positive thing that came out of breast cancer for me. I suck at fundraising, visibly fidget when faced with emotional displays and will only hug about ten people. Touchy feely I am not, which doesn't mean that the whole business, particularly now I have a recurrence hasn't hit me hard.
Cancer doesn't change you, in my opinion. I liken it to having too may wines, a few filters may come off, but what is at the core of you remains the same. That's why we all deal with the crap differently.