I told work colleagues as we were a close knit team and I was going to be off and hate the guessing that goes on with that.
I initially kept things a bit secret at the beginning as my SIL had just died and we needed to attend the funeral and support my brother and his family. I expanded that information to all siblings except my brother and his family until after I had a plan. (His wife had died of cancer)
I told my close girlfriends.
So initally I set up messenger groups. Close family one group. Friends another. This way I updated as I had the appointments etc - I was 500k from home)
Then I realised I could set up a private Facebook account and invite people in. So someone checking out my profile. ..didn't know I was dealing with cancer. But close friends could follow. I included pics etc. and let people know I would so if not wanting to see them to opt out.
I know of someone who created a second secret group for the more graphic pics. ..if you want that.
My Facebook posts read like a diary. Each chemo was discussed and photographed. Side effects talked about. You could see my ballooning weight. The surgery. Reconstruction and reclaiming my life. It was a way to really share and it helped me. I had reflective posts. Scared days posts. And fighting spirit posts.
It's great to go back and read your own story.
Of course you can do that here but not everyone you might want to see it. For me it was the real face of breast cancer. Not just the pink bits. Kath x
