Overwhelmed
Hi, I don’t want to write an essay here but I feel like I have a lot to fit in. I’m 58 and I was diagnosed back on October 14th. I’ve had a delay as I caught a virus which as I have COPD hospitalised ...
Forum Discussion
Dear @Sylva
Time to stop reading and watching perhaps. Some information can be helpful, too much is simply overwhelming, as you have found. You have had a very tough time and you deserve better but the important thing right now is to complete the surgery and do all you can to get cancer out of your life. A mastectomy is rarely painful and while a loss of lymph nodes can mess around with nerve endings, the result is often a temporary loss of feeling rather than pain. It’s important however that you do the exercises recommended, even when you don’t feel like it, to keep your arm’s mobility normal. I have had one boob for nine years now - I wear a false breast, I find it easy and simple. No-one knows unless I want them to. Recovery varies from person to person, but you can get through this. But doing it on your own is often hard - do you have someone you can rely on for help or support? Have you thought of a referral to a counsellor to help with the emotional side of all this? I was a healthy, active 67 year old at diagnosis, but I found a few sessions with a counsellor immensely helpful - cancer affects everything, if you let it, and someone experienced and knowledgeable can help you not be overwhelmed. Your GP should be able to provide a referral. The best thing you can do over the next two weeks is find ways of approaching the next step as calmly as possible. Seek some help if you can, sit in the sun, empty your mind, breathe deeply, concentrate on the here and now. Deal with things as they happen, sometimes the things we most fear never happen at all. Best wishes.
Time to stop reading and watching perhaps. Some information can be helpful, too much is simply overwhelming, as you have found. You have had a very tough time and you deserve better but the important thing right now is to complete the surgery and do all you can to get cancer out of your life. A mastectomy is rarely painful and while a loss of lymph nodes can mess around with nerve endings, the result is often a temporary loss of feeling rather than pain. It’s important however that you do the exercises recommended, even when you don’t feel like it, to keep your arm’s mobility normal. I have had one boob for nine years now - I wear a false breast, I find it easy and simple. No-one knows unless I want them to. Recovery varies from person to person, but you can get through this. But doing it on your own is often hard - do you have someone you can rely on for help or support? Have you thought of a referral to a counsellor to help with the emotional side of all this? I was a healthy, active 67 year old at diagnosis, but I found a few sessions with a counsellor immensely helpful - cancer affects everything, if you let it, and someone experienced and knowledgeable can help you not be overwhelmed. Your GP should be able to provide a referral. The best thing you can do over the next two weeks is find ways of approaching the next step as calmly as possible. Seek some help if you can, sit in the sun, empty your mind, breathe deeply, concentrate on the here and now. Deal with things as they happen, sometimes the things we most fear never happen at all. Best wishes.