New Normal

Hi Hazel,

About 6 weeks ago I also was wondering was my life now the "new normal". I have realized that also it will never be like it used to be but in the last couple of weeks it has felt a lot better.

I have realized that I have been very lucky and my experience with Breast Cancer has not been near as bad as other people that I have met along my journey. I was diagnosed at the end of August last year and my tumor was Her 2 and Estrogen positive. I finished Chemo at the end of January this year and due to a 3 and 1/2 week stint in hospital in February which delayed my Radiation, I have just finished it just over a week ago. I am on Herceptin and I will finish this at the end of November this year. I have just started Letrozole yesterday and I will be on this for the next 5 years and I am hoping the side affects aren't going to be bad.

I have been very lucky that I haven't had many side affects, the only side affects I have had are the loss of my finger and toe nails. I also have numbness in my fingers & toes. Due to my size I am also having Seroma (fluid) drained twice a week. I was also very lucky with my Radiation that the burns weren't very bad.

I live in Tasmania on my own and my 2 adult girls and my extended family live on the Mainland. As I have only been in Tasmania for just under 3 years and I have lived in 2 different areas in that 3 years, I have not made many close friends here. After I got out of hospital in February, I was feeling really "down and out" and due to this I was lonely and really missing my daughters and my friends from where I used to live. Due to this, I started calling into my work at least once a week for a visit and it felt good to catch up with every one and for just that little while, it felt "normal". So because of this I pushed my Doctor to letting me go back to work just for 3 days a week for just 3 hrs each time. From the first day I started back at work, it has felt great, for those 3 hrs I was there is felt as close to "normal" that I think I could feel, my loneliness started to go away, my health seemed to pick up and even my appetite came back. I have just finished doing a couple of weeks of 3 hrs a day/5 days a week and after twisting my Doctors arm last week, tomorrow is the day I start back full time. I know I am probably going to be warn out by the end of the first day but I know I will get used to it just like I did when I started back for the 3 days a week but I know I will get used to it.

Going back to work was the best thing I did and it is the closest thing for me to being "normal"......it is my "new normal". Keep up the good work and I hope your life will get back to as normal as it can be soon xx