Now What?
Have you ever woken up and realised that life as you once knew it is gone. You may have spent 2013 in a blur of Doctors and Hospitals and living in constant fear that this crap called cancer will com...
Forum Discussion
Hi Sue
I think you have expressed a very common feeling. When I had my first breast cancer, aged 47 in 2002, I had recently left a very demanding job and was thinking about different career options. Instead I went through the shock of diagnosis and then treatment with surgery and radiation. After my treatment ended I was left feeling like I could sink into a void, lacking any confidence in myself and my body, having lost touch with many friends and former colleagues, and completely unsure what to do next to build my life back. I just knew that life was going to be different and that I wanted more balance in it, with more time to do things I enjoyed and to relish the incredible joy of being alive and cancer-free.
I enrolled in a Master’s degree and joined a Dragons Abreast dragon boat team. The first of these gave new a new career with a better work-life balance as well as rebuilding my confidence. The second gave me fun, friendship, fitness, and countless adventures travelling around Australia and overseas with my team.
Twelve years later, I have had an unexpected recurrence and am going through treatment again, this time with a mastectomy, TRAM flap reconstruction and currently on chemo. I am expecting an emotional crash at the end of my treatment but feel that this time I know what life can be like after cancer and that it can be pretty damn good. I just want to get back to enjoying it fully as soon as possible.
I hope you can find a pathway that works for you to build your new life. It does take time but in my case it has been really rewarding.
Viv