Hello lovelies. I woke this morning to realise that it is one year today since my BC diagnosis. My goodnes, how time flies. Although sometimes this trip feels like it never ends. Yep, one whole year since that dreaded pathology result said "highly suspicious for metastatic breast cancer". I remember the feeling of waiting for all the final results so i knew what I was dealing with. Felt like an eternity (which I am sure is a familiar feeling to everybody). Still gives me shivers thinking about it. The short version of the last year is. Final diagnosis was stage 2 ER+/PR+ HER2 neg. 19mm breast tumour (which was an absolute bugger to find) and 25mm lymph node tumour with 5/24 LN involvement. .So 12 months since D Day, 11 months since surgery, 4 months since final chemo and 2 months since last radiation. 6 weeks on Tamoxifen. Wow, where did that year go?After all that I am still waiting on yet another set of results from my 12mth scans. With the long weekend in the middle I guess I'll be waiting for a few more anxious days.I thank my lucky stars I found that lump under my arm when I did. I feel incredibly lucky that I have come out of it with very minimal side effects and my life is bsically the same as before, but I have this constant restless feeling that I should be doing something different, something more.Wondering if others have just picked up where they left off or changed things in their lives a little or a lot?

The surgeon gave me the paperwork for mammogram and breast scan to be done prior to my 12 month follow up with him in Jan 2018 . I'm at 9 months mark and have tried hard to get back the aspects of my life that I enjoy. Funny how there can be benefits from BC, Like Afraser I've given up things such as working 10 plus hours a day, working standard hours 7 hrs a day now seems like a part time job , I also resigned from a Board which I battled to get on and struggled with the huge additional work load without pay. It was almost a relief to have a BC excuse to resign. i now spend my free time on me and family ,cycling as much as poossible as cycling makes me feel great. I want to try new things and plan to try dragonboating when I get back from japan.Good luck kesmusc with your results.

What to do now. Well, at ungodly o'clock (which I just realised was ungodly plus one hour) I've Gumptioned my cookware. I'm just on 12 months post diagnosis and I'm not so worried about the disease as I am about the general state of my life. Everything is grubby and disorganised. My half arsed attempts at housekeeping--which was never my strong point anyway--mean I'm living in conditions that are starting to resemble my uni years. I am sure that 'That Poor Woman' (my shrink) would have some sage advice about priorities; such as concentrating on my work and studies. But, no. I'm having a mental churn in the early hours about how much I have to do, so I drag all my saucepans out and start giving them a super clean.The ceilings are festooned with cobwebs, there is dog hair everywhere and the bathroom...Phhffft. I'm two weeks off submitting an assignment that I haven't even started, my boss is making polite noises about my not quite meeting deadlines---so I polish my pots and pans. At a time that means I will be completely rooted for the rest of the day. Oh well, at least it will look like the kitchen fairies have visited in the night when I finally drag myself back out of bed.Marg xxx

Lovely @Summerhill38, heard the term "an oldie but a goodie", YOU ARE most definitely worth it, particularly if it makes you feel better about yourself. The rest of it will fall into line (enlist breast care nurses assistance and cancer council and use their contacts etc ) should you decide to go ahead. Xx

Ah yes, it's a pretty normal stage in the process. Congratulations on one year, it's a big step forward. I changed my job after one year, went to a 4 day week (I was 68!), joined a gym and worked on the suggestions of a beneficial short stint with a counsellor several months before to NOT resume my normal life. That didn't mean giving up almost anything, just not crazy work hours, frenetic overloading as the norm and weekends that were mainly about recovering enough to start the next week! I rediscovered film, have joined a local choir, stuck with the gym, still work and enjoy it, travel as much as I can. So much of cancer is about trying to get back to the old life. I finally found that building the new life was better, in almost every way. If I hadn't responded to a sore breast, no lump, I might never have met my two grandchildren. What next? Could be almost anything you want. Best wishes.

My scans are ordered by the breast surgeon

One year today since diagnosis. Reflections and what do I do now.

17 Replies

Cyclo
Member
8 years ago
The surgeon gave me the paperwork for mammogram and breast scan to be done prior to my 12 month follow up with him in Jan 2018 . I'm at 9 months mark and have tried hard to get back the aspects of my life that I enjoy. Funny how there can be benefits from BC, Like Afraser I've given up things such as working 10 plus hours a day, working standard hours 7 hrs a day now seems like a part time job , I also resigned from a Board which I battled to get on and struggled with the huge additional work load without pay. It was almost a relief to have a BC excuse to resign. i now spend my free time on me and family ,cycling as much as poossible as cycling makes me feel great. I want to try new things and plan to try dragonboating when I get back from japan.Good luck kesmusc with your results.
Glemmis
Member
8 years ago
The only follow up scans I have are mammogram & ultrasound on the remaining breast unless I was symptomatic. I see someone from the team every 3 months.
iserbrown
Member
8 years ago
My scans are ordered by the breast surgeon
lgray3911
Member
8 years ago
Hi girls so I have a question. Is the12mth scan a standard thing? What scan is it? I had an oncology app on Friday and asked then what my follow up check would be after treatment has finished and my oncologist didn't mention any scan?
Shorelle
Member
8 years ago
I dont know how Im going to cope when its yearly scan time. The bare thought of it makes me have a panic atrack. :'(
primek
Member
8 years ago
I slowly re-entered my own life. Went back part time and slowly increased hours. Exercise wise I'm not yet back to where I was pre cancer but I am full time now so I just have to take it a bit easy or I get overtired. 18 months on for me and I am feeling like a survivor. I'm learning to accept my limitations but determined to keep trying. My fight now is to reclaim my life, to reclaim my fitness, reclaim my sense of who I am and to reclaim my sense of feeling safe with my health. I'm nit quite there yet...but I'm so much closer. Kath x
Afraser
Member
8 years ago
Ah yes, it's a pretty normal stage in the process. Congratulations on one year, it's a big step forward. I changed my job after one year, went to a 4 day week (I was 68!), joined a gym and worked on the suggestions of a beneficial short stint with a counsellor several months before to NOT resume my normal life. That didn't mean giving up almost anything, just not crazy work hours, frenetic overloading as the norm and weekends that were mainly about recovering enough to start the next week! I rediscovered film, have joined a local choir, stuck with the gym, still work and enjoy it, travel as much as I can. So much of cancer is about trying to get back to the old life. I finally found that building the new life was better, in almost every way. If I hadn't responded to a sore breast, no lump, I might never have met my two grandchildren. What next? Could be almost anything you want. Best wishes.

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One year today since diagnosis. Reflections and what do I do now.

17 Replies

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