This community.... <3
From my facebook blog
REST, RECOVER, RESTORE.
REST, RECOVER, RESTORE.
It's one week today since my last zap of cancer killing rays!! My burns are coming through more now....yep! it friggin' hurts!... But I am taking care of them and hopefully they will settle quickly without too much drama....
So many women I'm in contact with through various forums and Facebook pages have also come to the end of their active treatment as well this week and last. To all of you I send out a massive cheer and do a little happy dance for you!
I want to say how important it's been to have contact with other women who have gone through this experience. It has been a wealth of information, respect, encouragement and love. These women are total strangers to me, but we are all linked by a common thread...Breast Cancer.
I never really thought blogs and forums as such would be so helpful, for anything really, but I'm so glad I took the advice of my McGrath Breast Care Nurse and joined up to the BCNA. I have been an active member from the beginning of my experience and have made what I consider, some life long friends, who I hope to meet one day!
My drawing Pink Troopers Boots now lives in the offices of BCNA! The online community has been my saviour some days and others I am the one offering support and encouragement...Some days I would just read blogs and cry, not knowing what to say....so many women diagnosed....some more unwell than others, each story unique, but sharing a common base....
Sure, I have had an enormous amount of support, encouragement and love from my family members and friends as well, but interacting with women who have and still are dealing with this is very uplifting and calming.....Why calming, you might ask?
Well, on days when you think you are being a wimp or you just feel like you can't take anymore.....these women reassure you that what you are feeling is completely normal, completely acceptable...they know, they are actually living it too! Their words of support and compassion soothe even the most battered soul.
The hundreds, yes, unfortunately, hundreds of women that use these forums are there for one reason... to learn, acknowledge and support each other. It's not only a place you can vent your worst fears, cry for each other, share your experiences and of course have a good belly laugh too! ..It's a place that has a wealth of information and updates on the latest treatments and such.
While the internet and social media can be damaging and used for not so nice things these days....I often wonder how people coped in the days before the internet.....I imagine it was probably more lonely and isolating....
At times I've felt extremely lonely and isolated during my battle.....even when I've had visitors, I couldn't shake that feeling of being alone.....Having access to other's sharing the same feelings was comforting....I am grateful, as I'm sure others are too, that we now have access to information and these supportive online communities....
So as I heal from my treatments..... I will give thanks that I am here to share my experience....to offer support to others.....that I have an amazing family and friends network...."met" amazing and inspiring women going through the same as me.....Technology has given us the tools to reach out to each other....Like it or not,
Technology has played an integral part in my healing process.....
