How can psychologists help?

For me, the psychological effects have varied as time has gone on.  The actual treatment you can read on my profile.  When I was first diagnosed it was if I'd been hit with a rubber mallet - I went back and forth between numbing fear and just plain numbness.  I'd lost my sister years before to bc and all I could hear was a death sentence.  Of course, this came on top of an already stressful few years.  As treatment got underway, first surgery, then chemo, it became more about putting one foot in front of the other and just getting through it.  Poor sleep throughout - I haven't had a full night's sleep since 5 December 2017.  Sometimes things would jump up and hit me - I could no longer organise anything and I had no emotional (or physical) resilience left.  Things happened with treatment that brought me really low and in tears of pain and despair.  I kept a blog during last year to keep friends and family informed but I found that I used it as a diary as well - a way of getting the thoughts out of my head and into some sort of order.  I think it helped me to stay on track during the first half of the year.  But I really hit rock-bottom at the end of chemo (which is pretty normal).  I contacted the psychologists service at the oncology clinic as had been recommended but no-one called me back and it was so hard to keep asking.  Eventually, I was told that due to a staff member leaving and the replacement not starting yet, it was going to be awhile.  I didn't know what to do but my husband called the Country Fire Service mental health unit (he's in the CFS) and they organised for me to see someone immediately.  I mention this because during most of the treatment, I was keeping my head above water.  But when I recognised that I was going downhill, it happened fast.

Fast forward a few months to now.  Sometime around Christmas (just after the 12 months scan and all that entails), I realised that things had changed.  While throughout last year, bc was sitting right in front of my eyes and I couldn't focus on anything else, I've found that it's slipped around to my peripheral vision.  I can't forget it completely, and I'm constantly reminded of it by the side effects of the hormone therapy on my joints, my appearance, deathly tiredness, sexual dysfunction...the list could go on forever...and these things at times bring me to tears and to anger.  I realise that I've got a Damoclean sword hanging over me even though to all intents and purposes the cancer is gone.  There is talk of a new normal but none of this is normal.  And of course, none of the previous stressors have disappeared - I've just added extra.