Hi again and just an opportunity to say thanks.
It’s been many months since I last visited this forum. It’s great to see so many familiar names, and catch up on stories. In January last year I was standing on board a sinking ship - literally! When my breast surgeon phoned to tell me my biopsies were positive for lobular Breast Cancer, I was standing on the replica deck of The Titanic. It was a school holiday activity with my youngest son and his friend. It couldn’t have been a more appropriate place to get the news. Fast forward to today, and it’s been a tumultuous year and a half to say the least, with many highs and many lows. We celebrated my brother’s wedding, my youngest son’s bar mitzvah, my eldest son’s graduation and his successful application for a graduate program with an incredible international company. We welcomed my eldest daughter back from an overseas exchange program and enjoyed a fabulous two-week family holiday in Japan. We also welcomed a beautiful new puppy into our family. We struggled with my elderly dad being in and out of hospital, and mourned his passing in January this year as well as the passing of three other elderly members of our family. My father-in-law fell and broke his hip. Our community felt the terrible loss of three young women - two who were friends of mine, to cancer, and one who I knew as a colleague, who lost her long battle with depression. My place of work recruited a new executive manager who made my life at work (after 17 years of loving my job every day) a misery for the nine months it took until she left and we returned to normal. And alongside all of that, I endured a double mastectomy, six months of chemo, seven weeks of radiation, and failed air-expanders. But in all honesty, my journey so far has been incredibly fortunate. I was so so lucky to sail through surgery and treatment, being able to work and function normally throughout it all. This forum was an absolute godsend in so many ways and I will never take for granted all the patient, supportive advice I gained from the many generous contributors and the friends I’ve gained along the way. Now I’m finding it a little more challenging as I struggle to lose the weight I put on, wait impatiently for my hair to grow, deal with the effects of letrozole, and contemplate recovery from DIEP reconstruction, which is coming up in just five days. So I’m really just taking an opportunity to say a huge thank you. I honestly couldn’t have made it through, without this forum and I’m now in a much better place to be able to give back. I’m looking forward to sharing this next journey in the ‘choosing breast reconstruction group’ in the hope that I can help others contemplating the same thing. Bring on the FOOBS!! Truthfully after a year and a half of being flat-chested I’m wondering if I’ll have to adjust my balance! 😂😂 And about that Titanic story? Well, when you walk into the exhibition you get a ticket on which there’s the story of one of the passengers, written on the back. When you get to the end of the exhibition you can look on a board to discover the ‘fate’ of your passenger. Mine survived ❤️
Thank you for your support
I just posted a question about hair colour and it got me thinking about all of the people I've met on this site since December. I know that I've still got a lot of "new experiences" to come but looking back on the last 8 months of diagnosis, surgery and chemo, I couldn't have done it, and stayed relatively sane, without the support of you all. Your advice, friendship and the odd laugh has helped carry me through it. My memory is completely shot so I apologise if I don't always remember what stage of treatment everyone is at - sometimes I can't remember what stage I'm at! - but I do care and appreciate so much the care I've been shown here. I'm not planning on going anywhere but it seemed that the end of chemo was a good place for acknowledgement.