Emotional aftermath following breast cancer treatment

We are in tune with being the caretakers, of everyone.
STOP- take a breath and walk away from anything which sets our hair on fire.
If we do not take control and do nothing..... then we will stay stuck.
only we can live our life no one else can.
Do our best everyday to be our best for ourselves first.
I am a prayer person go to church most every day and sit for 30 minutes to 45 and wait
for the peace to come.
Stay in the moment.
Love you all.
Maura

Thank you.
I did chemotherapy and had a double mastectomy in 2012. Completed 7 Herceptin treatments in 2013 before I went into heart failure. The beast returned in 2021 and am now metastatic. It’s in lymph nodes, liver, abdomen, spine, bones and bone marrow. Prayers for us all fighting this beast.

Thank you Colleen

I did not suffer from that but I would suggest you ask your physician about giving you something to calm you down.

My heart goes out to you! I pray God will give you strength to get through this tough time. Sometimes I wish we could all get together for a cup of coffee, share our feelings, and support one another in person. Most people don't know what it feels like to get the cancer dx. They wonder why we still are not emotionally over it when all the treatments are done. Hugs.

Yes indeed. I tell people that have not been through treatment for this heinous beast is: “you’re not going through what I’m going through.” And they shut up telling me what I should do and how I should feel.

Good for you for speaking up. I am generally a positive person, but the nine months of treatment for triple negative were rough. When well meaning folks would say “be positive”, I wanted to say what you did. They don’t understand. I appreciated instead when people said “I can’t imagine what you’re going through” because that is accurate. Unless a person has lived it they can’t know what it feels like-the physical side effects and the emotional.

Best wishes to you, Cindy💌

What helps with my anxiety is getting a Signatera blood test every three months. This test looks for cancer cells in the blood. My emotions are all over the place.

We kind of are getting together for coffee, right here on connect. I kind of wander from table to table (conversations), but this feels like when I used to go to the tea parties. We all sat around sharing all the things we have in common and things we don’t, other people join our table then wander off to another table to join a different conversation. So brew a cup and get comfy, we are all here to be that girlfriend across the table.
I am 20 years from my original diagnosis and I can’t say I have ever really just moved past it, I have a “new normal” and life never just returned to the way it was.
How can we make this new life stable, for me it is gratitude, for life, for all of you, for my home, and my remaining abilities.
Please share ways that help you move forward each day, can you share your resilience tips?

My dx was end of 2021 and I focused on what needed to be done for treatment and didn't address the emotions of what the dx meant - I think I'm paying that price now. I received remission message April 2023 after all treatment was completed and no evidence in lab or scans. Then I retired in August 2023, I would use this board for comfort and venting my feelings, then I thought I was doing good so I stopped using the board - not sure if it was helping me emotionally. I've found recently that since I stopped using this board, my emotions are all over the place and focus is terrible - its as if since I have no one to talk to that understands what I've been through and will continue to go through that I can't focus. I'm triple negative and BRCA+ so I think about whether anything I do will keep me in remission.

I need to brew myself a cup of coffee and make sure I keep in touch with everyone for them and for me so I can gain comfort from people with similar experiences and to vent to people who are or have gone through this journey. Thank you for being there and listening even if its just to say - I understand and I hear you.