← Return to Living with AYA cancer: Introduce yourself and meet others

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@coffeesd

Thank you for the welcome! I'm doing well now and trying to adjust back to normal life after active treatment with work and family. I think what I find most challenging is that there is a new part of my identity, as a cancer patient or survivor, that I never expected to have attached to myself, at least not at this age. I have always loved writing, so I have been writing a lot to cope with everything that goes along with cancer during a pandemic and the recovery process. I had a few friends early on tell me to focus on something that I'm passionate about during treatment, and that advice has proved very helpful.

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Replies to "Thank you for the welcome! I'm doing well now and trying to adjust back to normal..."

Hello Sarah, I too can relate to adjusting to normalcy is challenging.
I read a piece a few months back explaining how being diagnosed with cancer feels more like you’re being kidnapped. We struggle to stay alive while receiving our treatments and dealing with the pain that comes from that. Survival is escaping and being free once again, but we are left with the trauma in the back of our minds. It’s nice to deal with the “normal” day to day issues again, but like that piece said we are still dealing with the trauma that came with it.
I have been receiving immunotherapy for the last four years & been doing much better year to year, but I have noticed everyone has forgotten the battle I fight and they have fully transitioned back to their normalcy & what they expect from me. Some days I am tired and want to remind everyone what I am going thought, but most days I don’t notice and enjoy my motherhood duties that I fought so hard to have back. Evan though the days are long I still enjoy dealing with the everyday problems much more than any cancer related issues.