I am now 4 years disease free after Stage III breast cancer. Although the after effects of treatment are still very real-I am grateful to be disease free and able to live what appears to others to be a relatively normal life.
But the anniversary is so difficult-flashbacks, nausea, anxiety, worry, can't concentrate on my work.
Does anyone have any tips for getting through anniversaries? I hadn't expected it to hit me like this-as I'm usually a pretty sensible, rational person.
Hi and welcome to the Online Community, although I am sorry to see you finding us.
First congratulations on being a few years down the road, yes it does take time and some persistence to develop strategies to move forward post treatments.
I am over 20 years down the road from a diagnosis with a rare type of Lymphoma that I was first told would get me in the end, some day, some year?....... and I would never see remission.
Zoom forward 17 years to September 2016 when out of the blue I was told that I was in Remission and NED (No Evident Disease)...... result!!!
My story is long and rather traumatic (Hit Thehighlander to see my story)....... but every day I see sunlight I celebrate as the other side of the coin could have been much much worse.
Make a cup of tea and have a look at this great paper as even being down the post treatment road it will identify the milestones of recovery.
When you feel up to it try putting some information in your profile. This really helps others when answering. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. Just click on YOUR username, select 'Edit Profile'. Put as much or as little in your profile and you can amend it at any time - you can see members profiles by hitting our forum names.
Keep posting as we can start to unpack this part of the journey ((hugs))
Yes Lisa LisaCardiff, a Maggie’s Centre is a great place to go and unpack the rucksack of stuff we collect during and after treatment.
Up in the Highlands folks will do the 3-4 hour round trip once a week to go to the "Where Now?"course - worth checking this out
Hi, Galanthophile
I don't think a suitable handbook has been found that properly unpacks the post treatment part of a cancer marathon.
Life changing for sure, but I think the cancer journey puts a lot of our past life stuff into prospective......... we sort of pigeon hole stuff that once was seen as important to be just that less important and promote stuff like 'living life' to a higher position in our thinking.
At times, living the post cancer journey is like living in a parallel universe - you can see your old life but regardless what you do you can not get back on that same path.
Following my many years of treatment and now 4 years into my post treatment life, a situation I was unwillingly put into. It did actually make me review life and everything that we once thought important.
So some things from our old life are still in our lives but various aspects of our old life that were once seen as important were put in the bin and we don’t miss them.
If you have not had a look at this great paper - please do.
((hugs))
Hi again Galanthophile - good to hear that you have found some order in your post treatment life and are striving to 'enjoy life'
As I mentioned earlier in this thread, it would be worth checking out Maggie’s Centre. These places are great and I 100% recommend the "Where Now?" course.
Keep on keeping on and grasp life with all your strength ((hugs))
