Hi, I’m not sure if I’m in the right place here, it’s been a long time.
I’m sixteen years out from breast cancer, surgery, chemo, rads, herceptin, tamoxifen and AIs and now living with some kind of inflammatory arthritis so I don’t see the doc for every pain but in the summer I got another pain in my back that lit all the red flags!
Bless my GP, but it is nigh on impossible to get a face to face appointment these days - everything is done over the phone so an X-ray was arranged. So imagine my “surprise” and anxiety levels going through the roof in getting a text to say an appointment has been made for a face to face for me on Wednesday.
It’s like waiting for exam results - I know there is nothing I can do. I can be, I’m trying to be rational but it’s not exactly working.
It’s clearly stressed me because here I am awake from 3am - not long to wait I guess now whatever the outcome.
Thanks for listening.
Hi AMSML …… looking though your past posts the last time you posted was Feb 2021 (you can see all your groups and post in ‘your activity’ by hitting ‘your’ community name.
I have a completely different (incurable) cancer, I have been on my journey for over 25 years and over the first 16 years I was only ever in partial remission the longest being about 9 months….. but I am over 9 years out from my last treatment and happy to say my cancer is still asleep.
Over these years I have had the same-ish experiences as you….. unexplained pains, something just not right….. you know what I mean.
So I checked in with my great GP…. sent for various tests including CTs, MRIs, Biopsies….
In most cases nothing of concern was found but I did find out on one occasion that I have Asbestosis but this is stable and now regularly checked for Prostate cancer but at 69 this us normal,
I think it’s simple for me to say this but my mindset says ‘until I am told there is a problem…. there’s not’
I learned early on on my journey that I could throw ALL the worry and stress I could collect in the world at each situation and all this effort would actually make no difference what’s so ever to what I am told and what may happen in the future....... but will have a big effect on how I will mentally deal with it ‘if’ it comes along. park the stress, worry when you actually have something concrete to worry about and look to do things that you enjoy.
My amazing Specialist Cancer Nurse (CNS) of many years was thankfully very blunt and honest….., I did appreciate this and when is came to any anxiety of waiting for results, scans and the post treatment ‘what if’s?’ she told me…… The ‘cancer anxiety train’ is always sitting in the station....... but we can only get on it if we go to the ticket office and get a ticket....... don’t go in the queue and get a ticket…… go into another queue for something that you enjoy, that will distract you and that will bring joy and peace……. Mike you can throw all the stress and anxiety you can must up at this but the only thing it will do is make your stress and anxiety worse and then you get sick”
((hugs))
