Hi Everyone
I'm new to the group but have been advised it's a great place to give and receive support from others in similar situations.
At the beginning of October I had a mastectomy and DIEP flap reconstruction. I thought I was handling it well and was making good progress in the initial weeks of my recovery. After 3 weeks, my son then fell down a flight of stone steps and ended up in hospital with his leg in plaster up to his thigh and is still in bed like this after 7 weeks, and my daughter is now struggling to cope with college and lockdowns. My recovery had to take a back seat while I dealt with all this alone as we are not allowed to see friends or family for support. Only now is the true reality of what happened to me starting to hit me. I keep bursting in to tears, I hate my body (I feel as though my whole torso has been completely butchered), I go through periods of such immense distress I feel I can't breathe and just want to curl up in a corner and never come out. I'm finding it really difficult to hold down a job, keep house and look after two teenagers who are each struggling in their own way. I feel now that I am failing as a parent as well. Did anyone else feel the same way after a few months post surgery? Did you do anything that helped you deal with the stress? Does the tightness ever leave the stomach area?
I would appreciate any advice people can offer as I am really struggling. Thank you
Hi and a very warm welcome to the online community
It sounds like you've had a very tough time recently so it's no wonder that you feel that you're struggling.
The community is divided up into support groups so I'm going to recommend that you join the breast cancer group where you can ask questions, share experiences and give and receive support from others with the same type of cancer.
To join just click on the link I've created and then choose 'click to join' or 'join' (depending on the device you're using) on the page that opens. You can then introduce yourself and post questions and join in with existing conversations by clicking on 'reply'.
When you have a minute, it would be really useful if you could pop something about your journey so far into your profile as it really helps others when answering or looking for someone with a similar diagnosis. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. To do this click on your username and then select 'Profile'. You can amend it at any time and if you're not sure what to write you can take a look at mine by clicking on my username.
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"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
