I have just received a diagnosis of bladder cancer and want to speak to someone in person to help me cope with my emotions. How do I find someone?
Hi Cataburra and a very warm welcome to the Community but sorry to hear about your diagnoses.
Navigating the cancer journey can be such a stressful and challenging time but getting support from people who have walked the ‘exact same' cancer journey can help a lot. (I have a completely different cancer).
The New to Community is like our reception desk where we look to direct you to the best part of the Community for you to get support. The Community is divided into dedicated Cancer Support Groups (Discussion Rooms) so can I recommend you join and post in our dedicated Bladder Cancer support group. This is a safe place to talk to others with a similar diagnosis, treatment experience, to ask questions and get support.
To connect in with the group click on this link> Bladder cancer then once the group page opens click on “Click to Join” when the black banner appears or “Join” under “Group Tools” (this all depends on the device you are using)
When you are ready you can introduce yourself by clicking “+new” or “+” in the top right next to the group title. You can copy and paste the text from this post into your new post.
It’s a challenging time for you abd talking can help a lot so you may want to use the Macmillan Support Line is open 8am-8pm (timings may differ across services) 7 days a week on 0808 808 00 00.
This service provides cancer information, practical information, emotional support, benefits/financial guidance or just a listening ear.
We also have our Ask an Expert section but do allow a few working days for a reply.
We also have our Telephone Buddy Service where you can be matched with someone who understands what you're going through, and they'll give you a weekly call.
Talking to people face to face can be very helpful so do check to see if you have any Local Macmillan Support in your area, do also check for a local Maggie's Centre as these folks are amazing and give support to all the family.
I have given you a lot of channels to get supporter, but do get back to me if you need further help navigating the community. ((Hugs))
I have given you a good few options to follow up on.
Macmillan have also teamed up with BUPA to offer up to 6 free counselling sessions for people struggling emotionally because they are living with cancer. Clicking on the link will give you more information about this.
Accessing local support may take time to access…… as my community name suggests I live in the Highlands of Scotland and people on the West Coast think nothing of doing a 3-4 hr round trip drive (combined with some shopping) to access the support available at out local Maggie’s Centre that is an induration as to the quality of the support available.
All the best with your search.
I can't work out from this site how to "contact an expert" to ask a question 
Any text that is in my posts that is bold and a different colour from the main text is a link that takes you to the information you need.
So this link > Ask an Expert will take you to the correct expert section.
The same with this link to Maggie's Centre website, just click on the link and it takes you to their home page where you will find a list of their centres.
What you need to remember about the community is it’s massive…… just as the subject of cancer is massive so there are many discussion groups covering many different cancers and suggests.
Do get back to me if you need further help ((hugs))
