Paranoia!

Hi BarleyBear 

I notice your post has gone unanswered for a couple of days, so by answering, hopefully others can pop in with some advice.

I'm about 7.5 years down the line now and initially I was petrified of it coming back, but now I rarely think about having had cancer.  Following radiotherapy my breast is different, so even checking it I wouldn't know if it's normal or not and it still hurts more than normal if I press on it (ie lying on my front) even now, so I think the twinges and differences are pretty normal. 

The way I learned to cope was 'blanking it out ' and just worked on the principal that all the treatment had been carried out that could be carried out, the cancer was removed and I needn't start worrying until my next mammogram.  Usually about a month before the annual, was when I started getting nervous again (especially the first one).  But now I'm on 3 year mammograms, so I'm thinking I have the 3 years of avoiding the stress of worrying!

Kindest wishes, Lesley

Hi I am unsure when you had your procedure but initially I constantly worried about banging, puncturing or damaging them if that is what your worried about? I also felt got lumps constantly and worried in case a cancer growth might be behind them. I’ve had my DMX August 2023 but now I worry less about them and check much less than I did. Cancer consumes us and continues long after our treatment  ends I found out. Over time your likely to accept and get used to them and hopefully worry less talking from my own experience but reoccurance is always at the front of my mind still if I get panic in the Breast area  etc  hopefully as time goes my my worries will become less too. Your feelings and thoughts are pretty normal after going through a traumatic event such as this x

Thank you so much for your reply. My worst fault is being so hard on myself and expecting to bounce straight back. I think I need to give myself a chance to heal mentally not just physically.