End of Treatment- how did it end?

I had an oncologist appointment about 6 weeks after radiotherapy to check how I was getting on with the hormone therapy and any lingering chemo side effects. I was then discharged and felt pretty good about that!

Maybe it depends on whether you are having ongoing treatment?

I'm not at the end of my treatment as about to start radiotherapy but I notice quite a few people have recommended an article below if you Google it. There is a link on some other threads.

After the Treatment Finishes - Then What? By Dr Peter Harvey

I had surgery and will get recalled next May for mammogram but am now at a different hospital for radiotherapy and its like you just get palmed over. I don't ring my breast nurse as I haven't found her particularly helpful. I got more from a lady I met at Maggies today which is attached to The Christie.

Good luck xx

Hi, I’m mid chemo so I can only imagine how you feel. I just wanted to say that my plan after I’m finished with everything is to have a moment at home with my family where we all ring a bell (probably my little girls tambourine and maracas, but same thing) as loud as we can! just an idea if there is no bell for you to ring at the hospital x

Hiya, well done, I finished 10 days ago and it was such an anticlimax, I have been going for treatment since May 2020 so a long time and it was just like any other appointment with the nurses and bye bye, no follow on, no nothing.  I start annual mamograms in October and will get a phone call once yearly from an oncologist and thats it, I did do a moving forward course with Breast Cancer Now which helped and I have just signed up for Cancer Support UK who also do a finish of treatment course so worth looking into, so I guess it's up to us now to just get on with it and hope!!!!!!!  Love ann

I feel exactly the same way as you ... I feel very much left in limbo and not sure about anything anymore.  I am finding this particular part of my journey the hardest.

I had an op in March, completed radiotherapy in June and back to work ... and now nothing but questions and tears.

Much love sent to you

I think, in my case its because people who don't understand think that just because you have had an op to remove the cancer, hey presto you should be acting normally again, and if you look good with clothes on, then you must be back to being as normal as everyone else. They don't realise you may still be feeling unhappy at not being the person you were, feeling tired, disliking the scars, difficulty washing, looking at the implant or whatever etc etc. and worried at the possible changes wrought by radiotherapy.

I’ve just finished radiotherapy and have been tearful every day, thinking “What now?”. I found the switch from breast clinic to oncology department unsettling, the clinic felt like a cocoon while attending months of appointments despite that I only had contact with my named BCN one time. The oncology department felt very impersonal, waiting area is like an aircraft hangar! Follow up oncology appointment in 6-10 weeks.

The next step is hormone therapy and I’m looking at the box of Letrozole I've been given, five year’s commitment and never moving on.

Exactly the way I feel. Even though the Breast Clinic was sometimes running 2 -3 hours late, I never minded. Everyone was so nice/comforting.  I do not know how to make the radiotherapy appts less production-line like, considering the prospect of 15 coming up with a very efficient kind of way of operating, rather than cocoon like.

I’m still having my treatment but I remember when my sister got the all clear from Hodgkin’s (and weirdly a lesser extent when I finished treatment for DCIS) we both crumbled afterwards, I think there’s something about the change of focus, the stopping all the regular appointments, the initial sense of relief, it creates a sort of void and all your adrenaline that’s kept you going leaves you and suddenly all the feelings and emotions you’ve held back just rush in to fill that void. It was a weird and distressing time, and yes really hard to deal with, cancer doesn’t end at the end of treatment sadly. Big hugs to you all xx

Just read through the thread here and wondered if I could ask those who have finished or are approaching the end of treatment how you knew it had worked.  May seem silly question!  I’m on here supporting my mum who began her journey in March with a mastectomy, her cancer had spread to 4 of the 6 lymph nodes removed so her treatment plan after surgery was 4 x three weekly EC then 9 x weekly Paclitaxel, then surgery to remove auxiliary lymph nodes then radiotherapy.  She’s on week 7 of Paclitaxel this week, they did say if she handled it well they may extend to 12 weeks she’ll know next week.  Next week she has an appointment with surgeon.  So after the chemo do we expect more scans to be sure there is no evidence of cancer or so they just plow ahead and scan at the end.  Also I’m getting more anxious about the tests is that normal did you feel anxious too?  Sorry lots of questions in there want to be as prepared as I can be for next week.  Thanks in advance Lisa