the future

So sorry to hear your diagnosis yesterday.   I am sure you are terrified and full of questions.    My advice is to give yourself some time to absorb this news and then write down your worries and questions to discuss with your oncology team.   Once you have a treatment plan in place you will gradually adjust to this new way of life.  Any decisions about the future can wait until you feel ready to face them.   You will find lots of useful advice on this site and will learn that members have often been on treatment for many years and that new treatments are evolving all the time.       I have spread to my liver and abdomen but the treatment is keeping the cancer checked for the moment and is quite doable.    There will be regular hospital appointments but this will give you some support - don't be afraid to ask for help.       I hope you find this site helpful x

thankyou so much, it doesn't seem real right now, funnily this morning me and hubby felt we wanted to plan our holiday for next april!! seems a goal, however silly is a good start for us...just need a decent insurance quote!!..this sounds flippant but to me its how itend to deal with stuff..

Hello,

Is it OK for me to ask things here?  I'm active on another cancer group and have just finished my chemo, for now. 

I have a young friend in her 40s who has just been diagnosed  with liver and lung recurrences,10 years after her breast cancer treatment.  She's on palbociclib and fulvestrantim.  She's tolerating this quite well, compared with her original chemo years ago. 

The future is suddenly scary, just when she thought she was out of the cancer business.  Frankly, she's too frightened to take much info in.  There's nothing like the Maggie's Centres where she lives and no other counselling has been offered, but I have a clinical background as well as my own cancer experience and I'd like to help her feel a bit better & be a supportive friend.

I know the help line people are great.  But I think she's not ready to talk to anyone on the phone just yet.  She's asked me to do some reading around the issues for her.   Advice and suggestions would be so helpful, please.

Cecren

hi, just wanted to say I was diagnosed 4 weeks ago. I never even knew about secondary breast cancer even though ive had breast cancer twice in the past, so im new to all of this too. im not the fountain of knowledge but I can be a listening board if needed. I get the feeling I will hve rants here so that I can be strong for my family...so feel free to chat if needed

Thanks acer!  

It can be a lonely place, can't it? We blithely assume there will be counselling, support and lots of explantions, but it doesn't happen that way for patients who just get the medical basics & live out in the boonies.  That' why I'm searching for solid information for my friend who is so scared and bewildered right now.

Information helped me get my head straight when I was diagnosed.  It gave me a mental map to my disease and my options.  Some people like to know this stuff, some don't.  I think that when the options are blind panic or despair, it's good to know there's a lot more out there.  Macmillan is a great resource & so is Cancer Research.

Cancers are increasingly something like a troublesome chronic disease, rather than a short slippery slope.   Some stuff can't be cured, but it can be managed and controlled.  It is a fast moving area of medical research and we benefit from this.   I'm old enough to remember how it used to be and deeply grateful for all those changes and developments.

Rants are good! 

Cecren