So ive just recently finished my first year of Immunotherapy, the consultant optioning to go for surveillance and hold off further treatments for now given the prevalence of side effects I have developed. I have found that I have had to manage this battle on my own more or less, yes I have my family here, some have been great, so not so much, but I havent been able to talk to anyone about it in person, and phone calls often got disturbed. Where I live there is no Macmillan nurses close by , there are some where I got treatment and some at the local hospital, both places are reached by public transport and when I was in treatment I was provided patient transport services.
However ive not been able to access these, am suffering with chronic fatigue and couldnt manage the 1hr long journey to either of these places. I had a long search for local support groups but there are none and find myself in a support desert as such and its hard as for me I need to speak to someone in person at times and I dont know what to do.
Ive spoken to my oncologist team and my gp and they both mention the places I just have, which leaves me in tears, as I find myself struggling more now my immunotherapy has completed this 1 year. I feel cut adrift by the oncology team, even though they will be still watching for signs of cancer return, and the same for my GP but I feel more alont now than I did at the beginning. the uncertainty and waiting is getting to me and I cant talk to my family about it as they cant cope with all, and I dont have any friends that I can talk to either (for context I only recently got home after surviving severe domestic violence for over 15 years so lost contact with alot of people and was isolated for along time so in person contact means a great deal to me now)
Im not sure where to turn to, my assigned cancer nurse is never about for me to get solutions for tackling how I am feeling.
