What was your year after treatment was over like?

carrebear03

My diagnosis was January 2014 so I spent all last year having chemo two surgeries, radiation, and then I had one more surgery this year.  Last year going through it all I was on auto pilot and just doing what I had to do to get through it all and everyone says I did so amazing.  This year it hit me.......I HAVE/HAD cancer.  Its been rough trying to figure out how to live and get back to a normal after all that.  So what was your year after treatments like?

camul

I was first dx'd in 2002

Dx in Late JAN 2002.  Had 6 surgeries between February and November.  Went thru chemo, was transferred out of state.during chemo (5+ hour drive each way).  Drove home every Thursday night and Back Sunday for treatments, blood work etc.  Was transferred back, 18 weeks later.  

Everyone else was telling.me uhh ow.great I looked... blah blah blah...yet insideeverything had changed.  My body, (weight gain which was foreign).  Not.feeling good, not really sick, just tiring easier, bloated, implants that never felt quite.right, extremely sore joints, and the nagging what ifs.  Yet, I didn't feel right sharing any of this because I should just be grateful that I was alive and doing.well.

The move and commuting depleted my savings, yet I had a good paying position and was starting over again!  I had gone thru my divorce 2 years b4 the cancer and was finally in a position to buy a house or condo for myself and my boys.

 

So that first year after was really hard.  I was expected to be my old self, but had no idea how to do that because that person was gone.  That was when thteen's normal' started making sense.  Whenever ewe go thru any life altering experience it changes our whole perspective on life.

For me, one of the hardest parts have been the financial pressures.  That has been almost as difficult as the disease itself.  In my support group here, I have seen what th I s disease has done to relationships, financially, how different cancers can affect our bodies and destroy self esteem, so I work hard at reamainng positive, and it helps but it does not always work!

With time, like everything else, it got better!

So my first year after was hard!

Carol

button2

It's rough when the reality

It's rough when the reality hits you. I cried for a week when I realized I had cancer. After that, I decided to stop wasting time and started enjoying myself. Life is short! I now do many simple things like ignoring negative people, doing what I really like, showing the people I love how I feel. If your child likes a certain cookie, then bake them! If your husband likes to go to a ballgame, join him! I no longer do housework that nobody cares about (you should see the state of my windows!) and I have lost contact completely with "friends" who never bothered to check in with me during treatment. I am civil to several people I can't cut out of my life, but I wouldn't spend time on their needs. Most of all, I take time for things I used to enjoy and thought I no longer had time for. I have always loved running, so for the past two years, I started again very slowly. I just ran my very first half marathon in May! So I would suggest looking back at what you loved when you were younger and start doing it again whatever that interest may be (painting, musical instrument, reading etc)  Life isn't a dress rehearsal, this is the one life you've got, make the most of it!! Hugs, Anna

desertgirl947

I spent December 2011 -

I spent December 2011 - mid-October 2012 being "imaged," biopsied, and then diagnosed with two different types of cancer, one side more involved than the other.  I opted for a double mastectomy, even though I probably could have had something less radical for the one side.  I just did not want to have to be overly concerned about recurrence, and so I attacked my cancer aggressively.  The surgery was the third week of February -- had been delayed because of an infection that required incising and draining.  I had to heal from that.  I did chemo every other week from April - July.  About three weeks after that, I started radiation.  I had some burning from that, and it was easier for me to deal with that by not going to work -- I am in education.  I was away from work from the middle of February to the end of the school year.  In September, I did half days because my radiation schedule was such that I missed mornings.  I took about 10 days off to let the burns heal, resuming a full schedule after Columbus Day weekend.  (I started hormonal therapy just before I did rads.)

The first year off was weird in that it seemed life finally slowed back down.  I was not going here and there for appointments or treatments.  My schedule at school was such that year that I was able to have some good breaks twice a day, once in the morning and again in the afternoon.  So, I was not bothered by fatigue like I might have been. I tried to keep my daily schedule manageable, generally staying in evenings -- especially during the week.  It took quite some time for the tightness in my chest (from the surgery) to loosen.  Once that happened, the easier, more comfortable movement was a big boost.  I did not have major problems throughout my treatments, and so that might account for my first year not being too challenging or intimidating.

I did not spend that initial year fretting about whether or not the cancer might come back.  I looked for milestones I was reaching so I could be encouraged.  It was -- still is -- a good feeling to reach those milestones on the way back to normalcy.  I still have milestones to reach, and so I keep looking to the time when I will get to another. 

I was glad to be alive.  I was glad to be able to resume life.  A few things were/are different, but it really is not a big deal.  I guess I have had a pride in having gotten through what I did. 

Double Whammy

desertgirl947 said:

I spent December 2011 -

I spent December 2011 - mid-October 2012 being "imaged," biopsied, and then diagnosed with two different types of cancer, one side more involved than the other.  I opted for a double mastectomy, even though I probably could have had something less radical for the one side.  I just did not want to have to be overly concerned about recurrence, and so I attacked my cancer aggressively.  The surgery was the third week of February -- had been delayed because of an infection that required incising and draining.  I had to heal from that.  I did chemo every other week from April - July.  About three weeks after that, I started radiation.  I had some burning from that, and it was easier for me to deal with that by not going to work -- I am in education.  I was away from work from the middle of February to the end of the school year.  In September, I did half days because my radiation schedule was such that I missed mornings.  I took about 10 days off to let the burns heal, resuming a full schedule after Columbus Day weekend.  (I started hormonal therapy just before I did rads.)

The first year off was weird in that it seemed life finally slowed back down.  I was not going here and there for appointments or treatments.  My schedule at school was such that year that I was able to have some good breaks twice a day, once in the morning and again in the afternoon.  So, I was not bothered by fatigue like I might have been. I tried to keep my daily schedule manageable, generally staying in evenings -- especially during the week.  It took quite some time for the tightness in my chest (from the surgery) to loosen.  Once that happened, the easier, more comfortable movement was a big boost.  I did not have major problems throughout my treatments, and so that might account for my first year not being too challenging or intimidating.

I did not spend that initial year fretting about whether or not the cancer might come back.  I looked for milestones I was reaching so I could be encouraged.  It was -- still is -- a good feeling to reach those milestones on the way back to normalcy.  I still have milestones to reach, and so I keep looking to the time when I will get to another. 

I was glad to be alive.  I was glad to be able to resume life.  A few things were/are different, but it really is not a big deal.  I guess I have had a pride in having gotten through what I did. 

I felt lost

I guess that's the best word to describe that first year.  Looking for where I belonged, afraid what might happen if I made a wrong turn, facing follow-up appointments that seemed never ending although my prognosis was really good.  Because I had the "double whammy" (both breast and endometrial cancers at the same time), I had oncologists for both ends, so I had double the appointments.  Because my prognosis was so good, it didn't feel like they were doing enough, so I worried about that.  I have never had  a CT scan, for example (I know now that it wasn't necessary).  I do have a mammogram once a year and a breast MRI once a year (so they're 6 month apart), but that is the only imaging I have.  I learned (mostly from this group) that these feelings are normal, but it did take a while before I could look at things objectively.  The what ifs will likely always pop up now and then, but it's been almost 5 years now and I don't feel like that "new" cancer patient anymore.  I feel like me.  I know what to do should a symptom appear, but I no longer go looking for them.  I had to get through the first couple of years emotionally.  I had to learn that if it shows up again, it will, and I did everything I was supposed to prevent that (surgery, chemo, radiation), and given my stage and grade, everything was almost certainly fine.   All of the follow up visits, tests, and scans are not going to prevent a recurrence.  All they will do is hopefully catch a recurrence earlier that can be treated earlier, and hopefully it would be a local recurrence rather than in a distant organ.   

It gets better, but for me, time was the best medicine.  I don't think I dwelled on it because I did get back to doing everything I wanted to, and I did learn a very valuable lesson in life.  All of that stuff you hear about not feeding into toxic people, doing what you want, and just plain living are true.  Hope you get there soon.

Suzanne

morgamed

Double Whammy said:

I felt lost

I guess that's the best word to describe that first year.  Looking for where I belonged, afraid what might happen if I made a wrong turn, facing follow-up appointments that seemed never ending although my prognosis was really good.  Because I had the "double whammy" (both breast and endometrial cancers at the same time), I had oncologists for both ends, so I had double the appointments.  Because my prognosis was so good, it didn't feel like they were doing enough, so I worried about that.  I have never had  a CT scan, for example (I know now that it wasn't necessary).  I do have a mammogram once a year and a breast MRI once a year (so they're 6 month apart), but that is the only imaging I have.  I learned (mostly from this group) that these feelings are normal, but it did take a while before I could look at things objectively.  The what ifs will likely always pop up now and then, but it's been almost 5 years now and I don't feel like that "new" cancer patient anymore.  I feel like me.  I know what to do should a symptom appear, but I no longer go looking for them.  I had to get through the first couple of years emotionally.  I had to learn that if it shows up again, it will, and I did everything I was supposed to prevent that (surgery, chemo, radiation), and given my stage and grade, everything was almost certainly fine.   All of the follow up visits, tests, and scans are not going to prevent a recurrence.  All they will do is hopefully catch a recurrence earlier that can be treated earlier, and hopefully it would be a local recurrence rather than in a distant organ.   

It gets better, but for me, time was the best medicine.  I don't think I dwelled on it because I did get back to doing everything I wanted to, and I did learn a very valuable lesson in life.  All of that stuff you hear about not feeding into toxic people, doing what you want, and just plain living are true.  Hope you get there soon.

Suzanne

Woman on a Mission

I was dx’d with stage II breast cancer on the left side July 5^th 2014.  The following week I saw an oncologist, and an oncologist surgeon.   Both I fired the day I saw them.  They wanted me to do what they thought was best but I didn’t want to have chemo first before surgery.  I knew I wanted surgery and as quick as possible.  I didn’t want reconstruction or partial breast removed.  I wanted them both GONE!   July 31 was my surgery and they took 21 lymph nodes.  I had follow up on that next Monday where I had the results of the nodes.  CLEAN!! Nuttin. They couldn’t find anything so the Dr was more than happy to say the least.

I waited 6 months for my PET/CT scan.  Clean as a whistle they couldn’t find anything to give me a pill for.  I’m almost 1 year out and feel like I have a new lease on life.  If I hadn’t been a woman on a mission I would have put my body through chemo and all types of drugs and who knows what condition I would be in today. 

I have such compassion for all the women I read about here going through so much pain and suffering. 

GlowMore

Year After Treatment*

Treatment ended March 2003.......at least the Radiation ended then.  However because I was Triple Negative ...had to go back almost every week for blood work....then every other week...then Scans and more Scans and PET Scans and Bone Scans and then got a Frozen Shoulder from the Levaquin they had given me during the Chemo the previous year...and that took 5 months of three times a week PT...because the Frozen Shoulder was on the Left side and that was where my  lymph nodes had been taken...so they could not give me shots or operate... the PT was excrusiatingly painful...but I could finally raise my arm at the end of it.  So...I guess that the year after the end of chemo/radiation was the pits.   Hope yours is better.    However ...on the bright side....that was then and this is now and I'm still here. 

disneyfan2008

My cancer was much less then

My cancer was much less then yours. The only way I found this site was someone said they were a survior with just one (not breast cancer) surgeyr and no treatments. .

 

I used to just say I had cancer-never thought I was aq survivor!

 

I am sure others have some great advice for you.

 

Denise

ballerina06

disneyfan2008 said:

My cancer was much less then

My cancer was much less then yours. The only way I found this site was someone said they were a survior with just one (not breast cancer) surgeyr and no treatments. .

 

I used to just say I had cancer-never thought I was aq survivor!

 

I am sure others have some great advice for you.

 

Denise

After my last treatment

Wow! To try to be brief. That was 2009, after I had a reocurrance got severely depressed no one understood, had mastectomy, paranoid went on psch meds, admitted for a week, got bc in other breast and mastectomy with breast cellulitis 4months just cleared up last month.  However, I feel thankful to have come through it more mentally strong and physically I'm getting there. Got great support at the breast cancer center doing yoga! Oh! And I got great looking new boobs! I've learned to fine the positive in what appears negative. Remove negative people from my life and give to others, even more so. Wow! I think I will be doing after treatment forever

carrebear03

ballerina06 said:

After my last treatment

Wow! To try to be brief. That was 2009, after I had a reocurrance got severely depressed no one understood, had mastectomy, paranoid went on psch meds, admitted for a week, got bc in other breast and mastectomy with breast cellulitis 4months just cleared up last month.  However, I feel thankful to have come through it more mentally strong and physically I'm getting there. Got great support at the breast cancer center doing yoga! Oh! And I got great looking new boobs! I've learned to fine the positive in what appears negative. Remove negative people from my life and give to others, even more so. Wow! I think I will be doing after treatment forever

It's really nice to hear your

It's really nice to hear your stories about after treatment.  I thought this year would be so much easier and for some reason its just not.  I guess there are somethings in life that change you and even though I don't want to be a different person I am.  Thank you for sharing it makes me feel better other people felt similar to how I do.  

desertgirl947

carrebear03 said:

It's really nice to hear your

It's really nice to hear your stories about after treatment.  I thought this year would be so much easier and for some reason its just not.  I guess there are somethings in life that change you and even though I don't want to be a different person I am.  Thank you for sharing it makes me feel better other people felt similar to how I do.  

I agree.  I think we are all

I agree.  I think we are all different -- in more ways than just physically -- after this experience.  There are times I am proud to say I am a survivor; other times, I just get tired of it all.  There are times when I can't believe this came into my life; but, I have the proof of it -- and am reminded several times a day.

What helps me is that I do not allow myself to dwell on the negatives for long OR to fret about the future.