The Time Between…. Managing Life Post Cancer Treatment
I am the last person who ever thought she would get breast cancer. I was more apt to believe that I could fly then that I would get breast cancer in my life. I went to do my yearly mammograms only because my OB/GYN suggested I do them as my insurance covered it.
In April 2016, I got called back for the first time due to a minor inflammation in the duct of my right breast and put on a six month “squeeze” plan with ultrasound. In November 2016, that calcification was cancerous.
With cancer, you learn quickly that it can always be worse so you spend a lot of time just trying to come to peace with what you have. Cancer is not something that you get and then it’s “over” – the treatment lasts many months and even when it is done you still have more to do and deal with in your new life post cancer. I started blogging to share my story, at first anonymously because I was ashamed of being sick – I was sick of pity and having people look at me with my wig with those faces, you know the kind.
I learned through sharing that I am empowered and that I am not alone. Many of us are living in this time in between – we completed our treatment but we do not know what will be next – we are not “done” and “cured” as so many people ask us and we will not be called that for years post diagnosis, depending on the type of cancer we have had. Instead I think to myself, “I am healthy; I am cured.” Even if no one else will tell me.
I was lucky to find Sharsheret’s website where I was able to order a Survivorship Kit through my Facebook feed. One thing I am learning is that there is not a lot of support for the time after diagnosis and treatment, and Sharsheret has been my bridge to help me continue to live in this “time between,” and provide me with tailored support and resources to keep me focused on staying healthy in survivorship.
Lisa Vento Nielsen is blogging at thetimebetweenis.weebly.com