Welcome to Brave Amazons...continued
The first thing I want to say to you is this; anything you feel right now is absolutely normal, acceptable, understandable, and is experienced by anyone who is diagnosed with breast cancer. There are scores of thousands of us out there, who have experienced all that you are feeling, and have yet to feel. You are not alone.
Whenever things get really bad, and you feel shaken, dejected and afraid, just try to remember these four little words; I AM NOT ALONE. It doesn't make your situation any better to be told so many others are suffering like you are but, in many ways, knowing that others understand what you are going through and exactly how you are feeling about what is happening to you will help to comfort you.
They can all empathise because they are all experiencing the same feelings and fears, or have done so in the past. And those emotions are unforgettable; all of us remember how we felt when we first discovered the lump or other abnormality in our breast, the anxiety of waiting for the scan results, the sheer terror of anticipating the biopsy result, then being told that we had been positively diagnosed as having breast cancer, listening to the doctor explaining how the cancer would be treated but not really hearing because it all seemed so unreal, knowing that we would lose part or all of our breast, dreading the prospect of having to endure the harsh, punishing treatment of chemotherapy in order to have the best chance of survival.
Who could ever forget how they felt when faced with all of this? Not you, and certainly not I. But because you are here with me now, I can call on those feelings and fears from my past and use them to try to help you. This might be a good time for you to go make yourself a nice, warm, soothing drink, then come back and sit with me, comfortable and comforted, and read on.
The fact that you have visited this site indicates you have an interest in breast cancer. You may be someone who actually has this disease, or has concerns about someone close to you who does. Your interest may be simply one of curiosity, or perhaps you are a member of the medical profession, or someone who is involved in the support and care of breast cancer patients. If you fall into the last three categories I'd like you to know that what you will find here won't be a list of medical facts, or a generalised summary of the types and natures of breast cancer in all its forms. What you will gain is clear insight into what goes on in the mind of a breast cancer sufferer and, if they have one, their partner.
This is what my site is all about; making others aware of what it's really like to have this disease. It's a site for people having or living with breast cancer, by someone who has had it and survived. This isn't to say it won't be helpful to you; on the contrary, one retired nursing sister who trained student nurses in the palliative care of cancer patients read the book I have written about my experiences of having breast cancer, and wrote a review. If you are close to someone with breast cancer and are looking for ways in which to best support them, or needing a bit of understanding yourself because you are finding it so hard, seeing the person you love going through their ordeal, you will, hopefully, find help on this site. But if you are someone who has breast cancer, either newly-diagnosed or further into your treatment, this site is for you, and I want you to feel especially welcome here.