Friday will mark a year since my official diagnosis. I don’t think I ever processed it really. It never felt like I was in danger of dying and the treatment (surgery, chemo and radio) bumbled along quite nicely. Reconnected with some old friends along the way, and found out how much some people care. I didn’t even mind losing my hair.
I hit a low point after treatment ended. Struggled with my looks changing (hair regrowth is slow and an unsightly colour), developed oedema in my breast, and had to go back to work. Hormone treatments have been challenging. It’s like, everything was on pause for a bit and I was in a bit of a bubble. Pressing play meant dealing with all the crap I’d been dealing with before with work and childcare/elderly parent care while feeling more depleted in myself. I’m slowly crawling my way out of it again. Trying to prioritise things that bring me joy.
I tried the Moving Forward course but didn’t get anything out of it. A lot of the other participants seemed to want to ‘trauma dump’ and tbh I had compassion fatigue. I was also the youngest there by quite a few years and found it hard to relate to many of the issues raised. Think with a good cohort and a good facilitator it would work better.
Good luck to you going forward!
x