Very interesting topic @jayesse
I was asked by the Breast Care Nurse attached to the breast surgeon after 7 months of treatment (surgery, chemo with Herceptin and radiotherapy, still had ongoing Herceptin) if I needed any mental health support. But said wait until next check in and at that check in she decided I was ‘much better’. I went on to have two lots of counselling with work, one in the telephone and the other face to face. The telephone wasn’t great but the face to face was more productive which happened to finished after my last Herceptin.
I have to admit for the first 6 months I was in survival mode and just wanted to get through my treatment and as has been said it hit me more after the radiotherapy finished as I stopped having regular check ins. My herceptin was transferred from the NHS to a private provider and had had multiple nurses who came and did some time talking to me but there was no offer of any official mental health support.
I have some ongoing pain issues and eventually a cancer physio diagnosed me with bilateral cording. I had a lumpectomy and sentinel node biopsy so was very low risk and nobody checked even though I complained about pain for 9 months. I had some nerve and neck issues so the physio exercises were similar but now I had some massage on top. I got upset at my consultation and she did say she could refer me for help. I was so frightened that it had taken so long to diagnose as I have good movement but ongoing pain.
As you mentioned you were having Phesgo I wondered if you wanted to join a thread for HER2+ buddies. We have treatment for more than a year and it offers ongoing support. There are people at different stages of their treatment.
