Thanks to OAL for giving me the shove up the derriere I needed with her close-out post! Having just had four days away visiting friends I came back to read the forum posts and realised that I was more than just ‘out of touch’ with the threads I’d followed, but most were threads I had never read. I also realised that my “compulsive rescuer” tendency means I could stay here for ever answering every query that matches my experience, and that isn’t healthy for anyone.
I hope to stay in touch with the Glasgow and Ayrshire gals in real life, and in email or PM contact with a few others where we’ve made a more significant connection, but beyond that I reckon it’s time to move on.
Hopefully next month I will get a date for the final stages of my plastics work, then it’s just dear old Tam O’Xifen and the 6 monthly checks for the balance of five years.
I am still PM-able if you want to ask me anything or to keep in touch, and will no doubt pop back from time to time. Who knows I may even continue to post now and then if the addiction gets the better of me! I know you will continue to offer each other and any newbies loads of fabulous support; it has been a privilege to knoew you a little.
In the nicest possible way, I hope I don’t need to return here other than as a visitor, and I wish you all lots of love, and life in its richest abundance. Stay true to who you all are, and as it’s my thing, may God bless you all.
Sorry to see you go Revcat ,but pleased you feel able to move on.As you say hope you only ever come back as a visitor but please do pop in from time to time.Thanks for all the helpfull advice you have given us all you will be missed .Take care ,Love Sharon xx
oh no not you as well … think id better try and break the habbit 2… i still find it so difficult to move forward… this has been my lifeline for 15 months… wishing you well and so hope you never feel the need to come back and join us … … angie xx
You were another person like AOL who first replied to me when I first logged on, thank you for your kind words and the wisdom you have posted on here. You will be truly missed.
Active treatment ending is the first stage but travelling on to live without medical support so frequently accessed is another stage entirely!
I found this stage far more difficult to manage actually and it was good to keep links open here because there were some deadly times ahead…
We’re all very different but advertising your departure may lead others to compare and worry that they’re needing support longer and feel less worthy.
Maybe posting less is a natural conclusion for many of us and waiting a little longer to post when you read of women in despair might challenge your need to help/counsel/support…
Personally I want to repay the kindness I received when sharing a multitude of anxieties during my recovery and to show others who are just starting this journey that 12 months/24 months down the road life can improve slowly…
Also the women with secondaries who often support those of us with primaries deserve our contact now and then despite the fact we cannot share their drug/treatment experiences. Just to acknowledge their day to day living (with or without struggle) is a reminder for me. (Please may that not sound condescending or patronising! My family links with secondary BC have shaped me there and so I have a personal insight into this area.)
I have no wish to be controversial and wish you a very healthy recovery but if life didn’t run as smoothly as you wish I hope you wouldn’t feel awkward about posting again…
All the very best. It’s been great to read some of your comments from the point of view of your profession! I think they have linked us together very soundly despite our individual belief systems. You have been very open and that has enabled others to share so openly with you. It’s been a fascinating by-product of this horrendous journey we have shared together…
I appreciate you want to move on & hope all goes well. I completed active treatment in March & for a while I also “left”. I found though that I drift back on occasion.
I’ve been back on more recently due to anxiety whist approaching first annual mammo & today I noticed 2 ladies posted as they were about to have the same. I replied to them to offer support just as you have to me on a couple of occasions.
Don’t forget you can always come back; I tend to come & go a bit or sometimes not log on but just read a few posts.