Hi Jaxdora,

Welcome to the forum that nobody really wants to join.

You do not mention your age, what stage your cancer is or what type of breast cancer you have. These can be important factors when it comes to spread. You have obviously hit it with everything in the hope of preventing metastases and I sincerely hope that this works for you.

I was diagnosed with breast cancer 7 years ago and had a lumpectomy followed by Tamoxifen. A year later I was diagnosed with a second bout of primary cancer in the same breast. This time I had a double mastectomy and changed to Letrozole. I was looking forward to finishing my Letrozole and thought that I would be delighted when this day arrived. I took it for an extra year to enure that it was as effective as it could be. I stopped taking it this year and find that I now feel as if my safety blanket has been pulled from under me.

I admit that I too am terrified of it coming back. I was lucky last time that it was another primary, but I don't believe that I would have managed so well if it had been a secondary. I think that this must be a fear for most people who get a cancer diagnosis and I have no easy advice on how to cope with it. You can get counselling for this, but it doesn't work for everyone.

I try not to look too far into the future and just take things on a day-to-day basis. Life is short enough anyway, so I try to make the most of every day as it comes along.

You will find this forum very supportive as you make your way along your cancer journey, so please keep in touch and let us know how you are getting on. There is always someone here for you. Most of us have either been through cancer treatment ourselves or we have nursed someone through it.

You will find it quite cathartic to write down how you feel at times.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

Hi Jbains,

As I said to Jaxdora,  this feeling of fear is something that we all have to live with once we have had a cancer diagnosis. When you are coming to terms with the shock of diagnosis, surgery, treatment, etc you don't have much time or energy to think of anything else. It is once you have finished all this that you have time to dwell on other possibilities. You are quite right that it is important to nip it in the bud before it escalates. Do you check yourself regularly now? I do and have been back to hospital for reassurance on a few occasions.

I had been feeling like a time waster initially, although to be fair, my care team were always very attentive. If you read my post to Jaxdora you will see that I have so far only had one recurrence, which was fortunately still a primary, but this has made me realise that I certainly wasn't wasting anyone's time.

Have you been finding the external professional help of any benefit?  Don't worry about shedding all those tears. Crying is a great way to relieve stress.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

Hi jolamine

im 47 and was er- positive breast cancer stage 2 I have a 5 year old son and it was having him that made me strong enough to get through treatment as half way through chemo I wanted to give up x

Hi jbains 

mum waiting at the min for a counsellor to get in touch with me I'm not good at talking like that though but I'm going to try anything I think this group will be good for me cos we all know what each other is going through x

Hi Jaxdora,

I am glad that your son was there to give you the impetus to fight chemo. Getting through chemo can be tough but I'm sure that you are now glad that you finished your course.

Let's just hope and pray that you will now be here to see him grow up.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx