Survivor?

[smellingtherose]

Hello to everyone, I am new to this sight. I have read alot of the stories and do not feel so alone when others are saying the same as I am feeling. No one seems to understand all the changes that cancer makes in your life. I never understood what it ment to be a survivor but I do now. The medical profession treat cancer by cutting it out and/or with drugs then you are cured. Seems simple but all who are reading this know that it is far, very far from simple. I am a cancer survivor. My life now consists of medical checks - (lets just not go near seconary cancer) and rehab to get the body working after sugery, finding things to occupy and calm my mind, spending time each day doing something that I enjoy and resting so im not exhausted and lots of sleep and eating healthy food for energy. Everything on this list takes energy and effort but we keep going because we are alive.

[wombat4]

Well done, to be a cancer survivor is indeed a good place to be. Enjoy. wombat4

[wombat4]

Well done, to be a cancer survivor is indeed a good place to be. Enjoy. wombat4

[SamR]

Hi Yes the cancer "experience" really is only understood by those who have gone through it. It is a traumatic event, sudden and unexpected, life changing. Yet as hard as it may seem to "survive", it is intrinsic to our core. Take things slowly, let your mind "catch up" to the experience your body has been through. Slowly, your mind and soul will help to heal your body, if you can accept, "life after cancer", it's pitfalls, it's hurdles and sometimes it's newly created barriers (especially the tiredness factor). Remember though, life is uncertain, it always was, it is only after cancer that this fact comes into clear focus. A major car accident, a bushfire or a flood could also create such an emotional shift, rocking our very foundations ... but for this group it was cancer. The emotional side of the experience shouldn't be "undersold", yet it is or was at the time of my treatment. Stay positive, get plenty of rest, especially in the first few years after treatment & focus on the beautiful things in life, nature - birdsong, beaches and the sound of the sea. Meditation CD's are very good, at stilling the mind of "what-if's". Go Well! Sam

[SILLY]

Yes,other cancer survivors understand . Wise words from Sam.

[glenys48woods]

Yes I am a survivor as I have beaten the cancer and my Surgeon has told me that it won't return. It is great to hear this from a breast cancer surgeon. I have my first 12 months mammogram in June 2012 so I hope everything will be OK then. I haven't had kemo or radiation and only on a hormone tablet for 5 years. I still didn't want to go through breast cancer as it is so wrong to go through it. I got it off lightly with no kemo or radiation. Glenys. x0