Why Is the Breast Cancer Fight Never Over?

The surgeries, chemo, and radiation treatments all have end dates. So, why is the breast cancer fight never over?

When someone has a pain in their stomach diagnosed as appendicitis, they have surgery to remove the problem. They do not refer to themselves as appendicitis survivors for the rest of their lives. At least, I have never met anyone that has.

I have, however, met many breast cancer survivors. That moniker sticks with you. If you do not mention it, someone else usually will.

My last radiation treatment was May 25, 2017. I am darn close to the elusive fifth-anniversary mark. However, my breast cancer fight is not over. Why?

Because chemotherapy, radiation, and anastrozole all have side effects. Post-cancer side effects are real and challenging; hence, cancer lingers in my life and the lives of many other survivors. It’s why every day, I strive to keep outwitting life.

Are you aware of this?

I recently learned two women I know had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Both are early stage which is great because that means it is treatable. My heart aches for them. They are about to embark on individual journeys that are impossible to prepare for since there is no way to determine their paths ahead of time.

Will they have adverse reactions to chemotherapy or radiation? How weak might they become? How will they handle hair loss if it happens to them? Have they thought about any possible long-term side-effects, or are they hardly able to put one foot in front of the other? I am guessing they can barely breathe.

Breast Cancer Fight

It is devastating to receive such news. Your entire life flashes before your eyes. Will you live long enough to see your children get married or to hold a grandchild? The thoughts that swirl through your brain are shocking.

Hearing that people I know have been diagnosed with breast cancer immediately makes me recall my experiences when first diagnosed. It brings back so many memories I wish I could erase. I have to keep reminding myself that this is not about me. Gosh, it stinks.

And it also makes me angry! Why couldn’t I have just gotten an appendicitis? I bet my two friends would gladly accept that in place of breast cancer too.

Reasons Why the Breast Cancer Fight is Never Over

• Chemotherapy doesn’t kill just cancer cells. It kills all sorts of cells–that may cause complications later on
• Radiation treatment specifically targets cancer cells too, but can sometimes touch areas close by
• Lumpectomies can cause imbalance of the breasts as well as nipple or breast deformities
• Anastrazole (or any post-cancer medicine) has multiple known side-effects but is good at preventing recurrence

The bullet points above are specific to me and my breast cancer treatment. Women who have mastectomies with reconstruction surgery can have a host of other challenges. I had invasive ductal carcinoma; however, there are so many more types of breast cancer. This is why no two journeys are alike.

Decision Making is Hard

The urgency I felt at the point of diagnosis had me make decisions without asking the right questions. Once I heard “breast cancer,” all I wanted to do was get it out of me! I asked for the most aggressive, previously successful option available to me.

Was it the right decision? So far, so good, but I wish I had done more research to understand exactly what I was doing to my body. I specifically avoided internet support groups and blogs (like this) because I didn’t want to become overwhelmed. Having never had breast cancer before, I had no clue what to ask my doctor other than, “how do I beat this?”

I found my doctor shared information on a need-to-know basis. Do you know those commercials that list all thirty side effects a pill can cause? Imagine if you had to listen to all the potential side effects of chemotherapy and radiation treatments recited at once. Talk about overwhelming!

It makes sense my doctor was stingy with the information since everything is only a potential side effect. Why get yourself stressed out when you have no idea if you will experience any of it? Yet, at the same time, I wish I knew how potent these drugs were, so I wasn’t surprised by the side effects. Does that make any sense?

General Advice for Those Newly Diagnosed with Breast Cancer

• Know your options. If your doctor says there’s only one course of treatment, get a second opinion.
• Ask questions regarding short/long term side effects. Educate yourself to know what to expect.
• Be gentle with yourself. There is no right or wrong way to do this; there is only YOUR way.

One significant thing to remember is that you didn’t do anything to cause this. You cannot compare breast cancer to going outside without your hat on and catching a cold. Cancer has no rhyme or reason in terms of where it strikes. My family has no history of breast cancer, and I do not have the BRCA gene.

Please do not blame yourself for this! And definitely do not lie awake at night wondering what you did to deserve this.

Learn to Have Thick Skin

People acting all innocent will undoubtedly ask you, “Do you eat a lot of sugar?” “How often do you eat green vegetables?” Or, my favorite, “Do you belong to a gym?” NONE of these things are responsible for you getting cancer. They are comments coming from ignorant people. Ignore them.

Ditto to the people that tell you to “move on” from cancer when you finish treatment. Unfortunately, you are never finished with cancer. As long as you breathe, you will always be a cancer survivor. I have four green dots tatooed on my back to guide the technicians on aiming the radiation. Having had two lumpectomies, I see my scars in the mirror every day.

Thank goodness God blessed me with a sense of humor. I joke about having one and a half boobs! I cannot change what happened or is happening to me (side effects). I can control how I deal with my circumstances. I work at staying positive every day. Who wants to wallow in pity?

ATTITUDE IS A LITTLE THING THAT MAKES A BIG DIFFERENCE

Winston Churchill

I want to help other women by sharing my experience with breast cancer. Yes, it is terrible and scary. It is also survivable. I would much rather deal with side effects than the alternative.

There are so many resources available for patients, caregivers, and survivors. My favorite is the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center website. It is a wealth of factual information! You can sign up for an account to access their site even if you are not a patient there. You can submit questions and receive answers directly from on-staff nurses. https://www.mskcc.org/

Do you know any survivors or recently diagnosed breast cancer patients? Feel free to share this post with them or the link to cancer articles on my blog https://www.outwittinglife.com/category/cancer/.

One last thing – please let me know if anything here resonated with you in the comment section below, and don’t forget to follow me on social media.