Cancer changes you.
Life after treatment will not be the same as it was before. As I approach radiotherapy I look on it as part of my journey – and I find myself reflecting a lot on what lies beyond.
Many women speak about the journey beyond breast cancer being harder than the journey through treatment. Beyond Breast Cancer is one of the most popular blogs I have come across.
In many respects the treatment phase is the safest. Life is scheduled and controlled by skilled people whose job it is to make you better. And any cancer cells are being hit with drugs, surgery, radiation – blasted from all angles.
Friends and family rally round to support.
But what next?
Months of silence and not knowing; waiting for the first annual review.
Am I a cancer victim, a cancer survivor, a woman who had cancer, a woman in remission? I feel differently about each statement. I have written before about the language of cancer. The names we give ourselves link with an emotional response – and so I want to choose my words carefully.
What I think affects how I feel. My body responds to the thoughts and feelings I have. And how I think and feel and respond affects others around me. We all know what it is like to be in the presence of someone whose mood dominates the atmosphere, even though no words are spoken.
I am me.
18 radiotherapy sessions gives me 18 steps to frame and reframe my thoughts about who I am and what choices I can make about my journey beyond breast cancer.
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