Life after Cancer…

It’s been a couple of months since I last wrote on here so I hope you are all well and getting ready for the Christmas period! I have finally finished putting my tree up after wanting it up since October!! 🎄🎅

One more week and it’s Christmas eve!!!

I am doing well, feeling well and generally living life. I am in a good place at the moment but it has taken a few months to get here, with a lot of positive support from my family and friends. Thank you.

On Friday 30th November, 1 year ago, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I had the same consultant and this time he just looked at me with a sad smile and said – “I think you know what I’m going to say..”. And there it was, in the blink of an eye, a breath taken in – I had Breast Cancer- again.

Now we are one year on and getting ready for Christmas again – and what a year it has been.

I still have up and down days and still can’t quite work out why I should feel so down now it’s over, it’s gone.

I have 1 more pound to lose and then I will be pre-cancer weight. It’s taken such a long time to get the weight off but I am slowly getting there. The bloatedness has almost gone and my face also no longer represents the moon!!

I am still taking Tamoxifen and the pain from the side effects are increasing – My hips, knees and back are constantly sore but it is mostly bearable, unlike today when i couldn’t get out of bed! 😕 I don’t like giving in, it’s not what I do, but sometimes you have to.

I decided to give up alcohol 12 weeks ago. I did this for several reasons but the main one was for my health, reducing my risk of reoccurrence and my notes from the hospital which did advise ‘minimal’ alcohol! My cancer was ER positive which means my cancer cells were ‘fed’ by my hormones and encouraged them to grow – rapidly. Alcohol raises estrogen levels in the body and for breast cancer survivors, some early studies suggested, that for ER positive breast cancer, risk of recurrence may increase when a woman has more than one or two drinks per week. I did enjoy a drink – as many of you will know! – but it is a small price to pay to help ensure that I will remain well and anything that helps to reduce the risk is worth it to continue to be here for my family. I have found some non-alcoholic wine, gin and fizzy prosecco which are very drinkable.

Don’t be afraid to admit you need help. I used to think (and still do to a certain extent) that if you had to ask for help or admit that you couldn’t do something on your own it was a failing. This is of course WRONG! I did eventually admit that I couldn’t quite do it all on my own (fairly recently infact). I battled with this but I’m beginning to accept that it’s not a weakness to ask someone for help or advice. In fact it can take a lot of courage to do so. No-one is super human – no matter what they think!

I had another tattoo done in October. You all know how I love my inspirational quotes and this one was given as a charm from a friend for my birthday. I loved it and the words meant a lot so I decided to have it tattooed on my shoulder. I know a lot of you don’t like tattoos (my mother will be appalled!) but this is for me and it’s very meaningful, as all my tattoos are – and I love it!!

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