Insight into a survivors mind~

Dear everyone~ I am thankful that things have slowed down after a very intense year and half and am looking forward to beginning the healing process. I thought it might be helpful to others going through a cancer diagnosis and for their families, friends and caretakers to share some of my experiences, thoughts,beliefs and insights of things that worked and those that did not in helping me cope with a diagnosis of an "incurable" cancer. I will now start posting as these times come to mind and hope that my experiences will help with insight to anyone affected by cancer, weather it is you or someone you love and care about. Maybe it is a stranger or someone you work with.

For these posts I will not send an e-mail notice out. Just check them as you feel you would like to or pass on to someone that it may help. For today I will start with where I am now in all of this but then I will go back to the beginning from diagnosis.

Last night I watched part of an interview with Robin Roberts on Good Morning America. She too this past year has been battling breast cancer. Her journey has been documented and she said a couple of things in the interview that were so simple yet so important. I thought I would add my own experiences on to some of hers.

1) Understanding the survivor AFTER treatment is done~ in my case the treatment will be on-going but for most there is an end as there was for me the first time. Although the majority of us do not want to be pitied or babied we do want people to understand this is not "getting over the flu". The healing process brings a whole new dimension to this fight along with fears, doubts, anxieties as well as hope for a future and trying to figure out what your "new life" looks like. Our bodies and minds have been through a war and need a lot of time to recover. So, we need time and patience :)

2)This is NOT my life story just something in my life, a part of my life. What is appreciated is being treated like you treat anyone else or the relationship as it was before. Sometimes changes do have to be made if the relationships were not healthy to begin with or worked on to change them.However, the survivor may not have the mental or emotional capabilities at this time to work on these unhealthy relationships. They may have to be put on the "back burner". Overall, day to day we are the same people and want nothing more than to live a "normal" life. But.. we are fighting for that life.

3) I cannot say I am in remission or cancer free. I can say I believe in Gods healing power and that they are not seeing any "active" cancer at this time. Having the prayer support and support of family, friends, church family and even the strangers that cheered me on by my name as I ran the half marathon do wonders for us! The connection of others is vital and the power of prayer is shown all throughout this blog and my journey. So, thank you all for your continued prayers and support.

More posts later on "living my life with metastatic breast cancer"~