2 years from diagnosis

Today is my two year anniversary from my triple negative breast cancer diagnosis and one year from the end of treatment. I am so grateful that I am here and able to write this blog. The hardship, that has been the last two years, has made me so much stronger. 

It has not been all rainbows and butterflies since fighting the terrible disease. The after effects of chemotherapy have left me with long term issues such as weak bones, osteoarthritis, neuropathy and plantar fasciitis in my feet, lack of fitness and the inability to lose weight and then the mental side of things which is all to do with the fear of the disease coming back. 

On top of that, the day I was told that my margins were clear from my lumpectomy was the day my mum went in to have a mass looked at in her pancreas which turned out to be pancreatic cancer which is terminal. The timing of this was ironic as I couldn’t celebrate the feeling of surviving this horrible disease when mum was at the beginning of her cancer journey. 

I finished my oral chemotherapy about a year after my diagnosis and then in March 2023, I decided to have a double mastectomy and reconstruction to try and prevent it from coming back. I have healed nicely from this surgery and have been back to some sort of normality however not really feeling like I did before this all began. 

I appreciate the simple things in life like the relationships you form with those close to you, the love of nature and the ocean, spending time doing the things I love like taking photographs, camping and travelling. I am no longer putting things on hold and if I can afford to, I will go on that international holiday or take time out to do something for myself. 

I do have a fear of the cancer coming back but try to put those thoughts to the back of my head and focus on the here and now. No one understands this fear unless they have been through a similar thing and trust me, it is scary as hell.

Please keep getting those regular checks whether it be a mammogram or checking your breasts regularly for any lumps. The mammogram saved my life. Here’s hoping in another year’s time I am still cancer free and getting closer to the odds being in my favour of the cancer not returning.