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What advice would you give to a patient that just learned they had a recurrence of breast cancer?
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DrAttai (Physician - Surgery - Breast (Verified) ) - 08 / 26 / 2011
1 vote(s) by
member817
A recurrence of the original primary tumor or a new tumor can be devastating psychologically - while many women understand that cancer can come back, no one expects it, just like most don't expect the original diagnosis. Take some deep breaths, and as noted above, face it head-on. Try not to let your emotions and fears get the best of you, and realize that science and treatment advances may mean better and more effective treatment options than were available to you previously.
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member817 (Survivor (10 - 20 years)) - 08 / 26 / 2011
My experience with recurrence is that I have had three *primary* breast cancers. That means that I've had three separate tumors, each one made from scratch, each one with its own genetic components and profiles, and each one different from the other two. So, I have not been in a situation where the same cancer came back.... which I believe is much more common.
My advice is to face it head on and do everything you need to do to address it. In some ways it can be a little less difficult because you know what to expect from certain things and you've hopefully learned some tricks from your first time around. By the same token, it can be much harder because now you're facing this AGAIN and you know what to expect on the negative side...
Try to isolate this occurrence from the previous one in your mind. That is much easier said than done. When my oncologist found my 2nd lump, 11 years after my first diagnosis, one of the things that plagued me for a long time was a feeling that I was doomed, because "clearly it had happened twice, so there had to be something seriously wrong with me...here was tangible proof." Luckily, I've processed all of that (it took a while!) and don't believe it anymore, even though I was diagnosed with a 3rd breast cancer in 2009.
Most important: If it's ever been difficult for you to ask for help, now would be the time to *really* learn how to do it.
My advice is to face it head on and do everything you need to do to address it. In some ways it can be a little less difficult because you know what to expect from certain things and you've hopefully learned some tricks from your first time around. By the same token, it can be much harder because now you're facing this AGAIN and you know what to expect on the negative side...
Try to isolate this occurrence from the previous one in your mind. That is much easier said than done. When my oncologist found my 2nd lump, 11 years after my first diagnosis, one of the things that plagued me for a long time was a feeling that I was doomed, because "clearly it had happened twice, so there had to be something seriously wrong with me...here was tangible proof." Luckily, I've processed all of that (it took a while!) and don't believe it anymore, even though I was diagnosed with a 3rd breast cancer in 2009.
Most important: If it's ever been difficult for you to ask for help, now would be the time to *really* learn how to do it.
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