anxious situations

dixie60

Hi, you wonderful women,

I wonder if anyone has this same issue?

I feel a total sense of panic every time I find out a friend has a recurrence or a second cancer. It has happened a number of times now. Each time, I know her situation is totally different from mine, and my heart goes out to her, for her. But I am in a complete anxiety attack for me. I am usually very mellow and low key, but this sends me reeling. I think I over-empathize. I am freaking out, and I hate this feeling.

What do you do when you get so worried and anxious?

edwards750

Dixie - that's a really tough question and I don't have a really good answer except to say that we all feel anxious since our DX and there really isn't a sure-fire way not to be scared when you hear about a recurrence whether you know the person or not. We can do things to help prevent one but there are still no guarantees.

I try to keep the faith and leave my fate in His hands.

Diane

Morwenna

Totally get this, and I'm just the same!

When I was diagnosed, friends told me about a lady who used to sing with us, and that she had "been through all this and (I) should talk to her".

Well I didn't know her that well, and I didn't feel so inclined. This year I heard that she is sick again, and I mean really sick. She is a "Facebook friend", and I found myself studying her fb photos, as she has obviously lost a pile of weight that I would not have recognized her if the photos had not been tagged.

Now I feel guilty that I have never made contact, but she really looks like she is not much longer for this world, and frankly the sight of her scares the @#$% out of me. And yes, I'm sad for her and her family, she just has a new little grandchild, but I'm terrified for me! And I have no idea what I should say to her now!

So I'm left feeling like a bit of a stalker!

dixie60

thank you for sharing your feelings with me. it’s nice to know I am not all alone in feeling crazed!

oxo

LW0919

Definitely not crazy, or if you are, count me in on the crazy team too! I'm obsessed, especially now that I'm 2 years out. I feel like I'm waiting for the hammer to fall again. I look for people who had the same stage/grade and node involvement and compare their recurrence timeframe to where I'm at now. I too keep it together at work and home but think when it comes to something completely out of my control, it quite frankly scares the hell out of me!

Stenokim

Merry Xmas to all. I am a little freaked out. I have a swollen, tender lymph node under my arm, about half the size of a pea. Of course it's BC side and positive lymph node side from a year ago. I got the flu or BAD cold starting Xmas eve. Was in bed sick for two days. Swollen lymph showed up 12/26. Do you think it could be related to illness and not BC? Has anyone else experienced this? Thanks for any feedback. Kim

Morwenna

Lymph glands certainly do swell as a result of bacterial and viral infections. I guess you go show it to your doctor, and then you either decide to watch and wait to see if it subsides, or you leap in with imaging and/or biopsy.

Hope it turns out to be nothing to worry about!

LW0919

Steno kim: It could be enlarged from fighting off infection or it could be something much worse. I always take the aggressive route in these situations. I would rather be safe than sorry and don't feel at all like you're blowing it out of proportion. It's your body and your life! That's what I tell myself each time I've had to go in to get something checked out and later find out it was nothing at all! I was so happy to find out I had arthritis instead of mets to the spine. Keeping my fingers crossed for you that is nothing at all!

Stenokim

thanks for your responses, ladies. I have mammo tomorrow morning with BC surgeon, so I hope to find everything is ok and it is just from this illness. I still have it in my head and chest. When I bend over it feels like my head is going to pop and my teeth hurt, so I know I have some sort of infection going on. Will fill you in tomorrow. Thanks agai

Stenokim

Hi, ladies. Sorry for the late response. I was out celebrating. Mammo was good and lymph nodes were just from illness, they're gone now. Doc said everything looked great and said she will see me in a year. I have an oncologist appointment in February where he will do one of the cancer antigen blood tests, so no need to freak again until then. Ha. Thanks for listening! Kim.