Breast Cancer Forums/groups

Options
Rynie83
Rynie83 Member Posts: 4
edited June 2014 in IDC (Invasive Ductal Carcinoma)

Hi,

I've just been diagnosed with breast cancer 4 months ago, gone through surgery & chemo. My questions is....is it good for us to be surounded with breast cancer. I mean should i try to forget about it for the best interests of my mental health or should i surround myself with it by being in breast cancer groups and talking about it all the time? I dont know if it's doing me good or not!!! Just wanted others opinions....

· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comments

  • Maureen1
    Maureen1 Member Posts: 614
    edited April 2013

    Rynie83...so sorry to hear of your diagnosis...there are so many more questions than answers with breast cancer and no "right" answers that fit all of us. I think we each do what we feel we "need" to do and what is helpful to our personal physicial and emotional health. If you have the support you need and want in your life from family, friends, coworkers and you don't have questions or need to talk things over with other breast cancer survivors then these support groups or forums may not be of much benefit to you. I find them helpful to me so I visit different forums and read the articles because it provides me with information and I am seeking the wisdom of those who have gone before me as well as the support of those going thru this with me. Now that I have been thru treatment and had surgery I don't have the same stress and mind numbing fear that I had when I was first diagnosed but I am still learning how to beat this disease and like to hear what has worked or is working for others. My philosophy is I'll do "whatever it takes" to live a disease free quality life and the information I find from other women has given me hope, the support has given me strength...I wish the best for you and hope you do well...(((Hugs))) Maureen 

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • MNSusan
    MNSusan Member Posts: 305
    edited April 2013

    I'm sure we all have a different answer to your question.  I was diagnosed in 2005 and spent quite a bit of time here getting educated and receiving support.  As time went on, I needed it less and less.

    I was diagnosed with a second primary a few months ago and this is the first place I came.  I needed an education on mastectomy and implants.  While getting that education, I came across many women with similar diagnoses and find myself coming back to follow their stories.

    It would be lovely if breast cancer would quietly slip away from my mind and I wouldn't feel the need to come here every day.  While I don't think I'm obsessing over it, that hasn't happened for me yet, although I expect it will when reconstruction is finished.  I'm so grateful for these boards.

    Best of luck to you!

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • mdg
    mdg Member Posts: 3,571
    edited April 2013

    I think that it is a personal preference.  I made some great friends here and we took our friendship off this site.  I was diagnosed over 2 years ago and I still talk to my 6 BC friends all the time.  For me it has helped so much because they "get it" when something is going on physically with me or emotionally that is related to BC.  I personally could not have gotten through everything without my bc buddies.  I never attended a support group in person or anything like that.  I attend a BC networking group once a month now, but that is to serve as a bc survivor in the group that has completed treatment (most of the gals there are newly diagnosed) and can offer that perspective. 

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • ruthbru
    ruthbru Member Posts: 57,235
    edited April 2013

    There is no right or wrong answer here. It is whatever is positive for you. A friend of mine steered me to BCO from the start. I really, really used the information & research sections but did not use the Discussion Boards until much later. I found that I gravitated to the 'I had a terrible time with/SEs from .....(fill in the blank)'....so they were too hard or sad for me to read because once I made my treatment choices, they were what I KNEW I had to do, so I just needed to get through them no matter what. It was later, when all my friends/family thought I was 'done' and were moving on, that was when I needed to connect with other people who really knew what it is all about. I have made some great, true friends and have gotten together with some of them over the last couple years, and it has been really wonderful....the silver lining of the whole thing.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • pselby
    pselby Member Posts: 5
    edited April 2013

    Sometimes it's nice to communicate with people who have experienced having breast cancer. There's a bond there because everyone here, eventhough our treatment may be different, knows what it's like to deal with this disease. At other times, you just want to get a way from if and move on. Right now I need the connection so here I am.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • PeggySull
    PeggySull Member Posts: 686
    edited April 2013

    My answer is similar to others posted here.



    One of my best friends got a similar diagnosis around the same time I did. She chose to rely on her doctors and family and friends for support.



    I went the opposite route and have read and posted on this board during the diagnosis and treatment of my BC. I can't imagine that I could have gotten thru so far without these forums providing support and highly valuable information.



    On the other hand in-person support groups I have not yet attended because getting through chemo and surgery with all the attendant doctors' visits were about all I can handle in person.



    I read certain forums daily here at my most optimistic time of day (morning and early afternoon). Later, unless I am in crisis mode and need to post, I try to refrain from logging in because some posts (including my own) make it difficult for me to sleep at night.



    You will find what works for you ( by trial and error perhaps?). Whatever you decide, I wish you the best!



    Peggy

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • mainegirl
    mainegirl Member Posts: 62
    edited April 2013

    Rynie83, sorry to hear about your diagnosis.  I found this forum to be very helpful as I didn't want to burden or worry my family and friends whenever I had a concern or question.  I used this forum every step of the way as I was going through a specific treatment.  Diagnosis, surgery, reconstruction, chemo, and now radiation.  I find information to be powerful and it gave me great questions to ask my Oncologist and plastic surgeon.  I live in a rather rural area so there really isn't a support group nearby unless I want to drive an hour.  With this forum I don't feel I'm missing out on anything.  As treatment ends I may not feel the need to check in as often, but I know it's here if I have something I want to check out.  There is power in numbers and it's reassuring to know others understand what we're going through.  Best to you!

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Categories