What do you do that makes you feel almost "normal" again?

Has anyone have one issue after another? My first fill was horrible, my RN couldn't find the opening on the expander. Then my right breast becomes infected for some reason. I ended up in the emergency room last Saturday. I got antibiotics through an IV and sent home with a 2 more prescriptions. I'm suppose to get another fill this past Wednesday. Which of course could not happen due to my right breast "splitting" and my expander is trying to escape. Now the saline that was put in on the right side is gone. Leaked out and now I have to have another operation. I'm starting to feel trap in my body. Thanks for listening - I really needed to vent

One thing I did this summer to feel more normal is go to several music concerts. I just let loose and danced my butt off! Also Lita, there is something so comforting about driving. I get in mine too and just crank up the music and cruise around. Very cute haircut!

ninetwelve, I find myself going nuts on clearing out the stuff. it almost feels like I am clearing junk out of my head at the same time....

Lita, you chose a nice hair style, looks good on you. Well i am back on the treadmill and swimming. I am losing weight for a high school class reunion. Feel pretty normal even with all the surgery and hormone therapy.

Hi Lita,

My new normal is almost three and a half years long. I've continued to run my business, wedding and destination wedding planning, which has been a great distraction as I've had wanderlust in my soul since my first plane ride. So during these years, I've not told my clients or potential clients about my health. Even during chemo, I saved my hair thanks to Cold Caps, I pushed on, had a great support team to rely on and finish the job I started.

I've had two recurrences, thankfully still bone only, so have decided to end my career by selling my business, putting in a pool and officially retire on September 18th the day after my last wedding. My last destination wedding is over Labor Day and it seems that when I travel, I take a break from cancer. My aches and pains are masked by all the festivities and all the guests who rely on me for direction. It seems I hardly notice I've got cancer when I'm traveling.

So I guess what I'm saying is as long as I keep on moving, I do pretty darn well. I'm lucky too because four of my six children live in the area and these children have six children so we are Nana and Zady to these incredible little beings under the age of seven. Talk about a distraction!!! Love love love having them close.

My DH and I found a secluded lake-side rental cabin on 12 acres of pine forest in northern Minnesota which accepts dogs so our four-year old Golden Doodle joins us two or three weeks a year on vacation. This is a welcome respite from the noise of the metropolitan area, which we look forward to as often as we can break away.

I've been pretty lucky in that the SE of AL's have not been debilitating but I do have a new and completely unrelated dx, arthritis in my left hip which is going to require a complete replacement, but that's another story.

My QOL has been great throughout these past years so I haven't really had to adopt new changes. I go to church, I pray, I ask forgiveness and I try to engage with strangers just to grow my world. I took on being the Block Captain since I will be retired and I'd like to know who my neighbors are, especially for my husbands sake when one day I will not be around. I hope they will help prop him up.

Good luck to you throughout your chemo. It isn't pleasant but it doesn't have to be awful. Where are you right now with treatment? What's working for you?

Hugs

Amy

For me going to the beach wearing my bathing suit and swimming in the ocean. I was not at all self conscious I actually looked and felt good.

I am glad I found this thread. I can relate to what so many of you are saying. I finished treatment almost a year ago had a hip replacement afterwards and I'm now beginning to feel a little bit better physically. Emotionally I feel very lost kind of free-floating trying to find my life and my new normal.

Amie, you have wise words.   I can attest to the truth of your advice. My DH and I learned from the example of his grandfather. Papa come to the US as a 17yo Greek boy with no family, no money, and no English. He found employment at a Greek diner as a dishwasher. He couldn't afford a place to live, so he slept in the restaurant kitchen.  Eventually, Papa bought the diner, got married, bought houses, and raised a family. But the over-arching drive in his life was work. Work, work, all the time work. Never took a vacation.  At age 65 he decided he would retire and START LIVING. Except that he had kidney disease. He up and died 5 months later, never having done ANY of the things he had promised his young wife they would do. So at age 45, she was a widow with two small children that hardly knew their father.

We knew early on that we did not want to be Papa. And thank goodness we made that decision--DH became disabled at age 47 through no fault of his own. His health is stable at the moment, but precarious. We never know when his time may be up. At first, it was devastating, but eventually we found our new normal. We bought a small camper and traveled around the US. We got a little curly dog that we adore. We found a way to make things work. 

I hope that you will also find your new normal. It won't be your old normal. Life does throw us curveballs and we have to do the best we can with that. Be kind to yourself. You didn't screw up. You didn't. Cancer is a vicious beast and it takes many precious things from each of us. It's not YOU who messed up. It's bloody CANCER.