What is it really like to live with Breast Cancer?

Hello everyone,

How are you doing? Have you seen this discussion? 

What is is like living with breast cancer in the day-to-day? Is there anything you think that someone who is newly diagnosed, a family member or caregiver should know? Do you have any advice to share?
@SusanMelles‍ @Shaz19561956‍ @Alcohol‍ @Shaz1956‍ @Berniemary‍ @Burgoyne‍ @Jan1959‍ @Stimps‍ @Kazchambers‍ @Southgate1969‍ @Jojo234067‍ @Shazon‍ @Soomeyrals‍ @Beverley/13‍ @JonBella‍ @Karenbt‍ 

Feel free to share here, we are all here to support one another!

Take care,
Courtney

I find it very difficult with living with breast cancer ,i dont feel like a woman anymore, having to go through a mastectomy it is painful i cant look at my self in the mirror because it upsets me to much ,i dont like wearing an artificial boob, because it causes me to feel like a false person ,i get embarrassed wearing my lovely clothes i see people look at me and i get really upset of the thought that they could be laughing at me, when i was a child i didnt have much of a boob kids used to laugh at me now i have lost my boob it feels like that again ,i dont feel whole anymore i just hate it ,im in constant pain its caused my whole life upside down, i know i am lucky to be alive ,as many dont servive ,but it still dont help with the fact that i have lost part of my womanhood, i have been clear for 2yrs but i still have 5 more years before i get the absolute all clear ,but i have this fear of it comming back i am on anastrazole and that has brought back my hot flushes something i could do without ,as i find it very hard to sleep ,since radiotherapy that has left me with emphysema and lymphoedema, plus osteoporosis i also have a low blood flow to my heart and i have loads of other illnesses but having gone through a mastectomy and losing my left breast this bothers me the most my anxiety PTSD low moods depression has got worseits like waiting to go through it all over again, im absolutely petrified, because having this is so upsetting, when i got my diagnosis it broke my heart but when they did biopsies on both of my breasts my right breast also had a lump but they could drain that but unfortunately not my left ,i am thankful for not having to go through chemo but i still had to have 6 wks of radiotherapy and that was bad enough ,but the one thing that bothered me the most was the drain i was so scared of it tearing or catching it on something wearing it was such a painful experience, but when it was taken out it was a relief ,but  it is still painful thinking of what i have been through all my life its like looking for what is comming next my whole life has been so hard but this having breast cancer is worse for anyone i just pray every night to wake up in the morning when i do i always thank him it might sound daft but its my way of coping when i finished my radiotherapy i rang that bell so hard i thought it was going to come off the wall but i do see Macmillan my volunteer rings me every week just to see how i am coping it is good to here her and i do have a lot of my family that helps me to especially my trevor he is my rock Tigger