Over the last few months I have been slowly recovering both physically and mentally from the combined effects of all my treatments. Since last November the only cancer treatment I have been on is a type of hormonal therapy. It is a daily tablet, it doesn’t involve any hospital visits and I am lucky that I have minimal side effects from it. It feels as though I have been resting in calmer waters for a while after a long and vicious storm. I have slowly been adjusting to a different sense of reality, one where I am able to participate more fully in life. I may still be fatigued and suffering from ongoing side effects but the most distressing symptoms are abating and I am regaining a sense of myself which I largely lost during chemo. I am able to spend more time with Arthur and be more present with him for which I am profoundly grateful.
However, the storm is on the horizon and once again I am on the verge of undergoing intensive, radical treatment. The secondary breast cancer that was in one vertebrae in my spine has returned exactly as before and a new site of cancer has also been found in the lymph nodes near my kidneys. My medical team believes this is a recurrence of the cervical cancer which we had hoped was all gone but this needed to be confirmed by a biopsy, which I underwent this week. Pending these results, I expect to have surgery to remove the lymph node chain in my abdomen and five weeks of radiotherapy to both my abdomen and spine. It is possible that I will need to have more chemotherapy as well.
I feel that each time my scans reveal more cancer and I have to start a new treatment I am venturing ever further into the unknown. It is a daunting feeling; there are times when I imagine myself to be an explorer heading into a region which maps mark only with the words “Here be dragons”. The dragons in my case are not mythical or imagined; they exist and have taken up residence in my body. Like an ancient explorer heading into new territories, there are many unseen perils ahead of me and I must use all my courage and cunning to survive.
Adversity is a very hard beast to live with. We are used to describing it as something to be overcome, we aim to triumph over it rather than be overwhelmed by it. It brings forth images of hardship and disaster, misfortune and suffering. It is certainly not something that anyone would welcome. The trouble I have is that I must live with my adversity and accept it as a defining element in my life. I have struggled with the constancy of its presence in my life, I wish I could triumph over it, move past it and live beyond it but cancer has a knack of overwhelming everything in its path and infiltrates every aspect of life. I am not going to surrender any of my hard-won hope and optimism but I am slowly coming to a realisation that this disease will always be a part of my life. I do not seek pity from anyone for the hardships in my life nor do I want to allow myself to wallow in sadness or anger. I don’t want to give it the power to control everything so I prefer to think of it as the grain of grit at the heart of the pearl that is my life. It may be at the heart of things but it is only one tiny part of something beautiful. I am trying to find ways of living with adversity that help me hold myself up and to continue to live successfully. These are some of the things which make it possible:
A family network.
I am immensely lucky to have a family who individually and as a group consistently act as a net to catch Arthur, Matt and I and hold us gently in our tough times. Not only do they help us with the practicalities of juggling cancer treatments with the needs of a busy little boy, they give us the space to decide how we want to live and how we want to handle our situation.
Solidarity and friendship.
I have found immense comfort and support from meeting other women who have similar experiences to mine. Most of my new friends I have not met except online on the Younger Breast Cancer Network on Facebook but the sense of communion is incredibly powerful. I have learned so much from these ladies and they have shown me much kindness despite their own trials.
Positive hope.
I try to keep my focus on positive possibilities rather than negative certainties. Nothing is ever clear-cut when it comes to cancer treatment and there is no one who can predict what my future holds. This is a scary thing to accept but it also means that no one can tell me I don’t stand a chance. Hope is essential to survival in all situations in life. I have to believe that there is a chance to survive long-term as that is what keeps me moving forwards.
A new kind of time.
Young children have much less awareness of the idea of the future than adults. I have been actively learning from Arthur about how to experience time in the intense way he does. He is always absorbed in whatever he is doing and I am trying to follow his example by living in the moment as much as I can. Its not always easy but it is very rewarding.
Accepting uncertainty.
This is something that I am slowly learning to do. I am living with an unpredictable disease which makes any thoughts of planning for the future hard. At the moment I can’t see past my results appointment next week as everything that might happen after that seems unreal. I used to find the uncertainty of waiting for a treatment plan would overwhelm my thoughts and make me very stressed but this time around I have been much more relaxed about it. With each new phase I learn something more.
Not letting fear rule me.
Many of the decisions we make in our lives are based on some sort of fear but sometimes a traumatic experience like cancer can free you from this thinking. In many ways I feel liberated because a lot of the fear which held me back in the past has dropped away. I see more clearly now and many choices are simpler because my needs and priorities have changed.
Honest emotions.
I am trying to be better at being honest with my emotional reactions. I have some very good, tried and tested coping mechanisms which I have used to get me through all kinds of difficult situations in life. The problem is that they can become a mask for what I am really feeling. I don’t want to just grin and bear it anymore. There are still some emotions which I find very difficult to accept and I would be happy not to have to face but I want to live and feel more authentically than in the past. It seems to be a good measure of whether I am growing as a person.
Creativity.
I am a writer and creativity has always been at the very heart of my approach to my own healing. Writing is what makes me feel whole and over the last few months I have been finding new ways to access this. I have been having creative writing therapy at my oncology centre and it has helped me to reignite my desire to write. I hope that I will be well enough to continue to write during my next round of treatment.
Being Joyful.
This may be the most important aspect of all. I cannot choose whether or not I have cancer but I have a choice in how I live. I choose to wear my adversity as lightly as I can and to live with as much joy as I can. I want to celebrate the simple joys of living and see the pearl, not the grit.