Living With Breast Cancer

Breast cancer affects many aspects of a woman’s life. She goes through emotional ups and downs, it brings fear, anger and insecurities but believe me, things get better with time. Give yourself time to adjust.

The psychological effects:

Initially after surgery women are in a state of shock and grieve. There is anger and resentment, especially if they have had a breast removed. Living with cancer and its treatment can be very frightening. Take as much help as you can from your friends and family. You may want to be left all alone but by sharing it with them it will be easier to bear. Friends and family need as much help and advice as the patient does. Get some counseling and find a way to cope.

Fear of recurrence:

Breast cancer can reoccur at any time. It can be a local recurrence, which means in the treated area or distant recurrence, which means on some other part of the body. You must take breast self examination and be regular in follow-up appointments. The recurrence of cancer depends on many factors like

1.The size of the original tumor.
2.Number of lymph nodes involved
3.How aggressive the cancer was.
4.How well you respond to your first course of treatment.

Sex life:

Certain myths affect a woman’s sexuality. Some times the partner or the spouse may believe that caressing of the breast may cause reoccurrence of the cancer or the partner may fear of getting infected. Although, these beliefs are false but they are a hindrance to a healthy sex life. Many times it seems that after surgery women find themselves unattractive and feel depressed. They don’t want to show their body to their spouse. Therefore, both the patient and the partner should take counseling together. It helps to adjust to the disease more easily.