[StephN]

Dear Sherry and ladies,
Your fears are quite normal and I was having just this discussion with one of the chaplains at my cancer center. (SHE went through breast cancer treatment in 2005/06 herself!)

The substance of that discussion is that I am pushing 60 and have had quite a rich and active life, but still want to fight this disease in every way I can. She is younger and relates more to what you all are saying about having young families, etc.

The stress is incredible and people with our diagnosis have it even harder than the more common forms of BC.

My chaplain is just getting to where she has the energy to do things like run and mountain bike again. She took a bad tumble mountain biking several weeks ago and the x-ray showed a couple of fractured ribs. Her pain was worse and she was complaining, thinking maybe she had some disease progression. A bone scan was finally ordered which showed NOT 2 ribs, but SIX ribs with TWO fractures each. Thus a bone scan is much more sensitive, and she was vindicated for her complaining.

All this was quite frightening, not to mention the discomfort. We also talked about the parallel with mental pain, that exists for us. The physical pain can be a distraction, but ups the fear level. Then there is the unknown...

I found that with time you just keep going and trying to enjoy life at every opportunity. But, you HAVE to cut yourself some slack from time to time to deal with the mental aspect. So, go ahead and come face to face with that fear, then put it back in its pigeon hole and go on to something that makes you feel good. Like decorate a little for Thanksgiving and look for some fun new recipes.