The Best Thing I Did During My Breast Cancer Journey
And What I Wish I’d Known!
Getting a cancer diagnosis is terrifying. But what you don’t expect is how much work it will be to get through your treatment. You have to keep working so you can have health insurance and pay for your treatment, but you also have an additional full time job of being a patient. It can be incredibly stressful, and unnecessary stress is not your friend when you are fighting a hard battle. It’s easy to forget things in the shuffle. The best thing I did to help myself out through this process was to keep a cancer planner.
My cancer planner went with me to all of my appointments. I had a calendar that detailed each appointment and what it was for. I had a journal that detailed every conversation that I had with every caregiver and medical provider. The thing that you don’t realize is that the stress in combination with the treatment can make you very forgetful, even if you have a good memory otherwise.
The cancer planner is also great for your caregivers because they can easily see what medications you need and document when you took what so that when you wake up groggy later you don’t accidentally take the wrong thing at the wrong time or question whether you’ve had what you needed already.
It’s also great to write down any questions you have ahead of your visits and record the answers you are given. It helps to make sure everyone is on the same page and that you don’t forget anything you wanted to ask about. Don’t try to rely on your memory and your abilities under normal circumstances — these are anything but normal circumstances!
One thing that I wish I’d known before my first surgery was that I would come home with drains coming out of my body. This was over a decade ago now and the internet was not as great of a resource as it is today. No one prepared me or told me that I would be living with these drains for over a week after my mastectomy. Or that I would have a chart to track my fluid output — that also went into my cancer planner!
Fortunately, necessity is the mother of invention, and I had crafty and helpful friends taking care of me once I got home. My friend got into my sewing basket and stitched up a garment to hold my drain bulbs, which helped me move more freely and shower more comfortably. It was a lifesaver, and now I want to be sure that everyone with post-surgical drains has the same Necessary Comforts that my friends made sure that I had.
