More Bad News?! How to Stay Calm With Metastatic Breast Cancer

I’ve received a lot of bad news since being diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer almost three years ago. Mostly it comes after scans that show the cancer has progressed, and the treatment has stopped working. It’s a repeating pattern: Things go well for a while — the treatment works and there’s no progression — and then the cancer fights back. I have learned that living with stage 4 breast cancer means that bad news is inevitable. It happened again last week when the dreaded MRI showed cancer spread throughout my spine. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a previous MRI to compare it to, even though PET and CT scans had shown the cancer had spread to my spine last November. Still, the extent of the cancer was not great news. But as a life and wellness coach, I have helped others deal with setbacks, so I was able to use the formula I recommend to others to help myself. Take It as Information Bad news is just that — news. It is informative. If you look at it as information that will help you make decisions, you feel empowered. That is exactly how I felt when my doctor and I reviewed the MRI report. It certainly didn’t feel good to know there are two large lesions on my spine and smaller spots throughout, but it did mean that I now know what we are dealing with. It meant that cancer was no longer a stealth attacker. I knew what was there, and I could respond. Take Action Once I had the information, I could consider my options. Fortunately for me, I have an oncologis...
Source: Life with Breast Cancer - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Tags: Breast Cancer Source Type: blogs