Meeting a fellow Warrior

I slept well again –the difference being no Endone last night, a further improvement! I woke early as Marc is playing at church this morning, we were being silly mucking around and ended up laughing so hard we couldn’t do anything else for a good few minutes.

It was so good to have a good old belly laugh – man it is good for the soul. He leaves for church and I have a few sacred hours to myself in the house where it is quiet.   I cherish these moments when everyone else is asleep and I just get to sit and enjoy the stillness. It is one of my favourite times.

The church service was amazing and afterwards we had arranged to meet with another couple who are on a similar journey. The difference being, she was diagnosed a month before me, and because of her cancer being different she has had to have chemo before surgery.

It was so lovely meeting them both. I recognised her straight away as she had the cancer cap on. She looked weak but strong on the inside. We talked, I asked many questions like “why the chemo first?”

She explained that she wanted to preserve as much breast tissue as possible so she could potentially have a lumpectomy instead of a mastectomy. She is the only in her family to be diagnosed so has a very different view of breast cancer to me.

It was so lovely to speak with another woman who understand the fears, the concerns, the feelings of being so sick that blinking is too much. She encouraged me to rest as rest is healing and when you allow our body to heal you recover faster.   I call her my warrior woman friend.  She inspires me so much and she understands what it’s like.  The picture has been chosen strategically.  In all of the pictures available each of the women is really voluptuous, which no longer connects with me, so I picked this one.

An added bonus, our Husbands connected really well which was wonderful. There is so little support for the men standing with their women through this awful journey. So we plan to stay in touch, to resource and support each other. She gave me a contact for the cancer caps so if and when I decide to use them I can get some.

They looked funky on her and I am sure at least initially and in certain settings I will want to wear one. I am generally feeling a little better today, less pain, mouth ulcers still awful, still tired, digestion a little better but ovulation pain is really bad.

So if you are reading this and are on the journey too, find someone you can connect with, even if it’s online. Having someone who knows what you are going through makes such a difference.