
Like many women facing breast cancer, you may be more inspired to seek out new things and more likely to follow a lifestyle that’s good for both body and soul.
Sign up for IN YOUR CORNER™
Arm yourself with knowledge, and work with your doctor to make a plan of action that includes eating healthier and becoming more active. And while continuing to take your medication is an important part of your ongoing treatment, maintaining a positive attitude and letting yourself enjoy life are important too. Your attitude can have a big effect on your life.
Make time to reflect
Stay vigilant about your health
Remember, you’ve been through a lot. While you shouldn’t deny or avoid negative feelings, try to identify their source. Doing so may help you deal with them better.
Consider keeping a journal. It’s a private place to examine your feelings, record memories, soothe your soul, and let you be creative. Research has shown that a journal helps to reduce stress and may be a rewarding and helpful tool at this time in your life.
It’s important to do everything you can to stay healthy and help prevent your breast cancer from coming back. Stay vigilant about your health by continuing to do the following:
Medicine doesn’t work unless you take it as directed by your doctor. The only way to realize the full benefits of therapy is to follow your treatment plan exactly as prescribed.
The greatest risk of early breast cancer coming back is within the first 5 years following initial diagnosis. That’s why many women continue to take adjuvant hormonal treatment for a full 5 years to help reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrence.
To make it easier to stay on course with your treatment plan, try using a daily tracking diary.
Although mammograms won’t reduce your risk of recurrence, it is important to always remain vigilant about early detection — even after you’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer. Mammography is an important tool to help doctors track your disease. Surprisingly, a recent study showed that by 5 years after treatment, 4 out of every 10 breast cancer survivors were not getting regular mammograms.
Having breast cancer doesn’t have to mean losing sight of who you are, or the things you enjoy. While it’s a challenging time, there’s more to your life than treatment schedules and doctor’s visits. Sometimes it helps to forget about having breast cancer for a little while. Nurturing yourself isn’t a luxury. It’s a necessity and is something you deserve. Make the time to live in the moment. Do the things that mean the most to you, either alone or with people whose company you enjoy.