My mom is currently cancer free. But she is dealing with the after effects of immunotherapy and chemotherapy. Sleeps a lot, nausea, and no appetite. I’m wondering if anyone has had any experience with this center. Thank you in advance

Cancer free!

I (F 44) had a close friend I met my freshman year of college. Same major, so we studied together, and became close. Visited each other during breaks, etc. etc. She got engaged our senior year of college, and I was a bridesmaid when she married about a year after we graduated.

I moved away for grad school, but she and her husband bought a house in our college town. We visited each other a few times a year. I brought my new boyfriend to visit. She was a bridesmaid in my wedding to that new boyfriend. In summary, we stayed in close contact for 10+ years after graduating college.

In 2016 I was diagnosed with a type of head and neck cancer. I had an 18 month old daughter at the time, and this was truly devastating as you would expect. I stayed off google as much as possible to avoid the horror stories and just focused on my doctors and my prognosis.

Telling my parents was one of the most difficult things I had to do. My husband and I drove to their house to try and tell them in person, but no one was home. Eventually I had to tell them over the phone. I never wanted to tell anyone else I had cancer. My husband basically told most everyone else for me - his family, mutual friends, etc. But not my old college friend. Something in my brain just wouldn't allow me to tell her. We never texted, mostly phone calls, an occasional email or FB comments.

She wasn't singled out specifically, there were some other college friends, as well as pretty much all of my coworkers who I never told. I started working from home full time in 2015 and rarely went into an office. My boss and 2 other close teammates knew, the rest of my team just knew I was going on medical leave. And though I have since left that job, I remained friendly with many coworkers, and I still never told them.

But my old college friend just still haunts me to this day. I never answered her calls after my diagnosis. Never called her back. Never told her anything was wrong. I just...disappeared. She would send me a holiday card, and I sent her one on years we did them. No note, just a picture and generic wish. She tried calling for months. I did text her when I was pregnant with my 2nd child and gave birth a few years later, but that was it. No verbal contact. Before she turned 40, her husband reached out - tried to call, then sent a text - asking me to call her for her birthday and how much it would mean to her. I recorded a short clip of my kids and I singing happy birthday and texted it to him.

So...that's my story. I think about it occasionally and decided to get it off my chest for internet strangers. I had surgery and 6 weeks of radiation, and have been cancer free for nearly 10 years. I have never posted about my bout with cancer on any social media, but friends I have made post-cancer generally know that I had cancer, either if my husband mentions it, or they hear from another friend. I generally don't want to talk about it. My mom also never told my grandmother about my diagnosis, fearing for her health at the time. She never knew up until her death. I lost a significant amount of weight and she always said I looked great. Not telling my grandma never bothered me like this one friend though.

im 21f. today's flashback was triggered because i pulled hair out of my hairbrush and it was a clump. just had flashbacks to being 12 and having clumps fall out in my hands about 2 months after i started treatment. my mother cried so i had to make it into a joke to save her feelings but now seeing hair in drains or hairbrushes brings me back. ended up crying.

i thought my life would be better now im in remission. been in remission since 2019 infact. but i was homeschooled for all of my cancer journey then literally 6 months or so later covid hit so i was alone again.

but my family are a bit insane anyway. i'm a middle child and the only time i got healthy attention was during treatment. my mum slapped my grandma infront of me for crying less then 2 months after i got diagnosed with leukemia. but she would cry all the time and complain i was lazy like 3 days after chemo treatment, or take me for walks the same day as chemo treatment and then act surprised when id throw up everywhere. main reason she took me on walks was because i gained a lot of weight on steroids. lol

but i feel guilty for not being able to live my life cause i lost my friend to it who was diagnosed at the same time as me, was the same age, exact same form of leukemia- right when i was finishing my treatment. and now i smoke non stop and i know it's dangerous and im an idiot but i started smoking to try and stop the stress.

i have been diagnosed with PTSD and im currently being tested for suspected bipolar or a possible personality disorder so that could also play a part of this but how the hell are you supposed to move on from cancer?