A person with metastatic breast cancer writes about how she just wants to be “normal” again and for people to stop pitying her.
When you tell someone that you have cancer, something about their perception of you instantly changes. There is this perceptual shift — nothing is changed, yet everything has changed, with metastatic breast cancer or any kind of cancer.
I often find that people who haven’t dealt with cancer firsthand just don’t seem to understand the reality of living with a terminal illness. I frequently am asked if I am in remission or if I am cured. It is so difficult to explain to someone what having metastatic breast cancer really means without changing that person’s opinion of me. (Read more…)