Caringbridge
I was fairly open from the start, texting or emailing friends and ultimately posting on social media. Once I realized I would be undergoing chemotherapy in addition to surgeries, I decided to start a caringbridge site. I did this for several reasons. First, I don’t like people speculating about me, and thought keeping people updated would help with that. Second, I found I’d cry if telling people what was going on, but if they already knew I could have conversations without crying. 🙂 Finally, as the main communicator when my mom had breast cancer, I knew it would save my husband and family from having to answer multiple texts and phone calls. I know caringbridge is way too public for some people and completely respect those who want to keep everything private, but it worked for me.
Added and unexpected benefit - now that I’m seven years out, it serves sort of as a diary. When helping people who are currently dealing with breast cancer, I can refer to it to answer questions or even share the site for them to read if they want.
if you’re reading this and deciding what to do yourself, trust your gut. There is no wrong answer. ❤️
I wish I had such a diary. I received a few journals as gifts when I was diagnosed and I'm sorry to say that I didn't use them. Journaling is not a practice I've ever had and I didn't have it in me to start when I was in crisis. The blank pages seemed overwhelming. Now I regret that I don't have a better record of my physical and emotional experience.
Great idea to use Caring Bridge. I had trouble being super public about my cancer but sent texts to my friends with updates instead. I did post thank you’s and updates on my meal train because that was a specific group of friends that was helping me so much and I wanted them to know how much I appreciated their help.
Caringbridge helped simplify my life by being able to give one update and directing family and friends to it. It became almost therapeutic to write about my journey and now it serves as a dairy to me about the experience. I am 2.5 years out from diagnosis. I do not enjoy writing but when I was writing my updates the words did seem to flow. Caringbridge also allowed many more people to follow my journey and offer support which helped ease the difficult time. This is your time to do what works best for you as for me I am very thankful I used Caringbridge.