Eva was diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2020. As she had several tumor foci, the doctors decided to perform a mastectomy with the possibility of immediate breast reconstruction. It was operated on March 19, a few days after the state of alarm and home confinement were decreed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The intervention went well and she came out with the implant in place. Because he has very thin skin, shortly after a month after the operation the wound opened, and in May he had another operation to fix this problem. After the wound healed well, he underwent 15 radiation therapy sessions and it started with the hormonal medication you will have to continue taking at least five years. Now he has regular reviews with different specialists.
This woman tells that she faced her illness with a lot of courage And when the whole process happened, “I broke down and I started to be afraid to death, to not seeing my son grow up; I didn’t see any meaning in life and, for the first time, I asked myself: Why me?“.
An acquaintance of hers, who is a volunteer for the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC), recommended that she contact this entity and “one day when I was very desperate I called, because fear and anxiety were clouding my vision, and I didn’t see a way out“. He states that he called at 12 at night and they answered him, because the AECC’s helpline works 24 hours. “I called crying, desperate, and the person who attended me heard me with patience and a lot of empathy; It put me at ease and, to my surprise, the next day there was a volunteer device around me. “
She remembers that the next morning a coordinator called her who took the data and explained how the AECC is working during the pandemic. “He asked me if I wanted him to call me a psychologist and a volunteer, and I said yes. That same week they contacted me. “
Eva has felt lots of warmth and support by the AECC: “I have felt very accompanied and they have managed to make me see that it is possible to get out of cancer with less suffering; they have helped me understand the disease. “She says that she always thought she had to have a positive attitude because if not, the immune system would break down,” and the psychologist told me no, that recovery is influenced by a compendium of things, and that we are human, that sometimes we are better and other times worse, and that I cannot feel guilty for crying or being angry. “
He is grateful for this support from the AECC because “you need to be listened to and understood, more than the encouragement that your family and the people around you try to give you, who do it with the best of intentions.” Add that this empathy found in the AECC “has helped me understand that it is necessary to cry, that fear is not bad, that it is better not to fight with emotions, but to accept them, and they have helped me to channel them more optimally, filling me with hope, support, strength and the conviction that this comes out“. He states that even having the sessions online, has noticed the warmth and closeness.
He stresses that one of the things he has understood, thanks to the association’s oncological psychologist, is that “patience is also important for this disease, because sometimes you despair with the pain and discomfort, and these are passing, and in the end you come to love and embrace that part of your body that has changed. At first, I psychologically rejected the prosthesis, because it hurt, bothered me, and when you accept the situation, you free yourself“. He states that they explained to him that he has to pass a grieving process, “because there is a part of your body that has been taken from you and has died.” And in this situation, “either you victimize yourself or you accept it, and I have chosen to accept it. The pain is inevitable but suffering is optional“.
Say these words while acknowledging that is not easy: “You have to work hard, and you have better and worse days, but the important thing is to fight. People are magnets of negative thoughts and we boycott ourselves, we tend to victimize unconsciously. If you change the dialogue with you and do it in a healthier way , gives you a peace and quiet that is priceless“.
He affirms that the AECC has helped him to see all this “and to know that it does not matter having bad days; allowing it does not mean that you are weak.”
“With the AECC it is a continuous knowledge that they are always there and make the process more bearable”
He states that this association has life changed “because I thought I had to face this alone.” He wants to make it clear that medical equipment who has attended her “is fantastic and I get warm every time I go for a review”, but those reviews are every six months, while with the AECC “it is a continuous knowledge that they are always there and make the process more bearable“She adds that whenever they have treated her, they have done it with a lot of attention and patience, “as if it were the first time they attended me, as if I were The only one“.
He comments that before the illness, he knew about the AECC but did not know how it works. Now, for her “the AECC is synonymous with excellence. I would recommend and shout it out. It is impressive in the human quality, in the management of the professionals, in the training they have, the specialization. Y they get very involvedThey treat you individually. In addition, they offer workshops and activities to improve the quality of life of patients, and all altruistically. “And the fact is that the AECC does not charge for its services, they are free for cancer patients, without the need to be partners.
Eva confesses that fears and anxiety appear every time she touches a review, something that has increased with the advance of the pandemic, since now it is also being considered whether it will be infected when going to the hospital or if the appointment will be canceled. In addition, in this last wave, they do not allow any companion to enter “and you feel one more“.” To me, fear makes me see reality darker, and I forget the questions I want to ask the professionals, but I am already preparing for the next review, because I know that I will have to be alone “, and the AECC is also helping her with that.
