Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Support groups

With the help of two cups of coffee, I managed to get up at 10am and stay awake all day. That's really something! I don't expect to repeat this feat tomorrow, of course :)

There are a lot of things that suck about having stage IV breast cancer. One of them is going to support groups with people who have lower stages of breast cancer. Don't get me wrong; many of the people with lower stages of breast cancer are wonderful and supportive and positively touch the lives around them.

But sometimes the non-stage IV people end up scared by us "metsters", as we call ourselves, and so don't want to come to the same meetings. Or sometimes when someone new finds out they have mets, the non-metsters freak out and threaten to leave. Sigh.

I love support groups and I belong to a variety of them. But it's hard having stage IV breast cancer and feeling like you're the boogeyman, like you're the one that embodies their worst fears. I understand why these people react the way they do (because they're scared) - but it still hurts.

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