Cancer Anniversaries: Will Fear of Recurrence Ever Go Away?

Fear of recurrence can linger years after diagnosis.

BY KATHY LATOUR

PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 23, 2018

Kathy LaTour is a breast cancer survivor, author of The Breast Cancer Companion and co-founder of CURE magazine. While cancer did not take her life, she has given it willingly to educate, empower and enlighten the newly diagnosed and those who care for them.

For many years after my diagnosis, the fall and winter months were hard to live through. My cancer-related anniversaries all fall in October, November and December. I was diagnosed with breast cancer on Oct. 15, 34 years ago. I watched my daughter take her first steps on Nov. 1, two weeks after I was diagnosed.

Thanksgiving came three weeks later. I had always loved cooking, but, quite frankly, I don’t even remember that Thanksgiving, except that the day before my husband shaved my head. I had started chemotherapy, and I am sure my family was around, looking at me with pitiful eyes. OK, I was pitiful – bald and with a mouth full of blisters that meant I couldn’t enjoy the food I could smell, and nausea that guaranteed I was a lovely shade of green.

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