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Breast cancer

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      • Ductal carcinoma in situ
      • Lobular carcinoma in situ
      • Early breast cancer
      • Paget's disease of the nipple
      • Inflammatory breast cancer
      • Locally advanced breast cancer
      • Metastatic breast cancer
      • Follow-up
        • Physical examinations
        • Breast imaging tests
        • Questions to ask
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        • When treatment stops
        • Facing the possibility of dying
        • Putting your affairs in order
        • Questions to ask
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        • What makes spread more likely
    • Living with
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        • Costs of treatment and prostheses
        • Travel schemes
        • Questions to ask
        • Choosing a cancer treatment
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        • Body image
        • Menopause
        • Fertility
        • Lymphoedema
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        • How you might feel
        • Effects on partners
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        • Effects on family and friends
      • Physical changes – metastatic
        • Pain
        • Symptoms and treatment side effects
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        • Common feelings
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        • Financial support
        • How to access support at home
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      • Ductal carcinoma
      • Lobular carcinoma
      • GP guides and resources
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    • Home
    • Types
      • Ductal carcinoma in situ
      • Lobular carcinoma in situ
      • Early breast cancer
      • Paget's disease of the nipple
      • Inflammatory breast cancer
      • Locally advanced breast cancer
      • Metastatic breast cancer
    • Statistics
    • Risk factors
    • Symptoms
      • Ductal carcinoma in situ
      • Lobular carcinoma in situ
      • Early breast cancer
      • Paget’s disease of the nipple
      • Inflammatory breast cancer
      • Locally advanced breast cancer
      • Metastatic breast cancer
    • Awareness
      • iPrevent
    • Diagnosis
      • Tests
        • Triple test
      • Stages of breast cancer
      • Receiving a diagnosis
      • Diagnosis of early breast cancer
        • What the pathology report means
      • Diagnosis of ductal carcinoma in situ
        • What the DCIS pathology report means
      • Diagnosis when breast cancer spreads
      • Questions to ask
    • Treatment
      • Treatment team
        • Members of the team
        • Talking with health professionals
        • Questions to ask
      • Deciding about treatment
        • Travelling
        • Pregnancy
        • Tips for making decisions
        • Questions to ask
        • MammaPrint ® (70 gene signature) test
      • Surgery
        • Breast-conserving surgery
        • Mastectomy
        • Surgery to the armpit (axilla)
        • Surgery for metastatic breast cancer
        • Breast reconstruction
        • Choosing a surgeon
        • Questions to ask
        • Care after surgery
      • Radiotherapy
        • Early breast cancer
        • Metastatic breast cancer
        • Questions to ask
        • Skin care
        • Travelling
      • Chemotherapy
        • How does chemotherapy work?
        • Type of chemotherapy
        • What does chemotherapy involve?
        • Side effects
        • Questions to ask
      • Hormonal therapies
        • Hormone receptors
        • Types of hormonal therapy
        • Side effects
        • Menopause and oestrogen production
        • Deciding about hormonal therapies
        • Questions to ask
      • Targeted therapies
        • HER2 receptors
        • Types of targeted therapy
        • Questions to ask
      • Complementary & alternative therapies
        • Complementary therapies
        • Questions to ask
        • Where to find more information
      • Palliative care
        • What is palliative care?
        • Accessing palliative care
        • Questions to ask
      • Ductal carcinoma in situ
      • Lobular carcinoma in situ
      • Early breast cancer
      • Paget's disease of the nipple
      • Inflammatory breast cancer
      • Locally advanced breast cancer
      • Metastatic breast cancer
      • Follow-up
        • Physical examinations
        • Breast imaging tests
        • Questions to ask
      • Advanced disease
        • When treatment stops
        • Facing the possibility of dying
        • Putting your affairs in order
        • Questions to ask
      • Recurrent and secondary cancer
        • What makes spread more likely
    • Living with
      • Practical aspects of diagnosis
        • Costs of treatment and prostheses
        • Travel schemes
        • Questions to ask
        • Choosing a cancer treatment
      • Physical changes
        • Body image
        • Menopause
        • Fertility
        • Lymphoedema
      • Emotional changes
        • How you might feel
        • Effects on partners
        • Effects on children
        • Effects on family and friends
      • Physical changes – metastatic
        • Pain
        • Symptoms and treatment side effects
      • Emotional changes – metastatic
        • Common feelings
      • Practical aspects - metastatic
        • Work
        • Financial support
        • How to access support at home
        • How to access support outside home
        • Questions to ask
    • Life after
      • Health
        • Fatigue
        • Poor sleep
        • Lymphoedema
        • Menopause
        • Pain
        • Diet
        • Exercise
      • Feelings
        • Finding a new ‘normal’
        • Fear of recurrence
        • Feelings of loss
        • Isolation
        • Anxiety and depression
        • Not sure how you feel?
      • Relationships
        • Partners
        • Children
        • Friends
        • Colleagues
      • Practical issues
        • Returning to work
        • Questions to ask your health fund
    • Support
    • Clinical trials
      • What happens in a clinical trial?
      • What are the phases of a clinical trial?
      • Advantages and disadvantages
      • Questions to ask about clinical trials
      • When to find more information
    • Health professionals
      • Menopausal symptoms
      • Screening
      • Breast cancer diagnosis
      • Early breast cancer
      • Metastatic breast cancer
      • Ductal carcinoma
      • Lobular carcinoma
      • GP guides and resources
      • Follow-up care
      • Breast cancer Qstream
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  • Relationships
    • Partners
    • Children
    • Friends
    • Colleagues
  • Practical issues

Relationships after breast cancer

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  • A|A

Diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer can have a significant impact on women and those close to them – partners, children, family and friends. It’s likely that a range of people supported you through your cancer journey. Supporters may have been partners, parents, children, friends, colleagues and other women with breast cancer. If you live alone or if you don’t have supportive family or friends close by, you may have found support from a local community group or neighbours.

Apart from ‘being there’, support comes in many forms. Supporters, especially carers, have their own information and support needs. Women who have completed treatment often speak of the difficulty of relating to those who care about them and for them. While there may be no lack of good intentions, there may some frustrations. Keeping the lines of communication open is important. You’re all allowed to have bad days – no-one should feel guilty if they need a ‘time out’.

This section provides information to help you and those close to you understand the impact breast cancer may have on your relationships even once treatment is over. It includes information about and for partners, children, friends and colleagues.

Find out more about:

  • Partners and breast cancer
  • Children and breast cancer
  • Friends and breast cancer
  • Talking to colleagues about breast cancer
  • Last Updated
  • Relevant Links
updated: 20 October 2020 - 3:32pm
Australian Cancer Trials

Related information

What is cancer?
What is cancer?

Cancer is a disease of the cells, which are the body’s basic building blocks.

Treatment and side effects
Treatment and side effects

The treatment that your doctors recommend will depend on the type of cancer you have, how advanced it is, and other personal factors.

Living with cancer
Living with cancer

A diagnosis of cancer marks the beginning of a journey full of emotional, psychological, physical and practical challenges.

Life after cancer
Life after cancer

While looking forward to finishing their cancer treatment and getting on with life, for some people, the end of treatment can also be a confusing or worrying time.

A-Z List of Cancer Types

Information on more than 70 types of cancer

  • Bladder cancer
  • Bowel cancer
  • Brain cancer
  • Breast cancer
  • Breast cancer in men
  • Breast cancer in young women
  • Cervical cancer
  • Children's Cancer
  • Endometrial cancer
  • Fallopian cancer
  • Gestational trophoblastic disease
  • Gynaecological cancers
  • Head and neck cancer
  • Kidney cancer
  • Leukaemia
  • Liver cancer
  • Lung cancer
  • Lymphoma
  • Melanoma of the skin
  • Mesothelioma cancer
  • Myeloma
  • Neuroendocrine tumours
  • Oesophageal cancer
  • Ovarian cancer
  • Pancreatic cancer
  • Prostate cancer
  • Sarcoma
  • Stomach cancer
  • Testicular cancer
  • Thyroid cancer
  • Unknown primary
  • Uterine sarcoma
  • Vaginal cancer
  • Vulval cancer

About Cancer Australia

Cancer Australia was established by the Australian Government in 2006 to benefit all Australians affected by cancer, and their families and carers. Cancer Australia aims to reduce the impact of cancer, address disparities and improve outcomes for people affected by cancer by leading and coordinating national, evidence-based interventions across the continuum of care.

If you would like an interpreter to help you understand any information on this website, please call TIS National on 131 450 and ask them to call Cancer Australia on 02 9357 9400. Our business hours are 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.

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