Holidays…good for the soul…
Holidays…good for the soul… Hi Girls
I have just been away for a week with my cousin to Lanzarote, this is the third time that Ive been abroad since my treatment finished and every time it gets a little better.
Before I went I was climbing the walls with the old menopause thing, and I felt so tense, it really wouldnt take much to push me over the edge with regard to coping with things/people…anyway as the days went by, (all I did was just try and relax) I could feel my body starting to wind down, (my shoulders/head/neck all down my right side were so painful and lo and behold after two nights I slept right through and the pain started to ease. It was so good being away from all the problems of home, I swam, ate/drank and laughed, and for some of the time I forgot that I had had the dreaded… I was just plain old Debbie!
I read a good book, (I would recommend it) ‘Spinning Straw into Gold’
by Ronnie Kaye and tried some of her relaxing techniques.
Anyway…for me the object of this thread is to say that the ability to have some time to yourself and really realax seems to help with the symptoms of Arimadex and the menopause.
I have spoke to the family and explained that I cannot take up from where I left off and I really need to help around the house…
so here goes…perhaps I have learned a lesson after all?
Much love
Debbie x
Holidays Hi Debbie
I’ve only just had the first holiday abroad (Oct. 06) after finishing treatment last year. I really wanted this to be special and hoped to have a great relaxing time with Other Half and come back refreshed and ready to face another long winter.
The reality was actually a bit different. I was tremendously worried about getting bad lymphoedema during the flight , as I have already some swelling in upper arm and armpit and I did take a ‘precautionary’ sleeve with me. I did find the whole mastectomy swimwear and protheses thing a bit of a bind, despite the fact that I had been swimming all summer at our local beach. But being away by a pool, made me a lot more conscious. I was also permanently concerned about falling over in rough seas and knocking my bad arm and as we had jelly fish some days, it meant I could not swim from some (lovely) beaches, as the risk of being stung was too great.
Coupled with this (which obviously has nothing to do with CA), the hotel was incredeibly noisy and we did not get any sleep at all.
So overall, although the weather was lovely, we swam and walked a lot, we did not come back at all refreshed and I felt that the whole experience had been a bit of a challenge. I am determined to go away in 07, and maybe things will get better the further away you are from treatment etc. And your description of feeling so relaxed is a great encouragment.
I think I still have to get my head around the whole CA thing, (I had a recurrence) and learn to accept that things will probably never be quite the same again.
Same… Hi Birgit
As I mentioned this was the third time that I had been away since my treatment finished, I too had had a recurrence but mine was within about 4 months of having a lumpectomy, so it had been a long journey of about 18 months from the start of this whole thing to the end of chemo. Dont worry…my first holiday was just like yours, I had all the same feelings and worries. I would cry at the smallest thing and my expectations of ‘getting away’ really didnt work the first time because I still felt so vunerable and very unsure.
I just felt that this time those feelings didnt crowd into my mind as much as the first time, and before I went i didnt give too much thought as to what I would expect from the whole holiday.
Good luck with your next one, and it you are anything like me it will gradually get better.
Much love
Debbie
holidays Hi Debbie
Thanks for your kind words. I am sure you are right and it will get better. As you say it was just the first time and everything was so new and different from previous holidays, especially as I had reconstruction first time round, and no lymphoedema, so didn’t have the same problems.
Planning (and saving hard) to get away to Lanzarote in March (we love it there - have been several times). Will probably go to the same hotel again, because we know it will be quiet and we know our way around - all issues that should make it a lot less stressful.
Love
Birgit