I have one more radiotherapy session tomorrow, but am feeling so tired. Is this normal?
We normally have a houseful of people at Christmas. This year we kept it quiet and family were supportive.
One friend who I normally have every year, have had her for the last 20 years.didn’t even send me a Christmas card never mind wish me a Happy Christmas. I am really struggling with this.
Just finding it all hard to process, other friends have tried chivvying me up by stupid texts or telling me it will all be ok, when I am soooo tired.
Think I am going to have a couple of weeks just to chill after tomorrow.
Jippy, speak to you team about fatigue tomorrow, they can advise you. I just used to drink lots of water and then sleep when ever my body needed sleep during rads. Everyone’s recovery period during after after treatments is different, do things in your own time, there is no right or wrong The Christmas card could be lost in the post, try ringing them in new year to wish them happy new year, if your friend has turned into a beam me up Scottie friend who has vanished during all your journey, then it is their loss, you are still you and carry on being you We’ve all had beam me up Scottie friends, don’t let it upset you, they are not worth your time, concentrate on you and how far you have come and how fabulous you are??shi xx
Listen to your body. This is always a stressful time of year and you simply aren’t up to it. Last year, I just sent out the message that Christmas was cancelled (I had my first chemo Christmas Eve). I have no idea nor do I care what happened last Christmas. Even this Christmas has been very quiet as HT leaves me aching everywhere.
Emotionally, the diagnosis and treatment have taken a huge toll on you and you may feel sensitive (I certainly was/am) to the slightest things you’d have brushed aside in the past. Your friend who sent no card may have sent no cards in favour of a charity donation or, as Shi has said, it could be lost in the post. I’d be tempted to act as normal, maintain the contact and, when you’re in a stronger place, if it’s still bugging you, ask what happened.
As regards the chivvying, your friends may be trying to convince themselves as much as you - they’ll have been very worried - but you might consider one text to all of them saying you are suffering from fatigue and you’ll be in touch as soon as you’re up to it. That leaves you free to choose who you want to contact/meet, moving at your own pace. For now, just the ‘we’ may be more than enough for you to manage. Curl up with the telly, plug into relaxation tapes (they do help), go for short walks if you can - but limit social contact.
I’m fortunate that I only got hit by very short phases of fatigue but, during chemo, I was a zombie for much of the time and I saw friends very rarely, in fact only when I needed lifts and company during treatments. That was a period from surgery up to radiotherapy so we’re talking over 6 months. Good friends understand. Less good friends expect you to get over it and move one (that’s not going to happen - you’re a different person in some ways now). Fatigue is a significant side effect which hits people in different ways. Add the emotional toll and it’s hardly surprising you’re drained.
I hope it passes soon - the nurses here will have sound advice - but you’re the one who had breast cancer so you call the shots for now! Best of luck and congratulations on finishing radiotherapy :)
I think its perfectly normal to feel tired, given what you have been through and achieved with BC. I sometimes think we BC ladies don’t give ourselves enough credit for the stamina we magically muster-up.
I was warned by my BC Nurse that I would be tired after rads, not so much because of ‘doing them’ but because you can have “an adrenalin dump” when active treatment finishes…you suddenly realise you were motoring along on an empty tank. She was right in my case, I slept for a month to build up my strength again. And didn’t feel one jot guilty, house still clean and tidy, fridge still full, I just relaxed. A lot!
The Christmas Card - I empathise. No card from my friend of 30 years then a text on C Eve saying she is “saving the planet lol”. I’d have preferred to have just assumed lost in post. This is a friend who I sent flowers to not long ago! No complaints about the environment that day! I like Shi’s term ’ beam me up Scottie’, yep this person is not the person I thought she was. Unlike you and Shi, I’m afraid I felt the need to reply to her text pointing out what true friendship is about. I can be very ‘poetic’ when I put my mind to it, so I think she received food-for-thought. I don’t mean rude or swearing btw! Not recommended really, but due to some other hurtful and hypocritical things she had said about my BC, it was good closure for me. Had I have had a card, things would have been different. Sounds petty, but after a hellish year, being wished a Happy Christmas meant a lot.
But hopefully your card, from your friend will turn up tomorrow and you can scrub my prattling.
I hope your quiet and restful Christmas has been pleasant, if different from your normal celebration.
The Christmas card could be lost in the post, try ringing them in new year to wish them happy new year, if your friend has turned into a beam me up Scottie friend who has vanished during all your journey, then it is their loss, you are still you and carry on being you 