Hi
I start radiotherapy next week and the closest hospital that does radiotherapy is 30 miles away. I’m not concerned about the actual treatment, but three weeks of daily round trips of 60 miles is concerning me. I don’t have anyone to take me, so will be driving myself. I could catch a train but that still involves a 10 mile drive to the nearest station, plus parking, train and taxi fares - so not really affordable.
Has anyone had experience of this amount of driving whilst having radiotherapy? Is it manageable and are there any tips or advice you can give me.
Many thanks
Carrie
Hi Carrie
Yes I did a 56ml round trip for 3 weeks. I honestly did not find it a problem and actually quite enjoyed the sense of normality driving gave me. I set off in good time always getting to hospital early enough for a coffee ( but also allowing myself time if there was a traffic hold up) so no stress involved.
i felt just fine all the way through my rads but I did do the sensible thing of keeping hydrated, moisturising as advised and getting plenty rest.
I treated myself to some good audio books and they made the journeys much easier…perhaps you would like to try this or maybe you prefer to treat yourself to favourite music?
Either way please do not stress over your journey. At worst it will not be as bad as you feared and who knows…perhaps like me you will end up enjoying it as ‘me time’ each day.
wishing you well
JJ
Hi Carrie
I had a 40 mile round trip and driving myself felt like I had some control over the situation especially since after 2 OPs I hadn’t been allowed to drive until I had healed a bit .I looked forward to my regular shopping trip to a large Asda on my way back usually buying an item of clothing or something nice to eat or a plant for the garden. Going into work was more of a bind. I did feel very tired on a few days so took extra care driving.
Give yourself plenty of time and you’ll soon get used to it.
Sending a hug
cc
I too am worried about travelling to rad appointments. My situation is different to you though. I don’t drive and neither does my husband. The hospital is about 12 miles away, but there is no direct bus route. The bus stop for the first bus is right outside my house but regular services don’t start until 9:30 am and are then only every 30 minutes but are not very reliable. The cost of the bus tickets is about £9:00 each per day and as my husband will be travelling with me it works out about £18:00 per day. We’ll probably have to buy a monthly ticket which will work out cheaper at about £220 for a 4 week ticket.