Break before Radiotherapy

So…I’ve made it through chemotherapy. I can’t actually believe that it’s all over. Here’s hoping… praying… that I never have to go through that again. After the last infusion, I’m out of the chemo tunnel and starting to build myself back up again, which I’ve got 2 more weeks to continuing doing before radiotherapy starts. They don’t give you a huge amount of time to get yourself together before the next treatment. There’s were days recently when I couldn’t quite believe that I still have 3 weeks of treatment to get through, but as I start to get stronger I have more of a feeling of strength moving into this next phase.

I know it’s not going to be easy but I’ve got a feeling that it won’t be as tough as chemotherapy. Apparently, radiotherapy on its own doesn’t come with a huge amount of known side effects. It’s more the cumulative effect of surgery, then chemo and now radiotherapy that is tough on the body. Tiredness and skin soreness are the main side effects from radiotherapy itself. You can get extreme exhaustion, but as with everything, it depends on the person, and I’ve had that already with chemo already, so if it comes, I’ve just got to go with it, like with everything else.

So we’ll be in Brighton for the 3 weeks of treatment, in October (we’ve sorted a place to stay…whoop whoop!). Although I’ve got to go through radiotherapy, in some respects I’m quite looking forward to being in Brighton. It means a change of scenery for that time, which I feel I really need. (Plus, the Brighton Comedy Festival is on, so if I’m not feeling too whacked from radiotherapy I might be able to go and have a giggle for a bit). For much of chemotherapy I’ve been cooped up at our cottage. However beautiful our place is, too much of it, especially during testing times, has been hard going.

It’s funny how I can’t stop thinking about ‘what next’. Well, not funny really, probably quite natural. Having spent the last year ‘being ill’ all I can think about is how I’m going to spend my time when I’m better. The trouble is, there’s no way of knowing how long it will take me to recover from all of this, so the truth is, it’s pretty pointless planning anything at this stage. That doesn’t seem to stop my mind getting busy and making attempts to make grand plans. It’s just going to take a period of patience though, being kind to myself and allowing myself that time to heal. It’ll be interesting, when my energy starts to return, trying to strike that balance between finding things to get involved in but not overdoing it either… and not getting frustrated in the process. Anyway, we’ll see… All will be revealed.