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Laura Smith

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Diary of a Cancer Patient: The End is in Sight

Posted: 10/02/2012 23:00

With less than a month now til my last chemotherapy session I am getting frustratingly excited. So close but yet far enough.

What a journey it has been. I'll save the looking back and reminiscing about my experience for my next blog post.

No one tells you how mind-numbingly boring it is though going through chemotherapy. I don't know what I expected at the start, I expected to feel ill, as in really sick, most of the time. Which I haven't, well not as bad as I thought I would, which is weird.

Chemo makes me feel like my body has been taken over by chemicals that won't let me function normally - it doesn't let me relax and watch TV, it makes me anxious and on edge, I have no concentration so cannot watch a movie or read a book, I enjoy blogging but can only do that a limited part of the day, then what?

I know some people work partly throughout it but it totally depends on the course of chemo you are going through. Mine has made me lose my mind a little and I doubt I would be much use on a day to day basis working.

I don't want to sound like I am moaning, I guess I am trying to put into words what the past five months has been like, staring at the same four walls and feeling generally rubbish and unable to do much, I am bored. I am out of my mind, going stir crazy bored. I look forward to my boyfriend coming home each day and launch at him when he comes through the front door because it gives me someone to talk to and something to do.

Someone said, it must be great having all this time off, able to catch up on the latest box sets and movies but there is only so much TV you can watch. I dream of being back at work. There, I said it!

It is so hard to describe though the feeling of feeling this useless. On one hand I want to do lots but on the other the chemo makes you so tired and lazy that you are unable to do a lot. Contradiction in itself I know.

I have planned my holidays for the rest of the year, planned moving house and where I want to work already because I am itching to start my life again. I guess its natural, I have even decided to run the New York marathon in November 2012, well I say run, I am more likely to walk. Most of it.

This past month I have had stronger days and each month I seem to keep getting a bit more able to deal with it. When I first started my chemo back in October 2011, I was on an intensive treatment plan which knocked me down for two months, I could hardly leave the house, ended up hospitalised and generally felt like I was dying.

Now I am on a new regime of chemo which has given me two weeks out of the month to live 'normally', those two weeks I cherish, I fill my days seeing friends and doing as much as I can whilst resting as and when I need to. Getting cancer has certainly made me appreciate having a 'good' day, one where I can live normally. Leave the house, meet friends for lunch, get a bus!

I constantly feel though like I am not myself, I am missing my 'spark', I know I will get it back when chemo is finished and I start having a life again but because I am not living a normal life, its expected that I do lose part of 'me'.

In a month's time I will have had my last chemo session and will start to feel stronger. Once that is done, I have to go through two weeks of radiotherapy then, I hope, I am free to start my life all over again.

My hair is growing back and will keep growing which is nice. Although my hair used to be red which I love and its growing back brown! They said it could happen, it could grow back a different colour that is, within a year it should go back to normal. I HOPE.

 

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22:59 on 21/02/2012
All due respect Laura, your last chemo session is only the beginning. I found that my active therapy was only a small part of my cancer treatment. In a nutshell, it is your lifestyle that will manage your breast cancer remission. Exercise, nutrition and supplementation have all been shown to be a critical component of breast cancer therapy.

http://breastcancer.peoplebeatingcancer.org/

David Emerson
http://peoplebeatingcancer.org/
14:12 on 13/02/2012
Many thanks for that insight, Laura, somewhat like going through a dark winter but now it's almost spring. I wish you all the best.
21:46 on 13/02/2012
I cannot wait for it to be Spring!
01:03 on 14/02/2012
Soon will be!
23:10 on 12/02/2012
All the best to you. I wish you well. Take care
08:43 on 13/02/2012
Thank you, appreciate your comment
20:57 on 12/02/2012
Thank you for your frank essay.

It is nearly 22 years since my 8 cycles of chemo finished to treat Hodgkins Disease.

I was 27, recently married, and my wife had delivered us a healthy daughter just before the end of 1990.

This article has provoked strong memories of that time.

Now over 2 decades later I can say that life does not get back to normal after surviving cancer and it's treatment. Life does seem more interesting because it is valued more after surviving something which used to kill more than 95% sufferers in the 1960's.

Good luck with the remaining treatment.
08:45 on 13/02/2012
Thank you.

I thought as much, I broke down only last night thinking I will always fear the cancer coming back. I know life will change, I say I can't wait to get back to 'normal' but its more that I can't wait to live like other people without cancer e.g. go to the pub, have a drink, LIVE!

Thank you for your best wishes, three weeks today til my last Chemo session and hopefully no more.
Southern law girl
Researching my viewpoint....
21:31 on 11/02/2012
The experiences you have described in relation to chemo is similar to that of a friend of mine. Concentration was the main thing, nausea did come into it. But funny thing was, everytime he went near a hospital once chemo had finished he had all the symptoms he had when he was on chemo, even simple visits for check ups. His hair grew back as thick as it was when he was in his twenties, he is now 73, his hair is still very thick, and that was three years ago!
Southern law girl
Researching my viewpoint....
21:44 on 11/02/2012
chemo is similar -----Should read-----chemo are similar
08:46 on 13/02/2012
Thank you for your comment.

I start to feel sick just at the thought of being near the hospital now! I do worry I will become a hypochondriac, fearing the cancer will come back.

Looking forward to having my hair again!
17:05 on 11/02/2012
never had chemo, but had radiation. lost my sense of taste for 3 months. i was fittting into clothes i had in high school. Lost about 80 pounds. cancer no picnic.
08:47 on 13/02/2012
I have to have radiation next, I wonder if I will lose my sense of taste - eek, I love food! Weight loss would be a bonus though for me, I have put on over a stone and a half
14:28 on 13/02/2012
Depends were your radiation is . I had tumour on my tongue. Don't try and lose weight you need all the caleries to heal. god luck and god bless. you will get theough it.
16:02 on 11/02/2012
Great article...It must be difficult to write about going through a stressful experience. Brave stuff http://circlesports.estoreadminpreview.uk.com/category.aspx?zcid=144
08:48 on 13/02/2012
Thank you, I have found writing about it mildly therapeutic. People's comments have been so nice and really helped me through the difficult times
15:17 on 11/02/2012
My mom had red hair and Hodgkin's--twice. Once in her 40s and again in her 50s. The post-chemo hair grew back red each time too. I suspect the chemo is more targeted now. Hers was back in the Seventies and it ultimately stiffened her heart and affected her lungs so that she had to use pulmonary treatments from her 70s. She also had colon cancer that only needed surgery to remove (in her 70s) and breast cancer twice. The second time was imflammatory BC that she ultimately succumbed to at the age of 83 last year. Throughout all her tribulations she had a positive outlook and believed she would get well again. I am not saying all cancer patients will re-experience cancer many times over, just that there is amazement in the body's resiliency and an almost certain connection to beleifs.
Southern law girl
Researching my viewpoint....
21:26 on 11/02/2012
Gosh, they say lightening never strikes in the same place twice, oh yes it does! I think your Mother was amazing! I am also very sorry for your loss.
08:49 on 13/02/2012
Thank you for sharing that comment, your mother was a strong woman, how brave! I do worry about the cancer coming back, I guess it will always hang over me but I have tried to be positive throughout, its the only way.

My hair is red in patches at the moment, hopefully I will have a full head of redness soon!
19:51 on 13/02/2012
Oh, so sorry, I did not mean to imply that the cancer will come back for you! Many times over that is not the case. I think my mom was an anomaly. I actually wanted to emphasize her resilience and note the red-headed parallel :). I am so glad this will be behind you soon. Best wishes!
10:37 on 11/02/2012
Well done. Keep us posted.
08:42 on 13/02/2012
Thanks Eric, will do!