Morning.
I just wanted to reach out to any other halves!
Chris is my husband and very recently diagnosed following emergency surgery to fit a colostomy.
First Oncologist consultation later this week. We have been told that the 8cm rectal tumour is inoperable.
Hoping to establish a plan this week.
Sleep for both of us is shocking!
Chris takes the sleeping tablet beginning with Z with varying degrees of success the odd few hours.
I sleep for up to 3/4 then wide awake ready to busy myself.
Any other partners that are finding the same. I am no longer stressing about sleep just think I have adjusted to less much like when you bring a new baby home you survive.
I appreciate that being awake with a busy brain is normal and understandable.
Any tips for coping and are afternoon naps a good idea to try and get a bit more sleep in later in the day.
Love
Laura x
HiLauraR26 it sounds like you and indeed Chris are navigating some challenging times.
My wife and I have been on my journey for over 26 years with 4 different types of cancer so I do appreciate the issues…. when it comes to afternoon naps we had a rule that we would only sleep a max of 45 mins and then we would wake each other up….. the more you sleep during the day the more the nights sleep can be affected.
Also getting lots of fresh air and being active during the days helps a lot.
Navigating this journey can be such a stressful and challenging time but talking with and getting support from people who have walked or are walking the ‘exact same' treatment journey, be it as a patient or caregiver can help a lot.
To get some good practical and emotional help with the challenges of supporting your Chris and indeed yourself you may benefit from joining and posting in our dedicated…..
Supporting someone with incurable cancer
……. support groups where you will connect with a wide range of members navigating the exact same support challenges.
((hugs))
Hi Laura…..I have been up two times during the night to go to the ‘little room’….. one of the challenges of having Prostate Cancer but I have developed the ability to get back to sleep.
Yes it’s been a challenging 26+ years…. but the one thing we as a family have found is that you never know what will come along….
Back in 1999 when I was diagnosed with my rare incurable T-Cell Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma the then median survival rate was 3-5 years…… well that was obviously blown out of the water due to the developments in treatments.
Our daughters were 14 and 18 when I was first diagnosed…… it took a few years before I had some intensive treatment between late 2013 to late 2015 with over 750hrs chemo, 45 radiotherapy zaps and 2 Allograft (donor) Stem Cell Transplants……. but we went on to see our daughters graduate, get married, set up very successful businesses and provide us with 4 beautiful granddaughters…..
I turn 71 in Nov and tomorrow will be 11 years since my last treatment……. It’s actually classed as my 11th re-birthday as Stem Cell Transplant in it’s simplest form takes me to the point of having no immune system as my bone marrow is switched off and Stem Cells from a donor (my big brother) are implanted and grows an all new immune system (See my story)
There is an ongoing thread on this group called Awake and up all night …… it’s a place where others like yourself are awake and posting in this thread so you may well connect with someone in the exact same position at that time of night.
You just need to go to the bottom of the thread and use the navigate arrow > to get to the most recent posts.
All the very best ((hugs))
