Hi I’m a newbie

Hi Julie52 and welcome over to this little corner of the community.

I am still looking for the book about the post treatment part of the journey and if you find it do tell us as it will be a too seller for sure.

So fatigue and the big emotional bag are two different things but do overlap at the same time.

Cancer treatments, especially intensive treatments can be like a bomb has gone off in your body and the time and ability to rebuild can be long and tiring in its self.

My head Consultant once told me that going through cancer treatments was like doing a boxing match and a marathon every day you were on treatments and this was all done without any training…… no wonder our bodies are a wreck.

I can’t see (in your profile or other posts) how long you are out from treatment. For me (hit my name Thehighlander to see my story) it took a good two years post treatment to say I was back to anything like I was before me main treatment started although I had been living abd being treated for 14 years leading up to then.

Our bodies need to heal and often the system, the stuff we have to do or think we have to do often does not allow for this healing. Stand back and think about that fir a moment.

In late 2015 my main goal post treatment was just to be able to walk again and to actually eat food so it was all about setting very small achievable goals, if I succeeded great, if not the sun would rise tomorrow and I would try again. Walking in the fresh air is such a healer especially with someone who you feel safe to vent your fears and frustrations with. This can be a wonderful way to release stress and gain vital support. However, if you have folks in your life who tend to exacerbate your worries or load you up with even more concerns (and really, who doesn’t have that one friend or family member?), avoid sharing too much with them.

Moving forward through and out of fatigue is hard work and often we make it harder as we beat ourselves up when we fall short.

Your big emotional bag is an interesting one. I call it our ‘invisible rusk sack of stuff’ we all get given this rusk sack the day we are told we have cancer. We have no idea we have it but our whole life gets thrown into it…. our hopes, and dreams all land in the bottom……. then we get thrown information, treatment plans, appointments then we go through treatments and then someone says “that’s it, we will keep an eye on you”. The suck sack is now massive and very heavy and it just pulls us down with stress and anxiety.

Bit we are not taught to regularly unpack the ruck sack and systematically dump stuff over a period of time.

I noticed on your other post someone mentioned about checking out for a Maggie’s Centre that is close you you as these folks are amazing. During lockdown a lot of their services moved onto online video support. But I see our local Maggie’s (Inverness) are starting to open up for one on one support. When I say local, up in the Highlands where I stay people will do the 3-4 hours round trip to Inverness to get to the centre - but I am pleased to say they do telephone support. 

Do also check to see if you have any Local Macmillan Support in your area that has opened up.

You may find it helpful to make a cuppa and have a look at this great paper After Treatment Finishes - Then What? by Dr Peter Harvey as it highlights the post treatment milestones.

Now this is a lot of information and thoughts so do get back to me with your questions and observations and let’s see if some of the other group members pick up on your post ((hugs))

Wow thank you for your reply , you were recommended in another post and they were right, you have given so much think about and new ways of looking the journey after treatment. I am 6 months post treatment , second scan results day on Wednesday and I will definitely look at after treatment finishes then what . Thank you so much 

Hi again Julie, let’s look for good news on Wednesday. I have lost count of my scan result days over my 22 years.

The thing I ‘got’ very quickly was I could not control these days. I have experienced lots of high scan results days and unfortunately a few low scan results days……. but I never let the challenges of the journey define how I lived my life with my incurable cancer. I can’t change things but I could change how I ‘lived’ with it.

When you read through the paper keep in mind ‘how does this apply to me?’ what can I learn from this?’ ‘what have I achieved so far?’ ‘ What have I yet to achieve?’

Do come back to us after you have your results and looked at the paper and let’s try and unpack this ruck sack in some way ((hugs))

Thank you