Finished radio chemo !

Twigley Congrats Sarah on finishing the CRT!  How amazing is it to have your days your own again!

Everyone’s experience is different - my pain peaked about 2 weeks before end of treatment, and improved quickly about 2 weeks post treatment as the swelling around the tumour started to go down.

Of course you’re low right now, stuck at home with noisy contractors & in pain.  It will improve.  You’ve got through the worst of this so just get through the next week or two as best you can.  Rest to help your body heal, eat whatever you fancy.  Watch mindless telly, write jokes about snakes & mongooses, phone friends & cry on their shoulders, come here & have a good moan.

But mainly - congratulations!  Toni  x

Congratulations Sarah! I spent the 2 weeks after treatment resting and sleeping your body has been through so much. Make sure you eat well and get plenty of rest, as much as you need. Bev x

Huge congratulations Twigley, it’s great that you’re done with treatment & also that you’ve been given lots of supplies to come home with. Everyone is different, personally my symptoms peaked day 11 post treatment, like 1in1500 I spent the 2 weeks following my last treatment resting a lot & mainly transferred from sofa to salt bath to bed to salt bath again. I too wrote down my painkiller doses to keep track! You’ll soon start feeling yourself again, one day you’ll just feel yourself turn that corner & healing will begin & hopefully you’ll not look back. 

Nicola 

Great treatment finished and all they are doing for you. Totally relate to your description! I’m now 3 months after treatment. The pain at BM time is now not so bad but only the last week. The pain and urgency difficult to manage as is the smell!! I said it’s like putting TCP on an open wound, soo painful but then gone! 
Tips: I have an emergency supply bag when I go out- tissues, wet wipes, pads and clean knickers!! Painkillers though don’t really need them!! 
First MRI result for me tomorrow

I don’t think I had computed how bad the first 3 weeks after treatment would be. However I have healed well and accidents and emergencies are becoming less frequent. However been caught short twice in last week, perhaps because becoming more confident in going out. 
Good luck Sarah, sooo pleased I’m through that bit!! Every day I say “thank goodness for the washing machine” 

Ruth xx

Thanks everyone,  eurgh !!!!

• Well done Sarah you got through it! I finish next week and boy is everything sore. I have to pour water over myself whilst on the loo now and take two hourly fixes of morphine and I'm asleep about 16hours of the day. Inspirational people like yourself on this site keep me going. I know what you mean about snake being chased by a mongoose and it's a good job that I live in an old house with thick walls or the neighbour's would think someone was being tortured . Please keep posting how you progress as I'll be following in your footsteps and even though it's not something that I'll be looking forward to I'll know that it's 'normal' if you understand what I mean. Keep strong you've got this far and soon be ditching the dressings and ugly undies and flicking through a Victoria's Secret catalogue haha. I find that I can't talk to friends and family about how I really feel and how much pain I'm in as unless you're going through it or been through it it's not helpful and I can only be told so many times that "I'm a fighter". And no more daily hospital visits will be brilliant! Xxx Marie 

Mecca So glad you’re finishing next week, at your stage I was counting down the days too.

Must admit to giggling at what you wrote about noises on the loo.  Mine isn’t soundproofed & my neighbours must’ve thought my loo was haunted by something weird & scary!  Wooo ouch whimper...

Also totally relate to talking about C with friends & family.  Sometimes it helps to talk, mostly though it keeps me focused on the negative stuff & leaves me feeling bad.  I need to focus on the positives - daily exercise, practising classical guitar, cooking & learning Japanese.

Hang on in there Marie, you’re doing all the right things - all that sleeping & your sense of humour will get you through this.  Toni xx

xxx

Gosh, i never knew it would be quite so bad ! i'm glad i'm not the only one who's shouting and whimpering when i pass bm. The ibuprofen gives me permanent heartburn so im not taking it, just having the paracetamol. The morphine gel they gave me does not seem to do much and my poor inner labia are bleeding and swollen, crikey it hurts to wee. I am totally hating this, surely it can't get any worse ? I'm not motivated to do anything, so resting a lot. So why is it i can sleep in the day but between 1am and 3 am its electric legs, massive itches and burning ? then nod off till 8, take more painkillers and toast then sleep again till 12 noon. I hope this is the only week from hell, any improvement at all will be fantastic.  

I'm not feeling all that positive about this whole thing, my diagnosis was 2 years late, I was left hanging over xmas and new year on my own in lockdown about metatarsis, thinking I had to have a colostomy bag for life. They didn't bother to biopsy my lymph nodes but blasted 2 of them. Are vague when I ask to know if it is caused by hpv I have seen my oncologist once, it felt rushed and she just wanted me to sign the consent form. I was given a whole wad of papers and folder with very general information, saying my hair would fall out, not to eat brie or mussels, designer booklets with side effects diaries yr supposed to fill in every day. I was on 5 different machines so never got to know the radiologists, they never turned the expensive arty ceiling lights on or played music, they were rushed off their feet. I was there for 3 hours a day for a 15min treatment slot, the appointment list changed 4 times.  Yes I'm alive, I will survive but I will be glad when they can ditch the radioactive treatment for lazer surgery, immunology and chemo. Yes I'm grateful, course I am, and it is much more difficult for everything during lockdown, but its an impersonal standard treatment, I know I'm lucky to get it, and yes I know I'm not special at all, ah well ...... roll on summer. rant over. sorry

It’s bloody awful for 2/3 weeks!! Then starts to ease a bit though bm still bad for sometime. Hope you saw my 3 month post treatment post. All gone pain far less in last 2 weeks. So hold on in there. But totally relate to your distress. The sun should help get you through it. Thinking of you, it is a tough journey.... but you will get there.
Sending virtual get well hugs

Ruth X