Hello everyone, I hope you are all doing ok, sending lots of hugs to whoever needs one. I'm writing having just finished 5 weeks of chemoradiotherapy, a huge relief to get that last session finished with! We celebrated with Christmas lunch in the Christie's restaurant, very nice it was too. I've decided it will be helpful for me to reflect and hopefully sharing my experience so far might be helpful to others so here goes:
Overall I've coped with the treatment fairly well, the most notable side effects are that pesky fatigue and the sore tender skin around my anus and vagina which developed over the second half of the treatment. Doing anything on the loo is painful and my curses can be heard throughout the house! However it only hurts at that moment (or so I keep telling myself through gritted teeth) and the numbing gel and cream
alternated with flamminal is keeping it under control. Can't wait for it to go away though I'll be honest.
The fatigue is omnipresent - I manage the morning dog walk and a bit of washing up and that's about it. I'm getting plenty of rest and not having to battle the M60 every day is a massive plus. We figured we'd driven around 850 miles in total and with the amount of traffic we were out of the house for 3 to 4 hours each day. Cleaning can wait until the pre Christmas day tidy up.
Every person involved with my treatment is amazing, I felt really looked after at every step. I had one bad patch about half way through when I spent two days in bed sleeping, I think I was spending a lot of energy on constantly counting down to the end and wanting time to move quicker. I'm learning to be a bit more pragmatic and kinder to myself.
So, it appears now that they'll leave me alone for eight to ten weeks then do repeat scans and call me in to discuss next steps. If the RT has done it's job and shrunk the tumour then it'll be surgery to remove it, fingers crossed this all goes to plan. I'd be interested to hear about anyone's experiences of surgery if you don't mind sharing?
Hugs to everyone 
Squashable (Susie)
