Holiday at end of Chemo

I hope all goes well for you. We made a mistake of booking a holiday at the end of treatment but I had had everything..... lumpectomy,  chemo and radiotherapy ....and I had not taken into account Fatigue. It spoilt the trip because we were still planning our days as we would have before cancer. Several days into the holiday, we decided to work with the fatigue. We planned much less each day, lots of opportunity for sitting with coffee and a chance to rest every afternoon. It certainly helped. Luckily we were in a beautiful and interesting place....Lucca...but we were disappointed I wasn't able to see Florence or Pizza and there was no way I could wait in queues. Our final week was in Nice which was much easier as I could use the tram between the places we wanted to visit. 

I know everyone is different. I know several people who post who managed time away and others who worked through chemo without difficulty. I just wanted to point out that if fatigue should hit you.....and this is not feeling tired, quite different.....it will spoil your holiday unless you can plan around it and are prepared mentally which unfortunately I wasn't. 

Take care with the rest of your chemo.

Hi Sandra,

I travelled 4 weeks after my mastectomy. I had 4 x EC, then 12 x Paclitaxal with herceptin every 3 weeks and then my mastectomy. I was so happy to be able to travel and whilst this was just back to the UK and staying with family we did quite a bit of travelling around. I was extremely tired, so do consider that but I loved every minute of it. I had an 8 hour flight each way and this wasn’t a problem at all. Came back and started my radiotherapy and continuing with my herceptin every 3 weeks. Talk to your Drs and see what they say, mine were great and encouraged me to go as I really wanted to anf I felt pretty good, just tired but would have been tired at home so why not see the people I love and get some energy and positivity there! I was driving 2 weeks after my mastectomy and had it 2 weeks after my chemo finished as my bloods were good enough to proceed.  I had MRI after my chemo finished to understand the results and was very lucky to have a full pathological clearance, mastectomy confirmed this.

I would say, take it easy and do what feels right for you. Talk with your Drs but let them know what you would like to do so they understand it if it’s important to you. Good luck with your chemo there are good days and bad and I wish you more good ones and honestly it passes fast. Happy Holidays

Hi Sandra,

I had my surgery before my chemo then had radiotherapy which was scheduled for three weeks after my last chemo. I went on a staycation holiday 3 weeks after my radiotherapy finished and like Lacomtekp found I had fatigue so had to modify what I did. Having said that being away did give me a real psychological boost so if you can take it easy if you do get fatigue, and many of us do, then have a great trip.
You’re at the beginning of your treatment journey and it affects everyone differently, I think I was reasonably lucky during chemo and only had one postponed for a week due to bloods not being good enough which again is a common thing I’ve read from others on here. I got more side effects as treatment went on which were manageable with meds so it might be worth seeing if it’s possible to reschedule your holiday if you don’t have surgery dates etc? Or ask your BC nurse what the time scale is likely to be? 3 weeks doesn’t give you much wiggle room if any of your chemo sessions are delayed. 
Also travel insurance will also be something you need to consider if you’re going overseas, cancer is classed as a pre existing condition so worth checking that out too, premiums are higher and cover depends on treatment outcomes. Hope that doesn’t all sound too pessimistic but I was always thankful for the ‘reality check’ from ladies on here. Wishing you good luck with your treatment, hope all SE are minimal. 

denise x

Hi Denise, thank you for your thoughts. I think I will chat to the oncologist on Monday and see what she says. I am thinking best to delay until next year, and have a short holiday later this year. It’s my partner that really wants to still go, so i need to listen to my body and make a decision nearer the time. Take care Sandra 

Hi, thank you for your reply. As I said to Denise below, I think I will listen to my body, as I want to get the most out of the holiday. Take care Sandra 

Hi I have a holiday booked abroad for my 60th in May 22.
6 months of Chemo finished in December 21, still having phesgo injections every 3 weeks, surgery Jan 22, post op wound is taking its time to heal so radiotherapy has been put on hold, my holiday is t week in May. Spoke to my radiologist and he said go for the holiday, I won’t be doing much touristy stuff, I’m just going to be sitting on the beach under the brolly with 50 factor on. I would sayf it’s a relaxing one go for it, don’t know about everyone else but I think we have been through so much and in some cases like mine still going to be having treatment, we need to do what we want too. Obviously within what we are able to. If you do go have a fab time you so deserve