Half way thru chemo and ive hit a lowpoint

Hi Suz88 

It’s hard going through chemo and all the “you are doing so well, you are so brave” talk tends to fly in the face of how we really feel. I remember looking in the mirror and barely recognising myself. It’s particularly hard if you are not able to do the things you would normally do through concerns about picking up infections and viruses. It’s good you are half way through - try to find a way of marking and celebrating the end of each cycle. My treatment was 24 weeks and I had 4 3-weekly treatments followed by 12 weekly treatments. During the 3-weekly treatments I found I felt so much better towards the end that I was able to plan short breaks away. I did a lot of walking, anything to get me outdoors. Do check with your oncologist or GP about anything they can suggest that might help your mood. Count down those cycles until it’s done, it sounds like you will be out the other side of this by the end of the year.  

It's so hard isn't it? I must admit I didn't have such a bad time during chemo physically.. I had an irritated bladder and my hair fell out. I had bad days but managed to keep going. It was very important I kept my life as normal as possible. I'm retired.

It was relatively easy to get out and about. We picked pubs we knew were pretty quiet so there was space around me or went early. It is still warm enough to sit outside for a coffee. It helped to have a little treat for the middle of the week planned, when my bad day ,Monday, was done. We are in the National trust so a walk round one of the gardens even if it ment a picnic. I still saw my precious granddaughters but a couple of the hardest times were when a visit was planned and couldn't happen because they were snotty or had D&V. They didn't have sleep overs but came for a couple of hours to play. At home I knit blankets for families that didn't have things for their babies. I didn't have the concentration to follow a pattern but it stopped me going mad.

I got a chest infection and I missed one treatment but a chest infection a year is normal for me. 

My advice to put it simply would be do what you can when you can and try not to let your fear of getting an infection stop you going out. You need to have something to put the lipp y on for.