Radiotherapy

Thanks for the advice. I will try and stay active as much as possible, even if it's only a walk. Can you go swimming on radiotherapy I wonder?

 I had 30 sessions of radiation I was very tired I just got through it by sleeping whenever I could and support of my loving family hope this helps 

I would say no as radiation oncologist told me the only exercise that I could do during radiation was walking.  

Thanks, unfortunately I don't have any family

SusiQ 

I think you're right

Hi

i think it’s no to swimming (I think it’s a skin thing)

re other exercise you just do what feels right I think. It’s not a time to crank up your exercise and I think you could reasonably expect to be able to keep yourself ticking over - as long as you feel confortable and don’t over do it

Hi SusiQ

How are you getting on ? I wonder if you've started radiotherapy yet. 

You said you'd be interested to know a bit about my mental struggle with radiotherapy, so here goes ...

I had 15 sessions of radiotherapy, but no chemo, and physically I was lucky. But emotionally I was a mess. My partner is a nurse, and she was surprised by how upset I was by radiotherapy - as was I. I came out of the first 3 sessions in tears.  

Luckily, there's a Maggie's Centre next to the cancer department in Edinburgh. I went and spoke to the staff there, and they were brilliant. Gave me lots of helpful tips, which I followed.  

The first was to tell the staff how nervous I was feeling, and that I would like them to talk to me. On my first 3 visits, they were quiet and efficient and then left the room ! I realised it was the first time in my whole treatment process that I'd been left alone. I felt very isolated and vulnerable, lying in the middle of this strange machine, naked from the waist up, with my arms above my head, forbidden to move. 

Of course, I knew why I'd been told to lie very still - but I didn't know this machine was going to grow arms and legs and approach me from all angles. Normally, if you catch sight of unexpected movement in your peripheral vision, and hear it whirring and clicking, you turn towards it to see what it is. I knew I couldn't. That stressed me out.  

So, when I went for my fourth session, I spoke to the lovely staff. I asked to see all the "arms and legs" of the machine. They couldn't do that, but they did tell me it would go through exactly the same order every day. Sadly, they couldn't speak to me during the process because it was an old machine, but, strangely, it helped just to know that.  

If you have a modern machine, ask the staff to talk to you while you're being zapped, if you think that would help you. 

I asked the staff to talk to me about anything while they were getting me into place. One woman told me about visiting her mother the day before, for Mother's Day. It really helped to distract me with pleasant thoughts of everyday life.  

Following Maggie's advice, I also asked them to change the music, from fairly loud pop music to quiet sort of whale music. They did that immediately - said it was easy, on someone's phone, played through the speakers. Every session after that, quiet meditative music was playing when I entered the room. So they'd made a note about it, which really helped me to feel I was a person, not a number. One of the staff said she'd never listened to music like that before and really liked it.  

Two other strategies helped me. One was suggested by the counsellor / psychologist which Macmillan and BUPA funded free for six sessions. Have you asked for that help ? I found it really useful. I also spoke to a Macmillan Buddy - someone who has been through cancer and knows what it's like. I think ou can find links to both services on this website. 

Back to my counsellor ...  She suggested I give myself a reward after every session, just for getting through it. She suggested a balloon. So I did that. I went out and bought a packet of balloons of all different colours and a balloon pump. Every day when I got home, I blew up a balloon. By the end, I had 15 cheerful balloons floating round the sitting-room.  

Finally, I decided to name the radiotherapy machine. I called him Toothless, after the cheeky dragon in "How to Train Your Dragon." Toothless is very powerful but also playful and toothless. For me, this was a good metaphor and reminded me that the machine was there to help me, even if it didn't always feel like that.  

From then on, when the staff left the room, I would look up at the machine and say "Hallo, Toothless," and start a conversation with him - in my head, so as to keep still ! I felt he became my friend, not my enemy.  

You might think I'm crazy, and you're probably right, but I pass on these tips in the hope that at least one of them is useful.  

At the very least, you'll know you're not alone in being upset by radiotherapy. The staff at the hospital in Edinburgh said it's very common, and they were glad I'd told them, because then they were aware and were able to do something about it.  

Wishing you all the best. You will soon be through this xx

Hi SusiQ

I only had 5 days, but my letter from my oncologist stated there was “no restriction on any activities” during or after radiotherapy. 

Good luck with everything. x 

I have read all the replies with much interest, I’m booked to have radiotherapy in Feb after op in January I’ve been told I’ll be having 30 sessions which is a bit scary, I’m having this done in Bangkok as I live in Koh Samui but there is no treatment offered on the island.  I’m planning on staying close to the hospital after reading how tired everyone has said they’ve got, I’ve struggled with tiredness after my chemo sessions so will be good to be a 10 minute walk from the hospital, any advice will be greatly appreciated 

I had 15 rounds of radiotherapy too. It’s a very fast and efficient treatment. In and out in 15 minutes.

No problems really? I did burn a little after treatment 11-15 but nothing major. Like sunburn really. I drank loads of water like a camel and walked 4-5km daily. Didn’t feel tired.

This was February 2024.

You’ll be ok.