Apparently it's all over, but it doesn't feel like it. It was like I joined the queue for doughnuts but ended up on the rollercoaster. From start (finding a lump) to finish was less than 6 months - I was diagnosed in late December, finished treatment (3 R-CHOP and 15 radio) at the end of April, and got the "all clear" at the end of August.
I lost all hair except my eyebrows, which I was expecting, although I wasn't expecting it to hurt. I now have a crop of chemo curls. Annoyingly I have a bunch of other health problems, and trying to work out what's that and what's cancer-related has been tricky - joint pain and fatigue are part of my "normal", and have been for years.
None of this would be too much to handle, except that for a few weeks I was doing really well. I only needed a nap once or twice a week and, other than a painful breast, life felt back to normal. For some reason though, the last 10 days have sucked, and I woke up this morning feeling dizzy, which is new. My headaches stopped during treatment, but are now back with a vengeance, and I'm being regularly hit with the exhaustion stick. Rationally I know that the cancer can't be back 8 weeks after a negative PET scan and clear blood tests, but that's the only time prior to now that I've felt this rough. Actually, I'm not convinced I was worse when I had cancer.
I assume as with most things, recovery is a case of 2 steps forward and one step back. Peaks and troughs, ups and downs, etc. Everyone has their own experiences, but I hoped someone could share how they were doing after the treatment was over. How long does it take to "get over" the physical aspects of treatment?
Hi and welcome to our corner of the Community. I am Mike Thehighlander and I help out around our Lymphoma groups.
I was diagnosed way back in 1999 with a different and rather rare type of NHL, many relapses resulting in many treatments but eventually after 17 years I was put into lung term remission back in Sep 2016……. so I understand this journey rather well.
I am sitting nodding my head as I look through your post. The post treatment recovery can be far longer then you would imagine and we obviously have to take the treatment ‘left over gifts’ into account.
It took a good number of years for my body to recover where I could say I had little or no pain in my mass presentation areas, but as I had two Allo (donor) Stem Cell Transplants (hit my name for the full story) recover has just taken even longer.
I am left with a weakened immune system so infections are part of life, my last chemo (Oct 2015) left me with heart problems (A-FIB) that just recently took on a new lever so now on beta blocker and blood thinners and being tested in a number of way to move this forward.
But despite all these challenges I am happy to be alive and on the whole living a normal-ish life.
Its all about regaining trust in your body and trust in yourself. You may find it helpful to make a cuppa and have a look at this great paper After Treatment Finishes - Then What? by Dr Peter Harvey as it highlights the post treatment milestones.
Happy to talk more.
