Am I sleeping myself to health, or death? Should I listen when my body tells me it needs rest, or is it the cancer speaking, trying to save itself? Should I push myself and take up a personal trainer? I’d like to hear the opinions of the people here in this forum.
I was diagnosed with breast cancer aged 51 in 2020, during lockdown. Chemo, multiple surgeries, radio. Cancer free by 2022. March 2024 diagnosed with oesophageal cancer. All I had was a hoarse throat; lost my voice. Turned out it’s aggressive and has already thrown off metastatic cancer cells to my liver and bones, meaning it’s incurable. I’m undergoing chemo and immunotherapy, 8 x 3 week cycles till April 2025. Immunotherapy cannot cure it; it can, however, stop it from developing further: this has happened in many cases.
I came across Ruth Bader Ginsburg in my research and I find her story inspirational. Please read over the summary of Ruth’s cancer journey, gleaned from Wikipedia, and let me know your opinions: should I sleep or train?
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Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG)
Born Joan Ruth Bader, 15 March 1933-18 September 2020 (87)
RBG was associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death in 2020.
She and Martin married in 1954. Their daughter Jane was born in 1955 and shortly after, Martin was diagnosed with testicular cancer. He eventually died of complications from metastatic cancer a long time afterwards on 27 June 2010, four days after their 56th wedding anniversary.
Throughout Ruth’s high school years her mother, Celia, had struggled with cancer, passing away in unfortunate timing the day before Ruth’s high school graduation.
Ruth herself tackled five bouts of cancer in a period of 21 years: colon, pancreas, lung, pancreas, pancreas. During this time, she missed a few bare weeks of work, took up physical training with a U.S. Army Special Forces trainer when she was 66 and could still do 20 press-ups by the age of 80.
1999 colon cancer – surgery, chemo, radio – didn’t miss a single day of work. Physically weakened, began personal training with the Special Forces agent – remember, she’s 66 years old – and found her physical fitness improved.
2009 pancreatic cancer, early stage, surgery on 5 Feb, released 13 Feb, back to work 23 Feb.
Nov 2014, had stent fitted after discomfort during exercise.
8 Nov 2018 she had a fall, broke some ribs and a CT scan showed cancerous nodules in her lungs. Dec 21 had a left-lung lobectomy. For the first time in over 25 years, she missed an oral argument on 7 Jan 2019. She returned to the Supreme Court on 15 February 2019.
August 2019, Supreme Court announced Ginsburg had completed three weeks of focused radiation treatment to ablate a pancreatic tumour.
January 2020, cancer-free.
February 2020, cancer had returned.
May 2020, Ginsburg was once again receiving treatment for a recurrence of cancer. She said she “would remain a member of the Court as long as I can do the job full steam”.
Ruth died on 18 September 2020, aged 87 from complications of pancreatic cancer.
As I said I did not fully understand your question nor what it is you expect to hear from us. I am not a medic but I am both a cancer patient and a genetic toxicologist. That is, I spent my career studying mutagenesis, carcinogenesis and researching novel oncology therapies in a practical setting. So I am further perplexed why anyone would dismiss the wealth of learning and progress that has been made in understanding and curing cancer.
Hi want2eat
I can't answer from a personal experience level, but I can tell you how my husband has been throughout his time dealing with Chemo, immuno and Radio therapies.
Dal has always pushed himself, more so to do, rather than to sit, Sometimes of course he will feel tired and sleep, but he will always makes sure he does things throughout the day, often whilst I am out at work he will be doing the housework, something that we all know can be quite tiring, but he does it anyway.
He will go for a walk if he begins to feel tired and again as I said, sometimes he will just sleep, but often that is half way through a film that he isn't enjoying, we find him snoozing in the chair.
The important thing is always to do what you believe you can, without putting yourself in a position where you become too exhausted. If you are able to sleep well at night, then it is possible to try to whatever you feel is best for you in the day, but if you are not rested and nights see discomfort or many waking moments, try to catch up now and again with a snooze.
Remembering that the medical professionals have a wealth of knowledge, that is not only book taught and statistics, but many years of walking alongside thousands of people who have experiences similar or above and beyond our own. I think sometimes we forget the Heart of these medical guys, who have worked for many years alongside patients who have managed to beat the odds over and over, and then for whatever reason their battle is lost, some great relationships have formed and been lost to this dreadful disease, so like myself, someone who does not have first-hand knowledge of treatment or side-effects, I have walked this path for almost 5 years with my Husband, I have chatted with guys on here and I feel that everyone's input is valuable, even if it is not something that we carry with us along the way.
We can learn from everyone, including listening to ourselves, you will know what is best for you.
I wish you every success with the immuno-therapy, it has given amazing results for Dal, so I know how fantastic this treatment, in regards to outcome can be.
Lowe'
Thank you so much for your reply. I take your points on board re: the medical pros but this is my second (different primary) cancer journey and they seem too snowed under to fully engage. They're definitely under-resourced and over-saturated with ill people.
Dal is inspirational. I'm glad to hear immunotherapy is working well for him, you must be happy and hopeful. I take comfort from your advice and Dal's attitude to exercise, work and sleep - thank you, this is valuable to me.
I am sorry that you are going through this all over again, once is too much for anyone let alone believing things were clear and positive and then to have your world shattered again, must be heartbreaking.
If you do not find your medical team fully engaged when you are with them or indeed when you need them, let them know, sometimes it is not easy to do, because we have to find a kind way of approaching how we are feeling in regards to the care that we receive (in all walks of our life) but if they do not seem fully engaged with you, I imagine that must be extremely difficult and possibly upsetting, so tell the Cancer Nurse, or indeed discuss with Macmillan, who may be able to help.
Keep doing as much as you can to be you, and who knows, you may find that this treatment works wonders again for you. xx
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