Here's an extract (cut&paste) from my diary when I first started:
- Tuesday 13th March 2018 Off to hospital for 1st session of immunotherapy. It will be every 3 weeks (next will be 3rd April) and I can expect a phone call tomorrow to confirm I've had no side effects. Got home by 3:00, they gave me lunch at the hospital. They are planning 6 sessions of treatment to start with and there will be scans later to see how it's all working. - Wednesday 14th March 2018 Weight training (this is exhausting me a lot more than it used to) - Thursday 15th March 2018 Got phoned by cancer nurse to see how I'm doing. All ok apart from feeling tired, I hit a "wall" around tea-time, but considering what I've been thru that's normal and I'll continue to recover. All ok then. No word yet on when I get the finishing off with radiotherapy. Had a session on the exercise bike - Friday 16th March 2018 Weight training (still only managing to do on alternate days) - Saturday 17th March 2018 Had another session on the exercise bike - Sunday 18th March 2018 Weight training (I seem to be recovering from workouts better now)
And so it went. In due course I had the stereotactic for the hole in my brain where the tumour had been and I had my first of regular CT scans to see how my lungs were doing. Time went by, I didn't die, and I used the extra time to trial and error ways to manage the side effects of the immunotherapy (that took a long time to figure out.) I had got really serious about exercise initially because I wanted to survive potential surgery then later because it powers up the immune system. Take comfort from those dates: they're from 2018 and I'm still here.
Long story short: how did I feel? Tired. Wiped out. And scared. Don't be surprised if your husband cries - I did.
Thank you Steve - breakdown from my husband came yesterday. Since diagnosis he has not said much at all and was pleased when the oncologist said he could have immunotherapy. I think it’s just the waiting between visits and waiting for the treatment that made him break down. Your note helped me to know what to look out for.
