Good morning all,
Yesterday I went for a PET-CT scan so I'll know the results in about a week.
But before that, I knew that my prostate cancer was back some 3-4 months ago when I began to suffer from fatigue.
Now I didn't really understand the word 'fatigue' - to me it meant tiredness perhaps coupled with some exhaustion but I wasn't prepared for the reality of the word.
So I've now been in its thrall for perhaps 2 months and I totally understand the meaning - I'm constantly utterly exhausted and sleepy. My leg muscles in particular seem to have almost died - it's a real effort just to move one leg at a time. Standing up is painful and so exhausting and actually doing anything while upright is even worse. Jobs (well, chores) that used to take a few minutes now take 10 times as long and I find that I often have to go and sit down to try to recover some strength after a few minutes and then carry on..
Walking is horrible - I totter from side to side; wobbling in an uncertain manner and have to pause after a few steps before proceeding. Fortunately my arms aren't too bad so I can still type, browse, do the dishes (damn!) and even create meals (although only if they're relatively simple and the ingredients can be all put more or less in one place). They're also very useful to hold onto things to steady my path or to pull or push me up from my bed or chair.
Not only am I useless but I'm something of a burden on my wife, who's already suffering from assorted abdominal problems. The only way I'm useful is in dealing with online activities - a subject that my wife finds far too hard to comprehend. Anyway, I'm almost 80 now, so I've had a good innings, whatever happens.
My brain? Definitely a bit slower than it used to be, but as I'm fast approaching 80, perhaps I shouldn't be at all surprised.
So - this isn't so much a moan about having cancer - that's just a bit of bad luck - but more of a discourse on the effect that's taken over my life - fatigue.
What I'd really like to know is when will it stop, or even ease up, because I'll be utterly frank, it's really not worth living in my current condition. No-one at all has given me a straight answer - all the medical people I've spoken to have more or less changed the subject quickly - I want an answer - please. So far as I can understand from reading online, it should ease up "once my treatment is finished." However, I'm informed that I'll probably be going on a 6-month-on and 6-month-off regime for the rest of my days. They're treating my cancer rather than curing it or as the consultant told me, "You'll die with the cancer, not from it." - which is fair enough. But does that give my fatigue a chance to stop?
Comments will be very much appreciated.
Hello Chris (Souwesterly)
We look like we are in the same boat - your description of Hormone Therapy fatigue is just what I've had for the last 3 years. The one thing I didn't do with fatigue was to sleep in the day. I have plenty going on, working, walking (wobbling side to side), working for Macmillan and 100+ other things - when I felt tired I just took the dog for a walk.(he thought HT was great!).
5 months on from the end of HT - not much has changed - I am 3 years older (70 later this year) so I have just put it down to old age and am carrying on.
So "Is your fatigue going to stop" - my opinion for what it's worth - NO.
I do hope my reply has helped.
Best wishes - Brian.
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