Post Treatment Depression?

sweetblood22 said:

Well, I responded last
Well, I responded last night, and I guess my post is off in cyberspace somewhere, because I see it's not here. I don't know if I'm too late for his appointment today, so I won't beat around the bush. The doctors need to know about all his physical symptoms as well as the mental ones. If he didn't let me go with him, I would be picking up the phone and letting his doctors know exactly what's going on.

As someone who has been clinically depressed, I can tell you that it's nothing to sweep under the rug or ignore. When you are depressed you are not thinking clearly. If it is depression I can tell you, that there are medications and it's the biggest relief.

I know there was a point that I was so sick and in so much pain I just wanted to go to sleep and never wake up again. You guys need to communicate with eachother and the doctors so that they can do what they can to help.

fisrpotpe said:

Hoping
I am hoping all those going thru treatment, just starting recovery and only several weeks into recovery take a moment to read and reply along with those who are years out of treatment.

When the treatment stops from radiation and chemo there is no fast recovery like getting over the flu. Yes everyone is different and there will be a blessed few who say I went back to work and getting on with my life, we all wish that was the case. After being thru it and listening here and in our local support group the survivor just does not recover fast enough. I too was the same as your husband. Back 15 years ago they believed the radiation kept work 9-10 weeks after the last zapping. Now they say 6-9 weeks. The first couple weeks are a half step forward and many many steps back ward. Weeks 3-4 you start to feel like one day forward and two - three days back ward. I took me approx. 2 months to feel like I was not loosing ground in recovery over a weeks time. I finally went back to work at 3 months post treatment and should never done it. I barely made 8 hours a day on the clock but i was going at 60% and at the end of the day all i would do is sleep in the chair till it was bed time and do it day after day.

It would surprise me that alot of us who went thru it did not get depressed. I know I did and I had an very experienced GP doctor who suggested I get Vit. B-12 shots twice a week. I did and it gave me something just hours after having. He even said the pills would not do it you need the shot. He said they could give them every day so I pick M-W-F for the first couple months and then twice per week to the 10 month recovery and quit 1 shot after 14-15 months. I believe in them.... just so you know biker Lance Armstrong went thru the fight the same time I did and he also took the shots.

Depression is a chemical imbalance with in your body put out by your emotions. It's not a physic problem. I am betting the cancer doc will send him to a GP to help or check out the depression.

Your husband needs to accept help and share problems with the doctors. Men and I mean Men as I am one feel they are in destructible. We are not and help is the only way to get it.

I believe your husbands status is where about 80% of us were at his same stage.

Prayers for Him for Wisdom, Strength and PMA.

John

Puggle said:

Thank you all for caring...
Thanks so much to everyone for caring and helping out. This is truly a great forum with lots of wonderful people.

My husband's appointment today was with the Radiation Oncologist. I had emailed the doctor early in the morning so he could prepare and address the issues. The doctor told him to stop taking the dilaudid that was first prescribed when he was admitted in the hospital. He feels that was causing the mood swings, anxiety and also possibly making the mucus worse. All through treatments he refused narcotics and took other pain killers and did really well on them so I'm hoping that this will help. He has an appointment with his GP tomorrow morning and also needs to follow up by phone with the RO by Friday and then with the Medical Oncologist next Tuesday so they are keeping close tabs on him. The RO also told him the back of his throat was looking really good and was almost healed so hopefully that gave him a boost. He's always been impatient so I'm hoping and praying that he can have the patience to slowly progress through the healing process.

Thank you all again so much! jc

Puggle said:

Yep, I'm in it for the long haul
We've been married for 25 years, in fact we celebrated our 25th anniversary right in the middle of the treatments so we celebrated by eating some scrambled eggs with a toast of boost. lol He owes me an anniversary trip to Vegas for that once he feels better!

I do have to work so he's home alone during the day but we talk back and forth either by phone or email and I try to spend as much time as I can with him in the evening but he's usually pretty tired by then and falls asleep fairly quickly. Until this last week when he totally turned nasty I would spend evenings giving him back or foot rubs so he could relax. Hopefully this change in meds will get us back to that point again.

rozaroo said:

Depression
I suffer from anxiety & panic attack's & was offered help at my cancer centre! I sure needed it to get me get though as I was freaking at the sight of a needle. Talking to someone has helped me & also have had help with medication when needed. I do understand that most men are too proud to acknowledge that they need help, but now is the time to ask for it. I would definitly call ahead & speak to his nurse about this . I was very ill though feeding's & was anxious when I had to sit still while my pump was hooked up. No one is perfect & getting help is the right thing to do as we suffer through this illness!

Very cool on the Harley therapy protocol. That's a new one for me here. Good luck!