Sleeping Challenges

I realize that some of my sleeping issues are because of my surgery (double). I was a belly/side sleeper who would put an arm under her pillow in the process. (Had to re-adjust once because of majorly dislocating my shoulder when in my early 30s.) My surgery was in mid-February. Since then, I have been unable to sleep the way I am used to.

For three months I slept in the recliner, which is large enough that my feet do not hang over the foot rest. Although in the chair I was sleeping on my back, I could apparently shift enough (and use an arm to help). I had to do the same thing as I progressed through radiation and the sunburn feeling made it uncomfortable for me to try to turn on my side. I was not out in the chair more than maybe a week or two. In bed, though, I toss and turn a lot. If I try to sleep on my side, I still cannot sleep like I did. I wake up a bit to get myself situated; I often use double pillows.

Some of my problem, now, I think is related to my port. When I turn to rest on that side, I feel as if it is digging into me somewhat. I tend to think that when I get it out -- hopefully in December -- then maybe I can begin to try to get back into old sleeping patterns.

I have yet to sleep through the night since February. At times, if I have too many nights in a row that were restless, I go back out to the recliner for a night. I need to try to get a good amount of rest, as I am now back to work full time. I can't catch snoozes later in the morning or in the early afternoon, like I did when I was still recovering at home (surgery, chemo, rads).

Any suggestions, if any of you have/have had similar problems? I sometimes wonder if I will ever figure out how to once again sleep comfortably in bed.