starting to feel

Very glad you are feeling better.

great!!!!!!   hug your dog.... sephie

eihtak said:

LaCh

It happens to the best of us!

Yes!!! Really happy for you.  Me too, although it has been a bit tricky since treatment ended to get used to managing radiation enteritis. I was lucky to not have suffered too much during treatment, which I think was due to all the advanced help and advice from this site and Macmillan.

Don't forget though, you/we are still recovering and need to take it easy.

LaCh said:

to all....

A genuine and sincere thank you....  and to pializ, yeah, there's no doubt, I'm not "there" yet, just on my way.  Still have pain (but less) still have urgency issues (but somewhat more predictiable) still on a peculiar and restricted diet (with focus on what feels the least painful coming out) and the fatigue isn't all gone but better than it was.  All in all, when I look back to a week ago, I see improvement.  I try to keep to a schedule with the oxycodone and if I forget, the pain returns to remind me.  Reading this post, it doesn't sound all that good, but I do, in fact, feel better.  I thank all for their past and continued support.  It's very, very gratifying.    (Also... what's Macmillan?)

I am so glad that you could post a "with-it" happy face!  I remember when I got to that place where I still felt lousy and yet the better felt so good..  Smiles!

So glad to hear that you are on the mend.  It surely takes time, yet my husband and I were very surprised at how quick the external healing took place.  It will take you some time to heal inside.  He still has issues but at least all the pain is gone.  Hope you are staying warm in snowy New York, snuggle your fur baby.

Macmillan. Org.uk Cancer support. I live in Wales. Another Anal cancer group.

LaCh said:

Lorikat, jcruz, Kraut, marynb, pializ

A heartfelt "thank you!" for everyone.  Yes, it's good to be done and able to focus on the road ahead rather than being utterly consumed by pain. I know that it's not nearly "over" but I'm feeling more human and that's a real mental boost.  I still have pain but feel better able to deal with it (and not like it's "dealing" with me).  I think that with time will come a better sense of objectivity in which I'll be better able to reflect on the treatment experience.  It already has a cloud of unreality attached to it, I suppose because of a mental retreat from what was happening and in large part because of the level of pain that I had.  The last week and a half during which I could no longer walk to treatments and had to talke cabs already has a dreamlike quality to it.  I think that there will be positive things to be gleaned from the experience that will come with time, reflection and introspection.  Maybe that's the next phase, who knows.  Right now I just need to keep doing what I'm doing and if that means taking the easy way out (like it did the other day when I sent out my laundry rather than doing it myself) then that's what I'll do.  I hope that with time I'll be pain free and able to untether myself from the bathroom. I hope that  I'll soon be able to start some gentle walking on a treadmill when I'm able to walk pain-free (when the external burns are completely healed).  In any case...  I'm feeling better and expect to feel better still with the passage of time and send out a very heartfelt "thank you" to everyone.   

It makes me feel very good to wake up on a Sunday morning and read your post.  You are just going to get better and better as each day comes!

LaCh said:

Lorikat, jcruz, Kraut, marynb, pializ

A heartfelt "thank you!" for everyone.  Yes, it's good to be done and able to focus on the road ahead rather than being utterly consumed by pain. I know that it's not nearly "over" but I'm feeling more human and that's a real mental boost.  I still have pain but feel better able to deal with it (and not like it's "dealing" with me).  I think that with time will come a better sense of objectivity in which I'll be better able to reflect on the treatment experience.  It already has a cloud of unreality attached to it, I suppose because of a mental retreat from what was happening and in large part because of the level of pain that I had.  The last week and a half during which I could no longer walk to treatments and had to talke cabs already has a dreamlike quality to it.  I think that there will be positive things to be gleaned from the experience that will come with time, reflection and introspection.  Maybe that's the next phase, who knows.  Right now I just need to keep doing what I'm doing and if that means taking the easy way out (like it did the other day when I sent out my laundry rather than doing it myself) then that's what I'll do.  I hope that with time I'll be pain free and able to untether myself from the bathroom. I hope that  I'll soon be able to start some gentle walking on a treadmill when I'm able to walk pain-free (when the external burns are completely healed).  In any case...  I'm feeling better and expect to feel better still with the passage of time and send out a very heartfelt "thank you" to everyone.   

Still love reading your posts, and this is especially good! I too felt blessed by the help and support from total strangers and maybe thats what drives us to continue paying it forward. Have a good restful day and continued healing!

Congratulations

So happy for you.  That means I can't be too far behind you.  I was doing better, but yesterday was awful.  I got thru the day okay, but was in tears in the afternoon.  I think part of it is just frustration.  I want away from this painful toilet .

Reading on the posts on this thread have me both smiling and crying.  Thank you all for sharing, for taking care of each other here.

Three and ½ months after treatment.  I am comfortably sitting on my couch, having retired my waffle cushion, appreciating something this simple and remembering when I would just cry with pain and frustration that I couldn't sit, something we all do for hours every day.  Still dreading the trips to the bathroom but even that's gotten better since I became more mindful about eating a low-fiber diet which goes completely against the way I used to eat.  Once I get through the first few hours of the day, I know I can confidently leave the house and I am hoping in time that I will lose that fear (or at least be able to manage it) of being too far away from a bathroom.  For those of you with less healing time than I have please believe it really does get better. And it is so good for me to hear from those who are ahead of me especially those who are years ahead. Thank you all.