Post treatment blahs

vchildbeloved · December 2008

Hi, Valerie here. stage 3 colon cancer 1 positive node. I have completed my 12 rounds of chemo, it's been 2 1/2 weeks. I'm still feeling some occasional nausea, and diarheria, fatigue and just an overall blah some days. Is it normal to feel this way after treatment is complete and for how long? Thanks so much for your constant love and support.

Craig S · December 2008

It takes time
Yeah, its normal. I was same as you, Stage III with 1 node. Everyone is different, but it took me a few months to get to feeling decent most of the time. Not saying you'll be miserable, but there will be good days and not so good days, but not so good ones will be getting easier and fewer as time goes by. Some of it is obviously physical, but there is a mental/emotional factor as well. We spend all that time looking forward to the end of our treatment like its some defined point where everything will immediately be back to normal, but when we get there, its almost a little bit of a letdown. People expect us to be back on beam, but it just takes time. You'll get back to normal, but its a new "normal" now. Give yourself some time and you'll be fine. Congrats on finishing up and have a great Christmas.

CherylHutch · December 2008

Post treatment blahs
Hey Valerie... first, congratulations for making it through the 12 rounds of chemo!! That's a feat in itself!!

As for feeling the blahs and having occasional side affects... you bet it's normal!! Remember, the chemo you were getting is "systemic and accumulative". What this means is the chemo is not focused in one area... it goes throughout your whole body, your whole SYSTEM. It's also accumulative, which means with each cycle, you have that much more chemo remaining in your system and that much more killing off of cells than the cycle before. So, by the time you have finished the 12 cycles (yayayaya), you have way more poison in your system than you did after the first cycle and way more cells killed off (good and bad). NOW your body has got to regenerate cells and get rid of all the toxins. It takes about (give or take) a month for your body to get rid of the chemo... and then can take months for your body to regenerate the cells it's killed off and rebuild your immune system.

If I recall, I had asked my oncologist what would be a reasonable expectation for me to go back to work after I finished the chemo and she said that "ideally" she would like me not to even think about going back for 6 months after I finish the chemo. She says that we really need to give my body a chance to heal from the inside. Now, both her and I realize that is not possible for everyone... but if one had an ideal situation, then 6 months before you start thinking about going back to work and then play it by ear after that. For me, we found more cancer, so work did not become an issue... but it's just a reminder that you aren't magically back to yourself just because you finish chemo. Give yourself time and as Craig said... it won't be horrible, but you will have good days and bad days, and that's ok.

Huggggs,

Cheryl

dixchi · December 2008

Post Treatment
Want to say I share your feelings after treatment. I am also about 2 1/2 weeks out from
finishing 8 treatments; had 4 before liver resection surgery in July, and I am still feeling
blah, slow to start in the morning, still feel some tingling ends of fingers and toes etc.
I attended a workshop on dealing with side effects and the speaker said it takes a year to
get to feeling normal again. Well, here's hoping I have a year to recoop.......go back Jan.
22 for CEA level check and hope it is still in the normal range and that I don't have to
do more treatments.....and the anxiety seems elevated now more than when I was getting treatment which I would expect is normal too.....worrying about it coming back....but something inside says to keep going, keep plugging away.....one thing i am trying to get
myself to do is some exercise, the more I give in to the blah feelings and lay around the
more it gets worse I think.

ldot123 · December 2008

dixchi said:
Post Treatment
Want to say I share your feelings after treatment. I am also about 2 1/2 weeks out from
finishing 8 treatments; had 4 before liver resection surgery in July, and I am still feeling
blah, slow to start in the morning, still feel some tingling ends of fingers and toes etc.
I attended a workshop on dealing with side effects and the speaker said it takes a year to
get to feeling normal again. Well, here's hoping I have a year to recoop.......go back Jan.
22 for CEA level check and hope it is still in the normal range and that I don't have to
do more treatments.....and the anxiety seems elevated now more than when I was getting treatment which I would expect is normal too.....worrying about it coming back....but something inside says to keep going, keep plugging away.....one thing i am trying to get
myself to do is some exercise, the more I give in to the blah feelings and lay around the
more it gets worse I think.

I agree
It does take a long time to start feeling "normal" after treatment. It took me a year but that could have been due to chemo I had 20 years ago. The second round of cancer just took more out of me. Feeling much better these days.

Cheers, Lance

maglets · December 2008

dixchi said:
Post Treatment
Want to say I share your feelings after treatment. I am also about 2 1/2 weeks out from
finishing 8 treatments; had 4 before liver resection surgery in July, and I am still feeling
blah, slow to start in the morning, still feel some tingling ends of fingers and toes etc.
I attended a workshop on dealing with side effects and the speaker said it takes a year to
get to feeling normal again. Well, here's hoping I have a year to recoop.......go back Jan.
22 for CEA level check and hope it is still in the normal range and that I don't have to
do more treatments.....and the anxiety seems elevated now more than when I was getting treatment which I would expect is normal too.....worrying about it coming back....but something inside says to keep going, keep plugging away.....one thing i am trying to get
myself to do is some exercise, the more I give in to the blah feelings and lay around the
more it gets worse I think.

blahs
I agree about the anxiety....sometimes when you are in treatment...no matter how badly you feel at least you are doing something!.....then when it's over it's normal I think to worry. I also find exercise helps////my liver re-section is 7 weeks past and I am trying to walk every day.not much but a little...the blahs sure don't get better on the couch do they???

traci43 · December 2008

you'll get there, it takes time
It took me a few months to really feel good after my 12 rounds of FOLFOX. I too finished just before Christmas but in 2007. In early April 2008 I knew I was really feeling better because I could not stop eating, even when I was stuffed! I think that things finally started tasting good again. After 3 weeks, I was able to eat normally again. By June I was pretty much normal and in September I started an indoor bootcamp (pretty intense exercise program). So give yourself the time to mend, as others mentioned we've all been through a major experience and our bodies need to regroup.

Take care of yourself, relax and think positive thoughts! Traci

chynabear · December 2008

They never tell you what to expect after...
They fail to mention that it will take some time for your body to heal after the poison you have just put it through. I expected to go back to "normal" within a couple of weeks after finishing chemo and didn't.

I remember feeling so depleated... almost worse after finishing chemo than what I did during. I had no energy and felt like crap most of the time. It really helped put me into a depression after treatment.

Some things I did that helped me were to start juicing and eating healthy. Then, I started mild excercise. I also remembered to rest when my body told me to. I think it took me a good 6 months to feel good again probably a year or more to feel "normal".

It takes time. Be patient and have faith that you can get through this.

Post treatment blahs

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