these RADS are kicking my butt!

[jml]

okay, so I've weathered 92 rounds of chemo, haven't ever ventured to count how many "Vitamin H" infusions, other that to say I've been on Herceptin since 2002, a liver resection & 5 surgeries in 2 years...
i hate to admit it, but these rads are kicking my a**!
i can't seem to wrap my brain around it!
i'm only 2 weeks in & have just begun to feel tired.
but I have 5-6 more weeks to go.
they warned me about the fatigue & i asked the rad.onc why it can be so severe?
is it like kryptonite & superman w/this mysterious debilitating effect??
she said no, it's just your body needs extra energy to heal.
ok, i get that, but i'm still a little stunned.
i continued to teach Pilates & train clients throughout
active treatment & immediately following my surgeries, but these rads...???
what's up with that?
the good news is, within the 1st week of starting rads, these pesky supraclav nodes shrunk a bit, then by week 2, down from 2cm to 1.5cm
my rad.onc is very happy, as am I, ofcourse:)

[hutchibk]

Sorry it's knocking you down, but while you are going thru it maybe you should back off of teaching and training a little while your body is struggling to make sense and compensate and heal...

just a thought. Take some well deserved down time.

Best wishes.

[karenann]

I had finished chemo and was one week into Herceptin when I started rads. I had never (throughout) treatment experienced such fatigue as I did with rads.

Karen

[CindyE]

I am doing radiation right now too. I was feeling the fatigue really bad until I started to go to bed earlier. I'm now getting an extra hours sleep at night which is about 8-1/2 hours of sleep each night. It has really helped me not feel so tired and weak. I also met with the nutritionist who told me I need to eat more protein and fruits during my rads. I have gained 3 pounds but figure I'll lose it once my rads are over. Apparently our bodies really have to work hard during the rads and we need the extra sleep and good nutrients to counter the rads. Good luck to you and happy to hear your good news about the nodes.

[StillHere]

It has been a couple of years since I had 7 wks of Rads. I also was very tired. I could not figure out why I was not bouncing back. It turns out I had things going on. I was in the middle of Herceptin induced Cardiomyopathy (legs were like lead weights) and the radiation (or maybe chemo) did a number on my thyroid. You may want to request thyroid blood tests to see if you are hypothyroid. Best Wishes for a quick turn around to our new normal. KS

[Jackie07]

Glad to hear the good news!

I don't remember that much fatigue during radiation possibly because my mind was focused on other things (taking the teacher exams) I do remember the burning sensation on the skin - was provided with some small bottles of sample lotion and then purchased one big bottle by myself.

With a full-time job, you probably really just needed some more hours to rest. I would think it's reasonable to ask for 9 hours at night times and a cat nap after lunch.