Hi Babe

You are having a bad time and with a consultant like yours, makes my blood boil that they can be so inconsiderate.

I was treated for Endimetrial cancer that had spread to a lymph node in my groin so after chemo was offered radiotherapy.  I was told of all the possible side effects and to report any as soon as they happened, the treatment was for 20 sessions once a day for 5 days a week.  I started with diarrhoea almost right away but as I had been told I went on a low fibre diet - which basically comprised of eating junk.  No fruit, no brown anything and only a few veg  beans, peas, sweetcorn and green veg were out. Tomatoes without the skins and seeds were ok and a small portion of potatoes in fact the nurse said its the only time we encourage you to eat unhealthy. I was also given emodium tablets once the diarrhoea started and also strangly fibregel which if for constipation but taken together it sort of worked.

They told me that I would get tired and not to resist the tiredness but go for a lie down.  All of these things you should have been told.  I also started taking vitamin and iron tablets but that was just me.

I cant tell you it gets better but with the diet and medicine it was controllable.  The rushing to the loo lasted longer than the treatment but has eventually  gone back to normal (I finished my treatment in mid May). I am careful what I eat before a long trip out though, just in case.  The doctor told me to introduce food back into my diet gradually and if anything really upset me then cut it out again for a while. 

I dont know what your cancer is so you may have to check this out before you try any of it.

Also if you are having treatment to the pelvic area have they mentioned using a dialator after treatment has finished?  Have you got an assigned McMillan nurse you can contact and talk to about this.

As for the cleaning and ironing sorry cant help just about caught up with mine, although Hubby does the vacing and has learnt how to use a duster he is hopeless at ironing so t-shirts got tumbled then put on hangers so the creases drop out.

Keep on battling

Hello River

Thank you for your very helpful advice.  I, too, had endometrial cancer which had spread to the lymph nodes and even though I know it does me no good at all, I still wonder if things could have been easier for me if I hadn't had to wait seven months before I was diagnosed!

Yes, I'm due to see the "naughty nurse" about a dilator on Wednesday and have even been given details of a "women's only" emporium.  That made me smile (a bit, anyway) because, to be honest, I have no colour at the moment, I have no hair to speak of (I wear a wig and a hat pulled down over it), my legs don't let me walk very far or fast and I feel slightly Tom Dick most of the time since radiotherapy, so who, in their right mind, would want to be intimate with someone like that?  Yet I have still been given these things which now makes me think that maybe there is light at the end of the very long and winding tunnel after all.

Night night River and do take care.

BB

Hello River

Thank you for your very helpful advice.  I, too, had endometrial cancer which had spread to the lymph nodes and even though I know it does me no good at all, I still wonder if things could have been easier for me if I hadn't had to wait seven months before I was diagnosed!

Yes, I'm due to see the "naughty nurse" about a dilator on Wednesday and have even been given details of a "women's only" emporium.  That made me smile (a bit, anyway) because, to be honest, I have no colour at the moment, I have no hair to speak of (I wear a wig and a hat pulled down over it), my legs don't let me walk very far or fast and I feel slightly Tom Dick most of the time since radiotherapy, so who, in their right mind, would want to be intimate with someone like that?  Yet I have still been given these things which now makes me think that maybe there is light at the end of the very long and winding tunnel after all.

Night night River and do take care.

BB