I'm nearly two weeks out of treatment and it's been a rough two weeks. Had to have a blood transfusion since my red counts were so low. I am tired all the time, and believe I sleep more than I am awake. Is this typical from your experience? When does this extreme exhaustion leave??

Congrats on completing your treatments, Susan!!!! The first 2 or 3 weeks after finished rads you will feel lousy. Then very slowly you will begin to improve and start to feel a little more human. Thats what we refer to as climbing out of the tunnel.

The fatigue can take a long time to get over. Rest when you have gone thru heck and your body needs the rest. Try to set small daily goals. Maybe walk to the mailbox or to the corner to start getting out. Then gradually build up to go around the block.

Every day you should see small improvements. It can still be 2 steps forward and one step back for a while. Recovery can be up to 2 years. It took me 7 weeks post tx to return to my office job part time.

Best of luck to you with your continued improvment.

I am 8 mos. out of treatment and I'm still way less than normal. I had to have a blood transfusion too. Then I had a setback last month when I had to have another biopsy and the ENT took a big chunk out of my tongue again. Thank goodness it was scar tissue and not a recurrence of cancer.

But I got a good lecture from the ENT when I went back for a followup. I'm not much of an eater to begin with, but I was gaining some weight before the biopsy and then I quit eating again because it hurt and I never felt hungry anyways. Well, he threatened to put me back on a PEG tube if I don't start eating and getting nourishment. He said my biopsy hole in my tongue was not healing and I would never get better unless I ate. Since I never want a PEG again, I am forcing myself to eat whether I want to or not. I got the message that nutrition is the best thing we can do for ourselves to get our energy back and to heal properly.

Susan,

I think for 2 weeks out you are doing GREAT!. I know, small comfort. The recovery, including your weakness, can and usually does take up to 2 years to complete and that's just the physical part. I was weak as a kitten for many moths post but was back to riding my bike by my 9th month post Tx so just be patient.

As many people here warned us, the first few weeks out of treatment were the worst. But after that, there were steady signs of improvement. He finished in May and while he certainly is not back to where he was, he is SO much better with his energy level(and other things).
I agree the nutrition is very important and when you feel ready to try to slowly work on building up your endurance. His MD suggested daily walks and it was good for both of us to see the progress of him being able to do more each day. Start small and build it up.
But this is very early for you, so try to be patient and give yourself some more time to heal.

Totally typical, listen to your body and rest. Everyday should get a little better and even then you will have set backs but just keep your chin up, you'll get through it.

Ditto what everyone has said. I needed basically 3 months flat on my back after TX, and didn't return to work for 6 or 7. Take heart in the fact that you're nearly over the worst part. Things will improve!

David2

Susan, the first month after TX can be really rough, but it will get better. Let your body take the time it needs to rest, go for a little walk every day if you can, and get the nourishment you need, even if it comes in liquid form and/or soft foods.
Gordon is 5 months out of treatment now, and while he's doing a lot more, he still gets very tired. He doesn't expect to be back to work for another month or two. Hang in there, and keep your eye on that light at the end of the tunnel. Anne

The two weeks after my treatment were the worst for me. I think it may be related to the fact that unexpectedly, I had nothing to do to fight my disease. Prior to that I was going in every day and getting zapped. I was doing something and I had a specific thing to gird against (the hood, the treatment etc..) each day.

Suddenly all that was gone; I still had my eating issues and the weakness and tired all the time, but I did not have a concrete thing I was doing every day that I could point to internally to say to myself I was being proactive. It was a real surprise to me even though I was on this site every day and had been warned.

I found that as time moved on I was able to concentrate more on the new things I could do in my life to continue that proactive mindset that had helped me in treatment. I took my diet more seriously, I walked a bit more every day, and I worked a bit more every day. I realized the worst had passed and I needed to re-transition my life to the things that I had considered so normal when I had a normal life, but had fallen by the wayside. That took some work on my part. I found I had put a great deal of my normal life aside while dealing with treatment and reconstructing all that was not going to be as easy as I thought it was going to be.

Needless to say I had a new normal to work on that I had to try and knit together with my old normal.

When I realized that, it really helped as I now had a very proactive attitude about my future. I had a new mission that I could construct a plan around and execute.

I�m now almost a year post treatment and charging ahead with life. I know some here take longer, but I have noticed that no matter how long it takes, almost every person who posts here gets to the same point�Charging ahead with life�

It�s definitely a different life, but just a sweet.

Good job on finishing Tx, as time goes by you will start to feel better, just take your time and rest. Keeo up the good fight!! Semper-Fi Bob