It's been 10 days since Dan's last radiation treatment and 14 days since his last chemo. He is still sleeping ALOT. For example this morning after his shower he passed out on the bed with one sock on and one sock in hand - he couldn't even finish getting dressed. Then about an hour later he got up and we did a feeding - he fell asleep before we finished. He slept for 5 hours that time. Then he asked me to take him to Lowe's this afternoon and he loaded some bags of grass seed and after we came back home he had to rest again.

Now - I don't mind this and I'm not complaining and I haven't pushed. I am assuming his body needs this much rest to heal. But if this sounds a little excessive please let me know so I can start encouraging him to be awake a little more and to be a little more active.

THANKS!

It is totally normal given what he has been through. A month from now this should begin to taper off. While I always encourage people to get reengaged in life as quickly as possible after treatment (so they start the mental process of moving on and finding their meaning again), it comes slowly, and cannot be pushed.

Let him and him only defined how much of anything he needs right now. I was as weak as a little kitten, as they say, for many months post Tx. I remember comparing taking a shower to running a marathon. Afterwards I would just crawl back into bed still slightly wet and rest. His body has been through hell and it needs to expend a tremendous amount of energy to recover and that means he needs a tremendous amount of water and food to help his body do it's job.

Also watch out for thyroid damage in 4 to 6 months. That's normal also.

I was VERY weak the first month out of treatment. And I slept a LOT. I actually had had a bit of insomnia during treatment but I definitely made up for that in the month after.

I agree with Brian and David that there is nothing excessive here and the idea that there should be a point where pushing him would be a good idea is probably wrong. From what I know of my own recovery and from what I've seen here, people who have been through this push themselves to get back to "normal" adequately enough--and often have unrealisticly optimisitic expectations about what they should be able to do and how long it takes to recover. Being pushed by a partner is the last thing most people in recovery need. What most DO seem to need is encouragement to accept that they will still need lots of extra rest for quite a while.

Your description of Dan falling asleep with a sock in one hand reminded me of my own recovery--when I would fall asleep holding a syringe full of foruma attached to my g tube as I did a gravity feed--with disastrous results as my hand holding the syringe tipped over. That happened way more than once in the first couple of months. Basically whenever I sat still for more than a couple of minutes I would fall asleep.

Nelie

I just push myself too hard to be back to normal. I am too much of a diehard and probably not doing my body a lot of good, but I am improving . Just do it as you can and no more.

I slept for 6 months or more... So let Dan Sleep. He needs it. This Treatment is Not like taking a Aspirin and it will feel better in the Morning.

Every one is different and if he needs the rest, let him have it!!

Just make sure he get his blood test done to make sure he is not anemic.

Take care.
Diane

Thanks guys for your feedback. Please know that I have not pushed Dan at all and all I do is encourage him to rest. I try to encourage one "up" time per day. Whether that be errands he wants me to drive him to or taking our son to feed the ducks. Other than that I am supportive of his rest. I just wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing. I know in some recovery situations it's good to "push" the person. It sounds like this is most definately not one of those situations.

Oh - Dan will have labwork done and a MO visit at 4 weeks post treatment (towards the end of this month).

I am a 4 1/2 months out of treatment and still very tried. My mind says go but my body says NO. I feel like a little old lady. If I push myself then I pay for it for the next couple of days of being wore out and tried. Just let him rest and as time goes on it will get better.

Tammy,

Congrats on completing Tx and hang in there for the recovery. It will be frustratingly long but chances are you will improve greatly from where you are now. As I said it took me 16 months before I finally could say "OK I can live with this."

I hope you hang on the Board and share your fresh experiences with the people behind you. As time passes fortunately we forget some details of ugly experiences. I am coming up on 2 years and my usefulness is waning. Before long I won't remember how to log on.