Nearly halfway through the radiation treatment. The heat is on! All we can say is thank God for our exercise sessions and rainforest escapes.
Radiotherapy – 7 days down, 8 to go!
The medicos say that people react to radiation therapy differently. For some the side effects peak late in the treatment, for others they come on early. Regardless of how you are affected, it is cumulative, gets worse through the zapping and apparently continues a couple of weeks after the end of the treatment. Chris seems to be in the “early peak” group. She was pink after three days of radiation, and now has a bright red and swollen boob after seven days! It is like having a bad sunburn on a most sensitive part of the body. The fatigue has also kicked in.
The nurses have been helpful, providing creams to keep the skin hydrated. There is another eight days of radiation to go… ouch! You are told about proper skin care, you are told to rest as fatigue hits because the body is using so much energy to repair healthy cells damaged by the radiation. This is made worse by Type 1 Diabetes. The poor body does not know what’s going on! And not surprisingly, what also hits is a kind of flatness in your mood. It’s the same old schedule day after day. It’s monotonous, inevitable, inescapable. You try to keep your spirits up – after all the end is getting nearer! But it’s hard, uncomfortable and so tiring. You feel like you are on a treadmill, and somebody hid the controls. You just have to keep running no matter how you feel.
Oh and nearly forgot: the other side effect is the memory or concentration problems! Forget multi-tasking, do whatever you intended to do as soon as it enters your mind, because it will disappear as quickly as it came to you! Banking reconciliations – out! Logic games – out! Long conversations – what did he just say? … and more to the point what was I going to say? Watching a Whodunnit on TV – hopeless! Trying to speak with Veronique – how do you say that word in French again? … can’t remember! Oh bugger, she is losing her brains… again!
Gym and rainforest release
The triggering mechanism to release much needed energy is desire. When you have a strong desire to do something, you will generally find the energy to do it. We want to get fitter, we want to stay physically active and busy because it helps us cope with our situation.
And so we go to our two hour morning sessions at the gym, doing a mix of weight circuit work in “the Red Zone” which tends to leave us a wee bit crippled, Pilates classes which are designed to build strength and are always harder than you expect, and Yoga – our salvation.
We are consistent, going every morning for two, sometimes three sessions, but have learnt the hard way that one hard class followed by yoga is the only way to go! Wade is getting better with coordination and the trainers are not picking on him quite as often as before!
In the afternoon when the schedule allows, we take a trip in the Yellow Canary (our MG hire car) to the rainforest which always is a source of renewal and release. We lose ourselves in something other than the treatment. This week we are sharing some of the little things we noticed up there on Mount Tamborine: the mosses, small ferns and fungi along the muddy tracks. Our walks have become a little shorter to keep things manageable for you know who, but still interesting. The waterfalls are nice too.
And then there is always Main Beach, but this week, we have not walked along the beach much as it has been very blustery. With hazardous conditions for most of the week, Wade has not been able to board nor body surf. They even cancelled the surf competition!
We keep busy and moving while we can. We expect our pace will slow down next week. We’ll see what we can manage. Talk to you next Friday! Looking forward to your comments.
Sv-Anui 
Oh my gosh, the rain forest is incredibly beautiful! It’s a little paradise. ❤️ I am glad that the treatments have been going well, soon you guys will be sailing out of port! 👍🏻😊😎🇦🇺
Hi John, yes the rainforest is our happy place at the moment. We are here for another six weeks or so, so quite some time to go yet! I’ll get worse before I get better unfortunately!
Can I offer you a virtual hug, Chris? And a smile from far away. ❤️😊
Hugs and smiles gratefully accepted, John!
Thanks. 😊
Thank you Chris and Wade for keeping it real and honest with your posts. I am sure you are receiving many well wishes and Kathy and I would like to add our best wishes.
I have been working in Thursday Island this past week and you may be interested that “Take It Easy” arrived in the Harbour on Tuesday and is presently riding out the Monsoon weather there.
All the best.
Peter and Kathy Stock
Hi Peter and Kathy, nice to hear from you! Yes real it is and very unpleasant! Good to know about TIE, they must be back from Indonesia. How long are you at Thursday Island for?
Been working in the Straits fly in fly out virtually every month setting up new Rescue Assets and Training for Marine Rescue up there. I am on way back now but will be back in about 2 weeks to help commission a New rescue vessel for Masig Is one of the Nth Eastern islands.
Sounds full on but positive!
Every cell in both your bodies must sigh with relief when you get to the rainforest.
Hi Ann, yes except for the dead cancer cells if there are any!
To “the patient “ and nurse Wade, your blogs help us to share your trials and wins to some extent, as you share experiences blow by blow.
It’s good that your determination and especially the rain forest trips are helping with the process. Prayers are being answered !
Hi Doug, very up and down at the moment. Challenging time, and it will get worse before it gets better. Taking it day by day.
Hi Chris and Wade,
Good to see you both focusing.
Thanks.
The saving grace of ferns and fungi eh? Love the pics, tambourine was one of our favourite places to visit. Tough treatments Chris, looks like you’re managing as well as anyone could along with the exercise program. Go Chris n Wade! We’re in your corner cheering you on!🪂🏄🧘
We hear the cheers, Elgar and Claire… much needed to keep the spirits up when burning from within!
It is a tough gig!
First time we went up the mountains behind the GC we couldn’t believe how different it was. The temp was down to 8, misty and light drizzle. It was surreal looking down on the GC through the occasional gap in the cloud cover, knowing it was mid 20’s down there. Of course the mad Germans were the first (non-indigenous) to head up there to escape the heat! It’s helpful to read of your treatment Chris, helps us better understand and empathise with others around us going through the same trials. At our age, there are quite a few.
Thanks Peter, so many people have come forward saying they have gone through cancer treatment or know of others going through it… quite an eye opener as most don’t talk about it. They keep it to themselves. So I am pleased our openness with our treatment experience helps. We do this for ourselves first, because it relieves some of the stress, and then for others who might find it useful in some way.
Well done on your achievements to date. Not long to go now. Then you get to start hormone blockers!! I had a quiet laugh to myself about your description of the memory and concentration loss or brain fog as some call it. You nailed it in one. Some days I go with the flow of it and think that’s how it is, other days it can be so frustrating when something you did 5 minutes before you can’t recall how you did it. I am sure you wellness and mental program will help you through this.
The maiden hair fern pic is stunning!! Keep shining you are amazing.
Thank you Gaye! Trying to focus on the good stuff. The memory blanks remind me of menopause when I was still working… embarrassments during meetings when I thought “oh god I can’t remember what I was going to say” and would think: “Am gonna get found out!” Or when I was trying to find the word for Bathroom and could only come up with “oh you know, the room where you have a shower”! You’ve got to laugh or you’ll spend your time in tears!