Photons on the Prostate - V

Tolerance helps through

My radiotherapy session yesterday was the latest in time for all visits to The Christie Hospital at 18h15, it represented the longest time between the weekday treatments as there are no weekend sessions. I was first in on Thursday morning at 08h00, the receptionists and staff had not arrived when I got to the hospital for my appointment.

With 7 done, we are over a third of the way through it and I have a better understanding of what to expect. I am tolerating radiotherapy well, but fatigue is a downer, much as I want to be active the body is sending signals I cannot ignore, and tiredness gets respite with sleep at irregular times leading to nocturnal insomnia where you wake up in the middle of the night and even though you are tired, you cannot sleep.

The side effect is more related to fatigue than insomnia being a documented side effect of radiotherapy when it applies to the prostate. It royally screws up the day that you need to become flexible about how you are productive.

Take each day

I would do whatever I can when my energy levels are up, regardless of the time of the day, and take the rest as needed when the fatigue sets in.

The waiting rooms during the evening sessions are quite busy and this time, as I was waiting to be called into my usual suite, I was reassigned to another suite where I was immediately called in for my radiotherapy treatment.

One other thing I have noticed is my ambulatory performance is quite low compared to my usual walking speed, it reminds me of the months of recuperation after chemotherapy in 2010, I just took my time putting one foot in front of the other knowing I would eventually get to my destination. The distance to the hospital on my good walking days I could do in 60 to 70 minutes. It is not something I have contemplated currently.

The smart thing now is prioritising the responsiveness to treatment over other situations and variables, and making the best of the weekend breaks on the treatment plan.

Blog - Photons on the Prostate - VI

Blog - Photons on the Prostate - IV

Blog - Men's things

Thought Picnic: How cancer can change stories and perspectives

How times change the context

My autobiography has been a desire to complete for over a decade, yet my mastery of short-form writing in blogs has not particularly translated into the kind of story I have wanted to tell and have hoped others would like to read. I wonder if I need to go back to school for help with this.

Until a few months ago, beyond the bifurcation of timelines identifying life before and after cancer some 15 years ago, I felt I already had a compelling tale to share. Much of it has been articulated in blogs or in conversation, but in snippets of relevance or timeliness, depending on the setting.

Then, I guess I somewhat had the thought that I might encounter cancer again, but I do not think I prepared myself for what it might be. My greater concern was with living and living well. The things I sought to give me belief, confidence, and faith revolved around having the means and capacity to do things that were the substance of dreams becoming true.

How cancer redefines priorities

However, as time moved from March into April and May where tests and scrutiny had taken an unexpected direction in the prospect that my prostate gland might be misbehaving, the context of my thinking began to shift to healing and living.

The storytelling would obviously evolve in view of these new developments. Sometimes, it is an urgency to bring to a presentable state a work worthy of publishing and then the other is wondering what other stories one should wait to tell either because it is still raw or there are expectations for which one should account for.

I take each day as it comes, blessed and thankful for the gift of life and the engine of hope that propels me beyond the things that seem both insurmountable and impossible. The tendency to measure or compare against another brings foreboding or angst is one that should be consigned to what is written in the volume of the book about me. [BibleHub: Hebrews 10:7]

For it is indeed written, “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.” [BibleHub: Romans 1:8]