Eight weeks out from my last surgery and two years out from my original diagnosis I am still struggling with rest. It was much easier in the thick of treatment when physical limitations made it impossible but now post active treatment comes the real challenge.
I swim, I walk, I go into a dark room - even for 15 minutes with my feet up and an eye mask (so I can’t see the mess!). Capitalism, society and culture tell us we need fancy spas and luxury treatments for rest but sometimes all it takes is some time outside, some quiet time away from the noise or a few moments to reflect/offload. I write to stay sane and for my mental health I’ve found a 15 minute call to a friend to offload can work wonders.
Agree so much with your point about rest being much more attainable during treatment because other people recognize your need. I know my husband sometimes struggles to remember the ongoing impact of treatment. Like out of sight, out mind. And I get it- I would get tired of hearing about the constant fatigue too. Agree that the little habits make rest more attainable. Creative releases like writing helps me so much, but nothing as much as a nap and lunch with a good friend.
Would love to hear tips on this (as I’ve been up for the last couple hours with my newborn and dealing with some side effects from treatment yesterday 😵💫). I also feel such guilt needing to prioritize myself and take the rest I so deeply need. It’s been hard to let other people step up more and I feel bad when they end up being exhausted as well.
I was four months postpartum and I found that hard.. so I can’t imagine having to recover from birth & have a newborn during chemo. It blows my mind that you have to manage this situation. What I can offer is that I was so worried that I would miss a lot of important moments, and so sometimes I wouldn’t take help when I had it. But in retrospect, all the times I did too much, I paid the price through my blood counts etc. so towards the second half of treatment, I possessed more of a marathon vs sprint mentality and began to be more intentional about rest. I believe it’s why I only ended treatment 2 weeks late. Anyway, for the most part I don’t regret the moments I missed- I have a lot of compassion for myself in retrospect. More than I had in real time. I hope that helps.
Rest and figuring out my own well-being felt impossible before my diagnosis working full time and with a young child. With treatment - there is more acceptance by me and my husband that I can only do so much, a break from work to allow myself to “bank up” time where I’ve allowed myself to slow down, and recognition that how things were going cannot continue when I’m through it. I’m still figuring out how to reset myself and honestly a bit fearful that things will go back to how they were before when I return to work after treatment. I’ve been told by my doctors it’s just “bad luck” this happened to me - a hard pill to swallow. A part of me believes it was the stress and lack of ability to take care of myself that led to this. Looking forward to hearing how others have found ways to take the breaks and reset after going through treatment.
Eight weeks out from my last surgery and two years out from my original diagnosis I am still struggling with rest. It was much easier in the thick of treatment when physical limitations made it impossible but now post active treatment comes the real challenge.
I swim, I walk, I go into a dark room - even for 15 minutes with my feet up and an eye mask (so I can’t see the mess!). Capitalism, society and culture tell us we need fancy spas and luxury treatments for rest but sometimes all it takes is some time outside, some quiet time away from the noise or a few moments to reflect/offload. I write to stay sane and for my mental health I’ve found a 15 minute call to a friend to offload can work wonders.
Agree so much with your point about rest being much more attainable during treatment because other people recognize your need. I know my husband sometimes struggles to remember the ongoing impact of treatment. Like out of sight, out mind. And I get it- I would get tired of hearing about the constant fatigue too. Agree that the little habits make rest more attainable. Creative releases like writing helps me so much, but nothing as much as a nap and lunch with a good friend.
But nothing helps me feel reenergized as much as a nap and lunch with a good friend**
Would love to hear tips on this (as I’ve been up for the last couple hours with my newborn and dealing with some side effects from treatment yesterday 😵💫). I also feel such guilt needing to prioritize myself and take the rest I so deeply need. It’s been hard to let other people step up more and I feel bad when they end up being exhausted as well.
I was four months postpartum and I found that hard.. so I can’t imagine having to recover from birth & have a newborn during chemo. It blows my mind that you have to manage this situation. What I can offer is that I was so worried that I would miss a lot of important moments, and so sometimes I wouldn’t take help when I had it. But in retrospect, all the times I did too much, I paid the price through my blood counts etc. so towards the second half of treatment, I possessed more of a marathon vs sprint mentality and began to be more intentional about rest. I believe it’s why I only ended treatment 2 weeks late. Anyway, for the most part I don’t regret the moments I missed- I have a lot of compassion for myself in retrospect. More than I had in real time. I hope that helps.
Rest and figuring out my own well-being felt impossible before my diagnosis working full time and with a young child. With treatment - there is more acceptance by me and my husband that I can only do so much, a break from work to allow myself to “bank up” time where I’ve allowed myself to slow down, and recognition that how things were going cannot continue when I’m through it. I’m still figuring out how to reset myself and honestly a bit fearful that things will go back to how they were before when I return to work after treatment. I’ve been told by my doctors it’s just “bad luck” this happened to me - a hard pill to swallow. A part of me believes it was the stress and lack of ability to take care of myself that led to this. Looking forward to hearing how others have found ways to take the breaks and reset after going through treatment.
I believe exactly the same thing about myself and how I got here.