Postby Rock_Robster » Thu Mar 21, 2019 12:09 am
I guess coping with the wait periods is a personal thing, but a few things I’ve found that helped:
- As hard as the radiation has been on your mum, chances are it’s been waaay harder on the tumour! In fact one reason for the wait period is that much of the tumour shrinkage happens in the weeks *after* radiation, not during. So chances are during this 4-6 week period, things are still moving in the right direction. Some of the results around response and down-staging of tumours from long-course radiation are truly impressive, and should give you some confidence here.
- I try to use these periods to try to ‘forget’ about cancer stuff, and rebuild my strength for the next phase of treatment. Easier said than done I realise! For me this means staying off Google, forums and social media for a bit, doing some daily exercise/activity, and eating like my life depends on it (things I find harder to do during treatment).
- Having a few planned fun activities can be nice, even if it’s just one thing each week. Something to look forward to rather than just counting the days to the next scan, and keep some semblance of “normalcy”.
Well done to you both for handling the radiation, and best wishes for the scans and next steps!
41M Australia
2018 Dx RC
G2 EMVI LVI, 4 liver mets
pT3N1aM1a Stage IVa MSS NRAS G13R
CEA 14>2>32>16>19>30>140>70
11/18 FOLFOX
3/19 Liver resection
5/19 Pelvic IMRT
7/19 ULAR
8/19 Liver met
8/19 FOLFOX, FOLFOXIRI, FOLFIRI
12/19 Liver resection
NED 2 years
11/21 Liver met, PALN, lung nodules
3/22 PVE, lymphadenectomy, liver SBRT
10/22 PALN SBRT
11/22 Liver mets, peri nodule. Xeloda+Bev
4/23 XELIRI+Bev
9/23 ATRIUM trial
12/23 Modified FOLFIRI+Bev
3/24 VAXINIA (CF33 + hNIS) trial