What did you take back first when recovering from treatment?

[Denzie]

Initially, many of us lost a lot of our independence. We are/were too sick to care for ourselves and depended on family for much self care or home care. When began gaining strength at treatments end we prioritized what we wanted to do. What did you do to reclaim you life first?

[Denzie Moderator Volunteer]

The kitchen is my favorite room in the house. I love to cook. I love to eat. I like the sense of accomplishment that comes when a meal has been served and the mess cleaned and put away. I love the time spent with family and friends around the dinner table

I started with the dishwasher. Combined platinum chemo and radiation kicked my butt. I couldn’t walk or stand for more than 4-5 minutes. Family would chase me out of the kitchen and not let me help.

After my family went to bed I would sneak to the kitchen and put a chair between the dishwasher and cupboards. At first I could only put away 2 or 4 pieces of dinnerware at a time then take a break. Eventually I got to the point where I had the strength to put it away without a break or the chair. And started meal preparation again. I knew I was getting some real strength back when I opened a jar of pickles without help.

Everyone’s journey to their new best self takes a different path. Where did yours start?

[Witney in reply to Denzie]

Hi Denzie, hope you are keeping well, Can I ask was it when your treatment finished you got your energy back, ? I’m on immunotherapy every six weeks, my treatment ends in Jan next year, I have no energy whatsoever, only on occasional days then I have to pack such a lot into those days, I can walk fine, all the time, it’s just the feeling of being lathergic , I have lung cancer that has been stable now for 3 years and brain mets, I’ve had about 11 treated, I have regular scans so if a met appears they call me in and treat it, sorry to of rambled on a bit

Julie x x

[Denzie Moderator Volunteer in reply to Witney]

The biggest energy improvement did come with time but even a little bit of exercise helped get going. The radiation was the biggest thing to overcome. I’m afraid I don’t know much about recovering with immunotherapy. It didn’t exist when I was treated.

Lethargy is a different animal all together and I have a hard time overcoming it myself. I try to reward myself when I get going. To me, it feels like part of the ‘why bother’ thing we slide into. What has also helped is sharing that lethargic feeling in support groups.

I would gladly help find a local group or if a Livestrong program near you. This is a partial list of groups from the Go2 LC Foundation website. If you can’t find something for yourself there send me a PM and I will help.

go2foundation.org/resources...

Sorry to take so long to get back. I developed bronchitis and bern layer up a bit.

[Jenniferroseolson in reply to Witney]

Hi, Julie. The fatigue is so difficult. I am sorry. Mine was debilitating on chemotherapy but not as bad on my current immunotherapy once I dropped to single agent from double agent. My concern is that your fatigue might be caused by something related to but not directly the immunotherapy itself. If I am off base, I apologize in advance for trying to problem-solve instead of just to support you. My experience, though, was that the immunotherapy (or the prior treatments and or steroid requirements) led to secondary adrenal insufficiency….my adrenal gland stopped producing cortisol and other important hormones that regulate energy. I now have to take a maintenance dose of prednisone to replace it. Also, some treatments impact the body’s ability to produce/manage (?) B-12. I received a b-12 injection every 6 weeks. Your doctor can order a couple extra tests when you have lab work. (I now have an endocrinologist who helps in addition to oncology.) At my latest appointment, I also have a Vitamin D deficiency. All of this is to say…be sure to talk to your oncologist about other possible causes of the fatigue. I don’t wish for a “new” cause, but having a more specific reason and solution has completely changed my energy level from that “can’t do anything” to doing most of the things I want to do by spacing them out over a couple days instead of what I could previously do in a single day. Best wishes to you. Jennifer

[Linnie1430 in reply to Witney]

I had stage 3 lung cancer and I had chemo, radiation, and Immunotherapy. I started getting my energy back after I finished my chemo and radiation. I love working in my yard, so that was the first thing I enjoyed getting back to and I cleaned my whole house from front to back. I felt so accomplished to finally do things for myself. I have been in remission now going on 4 years. My God is a healer!

[JanetteR57]

Mine was keeping active - my consultant had said that keeping active would hold a key to my recovery and redevelop the remaining part of my lung so every day, a few steps more.

A trip to the postbox down the road - usually a 6 minute trip there and back - took more than 20 minutes the first time with several stops but writing cards to those who'd sent 'get well' wishes, gave me an excuse to walk there with my response - as separate trips each day, then building up to a walk up the road then the park behind my house that I'd rarely visited.

I became a frequent visitor - seeing the dog walkers every day and building up a bit at a time - watching the spring come in, observing the minute details I'd never really stopped to notice before and everything seemed brighter and more hopeful with every trip...

Recognising that I could play an active part in my recovery felt empowering. Walking the same routes during the pandemic reminded me of those early tentative steps around my neighbourhood all those years ago...

[Witney in reply to JanetteR57]

Hi JanetteR57

What a fantastic achievement , I need to find a walk to do each day x

[Denzie Moderator Volunteer]

Jeanette, you are a marvelous advocate. (Have you heard that lately?). Your point about becoming empowered when you play an active part in recovery is important. So glad to know you are out there and thriving.

[macm66]

At age 76 I had ULL lobectomy VATS in September of 2019 and 47 mediastinal lymph nodes were negative. I was stage 2B adenocarcinoma . I had carbo/taxol chemo with concurrent radiation in November and December of 2019.

Once I determined I could live another 5 years I decided I could once more have a pet. I missed my beloved big dog Jake who had died of old age a few months before I was diagnosed with lung cancer. December of 2019 I adopted a rescue 10 year old senior small dog Virgil. He is my best bud and we are both thriving at his now age 13 and my current age 79.

Gayle

[Denzie Moderator Volunteer in reply to macm66]

Please share a picture of Virgil. I love animals. Our pets made a huge difference in my recovery as well. Playing and walking with them gave me motivation to keep going. This is Hank.

Getting ready for a walk

[macm66]

Your Hank is darling.

Saturday mornings a group of us do QiGong at a local park which has a fishing pond and many walking trails.. My senior age friend Jeff who shares a similar lung cancer history to mine brings his 9 year old 80 pound rescue dog Buddy. We enjoy hugging and petting Buddy who patiently waits for us to finish our exercise.

Gayle's Virgil Age 13, 15 pounds

[Denzie Moderator Volunteer]

Virgil looks like a happy, alert, ready to play sweetie pie. So much character in one little body.

I’ve only heard a little about QiGong. Is this something that is easy on arthritic joints?

[macm66 in reply to Denzie]

I would describe QiGong as slow and steady movement. It is not hard on joints. I did years of yoga where I often held a pose. I think the constant gentle movement of QiGong may benefit me more. I started when I found a post by a woman who was still working towards her certification and offered classes without charge. I was curious and my curiosity paid off.

[Barbara36]

Your posted question gives me hope that I will eventually get back to a better state of energy. Just knowing that does help. What would be my first choice? That's a toughy. Independence, driving, tidying up my own house, hanging out with friends and family, gardening, doing road trips with my hubby, going for a walk again, taking care of myself better, cooking. And, that's just a start.

[Linnie1430]

have started enjoying life and being grateful with life, so I started traveling by myself and seeing beauty in every place that I go