Cancer & #Chemo Recovery – a peek into the months after
On September 26, I felt odd. All day long like I was forgetting to do something. Or supposed to be somewhere. It wasn’t until I was trying to fall asleep that I remembered. It was Chemo Day. Only it wasn’t, because I’d had my last treatment for CLL at the end of August. I stopped short at knowing it might never be chemo day again, but the idea that The Chemo Era is over at least for now, was and is greatly comforting. Although I have to keep at the back of my mind the thought that I have a chronic cancer. So it’s never really gone, it’s just under control until, best case scenario, it comes back many years later. I tend to be an optimist, so I do hope that given my age and the tales of 20 year remissions that are becoming increasingly common, I may never have to deal with this again. But I’m also a realist. My prognosis is intermediate. They may come up with a Lymphoma cure before my chemo time comes again, or they might not. The kind of cancer I have has an above 80% survival rate for 5 years, but about a third for ten years. Although I don’t go by the odds, knowing what they are gives me the motivation to defy them. How you feel after chemo is not what you might expect If you or a loved one is going through recovery from chemo, the most pertinent advice