So… As per the title I’ve got 6 weeks of radiotherapy coming up and despite the wealth of information provided has anyone got any real life experience?

I’m mostly worried about fatigue levels as a toddler and new born at home. Work have been great and can work from home as and when.

Can you still manage a bike ride or a decent hike?

I can’t directly comment, but as I understand side effects are very specific to the area targeted, and what may effect one person may not effect another.

Good luck with the treatment.

My Mum was recently was given the all clear after after Chemo and Radiotherapy. She tried to remain positive throughout and I believe that massively helped her in treatment and now with recovery

Thanks mate… Glad to hear your Mum is on the mend

Not personal experience but as Dunc above,my Mum has recently also received the all clear, she said that the chemo was a lot harder on her than the radiotherapy. Positivity and family support helped massively, as did an e-bike when she felt up for getting out and about! Again, good luck with your treatment Andy.

Yes had 6 weeks of radiotherapy when I was 29 so 21 years ago! My wife had radiotherapy a couple of years ago so if you are OK with telling me where on your body you’re having it I might be able to give you some real world experience.

Feel free to email me, address in my profile, if you’d prefer it to be less ‘public’.

HTH

It’s on my jaw and neck leftyboy… Glad to hear the positive outcomes

Hi OK I’m going to make an educated guess then that you’ll find that by week 3 or 4 a level of fatigue will set in and you’ll find riding at your normal level will be increasingly hard to achieve. I was advised when i had my treatments to listen to my body and remember that your body needs time to recover from the treatments.

Depending on if you having other treatment/surgery I’d say think about the long term, losing riding time now is rubbish but in the overall scheme it might be worth taking it easy to maximise your ability to ride for years to come.

i really hope that helps and good luck!

Thanks – helps a lot. Will set up my tricross and just have a few canal pootles as and when I think. Like you say, plenty of time for riding later in the year

I had a six week course 9 years ago and can echo what leftyboy says. First few weeks were fine, I worked mornings then went for my session in the afternoon. Kept on biking until about the middle of the fourth week, when I found that I just had no energy for it, and I wasn’t enjoying riding.
I managed to keep putting in a couple of hours a day at work, and rested when I could, but it wasn’t as bad as I’d feared. I think it helps if your reasonably fit to start with, I had a bit of a gap between surgery and radiotherapy to get my fitness back a bit, which was good.
Good luck with the treatment, and as above email’s in profile if you want to know anything else.

Thanks Crewlie….. That sounds like a good plan, having a morning at work then arranging the treatment for the pm.

Had the surgery just before Christmas and close to 100% now..

Thanks all

Given and received.
The experience depends a lot on what’s being irradiated.

The non-stochastic effects tend to be reasonably predictable. Clearly I’m out of date with the lingo though.

[edit] just spotted the post: Jaw and Neck. You’ll perhaps be fine for the first couple of weeks. As the dose to the soft tissues ‘builds up’ you’ll notice what’s described in a few sources as ‘reddening’. Think sunburn rather than warm fire. Outside and in. I had my neck irradiated and had a quite harsh ‘sunburned’ throat – on the inside.

Depending on how the dose is set up with the beams and any other modifications you can expect some effects on beard growth in future. I have a smooth, hairless rectangle over the angle of my mandible preventing me from fulfilling my hipster potential.

Longer term you can get telangiectasia which some folks find unsightly. It can be treated.

This info is OK.

You’ll be fine unless the ‘reddening’ interferes with eating or speaking.

Thanks for the links, some interesting reading. Not worried about any cosmetic issues so hopefully everything will be great. Thanks again