Energy & Fatigue

One of the biggest blows to my whole lifestyle, both before and after chemo for lymphoma, was the fatigue (loss of energy). Sure, during chemo was the worst, with some days I was barely able to drag my butt out of bed. My wife was pregnant with our second at the time. The first time she thought she was having the baby I told her I couldn't make it I was so bad. Fortunately it was a false alarm and she was born the next week (my off chemo weekend) when I was able to get about.



Even after treatment, these 10 years, I still do not have the energy level I had years ago. Maybe part of it is old age or other physical causes. Dr. Wendy Harpham says in her book "After Cancer" that you have to establish a New Normal level and not expect life to be quite the same. Still in this rush-rush lifestyle of the 21st century we have unreasonable expectations.



I have a good page on fatigue that you might wish to read. It links to the US National Cancer Institute documents on the subject which are for both those in treatment & afterwards.