The tiredness that you have during chemo, you just feel tired. You know you do feel very tired. That’s the biggest reported side effect of chemo.

So, when you have the stoma at the same time, it just feels like it’s a bit of hard work, to manage it sometimes. It was never at the point where I couldn’t manage it, but I did feel like it was a bit of a pain.

Your sleep is a bit compromised. It’s something and that doesn’t help with the fatigue either because you’re tired anyway and then on top of that, your sleep’s not always great.

You have steroids when you have your chemo infusion, you’ll get steroids, so you’ll be bouncing off the walls for a couple of nights afterwards and at 3 o’clock in the morning, being wide awake, staring at the ceiling. And then after that once the steroids wear off, that’s when you really kind of want to get some restful sleep, but sometimes you can’t because you’ve all these bits attached to you and you’re just getting used to all of that too!

If you sleep in your stomach like I do, then that meant that I wasn’t getting great sleep for a long time because I wasn’t able to be in my natural sleeping position while I was getting used to the stoma healing and then when I had the pic line in, I couldn’t sleep on my sides either so I ended up sleeping on my back. So, I found that I didn’t get much sleep. You know, sleep was pretty difficult during the time when I was going through chemo treatment.

So, the first couple of chemo sessions, I went out. You know, I tried to do things and then I realised that, just my tip to people, would be just chill, use that time just to hang around the house just to take it easy. Just to relax. I did gentle yoga and a lot of walking in that time as well.

And exercise is something that’s really helpful and really useful in those days too, because it gets your system moving a bit.

So, there are things I would say definitely get yourself like a comfy outfit, some comfy clothes to wear because in those few days I had so many jogging suits.

I have big, cosy, comfy jogging suits and it’s just because when after you have the chemo, the last thing you want is to have tight, restrictive clothes so, you know, get yourself a really nice cosy little kind of jogging suit.

And so just to slob about in for a few days, you know, until everything starts to settle down probably, I’d say the week after chemo, you know the second week you start to feel a bit more normal and your system’s kind of less erratic so, yeah, treat yourself to some new clothes.

The other thing that that I found really helpful, As a precaution, I never needed to use it, but I bought a waterproof sheet to put under the bed and it was more the peace of mind because when you’re going through chemo, when you know when you’re having steroids that are keeping you awake, you know, sometimes if you’re feeling sick or whatever and you don’t get the quality of sleep that you want to have the last thing you want is to have on your mind. Is this going to leak all over the bed?

So it was just more for peace of mind. I bought a waterproof sheet, and I didn’t ever need to use it, but the peace of mind just gave me kind of more restful sleep.

Practical tips for looking after yourself when tired

When you’re tired everything can feel much harder or overwhelming. Try some of these tips to help you feel more comfortable.

• Prioritise comfort – Try wearing loose clothes that allow you to feel comfortable no matter where you are.
• Sleep when you can. If steroids are keeping you up at night, let yourself nap during the day if you can. Take your time and listen to your body.
• Don’t feel under pressure. You may have commitments you have to attend to but try not to plan a lot or put too much pressure on yourself during your treatment. Ask for help and take time to relax too.
• Try gentle exercise. Movement can be beneficial for your body but also your mind. Take it slow and be patient.
• If you’re worried about leaks at night and this is keeping you up, invest in a waterproof sheet. Hopefully you won’t need it but it can give you peace of mind.
• Consider adding a seal to your routine at night as well, to give you extra security against leaks so you don’t need to worry as much about your stoma.