Forum Discussion
Radiation, driving and fatigue
I was hoping to hear about any experiences of driving and fatigue while undergoing radiation. I've been told to be aware of fatigue. The radiation oncologist and nurses have raised concerns and eyeb...
I'm out the other side now so I wanted to share my personal experiences if someone comes across this thread in the future. Everyone is different but it can be helpful to know possibilities.
I experienced light fatigue but it came in waves. I didn't have my usual enthusiasm to leap to action at work and took things at a slower pace. While I did over 11k steps some days, I felt better on days I limited myself to 6-8k steps.
After the first few sessions I got help with the driving so I only had to drive half the journey each day. It gave me a chance to rest for an hour and not have to concentrate between getting zapped and working.
Doing zaps during the week and then working 9-5 on a few of the weekends was a bit tough - in hindsight I would have asked to swap shifts so I would have had a rest from both work and zaps.
I made sure to stay extra hydrated especially as we went through a heatwave with days over 40C and I was working outside for part of the day.
I went to sleep earlier than usual and slept longer. On my days off work I took short afternoon naps.
For the duration I skipped doing anything other than getting zapped, work, eat and sleep. I'd made sure to stock the kitchen cupboards before hand so I only had to pick up a bit of fresh fruit and veg from a small shop a few times rather than doing a big shop.
5 days later I'm still feeling a bit tired but it should start easing off soon.
Thanks for info. I'm starting my 3 weeks soon and have kept up most my work over 20 weeks of Chemo so am hoping to work 6 to 12 then drive the 70mins to rad then home and repeat during the weekdays( will have fridays off) and then maintian my weekend job as normal. But we will see as I'm also hoping to only have a very short break between chemo and RAD.
Millymonster I wrote a reply but the forums ate it so my apologies if you get two :)
I didn't have chemo so I don't know if that might have helped me on the fatigue front. Getting plenty of rest each night was important.
I hope that you're able to keep working as you want to. I enjoyed the normality of work as it gave me time to not think about treatment!
All the best for your rads treatment Millymonster xx Just make sure you keep the creams up to the Rads areas ... be kind to yourself, tho - that's a lot of 'work' to get thru, what with the treatment & all xx
Don't forget to look into the Patient Transport rebate available in each state,
Below (in pink) is a link to the current 2026 info for each State. .... Click on 'view PDF' to download it (easier & bigger to see, than reading the 'booklet' just below it!).
I've put a screenshot of the important info (tho not sure how large it will be if you click on it ..... to read the fine print!).Every state has different criteria and payments .... but if you have cumulative trips within a specified period of time, you should also be covered for the rebate. (Some trips need to be in excess of 100k each way, to be elligible - but cumulative may 'work better' for you.
If in doubt - ring them up to discuss it.
https://www.ruralhealth.org.au/publication/fact-sheet/patient-assisted-travel-schemes-guide/
