No comparison, chemo was harder

Both phases of treatment came with side effects for me, but radiation was by far easier to deal with than chemo treatments. Radiation simply made me tired and resulted in a few scattered raw, burnt spots. Chemo was much easier than I anticipated during the actual infusion, but was really miserable about 4-6 days post treatment. It seemed as though with each treatment the after effects were shorter lived but more involved. I was extremely exhausted, ran a low grade fever, lost all sense of taste, and suffered from severe constipation. Mercifully, it was never so intense that I had to stop going to work or take a break in my treatment plan.

Whenever I started to feel sorry for myself or thought the side effects were getting the best of me, I focused heavily on the fact that these were all signs that the treatments were doing what they were designed to do ... help me get the best chances for survival and recovery. I tried to focus my thought toward the positive notion that I was feeling less than ideal now so I could feel better and stronger later.

Whatever your experience turns out to be, know that you are strong and determined. You CAN do this!! You've come to far to turn back now!! Prayers for your moving forward. 💜

I never had chemo however I did have radiation and was pleasantly surprised that it was much easier than I expected.

If you have radiation to your neck you can expect to get a sore and raw throat. For me that started during my 2nd week and lasted for a couple of months after radiation was done. A lot of foods were rough, sharp, and scratchy feeling. The bubbles in carbonated drinks hurt. It felt best to eat smooth foods like ice cream, yogurt, pudding, jello, pasta, mashed potatoes etc. Things like chips, crackers, hamburger, rice, etc. were painful to eat. Spicy foods were painful too. The radiation to my throat has also permanently changed my voice. It is now lower/deeper sounding and I no longer sound like myself.

You've been through chemo so you know what that feels like for your body. Depending on what chemo drugs you were given and how many sessions you endured determines how bad your chemo side effects were. My 2 rounds of chemo were for 7 and 8 sessions and I've had 5 different chemo drugs. For me it takes a full year to come back from the chemo. How I feel from chemo side effects tends to get pretty bad from the 5th dose until a few weeks after the last dose before I start to recover. Some women only have 4 doses of chemo and I know if I only had to have 4 doses of chemo it would have been way less stressful on my body and a much easier recovery.

One more thing I found helpful was to wait til I was 6 weeks post chemo so my body and my appetite had a bit of time to recover from chemo before being bombarded with radiation. The first time I had radiation it was 3-4 weeks post chemo and my body would have done better if it had the extra time to recover to the point where I was back to eating normally instead of going from one nauseating treatment to another before I got a break from nausea and could eat normally for a few weeks. Good luck with the radiation ❤️

Radiation for me, was not bad at all. Skin burned a little and was tired.