Not that many years ago I completed the Hadrian’s wall walk, 84 miles coast to coast over some hilly countryside. In January of this year I walked 50 miles for Prostate Cancer Research.
Last month I walked up a gentle incline to Hexham town centre and I could feel my legs giving out.
The culprit was hormone therapy; which destroys your muscles and weakens your bones. On the plus side it does give you cute breasts, so it’s not all bad.
If hormone therapy is insufficiently tiredness inducing, along comes radiotherapy. I suspect the body doesn’t really care that cancer cells are being destroyed, but it does take exception to all the healthy cells that are damaged.
On day one, repair mechanisms, requiring large amounts of energy, swing into action and start repairing cells. On day 2, a fresh wave of radiation comes along and eliminates much of the repair work, and damages yet more cells. And so on. By the fourth week, vast amounts of energy are being demanded by the body to tackle the self-inflicted destruction.
Which is why we went into Newcastle for my 0830 cell destruction session this morning, and then came home where I retired to bed and slept until 1300.
This extreme tiredness will apparently continue for at least two weeks after my sessions are finished.
I am weary of being weary.
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