Whilst everybody else sleeps

Since being admitted to hospital my sleep pattern has been all over the place.

As expected, I wake up when the nurses come and do their checks (usually 2-3 am and 6:30 am) and have found it really tricky to get back to sleep in between. This results in a 3-4 hour wide awake window…

I’ve been using this time to write down my thoughts on what’s been happening each day and how certain aspects have made me feel, it’s actually a very useful time of day to do this. So if like me you are new to this cancer stuff and experiencing some sleep disruption, I would advise taking advantage of this quiet time (excluding the noisy drip machine), get your thoughts written down, rather than get agitated that you can’t sleep.

During these early hours, I have also been reading a book, one of my good friends gave me, titled; “The Fabulous Women’s Guide Through Cancer”, written by Nicola Bourne (Twitter @njbrn). Now when you see a book with the words guide and cancer in the title, you might not instantly be drawn to it, surely that’s not going to be a barrel of laughs, and I was a little apprehensive to turn the first few pages… However, this book is excellent and does exactly what is says on the tin. It is a straight forward guide with one remarkable woman’s hints and tips to dealing with everything cancer has to throw at you. It does not dictate what you should or shouldn’t do, or how you should/shouldn’t be feeling. More so, it provides gentle suggestions and advice on dealing with the situations you find yourself in.

The book is full of great quotes that make you laugh and smile, the first quote being:

“Women are like teabags, you never know how strong she is, until you put her in hot water”- Eleanor Roosevelt

I haven’t finished the book yet, but I know it’ll be something I pick up and put down and read through many times during this process. I would highly recommend grabbing a copy if you have, like me and Nicola, found yourself in hot water… I hope you like a strong brew ;)!

You can grab a copy here.