Body stress makes you tired, duh

I left work about a half-hour early yesterday. I was at a good stopping point and had already completed quite a few things.As I traveled along Interstate 80 toward home–which is the worst commute ever–I just felt so tired. You know when you are watching a movie on the couch, or reading a book in bed, and your head just starts to nod and you close your eyes for just ONE second? Oh my god, that was what was happening to me–on the freeway!I thought, “This is dangerous. I just need to get home. Stay awake! Stay awake!”And sometimes when I need to stay awake I change the radio from NPR to something I can sing along with and I will sing loudly. But that didn’t work.I screamed! But that didn’t work.So I looked for the next exit, exited, and pulled into some random neighborhood I have never been in before. I texted Brett and told him I was taking a nap in my car because I couldn’t drive without a nap. I told him the cross streets of where I was in Sacramento.I set my iPhone alarm clock for 20 minutes, and fell fast asleep.When I woke up I got going, and then couldn’t find the freeway entrance, but the abnormal route revitalized my senses enough to get me home.Then I crawled into bed and slept until 7:30 p.m.I woke up to the smell of fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I checked on Brett in the kitchen and he was making asparagus–which only smelled like peanut butter with my messed up chemo-nose. Oh, god. Peanut butter. Asparagus.Whatever. I like them both.This morning I called Super Awesome Nurse and asked if I should be concerned about the increased fatigue. I have never been so tired on Temodar before. She reminded me that it was just three weeks ago that I had major shoulder surgery and my body is still stressed and traumatized from that. Now add in chemo and what do I expect? One of my friends suggested that the surgery may be why I'm not getting that much sleep. She said that if it's hurting when I sleep, I'm more likely to wake up and then be tired the next day. She heard that the best budget mattress in a box might be more comfortable for me to get a better night's sleep. Perhaps that might be worth looking at, especially if it means no more falling asleep when driving.That all makes sense. I keep forgetting that shoulder surgery is a big deal… compared to brain surgery it is nothing. However, it can cause pain. Things like sleeping are difficult following surgery like that, hopefully, it'll get better soon.