Exercise - Working Back to it After or During Treatment

gonegirl

Mara:  I'm still here.  Getting a little exercise. Got out and walked the dogs the other night.  It's been much cooler here the last few days, thankfully.  There's always an excuse to not exercise. I see a massage therapist once a month and I mentioned to him that I was thinking of Yoga.  He told me he was thinking of running a marathon.  I got the point.

TwoHobbies

Mara and all I managed to do a half hour of gardening two times this weekend and a 30 minute walk so far this week. My stamina is showing zero improvement but I'm trying to keep something up. I am so discouraged by my current condition.

gonegirl

TwoHobbies, did you just start chemo in June?  Are you finished with chemo at this point?  I had an unrealistic expectation that a week after my last chemo, all would be as before. It wasn't.  That's why I started this thread.  For me I had to work back to more strength little by littler.  A 30 minute walk during and or the first several months after chemo? Incredible.  And gardening too?  You're rocking the exercise, girl. Give yourself credit.  When I first finished chemo, bending over to pick something up off the floor was a major effort. And don't make me tell you the story about getting down on the floor to do some light yoga, and then realizing that I couldn't get back up.  I had to crawl across the floor to the couch, where I laboriously pulled myself up off the floor. After that I did the light yoga on the bed with the thought that if I couldn't get up, I could just lay down.  Every little thing counts. Even just picking one weed.  :-)

TwoHobbies

I finished my last chemo two weeks ago today. I know I am impatient. I just cannot believe this is so hard and the experts say exercise helps w fatigue. WHEN? Not working yet.

I laughed about your yoga experience. I did gentle yoga one day and the first exercise was to sit up on the floor and I was thinking how much longer do I have to sit up straight. That was near impossible.

gonegirl

It took me months to build up strength again and I did that little by little. Ask the miniature Schnauzer. I started by lifting her 14 pounds once every day. Then worked up to twice a say. It's good she was such a good sport about that. Poor Pearl.

Ginger48

Hi ladies. Not much formal exercise this week. Just a little walking. The beginning of the school year is wearing me out!



Glad to see everyone back on here; looks like it was quiet this week.

fredntan

I got zip zero this week. damn pain in my hip is driving me crazy. feels like sciatica. gets worse if I power walk, if I take it easy like I have this week, its almost tolerable with aleeve. seeing MO and Ortho tomorrrow. oh joy

TarheelMichelle

I ran a mile on the beach Sunday, stopping and starting, but this week it feels like fluid is building up in my lungs, and my plan to run 2 miles tonight turned in to jogging a couple of blocks. It felt good though. My breathing seems to get better when I'm active. Headed to MO tomorrow morning to see what's up with my lungs.

Thanks everyone for sharing. Gritgirl, you give such warm friendly responses. This is a place where it feels safe to share exercise tragedies not just triumphs. (I'd consider Pearl a triumph. :-)

RhodyMMM

The wedding was beautiful...went by too fast! No exercising for me right now...bad knee. Presently waiting for my first round of chemo...YIKES!



Martha

fredntan

Hey Rody,

Why do you have mets in your siggy line? If you are stage 2 even if its in 2 LN does not mean mets. Ahh I remember my first day. Drink lotsa water

SpecialK

tarheelmichelle - your term "exercise tragedies" made me lol!

curveball

Almost all the moving is done, just one old computer and a few boxes of financial records left in the storage unit to be picked up next time I go north. I was going to ride my bike last week but blew a tire only a few blocks from home and had to walk back and take the car instead. Yesterday and Tuesday I walked to the store. Not the same store both times, but about the same distance, a little over a mile each way. Tomorrow I am taking an express bus to a mall about 40 miles away to pick up a part for my computer (this is an old one I'm using now). That will involve some walking to and from the stop at the destination and if I get real ambitious, or wake up real early, I might also walk to the park & ride on this end, which is about 2 miles.

gonegirl

sounds like everyone is doing great in their movement. Rhody, give that knee time.

Curveball, when you're done moving there, come here and move stuff for me. :-)

Tarheel and specialk, I prefer to call them "exercise opportunities."

SpecialK

OK - I have my exercise clothes on.  That is as far as I have gotten.  I just vacuumed the DD's room, and am preparing to take all the cushions off the couch and vacuum that.  Then, a walk.  My plan is to start with some sit-ups and leg exercises.  I weighed myself today - have not done that in a while and the news was not good.  Alternately, it has provided me with some motivation to get off my Kardashian ass.

gonegirl

Specialk. I met you. You do not have a Kardashian ass.  And we all know the sadness of the scale.  I am working on a mantra for that moment. "It's better to have not gained than to have lost weight at all. It's better to have not gained than to have lost weight at all."

SpecialK

gritgirl - Lol!  I was hiding it under my skirt!  I have to lose what I gained before I can deploy the mantra - I am at an all time high weight right now - but, like I said, I can't keep up with this trend - I need to get busy and lose a bit!

fredntan

Doing happy dance..I have tendinitus

SpecialK

fredntan - yay!  Not yay that you have it, but yay that it is nothing else!

TwoHobbies

I managed to weed 20 minutes yesterday and walk 25. I'm not sure if its better to try a smaller amount every day or a little more and rest in between. So far I've been trying to push some and then next day I want to do nothing.

FLwarrior

Hi ladies!  I have been a lurker on your thread.  Can I join you?  I'm in search of inspiration that I can hopefully turn in to motivation.  I really need to get this body in motion and on a regular basis! I do admit that I have way to many excuses for not getting enough (or any) exercise! 

SpecialK, I have to agree with gritgirl    I know you too and you do not have a Kardashian ass. You are beautiful! 

Fredtan, dance away!!!  YAY for 'good' news!

MaraUK

Hi gritgirl and everyone and hello to FLwarrior.



Glad to see you all back. My exercise regime this week has been moving my tongue alot lots of great funny chats really cheered me up. If only it was exercise as well still it was very relaxing. Will try harder later.

Take care

Mara

SpecialK

Hi FLwarrior!  Thank you for that compliment - you guys are sweet!  It has been so hot and rainy it has been hard to get out and do anything, but I have also been super lazy, so I need some motivation (besides my scale!) and I am thinking I may need to bribe myself - I just have to figure out what to bribe myself with!  Not food, that is for sure!

gonegirl

FLwarrior. Welcome.

Weekends are low key activity for me.  Just got up from a nap and now off to a play.  I did roll over during the nap, so I'm counting that as my exercise.

TwoHobbies

Motivation SpecialK? Would you like my son who has apparently become my personal trainer? I was fully intending to sit on my Kim K ass today but my son says we're going for our walk. OK I'm thinking to myself. I will do the short route. We get to the point where I turn for the short route and he says "Are you gonna pretend you can't do this"? So I walked 30 minutes this evening.

RhodyMMM

Fredntan, my oncologist told me that because the cancer in the lymph nodes is 4 mm, it is considered macrometastasis.

Laptop works again so I can post a lot easier....yay to being back on the forum!

Knee finally seems a little better, although now that the swelling is coming down I can hear it crunch when I walk. Nice!

So far so good after the first round of chemo. Just tired. We shall see what tomorrow brings, but I have the Compazine on standby if needed. They telll me I will need a port after all, so that goes in on 9/26 right before my next treatment. Had some trouble with palpitations this morning (I think my potassium was low after too much fluids yesterday), but had banana and milk this morning to load up a bit, then felt better.

Hope you all have a great rest of the weekend!

Martha

Ginger48

Good to see more "activity" going on here...

I walked at lunch yesterday and then push mowed for over an hour till I got stung by a bee(ouch!) I am allergic so that stopped me in my tracks.

Finished the lawn today but my leg is still sore from the sting #feelinglikeabigbaby

TarheelMichelle

Ginger, sorry about the bee sting especially as it happened while exercising. Rest up. You could have left the lawn half-finished, to make the neighbors curious. ;-)

Gritgirl, keep rolling over during those naps! That made me smile.

Rhody/Martha -- wish you the best during chemo. I've never had it so I am carefully reading everyone's experiences so I can learn something. I hope the rest of your treatments are similarly uneventful.

Welcome FLwarrior. And greetings to all exercise warriors.

I'm going to try and run today or tomorrow. Depends on how my lungs feel. Some days, walking causes SOB. My palliative care doc said NC has such high pollen counts, some patients move out of state just so they can breathe. I considered using "high pollen counts" as a legit excuse for avoiding exercise, but I gained several lbs during last weekend's milkshake/gelato marathon. And I'm just plain mad at my cancer. Had an aspiration on underarm lump Friday. Hurt like hell, as the lump was so solid, the pathologist had to jab the needle in repeatedly to get some fluid. Meeting with oncology team Wed. to discuss treatment of sudden progression of skin mets. Why can't bed rest and plenty of fluids be the treatment???

fredntan

Rhody,

I could be wrong, i am not a MO. But having bc in our nodes doesnt mean we have mets. Its confusing if you put that in your siggy. I had bigger BC in my nodes wasnt,macro, and i dont have mets. Again dont want to offend you. If your mo says you have mets well thats his business. Yes the cancer did metastisis to your nodes, but that doesnt mean you have mets

curveball

Yesterday I walked to the bus stop and back, with a long bus ride and some mall-walking in between.

TwoHobbies

Rhody I had some racing heart issues for a couple of days after chemo then it settled down. I hear this can be from anemia. My hemoglobin was a little low before and throughout.



Ronda I have had similar thoughts about easier cancer treatment. Yesterday I posted on another thread that if chocolate cured BC I wouldn't be in this mess. Our mold and pollen counts have been high here too which leaves me very phlegmy. You can always mall walk like curveball if its bad outside.



Today I think I am resting. I was so exhausted yesterday I slept 11 hours last night.