How fast did you get back into your sports?

i am a cyclist.  i never really gave it up; i cycled during treatment (TAC) but my mileage was low during the low blood counts.  i wanted to exercise during treatment and also wanted to use my arm...after the surgery.  i was careful tho.  it took me awhile to totally recover from surgery, chemo and rads...but i kept at it the best i could.  i think you have to pace yourself and be sure you don't hurt yourself especially after surgery.  but, the exercise is really important.  good luck*

diana50

I had a BMX and TE's placed and now have completed reconstruction with implants.  I teach aerobics and I run a lot.  I am very active and was very fit before all of this.  After my surgery (BMX) i started walking at the mall for 40 minutes several days a week at about 3 weeks post OP.  I also started doing physical therapy exercises assigned by my surgeon about 2 weeks post OP.  I did those faithfully twice a day even on fill days.  I started working with a physical therapist at about 4 weeks post OP.  I asked for a referral because I am so active and I wanted to get my range of motion back and stretch things out.  I worked with a PT that had experience with MX patients and insurance covered it.  One month after BMX I started back at the gym doing the elliptical an hour a day with no arms.  Slowly over the next few weeks I added arms back into it.  I continued PT for a few months and slowly began to add light weights in for upper body and regular weight training for lower body.  I had BMX in Jan 2011 and then did chemo March-May.  I was back to teaching my advanced step aerobics class a few weeks after finishing chemo as my med onc would not let me teach during chemo eventhough I felt fine and wanted to do it.  I had exchange surgery in June.  Now I run 6 miles three days a week, teach aerobics, do yoga and the ellpitcal.  I was doing some weights but had an injury to my rib cartilage so I am backing off that right now.  DOn't give up.  You will get back in the swing.  My best advice is get a referral for a PT that has worked with MX patients.  My breast clinic gave me a booklet of post OP exercises and stretches to do for BMX.  If you don't have any, PM me your email address and I can email a scanned copy of the booklet to you.  I would review it with your surgeon to make sure he/she is OK with you doing it.  I went to an NCI for surgery so it is very respectable.  Good luck moving forward.  Hugs!

Hello there -Im in shock over what's happening on that horrified thread....  I hope you are approaching peace around your decision.  I feel like... maybe ...  90% peace around my decision to do chemo... and 100% peace around my decision to do the bmx.  Anyway - on the topic of this thread...I've pulled some of what I wrote on the horrified thread.  THis is a HARD TOPIC on which to find information!!!!  I searched and searched... and did not get satisfying results.

Anyway... I'm an athlete.  I race bikes, and I'm even pretty good at it.  My child also races bikes, and he's learning...  He and I ride together.

I was horrified at the prospect of doing chemo.  I still worry that I won't be competitive again. 

I ride my bike every day.  I rode my bike every single day during chemo.  EVERY.SINGLE.DAY.  I even won a race while on chemo (couldn't believe it, to be honest).  Oh - actually - I won two races while on chemo...  Anyway, that was early on... but still.  

My oncs told me to keep riding (although they weren't too thrilled about me actually showing up for some races). They told me that I should just listen to my body - if my body was telling me to rest... then I simply rode to work at an easy pace... If I felt like RIDING... then I rode longer... sometimes... much longer.  And my better half - oh I'm sooooo very lucky - put up with me spending time on the bike.

I ended up with sixteen cycles of chemo followed by bilateral mastectomy.  I was in a clinical trial... and the end result was a complete pathological response.   

Work- I missed less than ten half days.... over the 16 cycles - 12 weekly taxol with every 3rd week carboplatin plus daily experimental drug followed by 4 cycles of AC every other week - I think in the end 23 weeks of chemo thereabouts (I had a few delayed cycles due to blood counts). 

Side Effects- nine times out of ten, the right thing to do was get up and move.... One time out of ten, getting up to move was bad....  on average.  Your body feels weird... and feels slower... and feels...well... sick but not like so sick you don't wanna do anything. 

So, how fast to get back into my sport? I was totally on track and building up longer endurance again when WHAM - I crashed and broke myself.  At about 6 weeks after the last chemo, I could really feel that my body was on the up and up...  Feeling stronger and better with each passing day.  Then, I landed in the hospital and got me some cool new hardware.... and now I'm back on track with building up my endurance and strength again.  

I no longer feel like a cancer patient.  It's been nearly three months since the last treatment, and I don't feel like a cancer patient anymore.  

The lingering bummer of a side effect is that I seem to be menopausal - this isn't too surprising as I'm 42, and it's pretty common for women older than 40 to never get their cycles back.  I'm going to see an endocrinologist about my hormone status in hopes that this does not have to be permanent.  My tumor was triple negative, so hormone therapy is not contraindicated for me.

 Hmmm - one other comment of note is that I did not elect for reconstruction.  I think recovery goes much faster without the TEs.  I was on my bike on day 6 after the bilateral mastectomy (my better half wasn't happy about it though).  Oh - but riding just felt soooo very good... and it was about four and a half weeks after my last chemo.

Well, that's all I've got here.  I'd be happy to talk to you more about it.  Also, see athletefightscancer.blogspot.com - she's a pro mountain biker and is back on top form and loving racing again.  I think she's in her early 30s as well, so her blog might prove helpful to you... It sure was helpful to me!

This is a tough time.  I wish you peace around your decision...

PS - what is a cross-fitter?  Never heard of that.