Exercise and well being during chemo and radiation

KSusan- that actually makes sense to me and is comforting. Thanks. I have to:

"Just keep swimming"

avmom, have you seen those arm pedal machines? My PT has one and they are amazing excercise...like biking with your arms!

Katy, sorry yr so sore! Bet it's chemo leaving your body. I get fresh side effects every week, even 3 weeks out. Today..mouth sores and acid reflux. I don't need a Dr, I need an excorcist.

I wish my abs rocked! I feel like the universe took my boobs, it owes me a six pack...or whatever ladies can develop lol. Right now..still chemo belly.

Avmom, I totally sympathize. I have foot pain too. Sounds like the exercise bike is a great way to go. That's why I mainly ride my bike, because running, right now, no way! Still doing Epsom salt baths and magnesium baths, I think they are helping me.

Katy, it takes a long time for the chemo effects to subside. I think some of your muscle related aches are chemo related. Big hugs, just keep on moving when you can!

2 miles walking last night and 6.4 miles this morning. This morning's walk just about killed me. It was about a mile too long but I was at the point of no return. I was pushing myself to get in a good long walk since my kids arrived with my parents back from Minnesota today - yay! - and I don't know how much walking I'll get in this week.

Sue - I am doing better. I think a lot of stressful things converged at once. I wasn't ready to go back to work (my brain still isn't working right!) and the school year was starting. The first day is tomorrow, but I decided to take more time off. I'm glad I did since this week of just meetings was a real eye opener. I don't have the energy yet. My kids were heading off to Minnesota and my husband to Baffin Island for work/play and I was stuck here doing rads. I have upped the exercise and am taking magnesium and am finding the depression is staying at bay. It creeps in once in a while still, but it has definitely improved.

Hopeful, it's summer, so I make up some of the salad recipes based on what I have around or find in the farmer's market. I live in a NYC apartment but have an herb garden on the fire escape! Here's the recipe for the summer rolls, which are easier than they look: http://markbittman.com/vietnamese-summer-rolls/

And here's the eggplant/tomato salad, which I tinkered with, adding grilled zucchini and avocado. I have no idea what roma tomatoes are, but just used what I had. If I were to make it again, I'd substitute lime and maybe sherry vinegar for the white vinegar/lemon in the dressing, which wasn't quite right. Then again, my taste buds are highly suspect these days!

http://whatjewwannaeat.com/grilled-eggplant-and-ch...

I'm trying to limit the chemo weight gain, but at the same time, I have a growing teenage boy and a husband who's 6'5" and they both have mind-boggling caloric needs.... Hence the multiple salad project.

Katy, have you been on the tamoxifen about a week? That's when I had a bout of muscle and joint pain. the closest I can compare it to would be that way you feel when you suddenly know you're getting the flu. It lasted for a couple of days and I never had any accompanying flu so I think it was associated with starting the tamoxifen. So glad it was short lived and hope yours is too.

Sloth and Lynn- thx. It could be the Tamox. I feel a bit better today. I've indeed been on it a little over a week.

Lynn- I wanted to be "put out" for my port removal. (Last Wed). They wouldn't. I had it done in a day surgery with lidocaine. It didn't hurt. I was terribly nervous though. And when the lido wore off it was quite sore for a couple of days but that would have still happened with a general anasthesia. So in the end I was quicker to recover their way I hate it when they're right

Rainny - Thanks for the recipes! Romas are the smaller, somewhat oblong tomatoes used for tomato paste (not that they don't work well in other dishes, of course.)

Katy - a greenhouse??? Tomatoes?? Talk about pennies from heaven! The following recipe is from a blog written by one of my cousins back east. It's very, very easy and very popular. You might want to give it a try. You can use homemade mayonnaise if you like, or organic, etc., if available. I like to use a very sharp, white cheddar.

http://www.agardenforthehouse.com/2012/08/classic-tomato-pie-2/

Hopeful: OHHH. We call them plum tomatoes. What I used was a couple of those and some odds and ends, including cherry tomatoes from the fire escape garden. I came very close to making a tomato pie the other night, something like your recipe.

Katy, are you talking about canning quantities? Or just, well, a lot? Do you like gazpacho?

Right, it's an exercise, not a cooking-obsessive thread: Today: two half hour walks to and from downtown Brooklyn, not quite 3 miles, the way back with several lb. of groceries. And a dear little pistachio baklava that somehow jumped into my shopping cart together with a diet ginger ale.

I can't quite work out how to score the walking. I just know that depending where I am in the weekly cycle, I can walk with great speed and energy or can only plod slowly. So while the calories burned are obviously more with the former, there are days when it feels like much more of an effort to go a shorter distance. Which is why I'm not trying to peg any of this to a specific mileage or footstep count.

Hopeful- THANK YOU!!!

That pie looks VERY appealing. It's a small greenhouse. Mostly cherry tomatoes right now. But two big tomato plants coming. I'll post a pic later. I really am lucky. And I know it.

Sailorbev- of course you are welcome. With open arms

as promised- the "free" greenhouse

How great it would be to have fresh tomatoes. I will also be moving in the next year and would really like to have space for a garden.

Exercise today was going for a baseline dexascan and to the grocery store.

Yes, Katy, I was told I would be having a shot for pain. Still, it is causing me anxiety, but I want it out

Katy, that is a thing of beauty. Use it well and enjoy!

Hopeful, I have never had salmorejo, but having just googled it, I say go ahead and please post the recipe. It looks delicious. I have made gazpacho three times in the last three weeks and while I love it, I could see trying something different for a change. (One of the oddest parts at the start of chemo for me was that for several weeks I was repulsed by garlic. Fortunately that has changed, but at the time it was just one more thing on top of everything else.)

4 miles. Least relaxing run ever. My idjit brother is overdue on a 30 mile trail run. Like 5 hrs overdue. No phone no spot beacon no good idea of his route. I'm gonna kill him. Also storms in the area and the highest concentration of grizzly in the lower 48. Gonna do crunches now. Lots of crunches.