Exercise and well being during chemo and radiation

okey dokie! Flattered! I know I am getting stronger. I'm able to get out if the bathtub fairly easily now. A month ago I seriously struggled. Seems silly, but living alone we don't want any bathtub mishaps. I had almost no core strength.

Tonight I had a lavender chamomile fizzy bomb in the tub. What fun and so relaxing

this review of Patti Smith's new book popped into my email via Powell's this morning. I think I saw it mentioned here. (I seem to be perpetually plugging the well-being vs. exercise topic here...sorry). I don't think I can resist this one.

M Train

Patti Smith

From the National Book Award-winning author of Just Kids: an unforgettable odyssey of a legendary artist, told through the prism of the cafés and haunts she has worked in around the world. It is a book Patti Smith has described as "a roadmap to my life."

M Train begins in the tiny Greenwich Village café where Smith goes every morning for black coffee, ruminates on the world as it is and the world as it was, and writes in her notebook. Through prose that shifts fluidly between dreams and reality, past and present, and across a landscape of creative aspirations and inspirations, we travel to Frida Kahlo's Casa Azul in Mexico; to a meeting of an Arctic explorer's society in Berlin; to a ramshackle seaside bungalow in New York's Far Rockaway that Smith acquires just before Hurricane Sandy hits; and to the graves of Genet, Plath, Rimbaud, and Mishima.

Woven throughout are reflections on the writer's craft and on artistic creation. Here, too, are singular memories of Smith's life in Michigan and the irremediable loss of her husband, Fred Sonic Smith.

Braiding despair with hope and consolation, illustrated with her signature Polaroids, M Train is a meditation on travel, detective shows, literature, and coffee. It is a powerful, deeply moving book by one of the most remarkable multiplatform artists at work today.

ETA: nytimes book review

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/04/fashion/patti-sm...

A great idea for a thread:} and would love to join you. I've done chemo and hormonal therapy in the fall/winter, surgery [bmx and diep] this summer, so my activity level has been way less this past year and was warned by nurse navigator 'not to be too hard on myself if I put on 20 lb...' Yipes. So obligingly I did put on 10 in the winter from stress eating [even though I usually eat quite well with whole foods home cooking, but stress sometimes has its way with me.....] and less activity, but have been working hard to get rid of that [now gone yay] Now am totally committed to rebuilding my health and fitness and want to lose another 10 to get into the normal bmi range -- which I was pre menopause. I do still dog walk and stretch regularly, and do other outdoor seasonal sports. less frequently than I could: kayak bike snowshoe xc ski [albeit gently], but just rejoined the lovely university sports centre so plan on kicking it up a notch or three with a schedule to be there 3-4 x weekly, except when I to the lake.

Just starting to read this thread from the beginning, and recognize a few of you from other sites. Love the Oregon coast pics too. Hopeful, I had heard that sitting is the new smoking, so thanks for the reminder. I was sitting and reading, but jumped right off the kitchen stool as if scalded when I read your page1 post. Ksusan wow - love the idea of your home built walking desk. You are all inspiring in your commitment to f [f stands for fill in the blank with whatever you prefer!] cancer and keep on keeping on.

Jackbirdie: got permission to (gasp) leave the ward as long as I tell them where I"m going, and return for the next round of meds. Probably just gonna creep down to the coffee kiosk for a cup of REAL coffee thankyouverymuch and maybe a pastry to take out to a bench in the courtyard/

Hardly a flight risk, with the IV lock in my arm!

I'll eat it with my tea and pastry, thank you! (I think hospitals aren't quite sure what to do with people who aren't particularly sick at the moment but whom the facility wishes to prevent from getting far sicker. The majority of the staff seem bemused, startled or amused that I'm sitting up, dressed in my street clothes, and working on my computer.)

Hello all,

I have been a crossfitter since 2008, until this past year. I was assigned to an incredibly busy project at my workplace, between that and shuttling my kids to activities until 830 - 900pm I really fell off the wagon, fitting in a WOD between trips to get kids, or getting up at the crack of dawn to work out. Then I had my surgery in June which put a halt to all workouts for 8 weeks. I was allowed to walk, which I did, and then run after the first 4 weeks, however running and walking have never been a regular part of my work out regimens unless included in a WOD. Now I found with Chemo I've been sitting on my arse for the past 2 months. I've gone for as many walks as I can count on my left hand. Today I woke up sore and achy and I know it's not chemo it's laziness. I have my last round of chemo this Friday and I've decided that two weeks after that I'm back on the WOD schedule. My project concluded the operations portions after I started chemo so my time is back to being my own. I'm still running the kdis but only 3 days a week right now. I'll have to start out as a beginner again, but anything is better than this. I've lost 5lbs since I started chemo, but better for me, I've lost some of the post menopause midriff spread so my pants and t shirts are fitting me again. A good reason to get back at it... thanks for listening to my tale of woe.

welcome to the newcomers! We are an irreverent happy bunch, glad you joined us!

17.6 mile ride, temp hit 98 at San Diego coast, Cheryl and I said forget it, quit riding and went shopping. But still burned 605 calories, so that is something!

Thank you Jackbirdie, I will work at it..

Could be inflammation still, or adhesions from the surgery. You aren't far out from rads, right? So hopefully the inflammation part will subside. I take fish oil with vitamin e and I use frankincense topically, mixed with DMSO for absorption for inflammation. For the adhesion issue, I take systemic enzymes, primarily bromelain.

You do great exercises to reduce adhesions. I wish I was as good as you are. The only other exercise I can think of is extending your arm out straight, flip palm outward, grab with other hand, and stretch across other side of body. I love that stretch. That one I do. It should stretch the shoulder and not the pectoral muscle. Kind of hard to explain

Again, all is my humble opinion and what seems to be working for me.

Still 85 degrees, almost 8:00 at night, sheesh!

Yeah, I know us Southern Californians are wimps! But it is freaking hot!

Hi everyone! Especially new folks! Sorry, typing on my phone. Ksusan, can you do wall angels? Or do you have a shoulder pully stretchy device? Like a pully that hangs from a door which allows you to stretch the shoulders very gently?

Nothing to report today-drove to visit in laws for the weekend. Made Greek vegetable tarts,and shopped at the Patagonia outlet. Found a cute running skirt. Will force myself not to be scared of desquamation and go run tomorrow. Met a lady today who just finished chemo for cervical cancer, she recognized my haircut. She said she wasn't brave enough to go without a hat, but she had plenty of short hair and looked lovely. Noticed as we were leaving she had taken off her hat!

Probably shouldn't do those then. And really,what human would want to? They hurt!