Exercise and well being during chemo and radiation

ksusan, I hope you feel better soon. I just got done with two weeks of fever, bronchitis and no energy, so you have my full sympathy!

CJ, part of my right meniscus is gone too. And my "good" left knee is getting looser and less stable with age. I have to take it slower going downhill than people with good knees. I always carry hiking poles, but unless the footing is bad I don't normally use them going downhill. The muscles that support my knees have gotten pretty strong with all the up and down hills that I do. But they are not perfect, so when necessary I pop a big Vitamin I (ibuprofen) to help out. Did you know that your glutes are the most important muscles for supporting your knees? I learned this at physical therapy before and after knee surgery. So I still do my "clams" and my "donkey kicks" to strengthen the glutes.

Good job on the bike ride, azrescue!

Hi there fit sisters! Just checking in- looks like you all are trucking along and doing great! Andra, nice work on the race! I'd expect to be in pain from taxol for at least a year. Turmeric helped me a lot, if yr into that kind of thing. Yay on the fat grafting! I just had it done, and holy crap, it pretty much instantly resolved my cording and pain issues from radiation. Yr gonna love it. Anyway, my field season is picking up again, so I'm getting almost enough exercise. Getting in a few two a days on office days, but I need motivation to do more upper body! Until then, flow yoga twice a week is making a big difference. Tally hooooooooo

Yes Italychick - it was a fluorquinolone reaction. My oncologist blamed the chemo, but I was doing very well on chemo and exercising normally for months already. I took Levo while on vacation in Panama, just as preventive for infection since I was out of the country. I knew about the risk of Achilles rupture and it did make my chronic Achilles tendonitis must worse, but I was not expecting all the other muscle, tendon, and joint problems throughout my legs, and my shoulders were problematic for a while too. I didn't realize it was from the drug while i was taking it...so I kept taking it when I should have stopped. My legs were swollen for months after as well. It all started with that drug, but oncologists were very dismissive about it. I work in a hospital and we just received a notice about more FDA warnings a few weeks ago and stating they are investigating it. I'm hopeful it will improve more, but I am impatient and also worried my legs will be like this forever. Likely oncology will just blame tamoxifen in the future, instead of realizing it is still from the fluroquinolone.

Andraxo - I've been meaning to tell you - I'm jealous of where you live! I lived in Albuquerque for a couple of years and absolutely loved it. I'm in sales and my territory was the state, so I got to travel around and see a lot of it. I think I've hiked and mountain biked most of the corners. I know Albuquerque is nothing like where you are, but I spent a lot of time in the 4 Corners area as well.

I'm a Tony Hillerman fan and have been since I got my first Hillerman book while in State College, PA for an office gift exchange, and had wanted to see the Southwest for ages. When I finally moved there, through a series of interesting events, just seeing all of the scenery from the books in person was amazing. Not to sound hippy dippy, but there is magic in places in New Mexico and spots that do not feel like anywhere else I've been (and I've traveled a lot). I would go to a place and research hiking and biking trails. Always had my mountain bike and hiking boots in the car. I miss those days.

I wanted to say thank you to all the strong women on this thread. Reading about your workouts has gotten my butt back in the gym. Looking forward to getting stronger and leaner!!

Thanks Italychick! I took magnesium for a while, but I don't think it was making a difference so I stopped taking it. I've not heard of Benfotiamine, but will look into it. Onc later gave me Clavamox if any infections came up for the rest of chemo but chemo ended late February. Just bummed I took something so awful prophylactically...it wasn't to treat any infection. Wish I looked into it before the trip and asked for something else...so stupid of me since I investigate everything else. There are horror stories on-line.

I worked out hard through chemo and radiation even when it left me in tears...which only happened after the Levo drug. If how I feel was from chemo I think it would have cleared by now (3.5 months post chemo). Most people would see that I just ran a half marathon in 2 hours and think that was great and I must be "back to normal", and in some ways it really was fantastic (a big fat F#$! cancer!! heck yeah!), but it didn't feel great. Usually I feel strong in races. Now I spend every run fighting pain and wondering why my legs don't have any push, wondering why they don;t feel "right". I'll keep pushing. I'm nowhere near where I was before cancer tx, but I do recognize that my during cancer and post cancer ability is so much higher than most cancer free people my age and younger. That is true for ALL of us!! we...are...amazing!

xo

Thanks Italychick - giving me hope! Started back on magnesium this morning.

Lifted weights and did some plyo this morning. It's what I do every other day since running daily isn't good for my body and not well rounded for a fitness regimen anyway. Took the dogs for a mile, but I don't count that. Love being out with my girls!! Off to work, I'm back on 10 hour days. Heading out on a road trip Friday to Oregon - Hooray!

- xo

Good luck tomorrow, Moondust! Thinking of you!

Kat - welcome. I love the women on this thread as well. So strong and caring. I feel like an imposter mostly, but I want to get there.

Andraxo - Hope the magnesium does the trick. I would agree that even though I'm not where I was, I'm still more fit than the majority of people, so I'm lucky.

I found a Spinerval I don't have on Youtube and did that one. It's an old one - the hair styles are a trip, but as always the workout was a good one. Spinervals 3.0 - Suffer-o-Rama. My bum is on fire.

Or 5.....everything counts!

Good for you, Katja! Do what you can do.

I had a workout with my trainer today. If I felt any pulling in the port area, we substituted a different exercise. Tomorrow I get the port re-checked and hope I'll be cleared for full activity. Then I'll be heading over to my first chemo treatment.

I decided to keep going to my weekly workouts through chemo unless I feel really bad or have an elevated temperature. The gym is set up just for one-on-one training, so there are a very limited number of people using it. At the time I go for my workout, I am the only one using the equipment and no one else is in the locker room either. My trainer is willing to wipe down each piece of equipment right before I use it. I think it is probably a much cleaner environment than my house

Good luck today, Moon! Will be thinking of you

Octogirl

Thank you for all the well-wishes and good thoughts! I felt like you were all there with me today. I am done with the first treatment. It was not too bad. The worst part was the needle stick into my port. Despite the lidocaine cream and a numbing spray it hurt like a son-of-a-gun. The nurse said next time try more cream, put it on earlier, and cover with a plastic thing she gave me. I have been eating small meals. My stomach is in a little knot but I don't feel nauseous. I got my steps done and I'm finally getting sleepy even with all these steroids. I should drink more before bed but it already feels like my eyeballs are floating.