Stage 4 Fitness 2016

Roosarider - One of the many little blessings of a stage IV is how it brings into focus one's priorities. I am a lot better at managing my time. The first priority is to get a lot of rest and exercise and then I only have time to do a few things I really care about. Much happier in so many ways.

Good job staying (appropriately) active through radiation treatments. This is not easy. You have my deep respect.

Yesterday I took my prenatal yoga class again. Very helpful to work gently on range of motion and heal my wounded rib cage. No other exercise yesterday. I am dialing back my exercise until my rib heals. No biking. The rib is quite painful and I have had enough. Could be a few weeks. More rest days, lower intensity workouts. Hoping to do a short trail run in a couple of hours.

>Z<

I'm just walking at the moment too. Hopefully paddle boarding starts tomorrow if the weather plays ball. It was cancelled on Monday because of high winds.

A couple of photos from today's walk if you look carefully you can see elephants.

Keep up the good work everyone.

Hey gals, sorry to be MIA. I managed to pick up a nasty stomach bug so was vomiting off and on since Saturday. Finally getting back to normal today. I admit my cancer brain worried if I was having progression, but my home nurse and triage dept at cancer centre talked me off the ledge when I said that I am not having visual issues, loss of balance, unsteady gait etc. I will have to learn that balance of being cautious about symptoms but remembering it can be just a cold or flu etc. Am getting back to eating and drinking a bit today. If I do well, I will go back to exercise by tomorrow.

Z glad to hear you can still move, hate that your ribs are still hurting you.

Shazza, great pictures of the elephants.

Heidihill, salsa is so much fun. Would do it myself, but I would get dizzy lol.

Roosarider, what can I say. You are amazing. You are absolutely right, make sure time is made for yourself. Glad you are able to exert yourself too. It always makes you feel better. Especially during radiation. I did a lot of exercise during my breast radiation, really was not all that tired from it. Would lie down for about 30 minutes after a session and go about my day.

I'm coming off several days of very low exercise and I'm really feeling it. we drove 10 hours each way for a long weekend of family events. Nice, and worth it, but the drive and family commitments meant nothing more than a short walk for several days. I am really feeling the "fatigue" and low energy so got to get out this week.

Yesterday the weather was just beautiful. My husband and I both found ourselves with free time when my treatment got rescheduled (didn't pass the blood test, long story, but, sigh...). We ended up fighting each other for who got to rake the leaves. It's great exercise, I know that by how many layers get peeled off before I'm done. He won and I ran the errands. I do that on my bike so still got to enjoy the day, but I do love the leaves.

Z - sorry to hear about the ribs. I had a similar injury a few years ago and it took forever to heal. I think avoiding lifting (just regular household stuff you wouldn't normal think twice about) was the final piece of the puzzle for me. it doesn't take much to stress that area.

Mara - when you find that balance please let me know how you did it😀

Shazza - we've got to hear the story on those elephants!

Shazza OMG, that is the cutest kitten ever.

Sherriw, not quite at the right balance yet. I seem to go two steps forward, one step back. I woke vomiting again today and asked triage nurse to get a brain scan. My oncologist actually called me back at home upset I had not been given one first. It is fairly common to get brain swelling with whole brain radiation or possible other mets or issues. She got me my ct scan, but no swelling or anything. I don't believe I caught a bug since my tummy has been angry for a long time (steroids from july to aug and during the WBR). I normally NEVER throw up, so that is why I was so worried. Long story short, I do not have a swollen brain. I have new antinausea pills I can use and will have to just be adjusted. This seems like I have not quite hit the peak of SE's from the radiation itself. Apparently can take a couple of months.

I still plan to keep myself moving when I can, but will take it easy too. I still believe exerting myself makes me feel better. I just can't be sick to my stomach or not eating when I do this.

Hope everyone else is holding their own too.

Sherri - I am careful not to travel because it throws of diet and exercise and it's a slippery slope from there. Working on making my world small and very home based. Not my style and hard because I live 2 hours from anywhere. But settling into the routine.

Mara - I am glad no swelling, sorry the SE's from the radiation persist like this. Puking and exercise are not a good combination, but the time will come, soon.

Shazza - cute kitty.

up all night watching the election results, not what my husband and i expected. spent the day reconnecting to a higher plain where i can escape as needed. hike, energy work, massage. astonishingly easy to handle shock these days. nothing compared to facing down a CT scan, which we all do all the time. cancer puts everything into perspective.

my daughter is downstairs practicing the brandenburg concerto. sounds good. when she is done we will do Nike+ Fitness for 30 minutes.

thanks for the updates everyone. Keep Moving!

>Z<

allright! I admire all of you and your motivation, so will start hanging out here to see if I can get moving....

Over the last 8 months diagnosed stage iv, 6 months on treatment, I've been lucky so far to tolerate my current chemo with no side effects so have been working full time, driving up to Emory once or twice a week (1 to 2 hours each way depending on traffic yikes), going out with hubby and friends, trying to be more consistent with my loved Church, and traveling a lot ....BUT I realize I need to start moving (we all know the endless reasons)...

So here's my wish list: gentle yoga twice a week (free classes for cancer patients at hospital 0.5 miles from my house), 30 min neighborhood walk 3 to 5 days, Saturday or Sunday bike ride, and stretchbands or light weights twice a week...

This should be doable and easy to start, now that I wrote it here, my goal is to report in a week, crossing fingers :-)

Mara, that was a bit scary reg. your brain, but good thing it all came out ok.

Z - hope your aching ribs heals soon. I love mountain biking, so I cannot imagine to have to baby the ribs and have to keep stand still.

Rest of you brave warriors: continue to be as brave as you are each day.

I have three more rad treatments left. Yes! Maybe I'll have a little more energy then. Just feeling a little deficit. That's all.

Z, glad your rib is not as sore. Knowing the pain will go away is so helpful. Nothing worse than if we feel we will not improve.

Roosarider, Z is entirely correct. If you can do it, even 5 or 10 minutes a couple of times a day can help fatigue. Water of course as well. Rest when you need it. Rads are definitely no joke and take a while to recover from. With the way you have been able to move, your recovery should not take as long as if you did nothing. Glad you are able to move.

I am still on the resting side of things. Have not had to take an antinausea pill yet, no vomiting, but stomach still not feeling the best. I will have to be patient. Working my eating up slowly. Hopefully, this is still recovering from the brain rads. I start chemo Nov 15 so I will probably take my pills more proactively. My next goal is to start back to the smaller amounts of exercise first.

Hope everyone is doing as well as possible on this fine day.

Kathryn, great catch! Swimming is a great workout too. Gets your blood pumping. Good stress buster which we can all use time to time. Enjoy your fish fry.

I managed to get through the day without any nausea pills. I like that. I pedaled my mini peddlar for approximately half an hour while watching tv on the couch. Though not particularly aerobic, it does give some of my muscles well needed use.

Hope everyone else is well tonight!

Hike/jog this morning while my daughter biked the trail. Strength workout with DD2 in the PM. No Bike No Vember continues as my rib continues to heal.

Will be cooking and getting ready for ski season today.

Kathryn - good job getting on the anxiety medication. It will help you focus on healthy routines. We have no time for anxiety.

>Z<

Hi Bionic. Awesome routine, particularly with a sinus infection.

I've been feeling kind of light headed for several days, but I did get out for my regular hike today. I am guessing it is a couple miles, but it has quite a bit of climbing.

How is everyone doing?

busy weekend for me. Out dancing till 1am on Friday. A 10k walk on Saturday and yoga Sunday. I'm still practicing my standing on one leg with my eyes shut and things are slowly improving we did a lot of balance work at yoga as well. Weather permitting paddle boarding again tomorrow.

Everyone is doing great. Working around the effects of cancer can be challenging and sometimes quite disheartening but the efforts are worth it in the end.

Take care everyone and keep up the posting I find it so motiv

I love seeing everyone visiting friends, dancing, jogging, biking and hiking! It all keeps our mind off of that other stuff we deal with every day! Got in a mile of swimming and a one hour hike this weekend. We are planning a drive out to Colorado Springs for Thanksgiving via the Badlands and Rocky Mountain National Park. Trying a hot spring hotel one night! 2,000 miles of driving will be awful unless we stop for a hike every few hours. Determined to try it! Staying close to home has a lot of appeal because the travel does knock me out. With winter closing in it will be mostly swimming I suspect.

Nice work ladies! We are still moving!

Z I was on the Faslodex Ibrance thread and you mentioned this thread yeah I'm in . I have been laying low a bit around here found it too sad. This thread I can get into though. Still dark here time to get my Excerise stuff on and head to the y. This is so much easier in the spring.

Cheers

Wendy