Running through chemotherapy

I started this thread because I did, to some extent, manage to stay active through dose-dense AC + T. But as others have found and advised, it was up and down, and I tried to find a balance between pushing myself and listening to my body. 

In the end, I may have overdone it. Perhaps not during chemo, but I think I failed to give cancer treatment its due; I was so fixed on "mind over matter" and staying fit. Chemo was my first treatment step (before surgery to try to shrink my tumors in hopes of getting clean margins), and I think I got a little cocky about surviving it with relative ease. But surgery kicked my butt -- I didn't really understand til later that it was a modified radical mastectomy. They removed the fascia from my chest wall because the cancer went all the way down, and 22 lymph nodes. I started letrozole before radiation because my med onc wanted to be aggressive, and many of you know letrozole (femara) is tough. Then radiation ... my car died and my partner had to leave town and I kept pushing my way through it, thinking chemo was supposed to be the hardest part and I was almost done with treatment and it was time to ramp up. Yes, ramp up. I was trying to get back in shape before I'd even finished radiation. Dumb.

With five radiation treatments left, I was hospitalized with severe chest pain that turned out to be pericarditis (inflammation of the heart sac). I spent the better part of a month in the hospital, had to have my heart sac surgically drained, and I am still dealing with the after-effects as I am stuck now on several drugs to control the pericarditis. The med onc and rad onc kind of pointed fingers at each other and the truth is no one knows what caused it, but I doubt cardiotoxic chemo OR radiation helped! 

I'm sharing this as a cautionary tale. I was a big proponent of pushing oneself, and I pooh-poohed my docs when they told me to take it easy. In the end, I think I should have been more patient. Now, almost a year from my mastectomy, I am doing more strength work, walking and hiking than running.

Listen to your body. Remember that you can always rebuild. As one of my doctors told me, trying to impress upon me the intensity of my treatment, "You had a nuclear bomb go off in your lap." Our treatments all differ, and our bodies all differ. Best wishes to all and be good to yourselves!