TRIPLE POSITIVE GROUP
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great news jenn
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Yeahhhhhh Jen!!!!
KayB, I couldn't watch Linda's video either although I can view most utubes from my IPad. We're headed to San Felipe today and I'll be able to view it off our Dell there. I love my IPad....but there ARE some things you need a PC for.0 -
Awesome Jen!!! You deserve to celebrate.
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jenn - I know you are so relieved - so happy for you!
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Good news Jenn!
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Great news Jenn! I am really happy for you.
Lago-I asked my MO today if he did tumor markers. He said no for the same reasons yours did.
I also asked him if I would need another pet since I had activity in my lower back. He said probably. But not for three months. I wish I felt better about this. The radiologist gave me a normal. But, my MO does not think that stress in the lower area back would show up in a pet. It kind of tingles and feels numb. Not sure what to think. I know many of you said you had lower back pain after chemo...I know it could be anything...but, the what ifs keep rolling around in my mind.0 -
Jenn it's been said but CONGRATULATIONS GREAT NEWS--keep the bubbly flowing.
Arthritis is a pain in the ass but it's not cancer--Cheers
Jennifer I think so many of us get bad backs for some reason, I never had a backache in my life--now it constant--Arthritis--so I don't know what all this stuff does to us, but it does do things that aren't pleasant.
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Ok so you gals are right I need to exercise doc told me about 9 miles a week on my treadmill and watch my calorie intake is there anything else that I should be doing? I have gained more weight then when I was 9 mo pregnant she told me it's due to the menopause and tamox uggg I hate this... Now I have to starve to loose weight. Also can u take a diet pill or that slim fast drink stuff or something like that. Any info would be great.
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ang - I have been using loseit.com to track my calories. It helps a lot!
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Angie, the 17-Day Diet was a great help for us when we needed to lose some weight back in the summer of 2011. DH lost 60 pounds and I've lost about 24-25 pounds.
Right now I have a New Year's resolution/goal to walk a mile a day at our gym. It's an outdoor track and flat but I also walk around the neighborhood as well.
If you have an iphone you can download an app called RunKeeper and track your walking times that way.
Fage 0% fat yogurt has 23 grams of protein per cup. In the last few days I've been putting it in a glass and adding fresh-squeezed orange juice and it's been pretty good, actually, very good (not sure how long I'll like it because chemo seems to have changed all my eating habits in just one short week).
We use a lot of extra virgin olive oil and the good thing about EVOO is it supposedly helps target Her2/neu positive cells for destruction! We make an arugula salad with EVVO, lemon juice and Himalayan salt that really hits the spot. You can grill chicken breast strips and cut them up and add them to your salad to make it more filling.
ETA: I've taken the diet med Alli for several years - even when it was a prescription; however, I haven't taken it as much since being diagnosed with BC. It has its ups and downs...if you use it, you need to take a good multi-vitamin at bedtime.
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Ang this whole thing sucks--there are so many other thins that happen too, it just sucks.
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Ang, in addition to 3+ mile power walk almost every day, and really limiting sugar intake, I have found yoga to help - I've lost weight but really toned up (I think that's from the yoga ). I think the key is to find something you enjoy & can stick with. Good luck!
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Jenn, I am really happy to read your news!
Scanxiety can make you crazy!!!!!!0 -
yay Jenn! definitely worth celebrating!
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Pour me a glass of that bubbly Jen!
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Thank- you ladies I am starting tomorrow it has to work. Been real scared since the national news said about obese weight have a high risk of recurrence so I talked to my doc today and she told me yes it would not hurt to start to do what ever I can. I am also going to contact my insurance and see if they will help pay for lap-band or something like that you never know my old insurance would but I had to come up with the first $1000.00 then they would do it . But I have a different insurance company now so I am going to call and find out it can't hurt.
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Ang, here are my suggestions.
1. Track your calories at fitday.com, or some similar free website.
2. Get a kitchen scale. (You'd be SHOCKED how much a single serving, one ounce, of chips actually is....this will allow you to eat what you want, but with proper portion sizes.)
3. The most important thing, even more than cardio, is building muscle mass. Chemo and meno/chemo pause means you've lost significant muscle mass (which probably has more to do with your weight gain than anything else). Muscles burn calories. Period. You don't have to get crazy. Start with body weight exercises. You can google some. Do your large muscle groups (legs, back, chest, butt, and chest (tho some women are not comfortable doing pushups there are other body weight exercises you can google for your chest.)
Now if you do these weight bearing exercises BEFORE cardio, you'll burn MORE calories during your cardio workout as well as the rest of the day! Woot.
Your muscles will never be as strong as they were pre-meno, but you can still certainly repair/replace what chemo and menopause have eaten away...
4. Use an online calorie burn calculator to determine how many calories you need (usually enter age, height, weight, activity level) http://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html?ctype=standard&cage=44&csex=f&cheightfeet=5&cheightinch=3&cpound=120&cheightmeter=180&ckg=60&cactivity=1.725&x=92&y=5
It will show you what you need to maintain your weight, and how many calories you need a day to drop a pound a week.
5. Don't do a "diet." Eat what you like, but with proper portion sizes and within your calorie limit for the day. Deprivation dieting is not healthy and it doesn't work. Once you start seeing results, THAT will be motivation to really shave off any unhealthy eating habits. Starting everything all at once is too much and unnecessary.
I have chocolate every single day. But I "purchase" it with calories I need for that day. I like Lindt dark chocolate with sea salt...it is 90 calories for 1/2 an ounce. I take tiny bites and let it melt on my tongue...takes about 30 minutes to eat! Totally gives me that sweet fix without a lot of drama. lol
You'll be motivated to find lower calorie alternatives for your favorite dishes once you start seeing results. So don't worry about eating the exact right things ... focus on building muscle and operating at a 500 calorie deficit a day...
Hope that helps:) Keep us posted on your progress!
Tonya
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ang7894 Ask your onc if she would send you to a nutritionist. Portion control is a huge part of losing weight but so isn't What You Eat! You'll find you can eat a lot more than you think if you are eating foods that are rich in the nutrition you need. Just counting calories won't do it. You might not be getting enough nutrition that will leave you tired and burning even fewer calories.
The trick is to avoid prepared foods (stay away from things in boxes, cans and bags). Granted not all stuff that comes in containers is bad and of course you will eat some processed foods but really cut back on the crap. Start reading labels. Check out not only calories but sugar & salt content. Also see how much crap is in the product that is supposed to be "all natural." Real eye opener.
And I agree with Tonlee on the exercise thing. Also agree with not depriving and not dieting. You learn new eating habits and eat smaller servings of the crap. Spices (other than salt) are your friends.
and keep your goals realistic. 2-3lbs a week is awesome but you don't need to do more than that a week. I know you'll do it.
EVOO replaces butter in all my recipes. Granted it is still high in calories but so much better for you.
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ang - I use this little scale to measure out the food - it does ounces and grams. It is called the Taylor 6.6 Pounds Kitchen Scale with Glass Platform. I got it at Target but they have it at amazon.com.
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Linda, your daughter is gorgeous and fantastic!!
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excellent exercise advice tonlee!
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Jenn - X-C-lent news on the scans. For ref...I have been every 3 weeks 30 min herceptin. No problems! Everyone is diff, so listen to your body and speak up to your docs. (((Jenn)))
Ton is totally spot on. Muscle is heavier than fat. I learned...many years ago...to stop weighing myself. I had a really hard time wrapping my mind around the muscle vs fat issue. But in 2 mos or so...my pants were falling down....that SAID IT ALL. So def do some weight bearing everyday. I have little hand weights, 2 to 5 pounds that I carry. I'm walking now 3 miles at least 4 days a week. But...I stretch b4 and I stretch after...AND...I do standing pushups from my low breakfast nook counter. I had to 'graduate' to this lower counter...I started with kitchen counter...it's not easy for someone who hasnt had any upper body strength for over 10 years. In my 30's...well...lean and mean is descriptive. But life slowed me down and then BC...it is what it is...but I MUST confirm TonLee...muscle mass helps with many se's too. I have put on weight since dx and tx...but I am not gaining...for this I credit the exercise I do. Plus energy...walking without weights, helps. This chit changes you...I have accepted this and know, in my case anyway, I will never be what I was at 30 yoa. But doing what I can...as often as I can....has helped tremendously. One other thing I have learned over the years....DO NOT set your goals too high. Be reasonable...keep in mind your situation, your circumstances. Give yourself a break...Lord knows...we could all use it.
Love, Prayers, and Healing Energy to all of you....always!
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Jen...happy dance for you! Such a relief, I know.
Agree with everyone on the exercise/muscle mass building. I put on a few pounds in November and December when I wasn't exercising, and now I am working like crazy to get rid of it. Also doing much more with weights to try and build bone density.
Met with PS for check up today. He cut me loose for a year, unless I go back for Botox and/or tattoo touch up.
On to the ONC tomorrow. I don't think I will even try to get him to scan anything, as I will lose. I will save my battles since I just had the pet scan a few months ago.
BS is the 22nd.0 -
Jennt, a sincere, and also really ironic, congratulations to you! Hurrah, you’re 47 and you only have a lot of arthritis! I’m hoping to be right there with you b/c I’m having a lot of mystery pains that I am hoping are not, you know…. MO says he doesn’t think it’s anything to worry about but he will order a pet and cat scan after I’m done with rads. He doesn’t want me to have too much radiation at once. He said he would do it this once, even though he didn’t think it was needed, but that he wasn’t going to keep ordering them because he doesn’t want me back in 10 years with leukemia. I said that I would be very pleased for him to tell me “I told you so” afterwards!
Question – he said my calcium isn’t high, my phosphate is only a little high (but I “just might run high”), and my alkaline phosphate isn’t high. These are all signs of bone mets. So to both Jenns, TonLee, and whomever else has been worried about, THAT, lately, what do your test results look like? What do your drs say about this kind of thing?
LeeA, I make that same salad except I grate some parmesan in it. It’s super yummy if you add some asparagus and maybe even a little shaved fennel (which I have growing in my yard). Glad EVOO is good for her2+ women, though I’ve been using it for years and still here I am.
Ang, it sounds way premature to try the lapband, and I’m not sure how good that is for you. TonLee has great advice. Personally, I like to exercise, so doing more of that is the best way to lose weight. The other thing I typically do when I’m starting to edge up there is to make big vats of really healthy, nutrition dense food that I like. Like a big pot full of chili with just a bit of low fat ground beef, and tons of veggies. I have that over brown rice and you can literally lose weight eating that all day long. It doesn’t have that many calories but is very nutrition dense, filling, and flavorful. Anyway I don’t have any background in nutrition or anything like that, that’s just what has always worked for me. If you get most of your calories with healthy, nutrition dense food, the stuff you eat that you “shouldn’t” won’t have as big of an impact. Also – I take the stairs rather than the elevator, ride my bike rather than drive when I can, that kind of thing. And I have no problem with carbs but stick to whole grains, brown rice, etc.
Linda, your daughters are beautiful and that is incredibly sweet and touching. And almost half a million views!
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Ugh, I was feeling calmer and my pre herceptin labs just came back - my phosphates are up again. I was reading in the stage IV forums that a lot of women did not have high calcium but still had bone mets. trying .... not ... to ... freak ... out .... Calcium is higher than before but not by all that much and it's still within normal range . Alkaline phosphates are lower than the last time they checked, which evidently was in october (in the middle of chemo). MO approved me for scans but I have to finish radiation first, which will be january 23rd, or 11 more to go....
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cypher - the first normal labs, where everything was within the normal range, no funky red blood cells, no high alk phos.... was this fall 2 years PFC & 1 year 4 months post final herceptin. My MO says it can take a long time for our lab tests to all get back to normal, and not to worry. But I was glad when they were all normal, finally.
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Cypher,
I talked with my Onc about the whole bone mets issue. Within a year of chemo cessation, he believes the likelihood of the original cancer metzing to the bones is very small. The more likely scenario is it was there all along. You've had scans right? (Sorry, I forget.) If they were clear, it is very unlikely you have mets this close to the finish of chemo. Yes, it does happen, I'm not down playing the risk. But my Onc believes mets so soon after chemo really means it was there all along.
I hope that gives you some comfort.?
My blood levels of calcium, etc have always been within the "normal" range....except while on chemo.
Also, I don't know how much validity there is to this but my RO says once you have rads, a PET scan is fairly useless in the area which is hit by rads. He said it will light up and obscure anything in the radiation field .... since I've never had a PET, I had to take his word for it
Omaz! That's the exact scale I use!!
I do have a background in fitness, decades of it in fact. Trained with AAFA, certified, though I've let it lapse. And I keep up on sports nutrition and science, as well as several other professional journals and magazines in the area (NAFTA, etc). And I have my experience on top of all that.
As a general rule, I don't change anything significant unless there is a good study out on it, or I see real results. For instance, until 2012 there wasn't any scientific data on when you received the most benefit from weight training (as far as calorie burn)...before cardio or after?
In 2012, a definitive study (on diabetics) came out that shows doing weight training right before cardio not only helps stabilize blood sugar, but burns the most calories. I've changed my workout based on this information. Of course any weight training is better than none, so if you can't do it before cardio....then it's not a huge deal.....I personally like to get the most bang for my buck though.
Also more definitive data came out last year about metabolism/best time to eat. It showed that a 12 hour span of fasting every single day is a superior way too keep off excess pounds. Even in groups that consumed a 300 calorie surplus over a period of months (not every single day), they didn't gain any more weight than the control group, as long as they had that 12 hour fasting period. (This fasting period happens the few hours before bedtime, and when you sleep!)
For example, if you get up at 0630 and have coffee/breakfast at 0700, you simply stop eating at 7pm the night before. That whole, don't eat anything 3 hours before bed rule...that is extrapolated from other things, but has not had its own study yet. At least that I can find. (Though experientially I find my weight doesn't bounce around as much if I don't eat 3 hours before bed, so I use it!)
The interesting thing about the chemo/menopause thing for me (probably boring to others) is that I have a vast breadth of knowledge on fitness/nutrition for fitness, but NOT on how our situation alters it. And amazingly, there isn't a whole lot of studies going on either. Though they are picking up thanks to Harvard's interest in fitness after BC.
Anyway, I take notes, research....I find it very interesting. I did not know until the study came out in 2012 (actually a preliminary result not the actual findings yet)...that women who are in menopause (low estrogen/progesterone) can NOT produce muscle mass as pre-meno. Seems like common sense right? Well, until this preliminary finding in 2012, there wasn't any data on it! So some health professionals said, sure you can get the same muscle, and others extrapolated that with a reduction in estrogen/progesterone, hormones ESSENTIAL to muscle fiber development, muscles "likely" wouldn't be as strong.)
With the baby boomers hitting post-meno and wanting to continue an active lifestyle and sex! more studies are being funded by both pharmaceutical companies, as well as academia. Last year alone I saw more research than in the 5 before it.
Ok, I'll turn it off now. lol
I may never be as fit as I was, but I still have a passion for it!
t
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Jenn, so happy for the good scan results for you. Cypher, I am not nearly the expert that some are on these boards, but I do know that my blood tests were always within normal range before BC, but had several levels that went out of the range while on chemo and herceptin. I don't think everything is back to normal yet, and I finished herceptin over six months ago. Sorry, don't know about the particular levels you're talking about though. I do agree with the person who said it's a fine line to walk, but doesn't want scans that are not necessary because of the radiation. Excess radiation is never good. I had an opportunity to be part of a study when I was first diagnosed that would have done a series of pet scans every so many months. I don't remember the exact details or what they were researching even, but my onc had ordered cat scans and a bone scan, and this would have been a pet scan as well, and then more in the future. The BS was the one who asked me to participate in the study. I declined because I didn't want to be exposed to all that excess radiation. I am glad I have all the base line scans to compare to if I get symptoms though. I think we should all have the option for that.
Sitting and waiting for the injection for the vaccine study. I will see if I see anything Fluff. Thanks for the tip.
Have a wonderful day everyone.0 -
Oh and thanks TonLee for the exercise tips. I really appreciate them! Ian in a study for weight bearing exercise with LE and they told me to do 10 minutes of cardio (lw, nothing really strenuous) before the weights. Hmmmm.. I guess I will try to do a little before and then again after. What do you think about stretching? Is it important? Should you do before and after? Thanks!
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TonLee - It's a great little scale and weighing your food sure can be an eye opener! We were checking tortillas the other day and the bag said so many grams but the scale said they weighed 10 grams more!
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