Kicking LEs butt!! Exercise & Self Care Log
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It does, Carol. That's why I went back to the gym! But things are a bit cooler and a bit less humid now, especially in the mornings. 10 degree drop in temp is really helpful! And it was 50 Sunday morning! OMG,, that was lovely.Can I ask where were you in FL? Temp and humidity can really vary in our very LONG state!
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Glennie, I was working most of the week in Ft. Lauderdale. I had hoped that evenings, after work is done, would be a tad cooler than daytime, but nope. Next week: Orlando. I think I have to make myself fall in love with hotel cardio machines, if the heat and humidity are like what I had last week. I'm much rather be outside walking, but not in weather that aggravates the LE.
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The mornings are better. Unfortunately we are not yet in the time of year where it cools down that early at night. The heat/humidity rises during the day and at 7pm,,when you want to be out walking,, it's still too humid. No chance to get to the beach in Ft Lauderdale? bummer,,, Orlando is too far from the beach.
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So sorry to hear about milehighgirl. She was an encourager always.
Laurel, hoping for good news for your hip especially since you have a wedding to help plan!
Glennie, no rush! Your body has lots of healing inside to do. Continue to take it slow.
Carol, hope the injections help. I admire your self-discipline in exercising even though you hold a demanding job. I know what you mean about sugar!!
I have never exercised more and eaten healthier yet I lose no weight. I've decided to blame Tamoxifen and Gabapentin. I am stronger, though. I met up with a group of bc.orgers a couple weeks ago at Mt. Hood, OR. We all had DIEP recon. There was definitely hiking involved. I knew my limits and enjoyed doing what I could do. I couldn't have kept up at all if it weren't for running laps in the pool beforehand. I just love getting out and about in nature.
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Sounds like you had a good time, Jeannie!! Exercise does pay off for stamina,, too bad it doesn't seem to help the weight loss more. but I think you are right about the meds.0 -
Injection was fine, followed by 48 hours of minimal knee activity. It will be a while before injection benefits kick in, and I have two more scheduled in the weeks to come. Then I'm sure hoping that I can return to some kind of normal exercise routine! I did go to the gym yesterday and did upper body only strength training. That felt great!
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Carol, glad the injections seem to be working for you.
I know you will do only as much as you and your therapist think are good for you.
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Thank you Iris. Can you spell 'frustrating?' Because that's what injury brings, and especially when exercise is key to weight control. Sigh. And I know I have lots of company, because lots of us in this thread are putting up with all manner of umm...ache-or-ailment-related fitness interruptions.
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me I am nursing a scarey cough -cold and drinking gallons of ginger tea!
just remember, you dang well made it through the cancer treatment and you dang will make it through your physical therapy!
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Awww...my bmx/recon was prophy, so the treatment was just surgery, albeit a bodacious one, with the diep. My hat is off to everyone I've 'met' here who didn't get the advance warning signal that allowed me to do a pre-emptive strike. I'm so admiring of how women sometimes talk about BC treatment like it was no big deal...and yet it was a huge deal.
I love ginger, especially in tea! Get better soon!
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Hi all-
Any recommended exercises I can find online for lymphedema prevention? I have an axillary seroma and am a few months postop. There are so many different exercises and I am not sure which ones to do!
Thanks!
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Hi, eloqui, i just wanted to say hi, and i bet everyone else is out...exercising!! I do hope some one does show up to answer your question soon. I don't know if there are any exercises that prevent lymphedema, but there are some that will help with it. Do you have an LE therapist at your treatment center that you can see? That can help develop a plan just for you? Or, that might evaluate you, to see if you might need a sleeve to wear while working out? I am pretty sure that having a seroma does put you at risk for LE in itself, and i do hope you are able to avoid LE altogether! You are way too young to be having to deal with this, i am so sorry..
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Classical Stretch - Breast Cancer Rehabilitation Post-Surgery , or look up sherie lebed davis on you tube, she has some gentle ones to start with that shouldn't hurt to start, at least it will get lymph flowing. Isn't any of your team concerned about a seroma this far out from surgery? good luck sweetie.. oh hey, the first link did work! hope that helps!
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I agree about the Lebed exercises. There is a DVD, but you can find the opening exercises on Youtube. EAsy to do and they seem to help.0 -
eloqui, exercise doesn't prevent LE directly, but there's some good evidence that building strength in an affected limb can reduce LE risk by increasing the amount of weight or resistance that your arm can heft without triggering a to-the-rescue lymphatic system response and cause swelling. Here's a link to a document that explains the research and provides some guidelines for precautions you can take to limit your LE risk as you exercise:
http://stepup-speakout.org/Trainer%20doc%20for%20S...
The Lebed exercises are designed to promote the movement of lymph through the body, which is a great strategy for any of us who lost lymph nodes.
Your GAP recon makes me suspect that you may not struggle with the scourge of overweight that has been challenging me all my life--I'm just guessing here--and if I'm right, the implication for you is huge. Women who are overweight at the time of surgery have a markedly higher LE risk than women of normal weight. You lost just a few nodes, and if your PS recommended GAP because tummy fat was hard to come by...with luck the combination signals a low LE risk. I hope so, anyway! In any case, you can exercise to gain all its health-related benefits without increasing LE risk if you incorporate the LE precautions in your exercise routine. And you're incredibly smart to be learning about LE, so that if it does come your way, you'll recognize it and seek treatment at the earliest possible moment. For more information about LE, browse the stepup-speakout.org site, which is a wonderful resource for all of us here.
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Slowly losing a bit of weight here, but that classic Arimidex midriff sure is a stubborn one. As a lot of us lament, its one of the last places to shift.
Up until a couple of weeks ago was doing really well on the Treadmill but its only a momentary setback. I feel I'm gaining in fitness overall. The little setback is I probably pushed a little too hard on the stretchies afterwards and I think I strained my upper thigh/groin area or something. Its still quite grabby and I'm taking care to do longer warm-ups. Im getting there, but noticing these things take longer to come right these days. I'm also using a "stand-in" treadmill albeit at no extra cost as mine has "belt wandering" issues and has done almost from the start when I purchased it at the end of January this year. The issue has run into months now and I'm starting to get pretty annoyed. Apparently I'm not the only one with this model and there's in fact a recall so I was told by the service man. We'll see what happens.
Been doing quite a bit in the garden. Spading weeds etc We all know gardening definitely counts as excercise! The main spud crop is just about done so really pleased. Hubby is a great help. Recently tried my Kale and yum. I REALLY like it.
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Musical...I discovered Kale at my local farm stand just as I was starting my rads years ago! I figured that I needed to eat healthier and Kale scores high marks there, Enjoy yours! I have a tendancy to add it to all sorts of things....potatoes, polenta and a nice big salad works well to
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PTS, I am so impressed with Kale, and I do love my veges. I was wondering whether it was going to be like silverbeet or spinach, both of which I grow and love. It's similar but has it's own distinct flavour. It's so versatile. I just chucked it in a boil-up (kiwi term for a stew), I sautee'd (sp???) it and cooked it in a sort of a stir fry in the pan. All yummy. Mine is going to seed now and is about 3 feet high. I thought it would be strong and going woody/stringy but alas it's not strong at all and only slightly stringy on the base part of the larger leaves. For years I've known that it's commonly used as a crop for stock here (not sure about other places) but I didn't know we could eat it until I heard great reports of it here on BCO.
We also have a local farmers market, and I frequently see it at an Asian guys stand. Ive noticed his variety has very wrinkly/curly leaves. I'm kicking myself cuz I can't remember where I got my little plants from and so don't know if the seed is going to be viable. I like natural (heirloom) seeds that havent been fiddled with. Need to do more research on Kale to get the best variety.
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I know there are dif varieties but I just get whatever my local stand has. Have you ever tried Caldo Verdi? it is a Portugeus/fisherman soup/ stew, if it feeds deep sea fisherman....got to give us energy too. I add the kale to my breakfast sandwich ---greek yogurt on whole grain bread with a big kale leaf!
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No I haven't tried Caldo Verdi. Whats actually in it? Your brekky sounds yummy with that combo. Love yoghurt, but theres so many additives in the shop bought stuff , and even the packages, like aspartame, that I've put that on the backburner. Other than for the odd time at outings I stick to wholegrain bread. There's only ONE I can find here that doesn't use soy. Used to make my own, but since BC and trying to choose healthier options I didn't replace my horrible teflon lined breadmaker. To my knowledge, theyre still all like that. Of course theres other options for breadmaking but those breadmakers sure take the hard work out.
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Caldo Verdi is a vegetable soup, made with potatoes, kale and the usual carrots, celery onions. Fisherman used to eat it before heading out to sea! or they did from Massachusettes! It usually has Portugese sausage in it, but I use any sort of ham. I was making huge pots of it during rads! fed me pretty good! I would get home at night, heat up a big bowl, add some bread and dinner was ready!
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Ah, I have then. Sounds like what my mum used to make only with added pearl barley and beef bones or bacon hocks. There's definitely times when soup is tops and nothing else will do, like when you're not feeling too bright. In the colder months I like it bordering on stew. Heres to Kale!
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love soup! made broccoli cheddar soup today so that is lunch this week! recipe was from a cancer survivors cookbook! so nice to have lunch for 4 days ready!
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Ha I was going to say it gets better with "age". It definitely brings out the flavour when it's reheated.
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soup is gold!
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Well blimey, I'm on a go slow on the TM this morning. About 41mins to do 3.3K :-(. On a good note, at least I got my usual distance done....Wondering if that dang Arimidex has something to do with it as well. Feel like doing more than kicking butt-ock cuz thats where its being grabby. Grrrrr.
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Musical, you are ON the treadmill, and speed be danged, you remain committed to exercise. That's a victory in my book!
I had the second of 3 knee injections of synvisc today, so no leg exercises today. But I went to the gym and did upper body strength training and ab work, which felt so good after a weekend of too much driving--10 hours round trip--to take care of my grandchildren while their parents were away at a funeral.
Tomorrow, tons of airport walking on the agenda!
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we can not be at the top of all every day....something every day though, it works for me!
today I did my dang strength training (sorry I hate it) so next visit I get to focus on my balance and cardio,
been having issues with the chlorine in the pool, I was feeling itchie. Spoke to my docs and they suggested I do a clariton before working out (My doc knows how important the pool is to me), it seems to be working so back to my laps!0 -
Carol, yes i'ts to be expected and anything is better than nothing. You sound like youre doing better overall. Activity or a workout just makes you feel better. Ebbs and flows are par for the course and you're right iris, we cant be on top all the time. Still, I hope I haven't done too much damage unless it's either the weather (we have a real seasonal change going on here ) or Arimidex or a combo of all 3.
Don't know about you ladies but it's always been for me when I walk, just on the odd occasion I'll get this little "grabbiness" going on but it usually rights itself if not at the time or that day, at most in a couple. That's all I expected this to be but just looking in my log, it was the 6th this started. I did just 1K of chemo-speed so 9 days is getting bothersome, and Ive been a very good girl and haven't overdone it.
Hope you are OK in the pool iris. Itchies sure are a nuisance. Just had a foot draw the other day and every single time bar none, I have to put antibiot cream on or I get a reaction to whatever the residue is that's on the needle.
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I am so behind here but wanted to say I met Sherry Lebed Davis at a Livestrong class today. She lives in the area. She's very petite and told funny stories, as well as talked about LE and led a class. Her two brothers are surgeons, her parents were ballroom dancers. Her mom was so depressed after breast cancer surgery that they came up with an exercise routine involving a little dance that stretched the affected arm and opened the lymph system. Sherry has taught the method in many countries and there have been something like twelve studies published in journals on the benefits of the Lebed method. Of course, even though Sherry, the LS instructor and a couple other gals have LE, I was the only one wearing a sleeve or, in my case, sleeves. I don't get that.
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