Kicking LEs butt!! Exercise & Self Care Log
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hugz - spring in the mountains!!! What mountains are you visiting? I saw daffodils poking up their heads in the coast range in Oregon last week. And forsythia in the valley area.
Last thursday at Silver Sneakers I requested more exercises to help firm up the jiggling, droopy area we get under our arms as we age. We did several really good exercises. Just to show how out of shape I've been, I was so sore by yesterday I asked my LE/PT to make sure I didn't tear something loose, or maybe separate old scar tissue. Nope - just muscles that probably hadn't been challenged since my ALND surgery in 2013. So today we did more of these "triceps" exercises. Weird to feel that good muscle ache after a work out again.
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Would kinesiology help that?
Possibly not, hugz , but with the way you are exercising, I would just stick with your anti inflammatory. You go, girl!
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Thanks angelfaith456! Just wasn't sure how delicate it was in the long run. I've got a few baskets I can use, which are much prettier than the plastic bin i was thinking about using.
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one hour walk in hills
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One hour walk in the west coastmountains again. Dodged raindrops.
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Missed my Silver Sneakers class, but I have a really good excuse. Spent 6 hours both yesterday and today turning over sod by hand with a spade & picking out weeds to get flower beds ready for planting. I picked up some mulch this afternoon, and that will still have to be worked in. I don't think these beds have been properly turned in 3 years so it was a monumental task. No problems with my arms & trunk, but boy are my thighs killing me. Probably from all the squatting to pick the weeds out of every shovel full of dirt. Also tied up all the roses & the gardenias since they were dragging. And pruned hedges & bushes before my new lawn 'crew' came.
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Minus. I wish I could come help you. I love gardening. Don't forget to rest your arms. Arms up and pump fists and belly breaths while gardening.
Yes that is a real work out, the kind my 92 year old mom says "you don't need a gym. Just get out and dig" I have a hard time restraining myself in the garden once I start and tend to overdo it. Just a reminder it's easy to get carried away. Be careful!
Workout tonight after a long drive home from mountains.
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"The kind my 92 year old mom says "you don't need a gym. Just get out and dig"...
I love to hear about 92 year olds, hugz. They are just so inspirational. Thanks!0 -
hugz - I don't know when to stop either. Thanks for the pump reminder. After 3 full days, I have lots of sore muscles but seem to have avoided an LE flair. One stupid move tho. This is my first marathon garden session since cancer. Before BC I always had hair at least to my shoulders, but after loosing it to chemo I've kept it short. Yes, I had a hat. Yes I had long sleeves. Nope, I never thought about the back of my neck. Lobster red sun burn. Ouchie.
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Minus. Awe dang, a burn had to go and spoil it for you. Check in the mirror for swelling as when I got a burn on shoulders,arms , It puffed up. I could see the dents of my bra straps and knew I had to dash off to a therapist. That may have started my le, either that or a burnt hand. Not sure.
My dahlias are waiting to be planted in the next month. Can't wait. I bought two huge dinner plate size orange ones. Not sure if my others over wintered or not as we had a nasty freezing winter here.
Hitting gym tonight
Edited to add. Went to gym but dragged my tail. No sleep last night equals poor gym day and lack of sleep makes me want to eat. Dang
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Biggest win for me. 6 1/2 miles in the forest in 2 hours 5 min. Heart was great but it was my balls of feet that killed me.
Podiatrist said I have no fat there to cushion foot strike so he made me orthotics but I didn't wear them. (Naughty, spank me!) Can you believe it! I have fat everywhere else but where I need it, on the ball of my feet. I mean........can I really brag about having....skinny under feet! Who the heck even looks there to admire! Like that's going to win me marks in a beauty contest... ugh..... Aging process sucks dearly! I want my fat feet back again.
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hugz - your podiatrist makes so much more sense than mine. I used to walk 5 miles without thinking. Now the balls of my feet rarely let me go much more than 1-1/2 miles. My podiatrist suggested either $400 shoes or getting a cobbler to cover my removable insoles with "suede". Jerk!!!
Back to Silver Sneakers today. We had a different teacher and she REALLY worked us hard. And I walked my 1-1/2 miles on the treadmill before class started. I took two days off w/no exercise after my 3 day garden marathon. It was a mistake not to at least stretch.
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New here!
No LE, but like many of us, I am at risk. I have plenty of post-mastectomy pain.
My new Lymphedema PT is an angel. She is giving me a 45 minute massage every week.I have a lot more pain if I don't do the stretching.
Does anyone here have elbow pain in conjunction with post-mastectomy pain running down the arm?
Mods: I would definitely fall off a trampoline!! Is there evidence that hula~hooping is beneficial?
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minus. Wow I think I would still be recovering from the garden marathon. Your rolling girl!
Regarding ball of foot pain. Dr scholls makes a round small pad that has a raised lift in it that you put behind ball of foot. About 14 dollars and does about the same thing as my orthotics. I use this scholls pad in any slight heel that makes me put pressure on my ball of foot. Was it you minus that recommended cloud or sketcher sneakers cause I got addidas cloudform for indoor use only and they are heaven for my sore balls underfeet. I can only go 15 minutes in morn and 15 min at night without shoes or I have intense pain that make me stop life in its tracks! Life stinks!
Garden. Welcome and your so smart to get le educated. I hula hoop once in a while but not sure how it is for managing le. It's the mini tramp that so many people like and sometimes when I have puffy underarmpit that's sore I go on it for a few min and it stops aching.
Not sure about your elbow thingy. You can post a question in your own thread and hopefully others will see and answer.
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Dragging butt today. No sleep last night but I did work out
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I didn't sleep either. Couldn't get to sleep then woke up every 2 hours all night. No exercise for me today. Two doc appointments and at least 8 errands - all in the car. And computer work all afternoon. I'll for sure go to class tomorrow.
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Pool was down for repairs last week, so pulled out some old exercise videos. Pool reopened yesterday in time for class, so 2 hours of water aerobics made for one sore body this morning (arthritis in knees and achy in triceps as several exercises entail holding onto the edge of the pool while moving the legs and trunk). Today took a 40 minute walk. I have been watching what I eat very carefully and upping the exercise, but the scale just doesn't budge. I think my body is content at this weight, but not so for the docs who would like to see me lose 20 pounds.
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Laural, nice to hear that your exercising. Wow two hours pooling around and then a walk next day. I would be stiff as a board for days on end.
Its hard for me to lose and twice as easy to gain. Yup I lose one pound here and two gained and so on so forth. Dang it anyway .....I can't help it if the devil lives in my fridge!
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Marathon weed pulling at new house yesterday. Not as sore as last week's marathon, but still sore. Wore sleeve and arm seems ok. Handyman moved all the debris bag to the curb for me.
Why can't we lipo-suction our thighs and put the fat in our feet where we need it??? Someone needs to invent this.
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Nice to hear from you Glennie. Yes I noticed we all want to garden marathon due to spring and I will have to hold back the reins or I will do myself in.
Yes i did ask about a fat transfer and believe it or not the movie stars get fat put under their feet so they can still wear heels. Dr said I'd have to go to states every three months to get refurnished. Trust me Glennie I thought of everything to solve my problem. Well if I quit walking that would work....no way though. I need to exercise if I want to live.
So I use sketchers/addidas cloud sole type sneakers in house, which is like walking on pillows and orthotics with ball built in,lifting up where the nerve would press down with each step.
I haven't figured out dress shoes yet but put dr scholls ball of foot pad in them and I haven't worn for more than two hours yet. Anything over about 2 inches is not in my life anymore. So I will never be taller than 5'4' with heels. Dang actually I really can only do about 1 1/2 inch heels. BORN TO BE SHORT! No matter how hard I try to be taller.. it ain't gonna happen!D A N G double dang
That said I'm strapping on sneakers and hitting trail with DH and doggy today. Dh is a bit sedentary, well actually a weekend warrior type. Couch surfs then gets invited to play soccer with teens and comes back with wrecked body parts trying to prove his manhood with the young peppy boys. Ha. I just shake head.Will have to slow up so he doesn't get heart failure. Maybe it will motivate him.
Edited to add; back from 35 min walk. DH found monkey bars and had to prove he could go on the survivor tv show. He made it about three rungs and dropped. I said ooohh I don't know if I would do that with a sore shoulder like yours. He no listen and tried again when we past them again. He did them and declared that he could go on the show. Ha my laugh for the day. He was huffing and puffing. yikes I gotto get him out more often.
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hahahahah, hugz,, let us know when hubby goes on Survivor! We will watch!
Can't believe fat transfer is a real thing,,,,
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Dress shoes??? sort of. I never wear heels anymore. But last weekend I did wear my black leather loafs from SAS. It wasn't pillows, but at least it was fairly comfortable for several hours at a concert & dinner. My other "dress" options are leather Clarks that slip on or Sketcher 'mary janes' style with a strap across the top. My feet are still narrow so I need to have something to hold them on.
Most comfortable of all are the Easy Spirit TravelTime or TravelKno. Lot of serious padding in the foot bed. But of course they're not dressy.
Hugz - loved the story about your DH. I was just listening to my male instructor at the gym telling stories about guys who have to prove they're 'dudes'. One 25 year old was doing military presses & dropped the weight bar on the back of his neck. He will never walk again. In fact, no feeling below the neck. I'm perfectly happy with less weight and more reps.
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She is giving me a 45 minute massage every week.I h
Do you mean MLD ( aka manual lymphatic drainage?) It works! Sounds as though you are PRO active and hoping you will avoid the beast!
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RE: Gardening/ RAKING
Can you "LE ladies' who have exercised faithfully and built up slowly rake ? Repetetive raking, lifting the leaves etc etc ?
Many replies would be most helpful.THX
Laurie
PS how did you begin with weights ? 2 lbs ????
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Purple - yes I can rake but I wear my sleeves. And load leaves in bags, and turn beds (heavy clay here in Houston - still after 40 years of mulch applications)
I started with one pound weights. Now I routinely use 2 lbs and just do more reps instead of going to a heavier weight. That said, I'm very bad about lifting big bags of mulch & fertilizer out of my trunk. I made a tactical error and bought the 50 lb bag of fertilizer last week. That was definitely not pleasant. And I have the stores bag my groceries in paper & pack them tight. At least I take one at a time & no longer heft a bag under each arm.
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Definitely wear sleeves for yard work!!
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Purple- Lymphatic and muscle! However, she doesn't want me to use up all of my allowable PT for this year, so, in case I need it later in 2017, it's almost time to cut me loose. That means teaching me self-massage techniques.
I am raking very slowly, almost in a meditative state. In the garden I probably turn over the beds more than I should. But damn it, I have to take care of myself psychologically and the garden is the only way to do it!! I am trying to wear gloves all the time. Thankfully, there are lots of new thin-types of gloves out there.
In the gym, two pound weights. And like MinusTwo, more reps, not heavier.
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Many thanks to all of you for your replies! I appreciate it.
HAPPY EASTER to those who celebrate it.
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gardengyspsy
Not sure if they will fit, but you may want to try Isotoners....just soak in the sink afterward and hang. They are good for keeping swelling down.
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Purple. I started with one pound weights and finally after a year and a half I lift a average 5 -7 lb weights depending what muscle it is.
Whenever my trainer gives me a new muscle to work on it's one or two pound weights to start off. I only do one set of 15. When I had my double wrist tendinitis in January I had to back off to something like 1-3lb and work up slowly again. Even though I could lift the weight I didn't want to start a flare. Plus I was in wrist guards on both sides.
I follow the PAL program that carol57 use to post about. I think it was university of penn that developed the exercise program for le
Just start off with one pound and when you master it go to two pounds then three. Etc. If you stop exercising then you have to start fresh again. When you start gradually and down the road you have a flare you will know which weight caused it so you then back off and stay to the lower weight until you have no side effects. You got to kinda play around a bit. Also they recommend stretches before lifting. So I do lebed opener the shoulder, arm,tricep, trap, chest, ham, quad, inner thigh, calf, stretches. I think that's all of the major ones. Then I start my exercise and finish with same stretches again adding in my periformis and back stretch. Done
Gardengypsy. Raking leaves can set me off in a flare if I'm not careful. I notice some girls have trouble raking to. So hard to control myself when to stop. I try to stay about five min or less. Maybe this fall I can do more now that I have a bit more muscle.
Yes gardening is great for the soul, playing in the dirt. But it can be nasty for my le. So I try to stop before I get into trouble. Rest with arm up pump fists high up in air. Ultimately if I have to, I will wrap and it feels good after a big garden session , but really i am not a master wrapper.
I usually start out in garden, spring about half hour and work my way up to 3-5 hours. Really naughty for me to do more than 2 but it depends what I'm doing. My love for gardening gets me into trouble with allmy stupid dang ailments.
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