Kicking LEs butt!! Exercise & Self Care Log
Comments
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Dawne-Hope, you are spot on when you point out that if we could be perfect in all aspects of our LE care, we would have better LE days. But then, we are all....human! The number of days when I do ALL that I should--water, exercise, MLD, Lebed--pretty much never! I just cannot concede that much time to this crazy condition. With the exercise, I have double motivation, which is to help control the LE and in pursuit of the ever-elusive weight loss. But as for MLD and Lebed, I tend to remember those when I'm arm-achey, which means of course that I should have already done them to help prevent the ache. Oh well.
Hugz, my batteries do indeed wear down from all the travel. I look forward to retirement, but that's a few years off for me. This week and the next three weeks I am home, but not sure it will be battery-recharge time, because lots and lots of family will arrive starting this weekend, with people arriving and leaving at different times through July 7, but there will be about 20 of us at the peak. Picture people on airbeds, pullout couches, and fortunately, in a few guest rooms. Should be fun, especially the 6 who are under the age of 6!
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Carol - you stated everything perfectly. LE care is in addition to my 'normal' life which means something else gives to make room for the new needs/routine. Been fighting the LE changes since they started. I always said I needed a hobby - maybe LE is my hobby and I just need to embrace it. Sometimes it's easy to overlook the victories (water, MLD, etc) when I see all I could be doing. Just like the stairs - it's one step at a time.
Since I joined this group I am more motivated to work with LE - not quite so angry about it anymore. lol - my surgery was July 2011 - not even a year yet! However, my energy is returning with the increased focus on steps which is good thing. Gotta focus on those good things. I was able to walk quickly up the steps to the Chocolate Factory today - that's a victory. Had to run in and buy chocolate to take back to the dentist. His wife has cancer (not breast) and is a few months behind me in treatment. She's at the 'need chocolate' phase. I had the energy today to do something I really wanted to do and enjoyed it!
Life is good.
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Carol, it sure seems like it's going to be a lot fo fun having so many family members, but also a lot of work. Hopefully, you will get lots of help in the kitchen. Are you going to bake bread?
Holidays in southern France were great and LE was alright even though I did not wear my sleeve regularly neither exercised every day. I decided to take a vacation from LE too and just exercised a bit when I felt like it. Walking along the "promenade des Anglais", enjoying the sun and the sea was enough, plus some remedial exercises and SLD once in a while. Even though I did not train as much and as regularly as I do at home, LE remained stable throughout the vacation. Maybe sometimes, one just has to let go a bit and not take so much stress about "having to do something to keep that damned LE under control".
OK, so back to "Kicking LE's butt". I found the following web site YouTube/Lionsgate BeFit where you have lots and lots of free workouts.
http://www.youtube.com/user/BeFit/featured
Billy Blanks Jr. "hip hop Bollywood workout", then "Mix samba dance" followed by Kathy Smith "Pilates Abs workout" and to finish Denise Austin "Yoga Stretch workout".
Very good quality videos to bring fun and diversity to our daily routines. Enjoy
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Ohio, my surgery was July 2011, too, and truly I am feeling pretty 'bounced back.' I do sometimes marvel, though, at how if I don't do serious stretches for a few days, my arm reach and shoulder motion start to feel a bit shorter, almost like all that post-surgical stretching needs to be maintained. Does anyone else have that experience, and is it a lifetime assignment to stretch? I had bmx plus SNB (on my LE side, of course!). I never lose sight of how simply my journey has been compared to most of you wonderful women, because my bmx was prophy, and the SNB was clear, so no chemo, no rads, no tamox...and I just feel blessed that I was able to sidestep those major energy sappers and everything else that bc treatment brings to the table. Or rather takes away! So aside from having my body parts rearranged for the recon, my path forward has been pretty straightforward, and truly I am in awe of every one of you who has attacked your return to fitness on the heels of the treatments. So Ohio, think of the immense distance you have traveled, and adding some steps every day adds a new and very rewarding kind of distance to your already considerable accomplishment.
And Nitocris, good for you that you took the full vacation! Probably proves that removing stress improves LE! Now you're back in chilly Finland, so you need to keep moving to stay warm! (Not one to talk; although it's pretty hot here now, the cold months well outnumber the warm ones).
Today so far I did Leslie Sansone's 'three fast miles' and now I'm off to the gym for stretching and weightlifting, so a good exercise day for me. And I even got some work in today!
Carol
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Carol is off to the races with Leslie! Ok the arm strectches thingy. I had implant reconstruction on both(one side phrophy) and I do need to strectch out daily. Especially tight with the rads on the bc side. If I don't,I get that shrinking shortening muscle feeling like I am becoming a shriveled up old lady. If I don't stretch then I get a lot of charlie horses in my lats which is from surgery as I never had that ever before. I bet I could stretch out every 15 minutes and it still tightens up.
Nitocris, Wow.... that is a cool website you found!
Ohio. That was so nice of you to drop a "chocolate bomb" when someone needed it. It feels good to do things for others.
I know it would have made her day.0 -
Hugz, 'shrinking shortening muscle feeling' is a good description of how my underarm and shoulder feel when I do not stretch for a day or so. Sounds like it's a forever assignment to do those stretches.
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Carol, it's forever. But happily it feels really good to stretch
. Do it in conjunction with the deep breathing and you get double the benefit.Binney
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Wow - I learned something. I thought the tight muscle was me not doing something right. I had a right mx with 15 nodes removed but worked hard to regain full range of motion pretty quickly. Was feeling good that I was following orders but the tightness just doesn't go away. Of course I had all that radiation, too. Still have a few 'muscle' areas that are tender but for the most part all is well, then, bam - my arm is stiff. Now I know why - it's just the way it is.
Little low on steps today - made 3800, had lots of water. Thinking the Aromasin contributes to night time fatigue - gotta get moving earlier in the day.
Maybe I should exercise in the AM instead of starting work so early (home office). I only need those eight hours and early starts mean more hours - so maybe I need to rethink my day. Tomorrow will be a good test. Housekeeper coming, need to pick some things up in the AM. I don't like her cleaning up after me - I want her time spent making the house shine. Will start with more activity in morning. There, I have a plan.
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Dressage posted this in the Living Without Recon Forum, but you can see the woman in the story is wearing a LE sleeve. I wonder how much discomfort in finding a suit could also be LE related? (That's been my personal experience with the bathing suit testing lately!) Anyway, cool, cool, cool, that this woman is being allowed to exercise freely!
http://www.kplu.org/post/seattle-parks-allows-breast-cancer-survivor-swim-without-top?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=FB2152
Tough couple of days here, personal stress is not good for LE, but I am hanging, or I should say, walking. Trying to stay as active as possible. And HYDRATING!0 -
The room at camp was so COOL this morning that my fingers actually got cold. Never been so thankful to be so cold.
Last year I told them I needed a cool room and it wasn't. This year ... it was awesome and I told them so. So thankful.Went swimming this evening, and did MLD after camp. Still working on drinking water.
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Tina, do hang in there! Lifting water to lips must count for some activity! You and Ohio can most certainly call it a bicep curl.
My exercise day turned out quite well. Got 16,000+ steps in (thank you Leslie Sansone for a good chunk of them), including some jogging on a treadmill at the gym. And weight lifting was good, hard, but fun today, as I work with a trainer and he is very creative so I do not get bored. And he and his wife, who own the gym, are wonderful folks whose DNA includes a whopping huge kindness gene. They put in long hours and keep prices very low in our rural town, which is much appreciated. Their kids are at the gym a lot, which is fun, and it's super humbling to see them work with their 2-year old who has Down Syndrome. Love and commitment, of course, but I also appreciate how much they share with all of us clients--and educate us--so we're all learning with them as the little guy grows. My sessions with my trainer are interrupted all the time by their 5-year old, and I just love that. Can you tell that I really look forward to going to the gym?
Carol
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Nitocris, Did day one of the be fit. Thanks for the site I think. I'll let you know if I can move tomorrow.
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Exercisers, butt kickers, Stairclimbers, runners, walkers, talkers, where are you? I can't believe no one has posted in 20 hours. well........................I am happy to report that I have walked 30 whole dang minutes. I wanted to walk more but have to be careful. I loved it! Not hot out!
I dare say this, but I miss my walking routine. Ok...going to stretch out those nagging ITbans etc.
Come everyone,....... Just because it's summer doesn't mean we trade in our exercise spandex for a barbeque fork!
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Oh, Hugz, or should I say Jiminy Cricket! I didn't get much accomplished in the exercise department today, at least not in terms of minutes. It got to be about 7 pm and I realized I'd been at my desk all day (I work standing up, so not ALL bad). So I went outside and went down and up the stairs to the water, enough times to equal 49 flights of stairs. That took almost exactly a half hour, which is not enough time to burn up the calories I want to eat for dinner!
Hugz, 30 minutes is a great report from you--you had to stay low for a while and now it really is best to get back into it slowly.
Ptdreamers, have you been able to move today??
Carol
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Yep, but I was bad and didn't exercise. Took brief walk and then went to the movies and saw "Brave". Cute animation.
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PTdreamers. walking does count. Eating in the movies doesn't!
Carol. Standing is better than growing butt like I did today at my desk. I was too lazy to set my keyboard up so I could stand for awhile. 49 flight is very good. I am paying for my little walk now. I better go stretch out.
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Hugz, that's great you did 30 min. I agree, resting and increasing slowly has been a good strategy. Thanks for reminding me to breathe!!
Carol, sometimes it feels good exercising after a long day, yes? You're pushing toward 11pm! LOL
Well, I don't have a lot of proactive care or exercise to report for the last couple of days. Brief MLD, lots of node stim, drinking water, and yesterday I got in over 8,000 steps, crunches on the ball. After sitting in a meeting all morning, crashing at home briefly and then visiting with mom for a couple of hours, at dinner I looked at the pedometer and took it off! Pfft! Why bother counting!
However, after today, I can finally relax and breathe easy. The stress is over, and I have accomplished everything I came here to do for my mother. All has turned out as positively as I could have hoped. Mom is in a much better frame of mind and has successfully transitioned into the skilled nursing center. I have had some wonderful, touching conversations with her. When my father passed 11 yrs ago, I was heartbroken I didn't have more time with him, and disappointed I had been left as primary caretaker for a mother with whom I'd had a difficult relationship. However, I have come to realize it's possible to develop a close and loving relationship in our final years together. I never would have chosen losing time with my father, but nothing can take the place of the love I have been able to share with my mother after years of tension and differences. Sometimes the most beautiful gifts are the ones for which you must stretch and struggle the most.0 -
Ptdreamers - which fitness video did you do? They all looked pretty hard. The dance stuff, oh my word, I am such a spaz at learning those moves. I probably give up to easily though.
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Tina, what a touching post you wrote! I am so happy that your trip to get your mother settled into the skilled care facility has turned out to be so rewarding for you. Stress baits LE, and what you have accomplished on this trip will remove some of that from your life, so despite your LE care limitations this week, you have done very well for yourself, physically and emotionally. When you do get back on the train for home?
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Tina--Glad you have that time with your Mom. I am on a trip with my sister and 90 yr old Mom. We both noticed how much she has slowed down physically. We visited three cousins yesterday and had a great time getting memories out of her. Her mind is still "Sharp"--no pun intended.
Thursday we traveled from TN to IN. I did 30 min on elliptical before leaving. When we arrived at hotel my sis and I did 2 miles of Leslie Sasone DVD as it was 98 degrees outside! Instead of Lebed I just did the exercise routine my therapy center gave me.
Yesterday I did 30 min of weights. We did a lot of walking around visiting old haunts where I grew up.
Today I am going to a luncheon with 15 HS friends so am not sure when I will get anything but Lebed and MLD in. I am going to try to do Sasone when I get back.
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Not much exercise done yesterday. Spent a lot of time in the kitchen cooking for the midsummer party in the evening. Definitely needed to get moving this morning to burn those extra calories, but did not feel like doing anything too tough. A Leslie Sansone "walk at home" DVD seemed a good choice, but I only had the 3 and 5 miles DVDs. Too much for me after only sleeping 4 hours. I checked YouTube and found the following 2 miles (about 33 mn) workout.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBgB_cqDiXs&feature=relmfu - "Leslie Sansone - Start walking at home - 2 miles)
It sure woke me up and got me moving and sweating!!
Some stretching afterwards and I was back on track. (Still had to take a nap in the afternoon though).For more information and motivation, you can check her Facebook page too.
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Tina, I did day one of the ninety day program that Nitocris posted a coupleof days ago http://www.youtube.com/user/BeFit/featured. Think I'll look at one she just posted.0
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okay, just did the Leslie Sansome two mile walk. Invigorating and my pedometer is off. Will have to adjust it. 0
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I was just over 3700 steps yesterday, will pass that today. Did some yard work early this morning, pulling and spraying weeds left handed is just plan funny. Left hand just doesn't do things the same as right hand. Going to a grad party then plan to do a bit more in the yard this evening.
Tina, thanks for the reminder to count time spent with parents as precious. They are 79 & 80, we've been close through the years, but something (maybe my life challenges or the AI) makes me a bit less patient. Need to take a deep breath and just enjoy the time.
Oh - - have doubled the water the last few days. That really makes a difference in this heat - a big difference.
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Ohio and Ptdreamers, just excellent! I really like doing Leslie Sansone walks. I find it's easier on the hip and other body parts to move lots of muscles, in pretty big movements, than to walk on a flat hard road for the same amount of time. I sometimes get a backache when I walk on the road or on a treadmill. Never happens with 'walk-fit multi-muscle walking'.
Today I scrubbed more siding, this time using a ladder because the spiders, well they just crawl all over. I did that for a long time, thinking it reminded me of the 'reach into the back of the freezer' Lebed routine. Only I was doing it faster and with more oomph, I guess. Anyway, I hope those few hours count as exercise! I also was able to jump into a pool twice today, and I swam a moderate pace for that time. Felt great and I was just telling my LE to 'take that!' with all the nice water pressure.
Ohio, fun time of year with grad celebrations. I am sure you enjoyed it!
Carol
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carol57, I'm sure all that reaching, swimming etc. counts as more than enough. You are such an inspiration.
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Ptdreamers, I am incredibly afraid of falling off the fitness wagon, so I worry a lot when I don't get a good amount of activity in each day. I'm getting close to one year since my prophy bmx/diep. In the months beforehand (11 weeks to be exact), I worked like a crazy woman to get fitter than my sedentary self had been, petrified of what I was told might be a 17-hour surgery and the recovery afterward.
Once the surgery had been scheduled, I walked into my local gym -- we only have one in our little town, and it's a total muscle gym...world-record powerlifters and all. I asked about personal trainers --they only have one, the gym owner. And I asked that fellow if he could work miracles if I showed up three times a week for 11 weeks. He might have been skeptical, but he accepted the challenge and wow...what a wonderful human being entered my life. He did indeed work miracles with me, and my surgery and recovery were truly a breeze.
I was incredibly antsy to get back to cardio and weight training after surgery and had to call on every patience gene in my body as I waited for plastic surgeon permission to exercise, and eventually to re-start weight training. When I realized I had LE, I was re-petrified about the potential to do damage with weight lifting, so I found some corporate support and brought in one of the PAL Trial researchers to put on a one-day workshop for personal trainers and CLTs. You can bet my trainer and my CLT were in that room all day!
After all of this, I can say sincerely that I feel SO much better as a stronger woman, and the few pounds I have lost feel pretty good, too. Yet even so, I am quite aware that exercising still feels like a chore, so I know that if I lose the habit...I'm toast.
All that to say that if I ever sound a bit obsessive about the activity level, it's because I'm afraid not to stick with it. I never want to go back to being a desk potato. But I know I'm capable of it. It's bizarre, but LE is a big part of what motivates me to stick with it. I don't want my LE to progress, so in a way that thought is about as petrifying as when I was quaking in my boots thinking about my long surgery. Thank you, LE...but that's ALL I'm going to ever thank my LE for!
Pt, wherever you are in your fitness goals, reach for more!
Carol
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Thanks for the pep talk Carol. I was in great shape before my diagnosis and since I have gained about eight pounds and have swelling, a persistant seroma and various joint and muscle pains, no doubt a SE of the aromasin. I am determined to not let that get to me so although I am not an exercise fan I will do it just to maintain my flexability, muscle tone and hopefully lose alittle weight again.
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It is raining, raining, raining here in FL!! I did not leave the house all day and was very potato-y. I moved furniture earlier and was a ditz. I started picking up tables, focusing on what I was doing. Suddenly, I had this great thought, "Hey, I feel pretty strong, I just picked these right up without any difficulty or weird muscle movements in my chest." I was all pleased with myself when I realized I had not one garment on, not even my tank. I had done MLD in a.m, so maybe that's why no ill effect. Or at least yet. All this rain is slightly playing games with my LE, but I am just not letting it get to me. I am trying not to freak at every little bit of swelling because I know it's so typical when I am here. This is a different reaction for me, so I am kind of interested by it, observing physical sensations and my emotional/cognitive responses.
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Carol -ditto, good pep talk. I have a ton of exercise excuses in reserve. I think I need to focus more on reasons to exercise and leave some excuses behind. It helps me be accountable, people applaude the effort I do make, and I am encouraged to do more.
I have the best sisters who support me, but here I found people that understand LE and the 'gifts' that come with it - things I couldn't find in the many books I read.
Part of my goal is learning how to manage LE in all circumstances. Those are the unknowns for me so every time I succeed in a 'new' situation it gives me confidence that I do know what I'm doing here. I have all the tools I need, but this discussion helps me figure out when to use which tool.
Yesterday I made 4700 steps, morning yard work, MLD twice and lots of water. Managed to control the LE throughout the heat of the day (outside graduation party) so I'm calling it success.
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