Stage IV MBC Fitness
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Sounds like you are doing all you can. I'm sure the rewards will come. It was a year or so before the quadriceps on my surgical side felt normal. Once I was past the initial pain, I requested a muscle relaxer and found that very helpful for the quads. Is it your insurer who decides if you get out-patient PT? Have you let them know that you live alone and the PT is a critical part of you remaining independent? It must be cheaper for them to pay for that than for a rehab facility.
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Glad you had a great trip. Always appreciate the wisdom in your comments.
I'm not walking anywhere or riding the stationary bike, as I'm dealing with a bad bout of diverticulitis. Fed up with my current G.I. docter. Seeing a new one on Tuesday. I need this resolved!
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Took a 20 minute walk in the park down my block. Pain is much less than before the hip replacement surgery. Only down note is that near the end of my walk someone was letting their dog run free. I said-you know your dog is supposed to be on a leash, don't you? The woman went off on me and we had words. It's been an ongoing issue. This park has nature areas, a playground and is encompasses 2 schools. The community voted to require dogs to be on leashes for everyone's safety but the dog owners/"pet parents" like to disregard this. Certainly got my blood flowing!
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we have the same problem in our area. I once grabbed a plastic bag, picked up the poop, followed the woman home and placed it on her porch.
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@eleanora I am so sorry to hear about your diverticulitis issues. I had a perforation with my first bout 2 years ago (prior to my de novo MBC diagnosis) and then had a bad flare up this past spring. I hate how it comes up out of nowhere and the diet restrictions (I love my food 😋😋). Plus, during the flare up, I had to stop Kisqali for 2 weeks which is not good. I hope you find a GI you like and get it under control fast. Sending healthy vibes your way! juliana
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@chicagoan - So very glad to hear about your hip improvement and a nice walk in the park. Progress, progress, progress! Also, I am totally with you re the dogs and the need for them to be on leashes. I am so tired of people telling me what a "sweetheart" their dog is and how it won't hurt me, etc. Well, their dogs are sweethearts to them and may well be to friends and others who know them, but a given dog and myself don't know each other. Sometimes when people tell me that I tell them right back, "That's what the people who's dog bit me said!" (I have been bitten.) I live in an apartment complex and not only is that problem out in the neighborhood, but it's also here in my apartment place. As soon as people get outside they let the dogs of leash and some will lung and charge, etc., as dogs do. The management here is really good about demanding on leash behavior though, and that's good. The other thing people do is let their dogs off leash when they enter a stairwell. Then the dog goes 1-2 flights ahead of the owner running free, and if you run into that dog, it might not be a good situation. I have to avoid the stairwells and just take the elevator because of that. When I say things to people they don't like it, think I'm a "meanie", don't like dogs, etc., when nothing could be further from the truth. I had dogs for years and years and would love to have one again, but am too afraid I'll die on it. I always kept my dogs "contained" and when people would ask me if they would bite, I would tell them that I hadn't known them to, but that they were dogs and dogs do what dogs do, and there was no guarantee that they wouldn't do something like that, even out of the blue. People thought it was odd that I wouldn't just say yes or no about whether my dog might bite. (Wow I sure had a rant pent up somewhere that I didn't know about - sorry if it was too much for anyone.) I just agree with you and @eleanora about the dog issues. Love Eleanora's response to the careless person and the poop.
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Thanks for sharing your experience with diverticulitis. I don't know anyone else who's had it. Did you need surgery for the perforation? You must have been in terrible pain. 4 months of oral augmentin didn't fix mine, just kept it to a low roar. I was referred to an infectious disease doctor who prescribed 14 days of antibiotic infusion. Went this morning and had a mid-line inserted so they don't have to stick my poor veins every day. I just had the second day of infusion and I think I feel a reduction in pain. I contacted palliative care and they were wonderful. They prescribed morphine pills for the really bad episodes.
I don't want to scare anyone, but I never had any GI issues before Kisqali and have had issues every month since I started it. I'm beginning to believe it's the source of my diverticulitis. Don't think I'll be dealing with it any longer anyway, as my bone scan from yesterday showed 2 areas of increased uptake - 1 in a rib and 1 in the parietal skull bone, Everything else was stable or decreased. I see my MO next Thursday and assume there will be a treatment change.
Please rant away. That's what we're here for. I love dogs as well and grew up having them but their owners seem to think they have no responsibility.
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Today I decided to walk to the grocery store just for a few items-I'm too nervous to go back to our beautiful park and have more encounters with unleashed dogs. I walked 2.2 miles-it was tough for me, took some breaks on benches but I did it! Also was pleased to get a prescription for outpatient physical therapy which will start in a few weeks. Normally my surgeon does not give those but I guess my hip was stiff enough that they thought I would benefit. It felt good to push myself and hopefully rebuild my strength and stamina.
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@eleanora Hi! You are right it was painful but I was living with the bad cramps just figuring I had a stomach virus and it would resolve itself. If wasn’t till I had a pain one morning that actually made me cry out that I made a GI appt. The NP at my GI’s office told me to stop tolerating pain - she said women do that all the time and make things worse by ignoring the signs of a bad medical event. In any case, I was very lucky - I was hospitalized for 8 days and was getting antibiotics intravenously. They worked so I didn’t need surgery. Once I learned how close I was too that, I made a pact to be less hardy 😂. At least I thought I did - till the next year where I tolerated a ‘bad cough’ for almost 2 months bc I ‘always’ coughed. Finally decided to look into it and learned about my MBC.
Now I wonder with every little cough, ache and pain whether I should be concerned or not. I’m using the good scans as my guide unless something is really bad - just hope I don’t screw myself up again.I am diligent with keeping hydrated, probiotics and eating enough fiber to try my best to prevent any flare ups - so far so good. I hated the limited diets and weeks of low fiber and strong antibiotics (they really are difficult to deal with!). Once you are in better GI shape, I highly recommend keeping on top of this stuff too. I hope you feel real better soon!
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Well, I haven't been walking quite as much. My feet got real sore and I'm not sure if the walking played a role. I also have an issue with my feet not being quite long enough to hit the floor when I sit at the computer, so I was using a box as a footrest. Well after doing that day in and day out, my ankles and feet got extremely sore. Then the storm we just had started coming in and I think the barometric pressure changes, etc. added to it all, and I was just too sore to walk. Well, I broke down and ordered a "real" footstool from Amazon and got almost immediate relief when I started using it. It puts your feet in a whole different position than a cardboard box does. After using it for a couple of days I felt like I could try walking again, so went over the last two days on smaller, "easier" walks, and will go out again for awhile this afternoon. The weather has improved also. I really want to get back to my more extensive and "challenging" walk, where I go up some inclines and manage some different terrains; not just flat. I want a get back to going a bit farther too. All in all, things are better and looking like they will continue to improve, so I'm feeling good about it all right now.
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@threetree When you have time could you please post a picture of your footstool? I have very short legs and could use better support when I'm at the computer. Glad that your feet feel better.
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I’m glad we’re all trying to keep up with the exercise. I’m still hitting the exercise classes.
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Thanks so much for sharing your experience. I do exactly the same thing and try to shrug off pain and symptoms.
This episode began in June and the first GI doc just kept re-ordering augmentin. After 4 weekend trips to the emergency room I went to a new GI who referred me to an infectious disease specialist. I now have a midline port in my arm and am halfway through 14 infusions of a very powerful antibiotic. Only side effect is fatigue, so I'm napping a lot. If this doesn't work I will probably need surgery.
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10-28-2025
As a dog owner who walks their dog regularly when I can, (daughter lives nextdoor to me and shares in this) we always have Crumbles on leash; so that kind of stuff annoys us. And if he's needing to burn off energy, we take him 10 miles away to the next big town, to the dog run. Or else let him run in a defunct tennis court. If that area is that big, @chicagoan surely the dog owners could organize to enclose a dog run , or dog park. Anyhow, I know your concern. I'm old now, :-)) and my condition is needing building back up, if it's in God's Will, (I have pleural effusion) so I really want to start walking a whole lot more, and sure hope to not have a problem of trying to take a simple walk. Take care!
Nice to meet you all.
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@chicagoan - I'm posting a photo and link to the Amazon listing for the footrest I got. I tried taking a picture of the one here at home, but it just looks like a big black lump. I think the photo and description from Amazon is much better at depicting the look, all the features, etc.
( Edited: The link above is not from Amazon now, but from the manufacturer. The link I originally posted from Amazon seems to give a link to my order which then includes the last 4 of my card number (!!??). I could not seem to get a "clean" link to the Amazon posting to place here. If you look this same product up on Amazon you will find it, along with all sorts of other foot rests. There is much more detail about it on Amazon, and it also costs less there.)
Looks like I can only post the link. This site won't seem to let me post a copy and pasted photo in addition.
Amazon has all sorts of foot rests and to be honest none of them really appealed to me in a big way. I was looking for one that seemed to be a "stand out favorite" of people who've ordered them, but there is no such one. It seems to be a real individual thing. This one however, did seem to have the biggest following and overall better reviews. It also showed up as a top choice in google search I did for something like "top rated foot rests", so there's that too. As before, it also did give me instant improvement when I first started using it.
All that said, now that I've been using it for hours a day and for about 3 days in a row, I am really sore and achy all over. I don't think it is the foot rest per se, but using it has really shifted my overall posture and I'm having to completely re-adjust my whole body. I think I did too much too soon, so I actually have put my carboard box back at least for a little while this morning while I have my coffee and do my usual morning computer stuff. It actually doesn't feel too bad. I would recommend that if you get any sort of footrest, get used to it and adapt gradually. I'm finding that sudden and pronged use is causing it's own problems. I have osteoarthritis everywhere and it is greatly aggravated by the fulvestrant/low estrogen situation, and possibly the weather changes. I'm actually going to switch around a bit now between the box and this new footrest until I acclimate, and I'm also going to dramatically cut my time sitting at the computer for awhile, until all this new muscle and joint stuff settles out. I really did not expect this. It's not sharp bone on bone sort of joint pain, but it feels like all of the muscles surrounding my joints (ankles, knees and hips especially, and then on up to my shoulders and back) are swollen and worn out or something. Again, I think I've just overdone and rushed an otherwise good thing. My joint and muscle aches are such that if I do 5 repetitions of a PT exercise I can wind up feeling like anyone else would if they'd done 50 repetitions and I think something similar is going on here. All of this shift in total body position and posture, due to the foot rest, is hitting my body extra hard, instead of subtlety and slowly, like it should or might for a "normal" person. You might want to be careful with your new hip, if you do anything like this. Just go very, very slowly and gradually. Sorry this was so long, but hope it helps in some way.
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@threetree Thanks for posting the picture of the footstool. Very helpful! I will be careful based on what you have told me. The last thing I need is more aches and pains.
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I took a hand strength test at the gym today. My scores were 55 and 53. Interestingly that is the average for a 40 to 50 year old. I am 73. To bad they don't have scores for the rest of the body. The weight is can press has decreased since restarting cancer drugs but I keep pushing. Dexa scans puts my bone density as the average 40 year old. I guess it does pay off.
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Good for you brutersmom! I finally made it back to the gym today. I can only do upper body until 3 months after the surgery but it felt great. I did lose some strength in the month I've been away but it felt good to start back up again.
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