Lets Post our Daily Exercise

Welcome, SDB!  And congrats on finishing rads - now you can start to put your life back together.  I gained 22 chemo pounds, so I hear you about post-dx weight and total lack of energy.  Ruth is right - try to do just one thing "exercisy" every day.  (Good word, Ruth, BTW.)  Think of it this way - you made time for rads every day - so why not take a few minutes of what was rads time and devote it to taking a walk or doing something exercise-y.  This is a great group - so glad you decided to join us!

My colonoscopy done - whew!  Ruth - thanks so much for the tip about transitioning to liquids the day before you start your all-liquid day. That really helped make the prep easier.  Things were OK, but he wants me back in a year as there were a couple of areas he wants to keep an eye on.  And here I was hoping for a 5 year date. 

Not a lot of exercise for me lately, unless you count running down the hall to the bathroom for the last two days.  Will be glad to get back on track. 

Lilac - you're absolutely right about not getting ahead of myself.  (Another good term "magnified future thinking.)  When I was first dx, someone told me:  "Don't go there until you get there."  I've since adopted that as my mantra for all things medical and otherwise.  I think doing that as best as I could absolutely saved my sanity, especially in those early days after dx.

Hi Everyone -

I haven't posted for weeks because it was getting old to give the same boring cardio updates.  However, now I am done chemo (YEAAAA!) and I need your help and advice. Prior to chemotherapy I ran at least five miles a day and often much more. A couple weeks into chemo and I was so sick that I decided to just make certain to do an hour of light cardio everyday. I finished chemo three weeks ago and decided this week to try running. Day #1 I ran for one minute and was wiped out. Day # 2 I managed 2 minutes. I've taken breaks from running before but I was always able to get right back to it. WTH! This is incredible. Can anyone give me advice on how to get back to running and an estimate of how long it normally takes?

The good news is that I am back to lifting weights and that feels great.  I'm not as strong as I was but at least I can do it.  I also started a yoga class for cancer survivors and I love it.  

Weird things have happened with my weight.  I've clearly gained weight during chemo but I look the same and my clothes still fit the same.  It's very odd.  I should be up a size or two.  Oh well.  Not complaining.  Surgery in two weeks and then good old tamoxifen.  

Thanks in advance. 

Welcome Newbies!!!

This is the place to be! You can start out sitting on the couch and "suddenly," a year later, you'll be saying things like:

"Just finished 5k training day 8! It's getting easier."

It's The Voices!!! They make you want to type

I also hooped a bit with a cheap but sparkly hula hoop I found in town today. Odd...but it's a bit smaller than my others and I have to move slower to keep it up. What's up with that?

Ruth - I like your DH's idea of colonoscopy prep! 

Warrior - I didn't start running till a few years after chemo, so I can't tell you about running after chemo.  But I was doing the elliptical so that's aerobic and is probably similar.  Before dx I could do an solid hour on an elliptical at a pretty high setting.  Chemo hit me hard, and I had to pretty much give up any kind of exercise except some walking by the end.  But two weeks after my last chemo I hopped on an elliptical for the first time.  I managed exactly 5 minutes before having to stop, and the machine kept blipping off because I was going so slowly.  Wow, was that discouraging.  But I kept at it, and eventually could do 5 minutes more, then 5 minutes more.  I won't kid you - it was a more than a few months before I could even manage a good half hour, and that was still at a lower setting than I used to do.  Like Ruth and Bounce said, it will take a lot longer to get back to exercise after chemo than it would after a normal break.  As an onc once said, the point of chemo is to poison you as much as they can, just short of killing you.  That's what you're recovering from.  Chemo has an impact on every cell of your body, so be kind to yourself and give your body a chance to heal itself.  Start slowly, do what you can, and do not get frustrated if it doesn't come back quickly.  It will come in time, but you may have to be more patient than you want to be. 

You know, I didn't have chemo or radiation so I cannot even try to address perspective on those, but I've learned to look at the BMX surgery, exchange surgery and now my upcoming revision surgery partially as a way for God to knock me upside the head and slow me down for a while so I have a much more conscious appreciation for what I can do (or get back to doing) physically.  Prior to this journey I took my physical abilities and ease of mobility and general good health waaayyyyy too much for granted.  Now when I walk or run or do crab crawls or triceps dips or any of the other wild and crazy things my group instructor comes up with I am much more thankful for the ability and strength He has given back to me.

Wow, I damn near started crying just now ......

Got .5 mile in, plus some fresh air today!

Welcome SDB and hello everyone else.

30 mins treadmill and 20 mins stat bike.  Just could not get that remaining 10 mins!

natsfan, I had colonoscopy 3 years ago, then December 2013 and because of a flat polyp the gastro doc was afraid to touch having another one Monday by a colon surgeon.

ruthbru, I like your DH's take on the prep.  I have my prep Sunday so will take your advice and 'try' to do only liquids Saturday, or mostly liquids.  Yeah, I have a lovely weekend to look forward to.

I walked 50minutes today. It's so much easier to exercise and want to do it in warm weather. 

Welcome to sdb. Come join us! 

Warrior I was shocked at my lack of ability after chemo. I started with walking and couldn't do 10 minutes. I couldn't walk one flight of stairs without stopping. So I recommend you walk a little and do your minute of running and maybe next week you'll do two. But yes it was scary frightening that I may never be normal again. And it seemed to take longer than I expected to improve.

Sweet glad your foot is feeling better.  My yoga teacher said hold those stretches for 30  seconds as that's how long it takes the muscle memory.  I don't know if that's true but it seemed to fix my feet. 

twohobbies - yup, doc recommended 4 reps of 30-seconds 4x a day.  It's already getting much better - enough that I forgot to even do the stretches today!  I barely noticed any pain in my right foot and left was painful enough a couple of times to cause a slight limp for 10-20 steps but not painful enough to force me to remember to do the stretching.  I'm very pleased with the progress because I was really afraid I was gonna be crippled up all summer. 

I did Zumba & stayed for yoga......ommmmm.......

Sweet, now I am very appreciative of the miracle of an ordinary day, with ordinary problems and joys. It sure does put things in perspective.....most things that people get all bent out of shape about really do not matter at all!

It took me about two YEARS to feel just about 'normal'; but now, because I have really worked on it, I feel better than I even did going in (and I felt good then). So we have to just start where we find ourselves and move forward from there, accepting that it's going to be a journey. Gee, maybe yoga is rubbing off on me.

hbcheryl - I had some Tamoxifen cog fog going on - checked back and it was StillrunningNLM who did all that running.

What you said was very interesting and encouranging to me.  Yes - even as a child  I could not run!  Whichever team I was assigned to for the relay race on Sports Day knew they would lose the race - no matter how much of a lead they had - when I started to run - it was like slow motion happening.

No-one wanted me on their sports team - and I can't blame them.  Silly teachers should have just let me sit on the side and not make me spoil everyone's fun.

But since starting to exercise (either walking or exercise-bike) I fantasize about running.  I don't mean jogging (not to belittle jogging) - but I want to run like the wind!

Maybe I'll just build up more stamina and give jogging a few meters at a time a chance.

Didn't get a walk at lunch yesterday - they had delivered one of the new modular office trailers, so we frittered away our lunchtime exploring it.  And then went out with hubby to the movies - saw Grand Budapest Hotel - quirky yet charming movie, it was fun.  Sort of in the vein of Lemony Snickets.  And lots of star cameos.

Hoping for a walk at lunch today, and hope to get to the gym after lunch.

Right on (((HeidiHill)))! Warrior Women good that you got your answers and good for you S&S on progress. Go for it Bounce!

Body balance and pink pilates this morning, just got in from a 5.37k  run did it in 35:30 and coming down time wise.  Now heading out to 4pm yoga class.

Hi everyone......  Sorry I have been MIA.  I was beyond buried with work, working something like 3 weeks in a row.  I can say that I heard The Voices last night though.  I had forgotten to do my weights, and got out of bed to do my routine!  Not that I was unexercised, as had done a 5k run earlier in the day.

Yesterday, was a downtime day, as had fried my brain with all the work, and was tired and grumpy.  Back to things today as my list is growing, not getting smaller.  Still have taxes to get together, so I can file for an extension and finish later.  I could tell that my life is on the dull side, as excited about my new Swiffer mop!  I never had room for a mop in my old place, but here I have more floor space, so no longer willing to scrub kitchen and bathroom floors on my hands and knees.

Warrior....I managed during and after chemo using a lot of things like GU gel to get me revved.  They worked!  I could not have done the Seattle-to-Portland 6 weeks post radiation without all these energy potions.  I also highly recommend chocolate-lavender macaroons!  They turned out to be the magic bullet post radiation.  I ate them, and suddenly my energy started to rise.

Seriously, about six weeks after my last chemo, I noticed a major increase in energy.  Then it tanked during the final two weeks of radiation, but not to the point that I couldn't finish two 45 mile cycling events immediately post radiation.  My energy started to climb again at the 3.5 week point following radiation, and I was able to complete all the summer cycling events, even though I had to walk more hills than normal.

About six months following radiation, I noticed that I was suddenly a lot faster.  I am still getting stronger, and now stronger than ever cycling.  I can't say when the magic recovery thing happened post radiation, as took out my ankle cycling which took my mind off any recovery issues due to chemo.  About a year ago, I started running for the first time in my life, and that greatly increased my overall fitness.  I can say that I am still recovering, but now in slow increments.  I don't notice this so much in my ability to exercise as in the fact that my hair is thicker.

So hang in there.  I did not gain weight with chemo....in fact, lost the amount I needed to lose.  The loss of cardio function is real, and I tested that one as wanted to find out.  But you do get it back, and I believe that exercise gets you there faster.  My 2 cents. - Claire