Getting Fit

JanJan63

Thanks!

Thanks you guys! Sorry for not responding sooner. I've been pretty down for a few days, since my most recent chemo. I think when I went to see my onc the day before and she had another doctor there and he seemed so sad for me that it really put me off. It might be his usual demeanor, I don't know, but it made me feel hopeless again. I'm trying to get past that feeling right now. When I feel crappy it's harder and I've had pretty bad fatigue since the chemo on Friday. I need to push myself to do anything right now and I have some really dark thoughts about death and dying. I hate it when I'm scared like this.

Jan

plsletitrain

JanJan63 said:

Thanks!

Thanks you guys! Sorry for not responding sooner. I've been pretty down for a few days, since my most recent chemo. I think when I went to see my onc the day before and she had another doctor there and he seemed so sad for me that it really put me off. It might be his usual demeanor, I don't know, but it made me feel hopeless again. I'm trying to get past that feeling right now. When I feel crappy it's harder and I've had pretty bad fatigue since the chemo on Friday. I need to push myself to do anything right now and I have some really dark thoughts about death and dying. I hate it when I'm scared like this.

Jan

I hope you'll feel better soon

Jan, I'm so sad to read about this latest post of yours that I decided to go out from hibernation and just reply to this post because I think you're one of the sweetest persons on here.  I was like that the previous week (when I learned about the lung mass) and its harder to tell yourself to be positive when you're dealing with the chemo side effects at the same time (especially nausea). Please stay strong, I know its easy to say. I was like that last week (the thought of having a lung mass and having no money to go further with chemo).  Now I'm dealing things on my own (I'll just finish this last 3 chemo sessions and I'm off to alternative medicine--so I won't be posting much anymore but I'll continue to lurk for information I may gather).  Please continue to research for possible trials, whether related to science or any alternative therapy.  I understand the feeling of hopelessness and it just takes a toll on my physical activities so I've decided I'll try to heal myself with whatever means I can, diet plus some alternative medicine and trying not to stress myself out, like indulging myself in watching comedy shows and movies.   I hope my plan of action will work for me and will hopefully continue to shrink the lung mass. Now I feel somehow better.  I'll pray for you and take care.  Please don't give in to hopelessness.  As long as we're alive, there's hope.  I've heard of so many stories where people were told they were dying and has still continued to live till today.

JanJan63

plsletitrain said:

I hope you'll feel better soon

Jan, I'm so sad to read about this latest post of yours that I decided to go out from hibernation and just reply to this post because I think you're one of the sweetest persons on here.  I was like that the previous week (when I learned about the lung mass) and its harder to tell yourself to be positive when you're dealing with the chemo side effects at the same time (especially nausea). Please stay strong, I know its easy to say. I was like that last week (the thought of having a lung mass and having no money to go further with chemo).  Now I'm dealing things on my own (I'll just finish this last 3 chemo sessions and I'm off to alternative medicine--so I won't be posting much anymore but I'll continue to lurk for information I may gather).  Please continue to research for possible trials, whether related to science or any alternative therapy.  I understand the feeling of hopelessness and it just takes a toll on my physical activities so I've decided I'll try to heal myself with whatever means I can, diet plus some alternative medicine and trying not to stress myself out, like indulging myself in watching comedy shows and movies.   I hope my plan of action will work for me and will hopefully continue to shrink the lung mass. Now I feel somehow better.  I'll pray for you and take care.  Please don't give in to hopelessness.  As long as we're alive, there's hope.  I've heard of so many stories where people were told they were dying and has still continued to live till today.

Thank you

Thank you so much, your support means so much. You know exactly how I'm feeling and that's so helpful. I try to be positive always and don't ever want someone to not be around me because I'm all down about the cancer but it's been really hard for days now. I had another dream last week where an angel told me I was going to be okay but I think it's just me in my head trying to soothe myself. I avoid talking about the future because I don't know if there is one or how long it will last. I hate that I'm so tired these days that I'm pretty useless. It's summer and I'm hardly outside because the heat drains me even more and the sun is intolerable for more than a few minutes. Yesterday we had a hummingbird and I missed it because I was inside. I haven't seen one in twenty years Exactly twenty years because it was one of the last things my mom and I experienced before she went in the hospital to die from cancer and it's kind of like my symbol for her. She'll be gone twenty years next month.

I am just sick and heartbroken to think that you have to make the choice about treatment because you don;t have anymore coverage. I assume you live in the states. That's horrible. And the situation is getting worse, I cannot imagine it. I am so upset for you. At least I don;t have that worry. I live in Canada. We might be a bit behind as far as treatments go because we take longer to approve them but at least treatment is never in doubt. I am so sorry you're dealing with that, that's so upsetting. I have no words. I'm so sorry.

I will continue to pray for you and everyone on here and everyone with cancer. There has got to be some progression in treatments soon, it's been a while.

Hugs,

Jan 

NHMike

Failed miserably at 10,000 steps per day this week

I did well for two days. And then constipation clobbered me and it took two days to recover. Then the burning stuff happened and it took me a few days to adjust. And I got a lot busier at work on Wednesday. So yesterday I agreed to hit tennis balls. I lasted for about 25 minutes before I felt that I couldn't continue and stopped. I got invited be some guys on the next court to play on Sundays for the next three weeks and I just told them that I couldn't play for more than 30 minutes at a time (I didn't say why). They said that would be okay but I declined as I often don't know how I'll feel day by day or even hour by hour.

I just did five minutes of stretching and I was surprised at how tight I was as I haven't done any major stretching since the previous week. It was basically a tough week which really cramped my workout desires. I decided not to run because I was afraid of friction issues with the burning. As a runner, I'm well acquainted with friction issues but I have clothes that prevent that. I have tried Glide in the past as well as Vaseline and those work but I hate using consumables when the problem can be solved with clothes. I've had bloody nipples too - basically solved with synthetic shirts as opposed to cotton shirts.

So it's tough trying to workout. And do all of the other stuff. And deal with the changes in our bodies. All I can do is my best and that's not much right now.

But it feels so good when I workout, most of the time.

 

 

beaumontdave

NHMike said:

Failed miserably at 10,000 steps per day this week

I did well for two days. And then constipation clobbered me and it took two days to recover. Then the burning stuff happened and it took me a few days to adjust. And I got a lot busier at work on Wednesday. So yesterday I agreed to hit tennis balls. I lasted for about 25 minutes before I felt that I couldn't continue and stopped. I got invited be some guys on the next court to play on Sundays for the next three weeks and I just told them that I couldn't play for more than 30 minutes at a time (I didn't say why). They said that would be okay but I declined as I often don't know how I'll feel day by day or even hour by hour.

I just did five minutes of stretching and I was surprised at how tight I was as I haven't done any major stretching since the previous week. It was basically a tough week which really cramped my workout desires. I decided not to run because I was afraid of friction issues with the burning. As a runner, I'm well acquainted with friction issues but I have clothes that prevent that. I have tried Glide in the past as well as Vaseline and those work but I hate using consumables when the problem can be solved with clothes. I've had bloody nipples too - basically solved with synthetic shirts as opposed to cotton shirts.

So it's tough trying to workout. And do all of the other stuff. And deal with the changes in our bodies. All I can do is my best and that's not much right now.

But it feels so good when I workout, most of the time.

 

 

10,000 steps a day would

10,000 steps a day would hobble me something awful. I'm sure I get there a few days a week, but the less I take the better I feel the next day. I have bad feet, a form of muscular dystrophy called CMT, so my goals are different. The eliptical helps a lot with getting cardio, but I just rediscovered how much of a workout I can get sitting on my patio with a beer in my hand. Remember the Charles Atlas ads in comic books and the like? Well his workouts were based on isometrics, flexing against things that don't move or against opposing muscle groups. I've done this type of workout several times now and it's amazing how much burn I get without having to stand on sore feet. It wont improve my athleticism, but it burns calories and creates muscle growth and tone, , while I'm still relaxing, mostly. It probably looks strange, while I'm doing it, but clenching various muscle groups a couple hundred times, leaves me as sore as lifting weights, so I'm going to do this and the eliptical regularly for a while and see how it goes. Try not to get too down about goals, NHMike, the line between pushing and punishing gets a bit blurry when you're going through all this cancer crap. I remember days where the desire to acomplish things merely doubled my funk when I couldn't do that. Who needs to double down on a rough day and/or a bad mood?.....................................................Dave

NHMike

beaumontdave said:

10,000 steps a day would

10,000 steps a day would hobble me something awful. I'm sure I get there a few days a week, but the less I take the better I feel the next day. I have bad feet, a form of muscular dystrophy called CMT, so my goals are different. The eliptical helps a lot with getting cardio, but I just rediscovered how much of a workout I can get sitting on my patio with a beer in my hand. Remember the Charles Atlas ads in comic books and the like? Well his workouts were based on isometrics, flexing against things that don't move or against opposing muscle groups. I've done this type of workout several times now and it's amazing how much burn I get without having to stand on sore feet. It wont improve my athleticism, but it burns calories and creates muscle growth and tone, , while I'm still relaxing, mostly. It probably looks strange, while I'm doing it, but clenching various muscle groups a couple hundred times, leaves me as sore as lifting weights, so I'm going to do this and the eliptical regularly for a while and see how it goes. Try not to get too down about goals, NHMike, the line between pushing and punishing gets a bit blurry when you're going through all this cancer crap. I remember days where the desire to acomplish things merely doubled my funk when I couldn't do that. Who needs to double down on a rough day and/or a bad mood?.....................................................Dave

I used to do isometric

I used to do isometric exercises when I was a lot younger but found a lot of others to do as I got older. I like to set goals and then work to keep them and there's a realization that you can't always do what you set out to do when kids and life comes along and cancer is certainly one of those huge things where I have to lower expectations. I have several chores to do today: laundry, vacuuming, taking out the trash and trying to fix a door and those items may provide a decent workout. I still want to do something in terms of working out, every day. I used to use the elliptical and/or rowing machine when I had knee injuries from running and adapting to injuries is one of those things you get used to if you workout regularly.

 

NHMike

NHMike said:

I used to do isometric

I used to do isometric exercises when I was a lot younger but found a lot of others to do as I got older. I like to set goals and then work to keep them and there's a realization that you can't always do what you set out to do when kids and life comes along and cancer is certainly one of those huge things where I have to lower expectations. I have several chores to do today: laundry, vacuuming, taking out the trash and trying to fix a door and those items may provide a decent workout. I still want to do something in terms of working out, every day. I used to use the elliptical and/or rowing machine when I had knee injuries from running and adapting to injuries is one of those things you get used to if you workout regularly.

 

I got 11K steps in today.

I got 11K steps in today. Average of 6K steps per day this past week. I can do a lot on weekends because no chemo/radiation. I hope that this week is better.

Annabelle41415

NHMike said:

I got 11K steps in today.

I got 11K steps in today. Average of 6K steps per day this past week. I can do a lot on weekends because no chemo/radiation. I hope that this week is better.

Wonderful

That is an exceptional goal step for someone on chemo/rad.  Didn't have my Fitbit back then, but it does make you realize you should get up a little more but when you feel like absolute crap walking is the last thing you want to do.  Proud of you Mike, you seem to making strides even going through all this treatment.

Kim

NHMike

Got into the office early

Got into the office early today (5:15 AM) and did some stuff and went to the gym and ran a mile on the treadmill. I didn't sleep well last night (GI pressure). The run felt great. I was quite sweaty afterwards, and let's say that my GI system felt a lot better afterwards (the run loosened things up a lot). No aches or pains and I could have gone a lot longer had I the time. I had to grab a quick shower, drink 24 ounces of water and then I have to go to the radiology place. I'd like to run some more but it's hot and humid today. I might go to the YMCA at lunchtime for another mile or two and some time on the machines. Haven't done the machines in probably two months.

NHMike

I was trimming a toenail and

I was trimming a toenail and either accidentily sliced through a blister or popped it. Clear liquid came out with a little blood. I have four toes with blisters where the blister looks black - it's part of running and/or walking a lot. So I used a few alcohol towelettes to clean it off, applied antibiotic ointment and put on a couple of bandaids and then put silicone toe sleeves on five other toes that have similar problems. I think that I'm going to have to size up a half on running shoes.

I was out for my afternoon walk and felt pain on my left hip. I took a peek and saw a long piece of skin that had been scraped off. There was a little blister and just touching the area was painful. So I finished my walk, got out a bottle of alcohol, swabbed it down (it stung quite a bit) and put on a bandaid. I will check on it later to make sure that it doesn't become a bigger problem. I'm a bit concerned that it gets infected. I suspect that one of the radiology techs caused it when pulling down my shorts on the table. They generally do this as it would be awkward but it may be safer if I do it myself in the future.

Life is hazardous.

NHMike

8K steps per day the previous

8K steps per day the previous week so things are looking up right now. I'm not getting enough stuff with workouts but at least a little something (besides walking) every day.

NHMike

9K steps per day for this

9K steps per day for this past week. I walked a mile in the waiting room of the Radiology Center for several days. Of course that meant that I couldn't do my floor stuff but it's good to get in the steps. I also ran 1.3 miles this morning. It felt quite good but I was pressed for time. I wanted to do weights in the gym but will have to settle for floor work at home. I tested out Depends Shields for the workout and they are decent though I don't think that I need them for really short workouts unless my GI system is really churning. Depends Shields are minimal protection pads for incontience. I turn them backwards and use them for leakage issues on the other side.

NHMike

I had a lot of work to do

I had a lot of work to do yesterday along with several errands so only got about 5,500 steps in but I got in a stretching workout and deadlifts, military press and squats on the barbell and it felt very good. It would feel great to do a full weights workout as that's High-Intensity Interval Training but I didn't have time for that (got in some early morning work). I'm going to go into the office if anyone wants to chat (my group knows about it) and I'm going to do a short presentation to another group on my situation that I work closely with as some have been asking about me not being in the office. I will try to get in more weight stuff at the office as they're much better equipped than my home gym. I have a tennis date tomorrow and I'll try to video it to show what tennis can look like on chemo and radiation.

bobby66

Do you guys work out also

Do you guys work out also while having the Chemo? I feel so tired that  I dont even try. I have my cocktail put on wednesday and take it off on Friday. Wednesday till Sunday I don't have much energy. I was just wondering if any of you work out during treatment.

NHMike

I was hitting tennis balls

I was hitting tennis balls for half-an-hour once a week, doing some running, lifting and stretching during the week. Much less than usual though. What made it a lot harder was the radiation as stuff down there didn't take kindly to a lot of friction. I do sometimes get very tired though and sometimes have to take naps or get more sleep.

SandiaBuddy

bobby66 said:

Do you guys work out also

Do you guys work out also while having the Chemo? I feel so tired that  I dont even try. I have my cocktail put on wednesday and take it off on Friday. Wednesday till Sunday I don't have much energy. I was just wondering if any of you work out during treatment.

Exercise

For some of us, exercise seems to be a bit of a miracle drug.  When I felt my worse, I would go for a walk and often feel better.  After recovering from surgery, I did my usual routine, walking, biking, weight lifting and swimming, but geared down a bit.  There were certain lifts (squats, for example, and sit-ups) I could not do because of joint soreness.  I also cut my swimming down by 50%.  I am two weeks off chemo now and starting to regain a bit of my old stregnth.  Hopefully I will get back to where I once was.

NHMike

NHMike said:

I was hitting tennis balls

I was hitting tennis balls for half-an-hour once a week, doing some running, lifting and stretching during the week. Much less than usual though. What made it a lot harder was the radiation as stuff down there didn't take kindly to a lot of friction. I do sometimes get very tired though and sometimes have to take naps or get more sleep.

35 Minute Hitting session:

35 Minute Hitting session: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_ipaq4HTk0&feature=youtu.be

 

NHMike

Very strange the past two

Very strange the past two days. I worked out for ten minutes yesterday and felt exhausted from afternoon to evening. This morning I woke up at 4:30 AM and got into the office early and did 15 minutes of stretching and abs and then went down to the gym to workout for an hour (1 mile run, dumbbells, barbells, bodyweight) and felt great. I thought that I could go for another 30 minutes if I didn't have work to do. I did a test to see if I could get my heartrate up and I did get it up to 172 for a short period of time (I usually try to keep it below 160) - no chest pains at that level. I have been keeping it capped at 130 through the chemo and radiation.

I suspect that I had too much that wasn't BRAT yesterday, particularly nuts, that cause all kinds of GI problems. Last night I had a bunch of relatively simple carbs and those things are really good for aerobic work the next morning. I suspect that the next week will be up and down like this. Best case is that I get back to 50% of my old self in a few days.

NHMike

I ran four miles and did

I ran four miles and did strength-training for two hours at the gym yesterday. The feeling was absolutely incredible. I imagine that it's a little as to what people on drugs feel like. I had a lot to eat and slept for a while during the day and I expect some soreness today. I also found 10% to 30% decreases in strength in various areas. I think that's normal for not having done regular strength-training for a few months. Unfortunately I'm really busy for a while with work and family stuff so I won't have a lot of days like yesterday but it's something that I look forward to sometime in the future. After surgery, recovery, chemo round 2.

 

NHMike

Played a full hour of tennis

Played a full hour of tennis this evening including a set and won 6-0 (I have to be moving and playing well for this to happen). I was a bit tired and really sweaty as it seems to be pretty humid here this evening. It certainly felt good. I have been focusing on stretching and strength work this week and am seeing some improvements there. I've read that the radiation can make the connective tissue tight in the pelvic region and stretching helps to fight that. And I'd do the stretching, radiation or no as you lose some flexibility every week unless you actively fight it.