Monday, July 15, 2013

Countdown has begun!

ONE MONTH FROM TODAY is my next appointment with my oncologist - well, one of them - and I should be cleared to be fit for a prosthesis!  One. More. Month!!!!

And with the prosthesis a whole new world opens up........  Thin straps!  Lacey!  Feminine!  Matching panties!  And PURPLE!!!!!!

What kind of prosthesis did you get - the adhesive one or the pocket one?  With a nipple or without?  Do you still wear the "first form" and when?

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Exercise: Trying something new

One of the leading recommendations for cancer prevention is thirty minutes of exercise daily.  Two weeks after my mastectomy when I was cleared for exercise, I developed a plan.  I was going to start exercising thirty minutes a day three days a week, of course blog all about the different types of exercises I was doing, and work up to exercising daily.  From the lack of blogging on this issue, you can already guess how this has turned out.

The first day I decided I was going to do calisthenics that focused on the lower body with names like "the big booty buster."  I was lunging and kicking and squatting and jumping (and gasping and sweating and grunting) for thirty minutes.

And then I was so sore I could barely walk for the next three days, thus ending my "new exercise regimen."

Two months later my dad was visiting and told me all about the 5k training program he and my stepmother are doing.  I have kind of tried to get into running before (if jogging once and feeling like I was dying after .2 miles counts) and just decided running wasn't for me.


But my dad said that most people can't just step outside their door and start running.  The 5k training program he is doing is similar to the Couch to 5k program.  I'll go into more detail below, but the bottom line is you do intervals of jogging and walking, starting off with short intervals jogging followed by several minutes of walking and building up to longer intervals of jogging than walking.  When we did the 5k, we could easily spot the runners who were doing set intervals of jogging and running.  They didn't look particularly peaked, and suddenly running didn't seem so impossible.

And there's always an app for that - my dad showed me a running app that tracks your distance, time, calories burned, average pace, and more.

The next weekend my husband and I started our own 5k training program.  We started out jogging for one minute, then walking for three minutes...and learned the hard way that you really should stretch and do a warm-up walk.  Two weeks later we started jogging for one minute, then walking for two minutes.  And two weeks later we are jogging for two minutes and walking for two minutes.

Look at us go!
Original source
And you know what?  It has been awesome!  Here's why I love running, or whatever it is we're doing:

  • it's something new to concentrate on, instead of cancer.
  • it's one-on-one time with my husband without any interruptions, except for those pesky jogging intervals.
  • it's something new for us to do together.
  • I feel in charge of my body again.
  • I have more self-confidence. 
  • I feel less anxious.  I didn't realize this until we went 11 days without training.
  • there's an instant reward of having run faster, or longer, or farther (just 1 of the 3 at this point)
  • being outside is just good for the soul.
Plus, a new study just came out proving why exercise prevents breast cancer.  When the study first came out two months ago, I thought it was about lowering the risk for estrogen-positive breast cancer, but now I can't find where I read that.  So, if you're Her2/neu positive like me (...yay...) then we're still protected!

I still have designs of exercising every day, and maybe one day I'll do 3 reps of 10 sets of "big booty busters" but for now:









5K for Ovarian Cancer Awareness

Two years ago, my mom was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, so last year I made a donation in her honor to the Bright Night 5K for Ovarian Cancer Awareness and volunteered for the event by passing out water to the participants.  This year, with the whole "thirty minutes of exercise daily" hanging over my head, I decided to participate.

Also, since ovarian and breast cancer are linked through the BRCA gene mutations, I was expecting to see lots of teal and pink and "I walk for me" "I walk for my sister" kinds of shirts.  I was so excited to finally find "my community" and not feel so alone in this post-cancer journey.  I even found a shirt I was planning on buying and wearing.  But alas, cancer is expensive and I didn't have the funds to buy it.

Cute, right?  You can get the ribbon on the left or the right side.
I found it here, but at the time of this post, the link isn't working.
The weekend of the Bright Nights 5k, my dad was visiting.  He and my stepmother regularly train for and participate in 5ks in a program similar to the Couch to 5k program.  I, on the other hand, do not, so "we" decided we would just walk the 5k.

As we pulled in the parking lot, the rain that had been off and on all day, was back on.  I lamented that I didn't have the "something missing" shirt so that "my community" could easily identify me as one of them and we could do the "what's up" head nod or whatever it is people in the cancer club do, but I did go without the "first form."  I eagerly looked around the crowd for the teal and pink...

...but I couldn't identify anyone as having had ovarian or breast or any other type of cancer.  Not to say they weren't there, but there wasn't anyone wearing a "I wear teal for me" shirt, etc.  Of course, neither was I.  And boy was I glad I wasn't wearing the "something missing" shirt because I would have stuck out like a sore thumb.  As more time passes, I will probably be okay with that.  But as of right now, I just don't want to be "that poor girl who had cancer."  I am guessing "my community" is out there, but stayed home because of the rain.

Anyways, the race was delayed due to thunder and lightening, and it rained the whole time.  The WHOLE time.  After mile 1 I seriously questioned my decision to do a 5k with no preparation.  After mile 2 I thought we were never going to see the finish line.  And after mile 3 I was hooked!

Me (doing the tall girl slouch & head tilt) and my dad.