Gym -- Week 7 Recap

Monday -- 8:00am appointment with Julie at the gym.  I didn't get much sleep last night, so I didn't think I would hold up well.  I feel great afterwards -- still tired, but great.  A few adjustments were made; we're always stepping up the game as my body can handle it.  What really impressed me and had my eyes watering today was the step ups.  Last time, I used a step (like they use in fitness classes) and the 15 pound bar was added across the back of my shoulders.  Today I did the same thing, but instead of that same step, I used a step that is 12" high, the equivalent (I think) of two standards steps on stairs.  (See the bottom left of the collage below.)  I'm told that this is the height everyone does these.  Wow.  To be able to do things like everybody else.  Amazing.  Especially since I haven't stepped up/down curbs or stairs without assistance in the past four years.



Tuesday -- Today was an all-day-at-the-hospital day for routine scans.  I did turn on my MapMyWalk app when I got to the hospital, paused it at every appointment, and turned it off as I was ready to leave the hospital.  I think there must be some spots inside the hospital where it didn't register, because no way was it only .15 miles ... and the start and end points should be closer together.  I'll try it again next time I'm there in three weeks.  Here's the screenshot from today:



Wednesday --  After yesterday, I was feeling slightly queasy this morning, and very tired.  I thought my planned workout would do the trick.  It did.  I think I would have felt worse had I not gone.  I got my usual workout in with Julie, which always is a good time, then 60 minutes on the bike (flat, no hill program) and 50 minutes on the treadmill (flat, no incline; also no interval; steady 2.2mph pace).


Thursday -- Dental appointment today.  I didn't want to be so tired in the afternoon that I couldn't make the drive, so I folded laundry today.


Friday -- Workout with Julie.  We chatted, and the time just flew!  It was over before I knew it!  I also did 30 minutes on the bike, with the hill program, and 30 minutes on the treadmill, at a steady pace.  I upped the pace to 2.3mph, but only lasted 10 minutes; I did the last 20 minutes at 2.2mph.


Saturday -- Today's energy was spend doing household chores.  Laundry has been folded and put away, the kitchen floor (even under the refrigerator) is clean.  Rests were taken frequently, but I got shit done!


Sunday --  Rest day.


Monday morning weigh-in [no weigh-in this week]

Non-scale victories
-- The leggings I wear to the gym were noticeably looser on Monday morning.
-- My belly doesn't stick out past my boobs anymore.
-- I'm not so tired on non-gym days.
-- Shirts are fitting slightly looser.


Read next:  Gym -- Week 8 Recap

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
I have not been keeping up with this blog lately because I have been super busy with school work (I'm in my last semester, due to graduate in December.  Woot woot!)  The following is a post I made on my personal Facebook page this evening.  I hope to start posting more here when my classes are finally done.   #𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 As Pinktober comes to a close this week, I hope that I have given you some more substantial awareness than the fact that breast cancer exists. It's not a pink frilly sorority; it's deadly. 1 out of 8 women will get breast cancer. Of those, 1 in 3 will become metastatic. 97%-99% of people (because men get breast cancer, too) whose cancer is metastatic will die from it. Where did I get my statistics? https://www.metavivor.org/.../metastatic-breast.../... . Remember -- Metastatic=StageIV=Terminal. As my last thought this October, I leave you with this:
Read more

"How Do You Do It?!"

Image
"I don't know how you do it". Well, my friends, I'll tell you how I do it. I do it because I have no choice. Driving to and from treatment is completely draining, but I have no one to drive me. Jimmy can't driving anymore due to Parkinson's. One of my sons' work schedule is heavy and erratic. My other son lives four hours away. After seven years, no one else offers anymore. There's this misconception about cancer treatment that it's chemo/surgery/radiation for a few weeks and then it's done. But, us Stage IV patients are patients for life. Medicines have improved and are giving us longer lives, which means longer treatment times. I have treatment every three weeks, CT scans and echocardiograms every three months, and full-body bone scans every six months. This is the so called "new normal" of a stage IV cancer patient. To be quite honest, I would feel bad if someone did offer to drive me. I feel as though I would be wasting their time
Read more

It's Time for the Pall of Death to Move to the Back of the Bus

Image
Background: I saw a therapist after my terminal diagnosis. One thing that she said stuck with me. She told me that I am a wife, a mother, a sister, an aunt, a lover of books, a knitter, a teacher. Picture those and the many other aspects of myself riding on my bus. Right now (at the time of diagnosis and chemo) the cancer was driving the bus. Eventually the cancer will move to the back of the bus. Keep cancer at the back of the bus. I have been trying to do that since. I just realized that I have been living the past six years awaiting imminent death. I've been living with this pall of death hanging over my head since I received my terminal diagnosis. It really helped, what my Interventional Radiologist told me before he did my lung biopsy when I was being diagnosed, that my stage 4 was grouped with stage 4s who had two weeks or so to live, and that there needs to be [more of a breakdown -- can't remember his exact words] within the stages, and that I had many, many y
Read more