Gym -- Day 1

I joined a gym today.  I've been wanting to for awhile.  You see, I've tried to do this on my own so, so many times.  Call it laziness or whatever, I just can't seem to push myself to get on the bike or walk every day.  With my health issues, it's become a necessity, not a luxury; a need versus a want.  One of the medicines I'm on (Herceptin) is known to cause heart issues.  I have an echocardiogram every three months to monitor my heart.  Once my heart function deteriorates, it's time to switch medicines.  We want to delay that as long as possible.  In the metastatic cancer world, there are limits.  We are on a medication until it stops working, then we try something else until it stops working, and so on until there are no other options left.  So you can see why we want to do everything in our power to stay on the same medication for as long as we can.  In this case, that means me doing what I can to keep my heart healthy.

Another reason is this -- this is metastatic cancer.  It's not a question of if the meds stop working and the cancer comes back, but when.  I want to be prepared as much as I can be.  I want my body to be in as good of shape as it can be, so maybe I can tolerate the side effects of chemo better.

Why now?  You may or may not know that I work at a high school.  My energy is drained usually by three o'clock or so, which is about what time I get off of work.  School is out for the summer now, so now this is my job for the summer.  I will expend what little energy I have working out as much as I can. I actually had planned on doing something every day, but my wonderful trainer suggests starting off with four days per week.  Twice at the gym with her, and twice at the gym on the recumbent bike.  We'll re-evaluate after a few weeks.

I had my consultation on Friday.  Let me tell you, it felt very odd to be walking into a gym with a walker.  What would people think?  I'm sure it looked weird.  But, nobody took a second glance at it.  Not only did they make me feel not weird, but they made me feel welcome, and that this was definitely the place to be and the right thing to do.  So, I filled out the paperwork and we went over my goals -- keep my heart healthy, build my stamina, get rid of the walker, walk up stairs.  I really think this is doable, and I am so excited.  And the weight loss?  It will follow.  I'm using MyFitnessPal to track everything.  So, if you're on MyFitnessPal, add me as a friend -- TammyPayne0211.

Today I went in for my first workout.  It was fabulous!  I don't even have to count! (and with my brain these days, this is huge!)  Julie, my trainer, shows me what to do, makes sure I know the proper way to do it, and lets me know when I'm done.  We spent about forty-five minutes doing strength training exercises.  It wasn't as difficult as I'd anticipated.  I won't detail everything we did, but I will document that I did 25lbs on the pull down machine, and used 7.5lb weights for the seated dumbbell bicep curl.  At the end of the summer we'll see how much those weights might go up.  Also, I did ball sit-ups!  When she showed this one to me, I thought, "No freaking way! I'm for sure gonna fall!" but I didn't!  I did the exercise!  It was so cool!

Me with my friend and trainer Julie

Walking out, my legs threatened to give out twice.  By the time I got home -- fine.  I've been fine for the rest of the day.  Actually, I did forget to each lunch.  When has that ever happened?!  😂  I had to leave my house around noon today for my appointment with my Cancer Rehab Specialist, and ended up staying for an xray; didn't get home until about five o'clock.  Details below.  Now, we'll see how sore I am in the morning.  😉




Now, let's talk about the elephant in the room.  How, you want to know, am I paying for this?  I spend so much time whining about not being able to afford things what with all the medical expenses our family has.  Well, I'll tell you -- I have amazing family and friends who are making this happen.  You all don't know how very much I appreciate all of the love and support.

Now, the side note:  I saw a cancer rehab specialist today because my left shoulder has been sore.  I worried about it and brought it to my oncologist's attention because that's the side that twelve lymph nodes were taken out.  Long story short -- it's not lymphedema.  It's rotator cuff syndrome, a classic textbook example.  I'll take Mobic once a day for two weeks, and that should bring down the inflammation.



So, I will periodically post about my adventures at the gym.  Stay tuned to see a lot "less" of me in the future!



Read next:  Gym -- Week 1 Recap