Gym -- Week 2 Recap

Monday -- As I didn't get home from the emergency room (see Week 1 Recap for details) until about 2:00am, I slept in.  Once I woke up I took it easy, then after lunch the nausea and stomach pain came back, so there was no exercising today.


Tuesday --  Feeling better today.  Spent the morning moving around culling items in the house for Saturday's yard sale (which is more active than I usually am). Went to the gym around 4pm, at which time I'm usually napping.  I was able to do 40 minutes of my planned 45-60 minutes on the recumbent bike before my toes fell asleep.  I had about 15 minutes between the bike and my workout with Julie.  It was fabulous!   We repeated some of the same exercises as we did last week.  There were two on Thursday that I couldn't finish the second set of 15 reps.  Today I did!  Julie still had to help me up to the bench on one; future goal of course is that I can do it by myself.  At the beginning of the workout, I walked on the white line heel/toe/heel/toe for ten steps at a time.  Last time I did that I stumbled a few times.  This time I didn't!  I really think that eventually I will be able to ditch the walker.  How cool will that be?!  I walked out of they gym feeling wonderful today.

*10:00pm addition:  Around 8:30pm, when I'm usually in bed asleep, I walked in to my local CVS to pick up a prescription.  I walked to the pharmacy counter at the back of the store, stood in line/checkout out for about ten minutes, then walked back out with ... wait for it ... NO ASSISTANCE!  And, still wide awake at 10pm with no nap today!  So psyched!

Wednesday -- I slept in a little this morning, I guess since I stayed up later than usual last night.  I didn't get up and moving until around 9.  I ended up meeting some friends for lunch, then ran an errand.  When I came back home it was back to decluttering, looking for yard sale items.  I planned all day on getting on the bike at home, but wasn't able to until after dinner.  I was really too tired to, but my husband encouraged me to do it.  I managed only five minutes (for some reason that I have not yet figured out, this bike at home is more difficult than the one at the gym; probably just because it's way cheaper, I don't know), but my dear sweet husband said, "It's five minutes more than you used to do, and look how much walking you're doing."  He's got a point.  So yes, it was only five minutes, but it was still something.

Thursday -- Training session today.  I went early so I could get some time on the bike.  Ended up getting in 45 minutes.  During the training session, I did some modified sit-ups, assisted by sitting on the ball.  I never was very good at sit-ups.  The ball makes it almost fun, though!  We also did some modified push-ups, using a bench instead of the floor.  It got kind of comical there at first when I went down too far and poor Julie had to pick me back up.  Once I got my form right, it wasn't as difficult as I'd thought.  The weights for the bicep curls were upped a bit.  I also did modified squats, holding on to one of the machines.  Before you knew it, time was up!  I was ready for more!  My plan after the training session was to take a yoga class, hopefully being able to modify positions for me not being able to get down and up from the floor.  After speaking to the instructor, though, we decided it would be better for me to check in to a seated yoga class; there's another instructor there who teaches seated yoga at one of our local senior centers; I'll speak to her next week.  In the meantime, I'll find some videos on youtube and try it out.  So, instead of taking a yoga class, I got back on the bike and managed another 35 minutes.  I feel great!  On a side note, while I was waiting for the yoga instructor to come in, I met a wonderful woman who was also waiting for the class to start.  We chatted about knitting and crocheting, and about someone close to her who also has metastatic breast cancer, as well as my situation.  If you're reading this, my new friend, I look forward to seeing you around the gym!

Friday -- No formal exercise today.  Today I walked quite a bit around the hospital, as it was treatment day.  I left the house at 7am, and got home around 4pm.  It's always a tiring day.  I didn't take my walker with me!  This is HUGE!  I figured that I would be okay walking from the garage to the clinic to the infusion center and back to the garage.  I walked close to the wall in the hallway in case I stumbled (I could reach out and catch myself if needed).  Also, if needed, there are volunteers who would take me to my destination in a provided wheelchair.  It turned out okay!  It was a little dicey on the ramps, but other than that it went very well.   My oncologist was happy.  It was so nice to not have to lift it up into the van and drag it out twice.  My balance isn't perfect yet, but, well, goals.  😊


Saturday -- No exercising happened today, either.  Today I spent out in the sun and heat from 7am to 2pm.  I was in the shade with a battery powered fan blowing on me, which helped immensely, but it was still hot.  Loading and unloading two vans for a flea market/yard sale event.  I was wiped out.  Rested when I got home which turned into a nap.  Woke up around 6:30, ate dinner and took meds, and right back to sleep for the night.  (Yes, I'm typing this on Sunday morning.)


Sunday --  Usually I rest when I come home from treatment, as well as the two days following.  I was hoping that with me being more active in the past two weeks that it would change.   Not yet.  After Friday's treatment and being outside for seven hours Saturday, I rested most of the day.  Housework in the morning, which ended around 12:30pm when exhaustion took over.  Sleeping then resting for the rest of the day.  Back to it bright and early tomorrow morning!


Monday morning weigh-in shows a two pound gain for this week; a one pound gain overall.  I really think that last week's one pound loss was a fluke.  The day before I weighed in, I vomited my lunch and didn't eat dinner.  As I look over my food diary for these past two weeks, I see that I went
over my 1200 calorie per day goal most days, some days way over.  I have been making a conscience effort to log all of my food and exercise; from this point on I will make a conscience effort to stay under my daily calorie goal.  I know the weight loss will come in time.  Right now, it's more important to concentrate on regaining my balance, gaining some stamina, regaining my ability to walk up stairs, to pick myself up off the floor, and to keep my heart healthy.  I know that if I do all of those things, the weight loss will follow.

Non-scale victories
Tuesday -- no nap, fairly active all day; not losing my balance as I walked the line at the gym; finishing the two exercises I couldn't finish the prior Thursday; see asterisk under Tuesday's entry above.
Friday -- I didn't take my walker with me to treatment!  See Friday's entry above.



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