Recovery Emotions

Good to hear you're going to stick it out with program Kate! With the pain in your thumbs and hands, i had it creep up to really chronic for about two months then one day it just eased right off. The only thing i had changed in my life was i started a new gym exercise routine (i have 4 routines which i do for a month each) which involved a fair use of the free weights. That was at the beginning of August. They've been pretty good since. Before that it was debilitating. Maybe ask your EP at the gym for some free weight exercises like for your biceps, laterals etc. It might work. Otherwise gently stretch out your whole hand and fingers as if you have little strings on the ends of your fingers and someone is pulling them, then gently curl your hand into a fist and repeat. If you find that it's quite hand sore to do some of the weight pushing machines you can always use some of that non slip grippy stuff, fold it into a pad to cushion your thumb area or buy a pair of gloves with silicon pads in them. I found a pair on a site called empind.com.au not cheap but they have paid for themselves already in keeping my hands cushioned. See your psychologist as much as you need to cos sometimes it's just too hard to do it on your own. I found that. It took me 12 months to get my emotional shit back together and i kept reminding myself that it would take that long. You'll get there, i know you will. One calming technique my psych suggested was if i was feeling wobbly, stop, sit down,put your hands on your knees, feet on the ground and in your mind list 5 things you can hear near you, then 5 things you can see near you and lastly 5 things you can touch near you. By the time you've done that hopefully you will have calmed down. It just gives you something else to focus on. My first mammogram since diagnosis is next month. I'm trying to keep a tight lid on stress levels till it's over. So far I'm succeeding...