Starting Radiotherapy soon. Any tips? Thanks
I had my radiation CT scan and dosimetry simulation planning done on Monday and will be starting my radiation treatment next Wednesday. Would love any tips before I start treatment. I have my strata XRT and Moogoo ready. I have started moisturising this week. Told to apply Strata XRT first morning and night and in between moisturise with Moogoo. Did anyone do this differently? Also had tips to soak in epsom salt bath on weekends, drink lots of water, do some light exercise and lots of rest. Any changes to your food intake or supplements? Some have said there may be tummy issues as well. Any pointers would be much appreciated. Thank you.
How realistic is Weight Training /Strength exercises after Surgery and during Chemo?
Hi everyone, i go for my surgery on wed and was told i need to keep moving nearly straight after surgery, and my treatment plan also includes 6months of chemo plus radiotherapy after that. I was wondering if those who have weight training experience can please give me some advice? I did about 6 months of intense powerlifting before an old injury played up which meant that i had to rest plenty, then i found out i have cancer and this last month i've been to about 30 appointments for scans and blood tests and to see dox. i would really like to get back to doing weights as soon as humanly possible after my surgery and during the time frame of the chemo treatments. but of course i'm aware of all the side effects of chemo etc that may limit my abilities to deadlift 80kgs again. i have systemic lupus too as well as cptsd and so very unsure how i will ever reach my lifting goals again... this makes me feel quite disheartened as it's something that has given me empowerment, strength and is the only thing that works for me in terms of loosing medication induced weight gain (lupus and psych medications). i was wondering, how has everyone else found weight training to be post surgery and during chemo? and what if i just do some leg press, and training that involves my core and lower half if i can't do any upper body work? will i be able to do squats again? i'm not in a rush to bench tho it wasn't ever my favorite thing to train anyway but it's still an important part of training... machined weights? free weights? how long after surgery have you begun training? what weight range? what about chemo? my schedule will be every 3 weeks. has anyone found they are able to do weights the 2 weeks following chemo? also, there's a personal trainer at my gym but she doesn't have experience in rehab training, is it a bad idea to get a session with her? i think the liaison breast nurse said i'll be seeing a physio after surgery too so i'm looking forward to that. please share any other exercise experience and advice you may have for me? thanks so much for any help!
Chemo 4 18th day. Pond fishing.
Chemo 4 18 th day Monday 4 th April. Yesterday afternoon on sunset I walked the dogs on the beach for the full 1.5km and back. Woohoo! Well it wasn’t woohoo when I got home I thought my legs were going to drop off. I did without walking for a week and that’s what happens, unfitness. Today I am on a project to empty the pond, remove as much hair weed from the poor plants as possible and put them in a fish tank in the warmer fish room. My guppies are coming in doors for winter if I can catch all the little beggars. The water is green but with time and water changes the tank should clean up so I can actually see the fish. The gravel washing might have to wait until tomorrow when I have more energy but for today I am doing not too bad. It is very annoying the dizzy that sets in when I stand up from the pond. I will have to ask my doctor about it. It is probably my low blood pressure which is always low. Is there a solution to it?
Ribs
I finished my radiation just before Easter. I got pretty will "filled up" with fluid during radiation. I wore pressure bandages on my chest and over my shoulders (two layers) every night, lower legs every night and 24/7 on my left arm. I had loads of physio trying to stay on top of it all. Interestingly, the "cure" for my legs turned up by accident but it was walking. Long gentle walks.....must have been something to do with the circulation. Ironically, the arm was "cured" by moderate exercise which involved 2 to 3 hours each day of tearing up 3 or 4 sheets of paper while I destroyed my business archives and cleared my storage shed. Once again it was a gentle exercise. I was really careful that I didn't overdo it as I didn't want the lymphodeama to get any worse..... My chest was another story. I looked like I had a beachball under my ribs that you could certainly cup in my hands. Accdientally, my husband (who is a VERY solid man), used my rib cage as leverage for his elbow one night while he was rolling over in bed. As a result, the fluid build up went down. Since then I have had a shoreness in my chest and I have always suspected that I cracked a rib. However, here I am now many months later and while it has improved it is still not good. This month I am due to do all sorts of tests as we have the first anniversary of diagnosis and all of the surgeries. Guess I will find out what happened with my chest when we get these done.
