 Senior Patient Advocate Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts)
Joined: Sep 2006 Posts: 8,311 | With this cancer I estimate that 20% have a fairly east time; 20% have a horrible horrible horrible time and 80% have just a horrible time. Since each of us can start out differently physically as well as mentally and each of us can be Staged from a I to a IV and each of us can have surgery, chemo and or radiation and any combination of the 3, and each of us can be treated by the worst to the best doctors out there, you can imagine that each of us can emerge differently from our treatment.
This is why one answer can't fit all but I would advise anyone just a month post Tx to take it slow and let the body heal itself. Most of the time our recovery can take up to every bit of 2 YEARS before we recovery as much as we will.
Another key deterrent to exercise is how much damage is done to our saliva glands with most of us dealing with severe dry mouth months and months post Tx. I couldn't walk from one room to the next without taking a sip of water for a good 3 months post Tx so much so that I kept a bottle of water in every room of the house just in case.
David
Age 58 at Dx, HPV16+ SCC, Stage IV BOT+2 nodes, non smoker, casual drinker, exercise nut, Cisplatin x 3 & concurrent IMRT x 35,(70 Gy), no surgery, no Peg, Tx at Moffitt over Aug 06. Jun 07, back to riding my bike 100 miles a wk. Now doing 12 Spin classes and 60 outdoor miles per wk. Nov 13 completed Hilly Century ride for Cancer, 104 miles, 1st Place in my age group. Apr 2014 & 15, Spun for 9 straight hrs to raise $$ for YMCA's Livestrong Program. Certified Spin Instructor Jun 2014.
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