Teresa,

I was riding my bike appx 100 miles a week pre Tx, pretty much a exercise nut in my entire adulthood, but I stopped exercising one month pre Tx and focused on trying to gain weight on the advice of my RO. I did try and take an occasional walk around the neighborhood during Tx but I even stopped that when I went "south" around week 4. Post Tx I tried bike riding in my 4th month post but that sucked due to dry mouth and then came Tax Season so it wasn't until month 9 post Tx that I really resumed my bike riding and by then I was ready and in no time I was riding with the big boys again.

To sum my thoughts up, I was more concentrated on not loosing weight and surviving my Tx than I was interested in exercising or even walking which I hate with a passion anyway.

Hi Teresa,

Like David I was an very active triathlete before my treatment. For some reason the treatment really kicked my butt!I did manage to walk 6 days a week wither around the neighborhood on down by the beach. I would walk for 20 min or so. I was lucky in that my wike, kids, friends would not let me say no. I remember on several occations me yelling at my wife that I did not want to go out and she would keep the preasure on me until I did.

one poster mentioned hydration. This is one area that I should have spent more attention to. I did become deyhdraded on several occcations. It made me weak and great Fatigue...make sure you get the fluids!

BTW, there is light at the end of the tunnel. I can ride my bike and swim again, a bit slower and I have to deal with the dry mouth

Steve

thanks for the tips all. the RO suggested letting him walk. whatever he can tolerate, let him do. and told me to stop babying him because he will continue to lay in bed if i do.

i made him take the stairs today (one flight), he growled at me but did it! i told him later we were going to walk our yorkie around the block...i think he is actually looking forward to getting out of the house...we will see.

From DX through most of TX I just walked.

After they put the PEG in jogging, biking, or gym didn't seem like a good ideas for me.

I had a lot of PEG problems (local pain, swelling, infection, bleeding), but don't think I could have managed without it.

After TX my stamina was pretty poor, so one of my doctors suggested I go back to the gym. I did and accidentally hit my PEG -- it was a bloody mess. So I dumped the gym idea and went back to just walking until I got the PEG out.

Just a question....when we get a cold or even worse, the flu, we are told to REST and drink plenty of fluids, etc. I don't ever remember being told to go home and exercise or even walk around the block. Hardly any of us heed that advice but nonetheless that's still the wisdom coming from the medical profession.

So now we get Stage IV cancer and we are being poisoned and radiated to a near death state and some cancer doctor's advice is to put more (certainly more than resting in bed) strain on our bodies by walking around the block or even worse exercising?

Sorry, I must have missed the class on How to Jump Off a Bridge and Survive but I don't see any direct or remote physical benefit from exercising during treatment or even for months post Tx.

Walking every day even it was just around the block really helped me get my strength back. I was fairly active prior to surgery but the curgery really knocked me off my feet. The treatment also made me lose a lot of weight so excercise to burn calories seemed counter productive. Gentl yoga stretches really helped me relax and helped me work out the stiffness in my neck etc.

David,
It doesn't sound like you ever broke anything or you would know how quickly you lose muscle. That's why they get us into PT as soon as possible. No one is suggesting you go out and hike 5 miles. Just don't lie around in bed all day doing nothing until the treatment makes it impossible for you to take a 10 minute walk or whatever you like that keeps you moving. Stretching also works.

Take care,
Eileen

No disrespect intended but I don't equate Stage IV cancer and it's wonderfully barbaric Tx to recovering from a broken bone. I still see no logic in putting more, even slightly more, stress on our body while our body is in perhaps the worst fight of it's life and needs every ounce of strength to keep up the battle. I laid on my bed from about the 4 week of Tx until the 3rd week post.

David,
I so want to agree with you, but I laid in bed the moment Istarted treatment and never got up except to go to the bathroom or to treatment. I think what my PCP was telling me is that I needed to get a little more movement to keep things moving. I would love to stay in bed all day now, but both my psych and pcp have told me to get some more activity.

David, you knucklehead...the docs are trying to get Angelia's gut to start working better. You talk about how bad your problems got (constipation)...maybe if you had gotten up and walked a little, it might have helped....along with other things.

Even people a day or so out of major surgery are encouraged to get out of bed and walk...for a number of reasons. Eileen's right...muscle mass and a lot of other things deteriorate when you are bedridden.

I just think David has a mild case of hypothermia of the brain tonight...it's cold here in Florida.

Deb