I was diagnosed with cancer last year and have undergone a lot of chemo and a major surgery since then. I want to try to start to make a come back but my body just isn't quite what it was...in many ways. Has anyone had a serious set back like this and at least gotten back into it? I'm an old 15 flat 5k guy and if I "ran" three miles at 90% max heart rate right now I might break 45 minutes. And, that would nearly destroy me. I hardly feel like there's any point in my mid-30's to try and get back under 30 or 25 or 20 for 5k. I know it sounds insane to even my old self to call 15 minute pace running. But, I wish I could just go out and run. Forget racing and "training". I'd be happy for a jog. Just trying to see if I should officially black list letsrun on my router and pray I never see a jogger again.
Anyone ever made a comeback after something serious?
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Cancer survivor you say?
Google "Lance Armstrong" -
Serena Burla had a chunk of her leg removed when a sarcoma was found. She was able to skip radiation due to the radical nature of the surgery. She is back running now.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/19/sports/19burla.html?pagewanted=2&_r=3 -
I got one for ya wrote:
Cancer survivor you say?
Google "Lance Armstrong"
Fair enough. I'd dare say his case was probably worse than mine, but, only but a little. I also think it's different when there are tons of people supporting you versus your immediate support system, i.e., family. Lance had an entire industry's backing. Partly because they truly wanted to see this guy get better and partly because he was an amazing athlete. The second part seems like a financial motivation. His was an exceptional circumstance. I guess I am asking from the perspective of a normal person who has to go it along. Good point though. Thanks. Honestly, had thought about what he went through in a while. I might write his organization and see if they have any suggestions from the training/medical side on how to get back into it. -
How long has it been since the surgery and chemo? Are you giving yourself enough time? Are your expectations too high for right now? It sounds like you might just need to give yourself some time, and listen to your body for a bit longer. Remember it took you some period of time to get out of shape, so it will take at least that long to get back into shape.
Good luck! -
Precious Roy wrote:
Serena Burla had a chunk of her leg removed when a sarcoma was found. She was able to skip radiation due to the radical nature of the surgery. She is back running now.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/19/sports/19burla.html?pagewanted=2&_r=3
Thanks for that link. Mine was also a sarcoma, but, primarily distributed in nature. Hundreds of small tumors, not a single one. Ewing's presents similarly to what she had. Great to see someone not get taken out by sarcoma. Some are highly treatable. Others are extremely the opposite. For now, I am No Evidence of Disease, but, my creatinine levels rarely drop below 3 and I am anemia in 4 of the 5 different ways possible. Without ever getting over that, I don't know how I'll progress. I know honestly part of this is a medical conversation, but, will power is something there is no medicine for. -
common wrote:
How long has it been since the surgery and chemo? Are you giving yourself enough time? Are your expectations too high for right now? It sounds like you might just need to give yourself some time, and listen to your body for a bit longer. Remember it took you some period of time to get out of shape, so it will take at least that long to get back into shape.
Good luck!
Surgery was at the end of March. I didn't eat for about a month and had two follow up surgeries due to complications. I got out of the hospital in early May. I laid off chemo for a while due to 1/3rd of my liver being removed. They calculated I wouldn't be able to process the cell kill off and the drugs themselves. I have since done two rounds of second line chemo and am in the middle of round 3 this week. My primary oncologist said I will be doing chemo 1 week out of every 4 as long as it proves effective. The cancer I have tends to return in 98% of cases within 4-6 months of ceasing chemo. And, you're right, my expectations might just be too high. I am still having a hard time believing I have a disease like this. I was running 50-60 mpw (decent mileage) at 6:45 page when I was diagnosed. In the grand scheme of things, that's nothing great, but, it was 95% of what I was capable of doing. Just insane I can get a perfectly clean bill of health and four months later be diagnosed with an incurable form of cancer. There are things you never see coming and that was one of them. It would have been a completely different thing if I had some symptoms. -
I am a long-time competitive runner who did surgery and 6 months of chemo last year. Running was one of my best friends throughout the treament. I was determined to not let my cancer stop me from doing something that I really enjoy. I returned to runnning 10 days after my surgery, and ran/jogged 50 miles-per-week all through the chemo. The loss of red blood cells really slowed me down, but I am convinced that keeping up my exercise was one of the main reasons that I had a relatively easy time getting through chemo, both physically and psychologically. Because I maintained my fitness, I was able to return to normal (other than some slight, lingering neuropathy) surprisingly quickly. Nine months after the end of my chemo, I ran the Masters Track & Field World Championships.
I don't say this to brag or make myself out to be a hero. Not everybody is as motivated/compulsive as I am about training. Everyone reacts differently to the surgery and drugs, and there is nothing easy about being a cancer victim. But, I do want to give you some hope. It is possible to maintain some semblance of your pre-cancer exercise routine, which can have big benefits, both physically and psychologically. My suggestion is that you take the attitude, "I'm happy just to be out here doing this", start back as slowly as you need to, and build up as you body allows. -
I had lumbar fusion surgery on my lower back. My Dr said
I could never run again. After a year of recovery I was able to start running. Step by step I got back to running hard and racing again. -
Another Cancer Guy wrote:
I am a long-time competitive runner who did surgery and 6 months of chemo last year. Running was one of my best friends throughout the treament. I was determined to not let my cancer stop me from doing something that I really enjoy. I returned to runnning 10 days after my surgery, and ran/jogged 50 miles-per-week all through the chemo. The loss of red blood cells really slowed me down, but I am convinced that keeping up my exercise was one of the main reasons that I had a relatively easy time getting through chemo, both physically and psychologically. Because I maintained my fitness, I was able to return to normal (other than some slight, lingering neuropathy) surprisingly quickly. Nine months after the end of my chemo, I ran the Masters Track & Field World Championships.
I don't say this to brag or make myself out to be a hero. Not everybody is as motivated/compulsive as I am about training. Everyone reacts differently to the surgery and drugs, and there is nothing easy about being a cancer victim. But, I do want to give you some hope. It is possible to maintain some semblance of your pre-cancer exercise routine, which can have big benefits, both physically and psychologically. My suggestion is that you take the attitude, "I'm happy just to be out here doing this", start back as slowly as you need to, and build up as you body allows.
Thanks for the post. I guess I have just fallen so far it's hard to even imagine getting close to where I was. And, I think just doing something will help me. There are days where the energy and motivation are sorely lacking, but, the exercise has helped me with it. I'll start small. Maybe some 1/4 on-1/4 off fartlek at walk/jog. I must admit it is frustrating to walk faster than I run! I wear a HR monitor to ensure I am not working my heart too much. Some of the chemo they gave me reduced my cardiac function from 61% to 54%. If I get much further down they call it permanent heart damage. -
I've never had cancer or anything anywhere near that serious, but I recently had to take an entire year off due to an extremely bad case of mononucleosis. I am a mid-16s 5k/2:50 marathon guy and when I came back, even 3 miles at 10 minute pace felt like absolute death. After a slow buildup over the past 4 months, I'd like to think I'm starting to get pretty close to where I was before. Before I got back in the saddle, there were a few months where I thought I'd never be able to run again, but it started coming back to me pretty quickly. For now, focus on running for pleasure and completely ignore pace/time/distance. Before you know it, you'll be faster than me again.
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That's a very hard way for all of this to have gone down. I'm sorry, man.
That said, now you need to keep your chin up and take your opportunities where you find them. Not joking here, but is there a possibility that your anemia can be alleviated or at least substantially improved with EPO so that you *can* exercise as you would like to? It's a huge quality of life issue for you to be able to run, so I would think it's worth asking.
Best of luck and know you're in my thoughts, cancer guy. Fvck...onions. -
common wrote:
That's a very hard way for all of this to have gone down. I'm sorry, man.
That said, now you need to keep your chin up and take your opportunities where you find them. Not joking here, but is there a possibility that your anemia can be alleviated or at least substantially improved with EPO so that you *can* exercise as you would like to? It's a huge quality of life issue for you to be able to run, so I would think it's worth asking.
Best of luck and know you're in my thoughts, cancer guy. Fvck...onions.
Ironically, I hadn't though about EPO. I think they would use colony stimulating factors first, neupogen, neulasta first. I am functional, but, my norms are just quite a bit different from a healthy person. For my norms, I am reasonably healthy. I don't get sick. Just weak and tired. My legs occasionally give out walking up stairs. Things like that. I thought my cancer was coming back last month and had a set of scans done only to find out it was a slight muscle separation in the abdominal muscles. Sadly, I am so out of shape, just living, i.e., not working out, I get things like this going on. I am a little scared of actually lifting and putting stress on my system. -
Be careful about easing into a comeback. Your chronic renal failure is definitely a rate-limiting factor. The last thing you need is to significantly dehydrate or develop any degree of myoglobinemia to knock out what's left of your kidney function.
the cancer guy wrote:
Thanks for that link. Mine was also a sarcoma, but, primarily distributed in nature. Hundreds of small tumors, not a single one. Ewing's presents similarly to what she had. Great to see someone not get taken out by sarcoma. Some are highly treatable. Others are extremely the opposite. For now, I am No Evidence of Disease, but, my creatinine levels rarely drop below 3 and I am anemia in 4 of the 5 different ways possible. Without ever getting over that, I don't know how I'll progress. I know honestly part of this is a medical conversation, but, will power is something there is no medicine for. -
I have a recurrent brain tumor. Was diagnosed in 2003 as I was just beginning to run again after a decade of not running at all. A few weeks after the surgery I was able to run again.
I went through 24 months of chemo, at the end of which I ran my fastest marathon, 2:44.
When it came back again, did 6 weeks of radiation, after which I ran 2:49 (I blew up in the last 3 miles of that one, a bone bruise in my knee.)
And I'm still running, just about every day. It keeps me sane and strong. My doc is pretty sure that I've been able to tolerate all the treatments because of my fitness. Runners are good at managing discomfort.
Good luck Dude -
the cancer guy wrote:
I was diagnosed with cancer last year and have undergone a lot of chemo and a major surgery since then. I want to try to start to make a come back but my body just isn't quite what it was...in many ways. Has anyone had a serious set back like this and at least gotten back into it? I'm an old 15 flat 5k guy and if I "ran" three miles at 90% max heart rate right now I might break 45 minutes. And, that would nearly destroy me. I hardly feel like there's any point in my mid-30's to try and get back under 30 or 25 or 20 for 5k. I know it sounds insane to even my old self to call 15 minute pace running. But, I wish I could just go out and run. Forget racing and "training". I'd be happy for a jog. Just trying to see if I should officially black list letsrun on my router and pray I never see a jogger again.
Question? Where are you being treated? If not at a major cancer center, then get to one if you can. Second opinion!! You have to be your own advocate for your quality of life. Find a doc who will work with you on getting you back on your feet. A "regular" oncologist at some city hospital may not have the experience. If you get to a cancer hospital, they will be more interested in incorporating alternative therapies, which in your case may be getting in a few easy runs a week. -
Jordan Rapp almost died after being hit by a car last year but came back to win Ironman Canada this year. Pretty amazing.
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Groundskeeper Willie wrote:
the cancer guy wrote:
I was diagnosed with cancer last year and have undergone a lot of chemo and a major surgery since then. I want to try to start to make a come back but my body just isn't quite what it was...in many ways. Has anyone had a serious set back like this and at least gotten back into it? I'm an old 15 flat 5k guy and if I "ran" three miles at 90% max heart rate right now I might break 45 minutes. And, that would nearly destroy me. I hardly feel like there's any point in my mid-30's to try and get back under 30 or 25 or 20 for 5k. I know it sounds insane to even my old self to call 15 minute pace running. But, I wish I could just go out and run. Forget racing and "training". I'd be happy for a jog. Just trying to see if I should officially black list letsrun on my router and pray I never see a jogger again.
Question? Where are you being treated? If not at a major cancer center, then get to one if you can. Second opinion!! You have to be your own advocate for your quality of life. Find a doc who will work with you on getting you back on your feet. A "regular" oncologist at some city hospital may not have the experience. If you get to a cancer hospital, they will be more interested in incorporating alternative therapies, which in your case may be getting in a few easy runs a week.
I am working with MD Anderson (one of two centers that deals with my cancer). The other is in New York. No one else has even heard of it. The local MD I work with is also a specialist in my cancer type having previously treated a few people with what I have. In a cancer type that 20-25 people per year in all of the US get diagnosed with, a doctor who has experience treating 5 people is a lot. I had four misdiagnoses before they discovered what it really was. I wish it would have been any of the other four. Sadly, MD Anderson's intergrative medicine department includes things like laughter therapy and music therapy and yoga. I know that they are reluctant to look into "alternative" stuff, but, if you're going to waste money, waste it in a useful way...at least that's my opinion. -
Take it for what it is worth, but my advice is threefold:
1. Do not "train" until you get to certain levels of health. As others have pointed out, you are walking a very fine line between desire to achieve (a very good thing) and risk of permanent damage. Just enjoy a fast walk, go for a swim, get on a bike and enjoy yourself.
2. I can not stress enough the power of nutrition. I don't want to come across as too "crunchy" as I used to be the prototypical "if the fire is hot enough it will burn anything" runner. I was wrong. The power of good food is truly significant. Green tea, fresh fruit, lean protein, omega's (fish, seeds, etc) will make you feel better and keep your body primed for when you do make your comeback.
3. You WILL get back to where you want to be, regardless of the time it takes you to get there. While the difference between 3 months or 6 months or a year is large now, when you look back it will seem like nothing. Be patient, work back slowly and you will reach your goals
All the best to you! -
Add another good thoughts to you to the list.
Definitely a time for re-defining running success. Even if you are only walking/jogging, find interesting/beautiful places to work out.
Find someone you care about to go with you. Enjoy their company. Share your joys and frustrations.
Sharing your story with us, you'll are finding, and will continue to find, that there are plenty of folk who will share their ideas and support.
I know it's easy for me to say, but keep fighting.
