Exercise & Chemotherapy

[TNCanuck]

Seen on twitter....regarding exercise and its impact on chemotherapy. Good stuff! BTW ---- Dr. Brockton is Vice President of Research at the American Institute for Cancer Research, according to his Twitter profile.

[Dayatatime]

When I did chemo I actually brought an exercise step platform with me. I kept it at light steps, just enough to up my heart rate and get chemo moving through my veins and possibly into places it may not otherwise get to. Never really working up a sweat. It also worked great aiding in staying awake and not getting sleepy during infusions. The nurses and doctors walking by were always inquisitive and very supportive. I had what was termed as bulky disease in my pelvic and some abdominal nodes. I had a prostatectomy 5 months later with 42 nodes removed and only 1 tested positive. The surgeon said they looked like raisins from being scarred and he commented about the surgery being challenging because of scar tissue around prostate. He said from what he found I had a great result from the chemo. My oncologist stated she never seen a result like it.

Was it because of the stepping?? Will never know for certain but I would recommend it and would do it again.

Ron

[j-o-h-n in reply to Dayatatime]

Thanks for the hint...

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Friday 05/17/2019 8:08 PM DST

[Patrick-Turner]

Last year I had 5 shots of Docetaxel for Pca in soft tissues and bones, over a 15 week period. Before beginning chemo I was cycling 220km a week average very regularly, and I felt fairly well, so docs thought I was the healthiest stage 4 cancer patient they had ever seen, and I used to cycle 20km to hospital to get the chemo, cycle home OK, and even on days after chemo when most ppl just feel generally terrible, I cycled at least 5km for first week to get to my favorite café for lunch. In weeks leading up to next chemo shot I increased the distance and after 3 weeks I was back to at least 150km a week. I guess the cycling helped, but at that time cycling was a constant thing at age 71and it had been since 2006, and I've done about 140,000km since then to now. So my general health at nearly 72 is much better than most others except for Pca, which has always been lurking to take me out. I paused cycling to have both knee joints replaced in early 2017 while Psa was in a nadir with Cosadex + ADT.

The chemo failed, like it so often does with Pca in a man's bones. So I just had 4 x Lu177 shots and am now also taking Xtandi ( enzalutamide ) and Psa is about 3.0 now, but I bet it rises again soon. These treatments often give less time than the advertised "mean extension of life time" figures.

But now I have a hip problem and pain is severe after a cycle ride, so I have to talk to an orthopedic surgeon soon, its booked, maybe have X-rays, see what can be done, and there would be a long wait involved, and if Pca comes up again they may not let me have the surgery on hip. So now I walk as little as possible, and don't cycle, and just do sedentary housekeeping, stuff, but enough to still mow grass and clip a hedge and sweep up autumn leaves. I know men my age who eat too much and never do any exercise, and they ate all fat, doddery, lazy, and unable to do much at all. All have problems of one sort or another, but not Pca.

I know exercise would help them, but they complain about the pains and aches because they have far more arthritis than I do, and they all have had bad habits for the last 40years.

Patrick Turner.

[TNCanuck in reply to Patrick-Turner]

Wow. Are the people you mention and label with the use of derogatory adjectives your friends? 😔

Wishing you well.

[Patrick-Turner in reply to TNCanuck]

Well no, they are just the ppl I have known from having many customers is a business, and seeing others my age at my local café. 20 years ago I played chess a lot at other cafe's and the guys were so determined to live un-healthily, and a couple of them died before 40, and some had mental problems. Nobody is perfect. None became my friends, all were combative, mostly better than me at chess, and none were creative. Most were unemployed, and hated any real work. Anyway, I gave up chess at night in cafe's when I got real busy in my business, and then I took up cycling after a knee arthroscopy in 2005, and that was a far more healthy way to spend time. I used to say hello to the chess players who also played at a pub in city, and they wondered why I gave up the game and I asked if they'd like to take a ride to 30km across town and it was like talking to a bunch of zombie. They just wanted to sit down at a board to beat me at a game where nothing much was said, while the clocks ticked.

My idea of perceived reality has got me to survive to now, and how I see the world and its people could well be quite offensive, but all the ppl who could have changed their habits to lengthen their life were never going to adopt what I thought was a good way to live. They didn't give a damn if I was offensive or derogatory or not, they were going to do things their way, and that was that, so what on earth would be the shared activities I could have with so many of these ppl? What benefit would their be? The other side of story is that where I did find myself living with ppl fixated on sloth and gluttony, it made those ppl feel inadequate, and underlined their poor self esteem, and so a lasting marriage with any of the shielas I dated was impossible, They just loved the first year or two, I was a very considerate and creative lover, but sooner or later they found me boring and I could not keep them on the porch; they had zero intention to commit to anything, so I have zero women friends. I had my house loan paid off 11 years after I bought it. How?, by working guts out and being active, and when the false lovers left one after the other I settled to sharing with sharing house with various females not interested in sex and then all was well, and I didn't care how much was wrong with them, most of it was self inflicted, and they all liked staying often while they were dating someone they married, so I didn't have to care about the friendship thing; they paid the rent, always well below the average charged by others around town who are so greedy.

Fact is there is Right and Wrong in the world, I had and still have fairly high standards, and it pains me not to have so few friends; I am a natural coper in difficult situations and I don't need any support from a wife or kids, who I never got around to having. I spent my life mainly working to make others happy by doing enough good work for ppl so they were very happy while I was around. Whether I was happy or not could not stand in the way of being a self propelled loner who is not as badly off as so many others my age are now. I have known ppl who hate me because I don't believe in God. To me, there is no God of any type anywhere to believe in. But I sure don't mind if they are superstitious and believe in God. They seem to need the irrational and communally agreed upon definition of God to be able to have a guide to be good. I believe its simple and easy for me to practice goodness without any God. If there is a God, then he, she, or it is making sure to be unseen, and afaiac, totally unable to be communicated to by prayer etc, asking for a cure, or a winning lottery ticket, or to beg forgiveness for sins. Just not sinning would be better, no? I am highly offensive to many ppl when I describe myself, and how I think and why, but I assure you I am a simple good man, I will do you no harm, but from my perspective I see so many intolerant ppl around me; I don't get offended, and I could never have run my own business with so many ppl coming to me so I invite you to tolerate me the consider, the thinker, while accepting that you should know that I think that the older I get, the better I was. And when I spent time getting chemo I talked a lot to nurses about many things, and some thought / felt very differently to me, but that worried me not, and I let them know I loved them all because they cared about me, the one thing in life I found hardly ever existed after leaving home at 19.

Friends come and go in life. The best friends I had could tell me what they saw wrong with me; and I'd consider carefully if a change was needed or not. I didn't mind any criticism if it led to better understanding of life.

But all the friends I had years ago have left town, travelled widely, and what have most got to show for it? SFA it seems, many ended up on Poverty St and had they stayed they'd have had a better life, but I just don't bash them around over the issue - pointless. Well, the chill of a late autumn day is here and I have more in workshop to finish. Best regards, and I invite to be good without needing God. Such a disgusting idea, no?

Patrick Turner.

[ctarleton in reply to Patrick-Turner]

I'm sorry to hear of your pain, and your sadness at the loss of your former extraordinary physical capabilities. I hope you are Compassionate with yourself (and others) as you continue to make adjustments to things. These changes to former Roles and Capabilities are very real things, and, in my experience, it's very good to talk about it all as the changes are happening. It takes time to adjust to a new perspective.

Meanwhile, mow the heck out of that lawn, but don't overdo it!

Charles

[Patrick-Turner in reply to ctarleton]

I find most of your recommendations exemplary to be a person who must live with a chronic condition. The King of Survivors might have been Stephen Hawking, could hardly move before he died at 74, after 50 years of illness. His wives found him somewhat difficult to be with. So did mine, and my role as a husband was cut short so often because they just could not stay and be committed to who they said they really and truly loved, until of course it magically all turned to hate. I was lucky they left, tee hee, better off without such ppl in my life. I've been here at my house for 43 years. I saw so many come and go. My mum was same, was in her house for 67 years, but at 96 had bad health and docs would not let her live alone any more. Pca will probably get me well before 98 when mum died, but I have outlived my dad and a sister by 12 years now, both died of cancer. I wondered when my turn would come. Sure as Nature makes little red apples, I got my dose of real bad inoperable Pca at 62, despite the yearly Psa checks.

Patrick Turner.

[ctarleton in reply to Patrick-Turner]

Thanks for the Reply, Patrick. I was married/divorced a couple of times when I was very young, myself. It was complicated, but looking back, probably for the best. The decades have mellowed my feelings and memories from those times.

Both of my parents died a few years ago at ages 87 and 90. When I was diagnosed Stage IV with Many mets at age 65, it was difficult for me suddenly to be aware that my odds of living another 22-25 years with advanced prostate cancer were very slim, indeed. I'd always figured that I had a fairly good chance of living as long as my parents did. I even had it on a financial planning spreadsheet! Ha. Ha.

To get back to the original subject of this Post thread, I've been having a tough time getting the amount of exercise I probably need to get. Since starting Xtandi 2 1/2 years ago, I have a constant background fatigue. That's on top of the general trend of being on ADT for 5 1/2 years. Intellectually, I know there are lots of ways I could devise workarounds and habits to improve it. Subjectively, I struggle with my body, emotions, and motivation.

Charles

[Patrick-Turner in reply to ctarleton]

Everyone suffers in one way or another after a diagnosis of a potentially fatal disease. I had a dad die at 60 of melanoma, but mum died at 98 of gradual total disablement, aka old age, and with no known major diseases. So my two parents had an average age of death of 79. But I lost a sister at 60 from Oa, and other sister survived Brca after double mastectomy and other treatment so part of her personality changed from seeking love in her 60 to being allergic to the idea, and I can't talk about sex or love with her any more like I used to.

Time is the Great Dismantler, and pulls us apart bit by bit, and ain't nuttin we can do much.

I was so lucky to be highly motivated to be aware and alert and to learn at over 50, and I was lucky to have had an occupation that kept me away from sitting down all day - I was a contract builder for 25 years. But that had to stop when my knees failed because they were like my mum's and never really meant for 50 years of hard work. I've known men who worked harder for longer and never had arthritis problems.

But then a doctor gave me an arthroscopy for both knees at 58, and at 59 I was a self employed electronics tech, easy work, and I wondered if I could cycle again, and from 2006 and early this year I managed 140,000km cycling around to nowhere in particular, just enjoying nature, and this got my body back having BMI less than 25, waist less than 100cm, and resting HR under 50. The majority of my Pca treatments after 2009 diagnosis did not ever stop me being highly physical, alert, and aware, and still able to think clearly with ADT, and Zytiga, chemo, and now lu177 and Xtandi. Do I write like a decrepit old guy? I doubt it, although the young avoid me because I know I represent what will become of them and they cringe at the vision, they can still fuck and live "live life to the fullest" and often unwisely, uncaringly, and they don't need to ever know me let alone take any advice. Young women are the same.

But I sure love these youngies I meet in the medical system because they do seem to be higher quality than your than your average selfish young person glued to their mobile phone.

I don't have a mobile phone, and I won't be zucked by Zuckerberg.

Time for me to go shopping, avva cuppa tea, and enjoy a Sunday, and the rest of the world can get stuffed it that's what it wants to do

Patrick Turner.