2nd swim & chemo group get-togeter!

I did bike 42 miles on Wednesday, but you know what I realized? That sounds impressive to lots of you guys who aren't bikers -- but in fact biking is absolutely the kindest of my exercises to the site of my surgery. I mean, I hold my arm steady the whole time -- absolutely NO rotation or range of motion necessary. It's easier than walking the dog.

It's a good thing I got all those miles in on Wed because yesterday I didn't even get to bike to G-town and back, since it was raining-- and not warm and rainy like it was in the summer. (Then I biked anyway. Not yesterday.) Then after I saw the surgeon and got my medical records to bring to the doctor I have an appt with on Monday, I went up to the chemo floor to see Bonnie (who was having herceptin) and Barb, who was having -- today I think she was having herceptin and abraxane. (She alternates formulas -- and I think she has to tell them when she makes her appointments which combo it will be for that day.) ANyway I spent so much time with Bonnie and Barb that I had to rush to beat Emily home after school. (I had meant to pick her up.....)

Then today the ride was cancelled (wet & drizzly) so I walked Pinky 4 miles and swam 3/4 mile, as per the recovery instructions for my 2nd swim.

Next time I should be able to do a whole mile. However, because it hurt so much after the first time (only half a mile, last Monday) I swam differently this time. Most of the time I swam with my left arm coming all the way out as usual and my right arm doing the same motion but staying under the water – it was like a funny looking modified crawl. I realized that usually my right arm extends further than my left, because I turn left and breathe on the left, always – as I was taught to, in the 70s. (Now kids are taught to breathe on both sides.) I did pull my right arm out sometimes and do the stroke as it is usually done, so I know I can – but I did this mostly when I was close to done so that I’d get the whole 3/4 mies in w/o my pec seizing up this time. I want to work up to doing regular out-of-the-water strokes for the whole mile gradually. My thinking is, if I do it with my arm underwater a lot now, I seem to be able to swim a good distance now, and get a real workout, while still working up to being able to do it the usual way.

So far it seems to be working -- it's been almost 8 hours since I swam and I feel all right this time -- so far.

The other cool thing is, my chemo group is getting together tomorrow afternoon, for the first time without chemo! I had thought i'd have to miss the get together -- Matthew has a debate tournament and I'm a volunteer judge. Generally the school has to provide 1 judge per 4 students who will be competing. I was afraid Matthew would not be able to compete if I didn't judge tomorrow -- in which case Iwould have gone and judged and missed getting together with my friends. However, the debate coach found someone else instead of me -- I'm a little worried that I worried him, though. (I was tired when I wrote that email -- and I'm tired now. I might not have been all that tired at the debate, though...... though we do have to get up and out in the dark, and this way I'll be able to come home and get back in bed afterwards.....Thing is, it's not really because of chemo or surgery that i would want to -- it's really just because it's going to be a saturday morning at like 7am.

Swimming

Well I finally went swimming, on Sunday. The nurse practitioner who removed my 2nd drain, on Friday afternoon, said that it was okay to swim after 48 hrs. She also said to swim half what I usually swim the first time, 3/4 the 2nd time, and to leave at least a day in between the first two times. I usually swim a mile, so that's pretty clear and simple to figure out.

Of course I was planning to be in better shape than she thought, because I always figure I'm in better shape than they think. SO I got to the pool, got my suit on (looked a little funny on the flat right boob, but of course no one's really paying attention) and got into the water. It took me a quarter mile of alternating breast stroke lengths with semi crawl lengths* to get my right arm extended up to a reasonable crawl stroke, but I did it, and was pleased to have done it on my first day out. (* The semi-crawl started out as a nice crawl stroke with my left arm and little baby duck flap with my right.....) I was thinking that I'd do 3/4 mile rather than a half, because the first quarter was so wussy...... but just as I was finishing the last lap of the half mile my right pec clenched, as thought it suddenly noticed it was all alone out there without its breast! So I caved, and got out after having swum exactly the amount that the nurse practitioner had said and no more -- and made sure to take a 4-5 mile walk later with Pinky and a friend.

SO it was with some surprise that I discovered later that evening that something over near my right armpit was extremely sore -- I had to take a pain killer in the night! It hurt today, biking to my eye doctor with a backpack on -- but biking with backpack hadn't hurt any of the times when I'd gone to Georgetown last week, so I think I am still sore from that half mile swim.

I had been planning to do my 2nd swim tomorrow, the 3/4 mile -- but I'll find some other exercise instead if I'm still hurting this much in the morning.