Exercising Post Cancer Treatment
Being diagnosed with any cancer nowadays is not necessarily a death sentence but it is certainly life altering. The drugs and treatment protocols that will be pumped into your body along with biopsies, operations and complications take there toll on your bodies ability to muster up the energy that you may have once had for program adherence for a strict exercise routine.
Some people go through several months of staging and grading depending upon the type of cancer and their actual diagnosis. You can imagine is quite an interruption to any normalcy their lives might have resembled Pre diagnosis. Then comes the treatment options, the path to take, financial considerations and for some family planning. Obviously fitting in exercise, meditation or walks all seem like luxuries during these times but should be fit in just as urgently as their treatment protocols when possible for strength building and stress relief.
Once chemotherapy has come into play and hospitalizations often become necessary exercise usually takes a back seat. Unfortunately, most hospitals don’t have a system to integrate exercise into these patients treatment protocols. Even the worst off patients can benefit from mild exercise i.e. walks, relaxation techniques, restorative yoga, chair exercises, light weight lifting, or some form of cardiovascular activity to aid in the reduction in fluid retention and muscle atrophy.
After getting out of the revolving door of multiple hospitalizations the weakness in ones body is immense not to mention a lot of these patients are sent home with aftercare and are still truly ill and incapable of fending for themselves. Medical visits continue for many months if not years. For many patients blood building shots like Neupogen and Epogen are common and painful. Regular monitoring of blood levels called CBC’s are taken to check the status of the white and red blood cells along with other important cells that are informative to the hematologist monitoring the cancer patients prognosis.
So when, how and what kind of exercise does one partake in? There are cancer exercise classes popping up allover the place. Yoga classes for the cancer survivor, swim classes, movement classes but what about a mind body class that can address the emotional turmoil along with building the body back up at the same time. Strengthen the mind and the body will follow!
A whole new level of fitness practitioner needs to be created for cancer survivors who are faced with an aftermath of side effects from Lymphedema after having lymph nodes removed to blood issues such as neutropenia or anemia, Epstein Barr, Chronic Fatigue, or even Recurrent Meningitis or histories or Encephalitis from insulted immune systems.
These Practitioners will be faced with more and more medically challenged people who truly need knowledgable guides to help facilitate their journey back to wellness.
