February 18, 19 and 20
Saturday morning-went to the velocity workout. Had a tough time. Seemed like my heart rate and breathing were thru the roof. I wouldn't think it's from not doing anything for 8 days, but that certainly didn't help. I have to beleive that it is mostly from the "B" in the chemo treatments messing with my lungs. Anyway, it was a great workout. My legs are still sore as of this writing (2/20)
After that, I went to a hot Yoga class. This was the first time I had ever done any kind of Yoga. When I say "hot Yoga", I don't mean there were hot chicks there (although there were some), I mean hot te,perature like 90-100 degrees. Ninety minutes of posturing, stretching and sweating. Did I say sweating? Sweating doesn't quite capture it. Maybe I should use the word leaking, yea, that's it....I was leaking perspiration. What a workout. It was great and definitely a challenge. Bikram Yoga of Grapevine. is the place. I highly recommend it. I'm hoping this will do several things for me. From improving my always problematic back to flushing out chemo drugs from my body to minimizing the side effects.
Sunday-I went back for another hot Yoga class. Beyond that, I hung out with the family and we went a saw the Little Mermaid put on at a local theatre (Studio B in Lewisville on Justin Rd). It was fun and the girls really enjoyed it.
Monday-another hot Yoga at 5:30 this morning. Again, a great release.
One last thing before I close..I wanted to hear a little from someone that had fought the cancer battle while trying to keep Tri-training in the picture. Karen Smyers is a person who has done that. Now she did not have Hodgkin's or have the same treatment, but it was cancer, and it was defintely a battle.
Here was her first e-mail to me:
Hi Ken,
Gosh, I am really sorry to hear about your diagnosis. News like that is just such a shock to an athlete. I am glad that you are setting out goals for yourself though. I found that that really helped me look forward and stay positive about the present. However, you have to be flexible, too--I set many goals for myself that I wasn't able to attain and sometimes had to give up (temporarily) on their attainment depending on how I was feeling. I don't know what your treatment will entail (chemo?) and how devastating it may be to you physically so you can't really use me as a guide but I can give you a few "tips".
I had thyroid cancer and the treatment consisted of surgery to remove the whole gland, another surgery 9 months later to remove more lymph nodes, and a one-time radioactive iodine treatment. I bounced back from the surgeries fairly quickly (the doc had me somewhat on restricted activity for 2-6 weeks mostly just to let the incision heal fully). But the radioactive iodine ended up knocking me for a bigger loop than expected. I had it done the beginning of Sep and hoped to do the IM that october but it was clear that my body was not up for the training. I ended up taking the rest of the fall very slowly and gradually built up over the winter as my strength came back. (I think it was that my stomach lining was damaged by the RAI and so I wasn't absorbing nutrients well. Consequently, I could train OK for a couple of days but then would get really wiped out since I couldn't recover while not absorbing nutrients. I am lucky that a bout of giardia (sp?) years ago helped me recognize what was going on and I was educated enough not to push through it--that is what can lead to longer term malaise. So I tried to listen to what my body was telling me during the comebacks and "coax" it along without forcing it beyond what it was capable.
So, by all means set goals and keep up the training when you can. But you have to get your health back, too, so don't do things to slow down the process. There were many days when my exercise for the day was a walk to the end of the street and back. And I appreciated it since there were days I was just in a hospital bed! Just focus on what you can do and try to make forward progress when possible.
Having the sport of triathlon as a passion in my life helped me get through some hard times for sure--I hope it does the same for you. There is nothing like a good training session to start gaining confidence in your body back after a scare like your disease. GOOD LUCK and keep me posted on how you are doing.
Karen Smyers
Shortly after that, I created the Blog to keep everyone updated. I sent her a link to the blog and she sent back....
Ken,
I really like your blog--I am sure it is therapeutic to write down all your feelings and thoughts like that and it can be helpful for others going through similar things. I recognized a lot of your thoughts and emotions from my experience ("How can I have cancer and feel this good?" was my thought after I finished the Ironman in 99 in 2nd place while knowing I probably had cancer.) Keep it up and take it one treatment at a time--the body is an amazing thing in its ability to bounce back--as long as you have a strong mind as well!
All the best,
Karen Smyers
Thank you Karen for sharing your story and allowing me to share it with others. You, like so many others, are providing me with strength to keep fighting the battle till I am victorious.
After that, I went to a hot Yoga class. This was the first time I had ever done any kind of Yoga. When I say "hot Yoga", I don't mean there were hot chicks there (although there were some), I mean hot te,perature like 90-100 degrees. Ninety minutes of posturing, stretching and sweating. Did I say sweating? Sweating doesn't quite capture it. Maybe I should use the word leaking, yea, that's it....I was leaking perspiration. What a workout. It was great and definitely a challenge. Bikram Yoga of Grapevine. is the place. I highly recommend it. I'm hoping this will do several things for me. From improving my always problematic back to flushing out chemo drugs from my body to minimizing the side effects.
Sunday-I went back for another hot Yoga class. Beyond that, I hung out with the family and we went a saw the Little Mermaid put on at a local theatre (Studio B in Lewisville on Justin Rd). It was fun and the girls really enjoyed it.
Monday-another hot Yoga at 5:30 this morning. Again, a great release.
One last thing before I close..I wanted to hear a little from someone that had fought the cancer battle while trying to keep Tri-training in the picture. Karen Smyers is a person who has done that. Now she did not have Hodgkin's or have the same treatment, but it was cancer, and it was defintely a battle.
Here was her first e-mail to me:
Hi Ken,
Gosh, I am really sorry to hear about your diagnosis. News like that is just such a shock to an athlete. I am glad that you are setting out goals for yourself though. I found that that really helped me look forward and stay positive about the present. However, you have to be flexible, too--I set many goals for myself that I wasn't able to attain and sometimes had to give up (temporarily) on their attainment depending on how I was feeling. I don't know what your treatment will entail (chemo?) and how devastating it may be to you physically so you can't really use me as a guide but I can give you a few "tips".
I had thyroid cancer and the treatment consisted of surgery to remove the whole gland, another surgery 9 months later to remove more lymph nodes, and a one-time radioactive iodine treatment. I bounced back from the surgeries fairly quickly (the doc had me somewhat on restricted activity for 2-6 weeks mostly just to let the incision heal fully). But the radioactive iodine ended up knocking me for a bigger loop than expected. I had it done the beginning of Sep and hoped to do the IM that october but it was clear that my body was not up for the training. I ended up taking the rest of the fall very slowly and gradually built up over the winter as my strength came back. (I think it was that my stomach lining was damaged by the RAI and so I wasn't absorbing nutrients well. Consequently, I could train OK for a couple of days but then would get really wiped out since I couldn't recover while not absorbing nutrients. I am lucky that a bout of giardia (sp?) years ago helped me recognize what was going on and I was educated enough not to push through it--that is what can lead to longer term malaise. So I tried to listen to what my body was telling me during the comebacks and "coax" it along without forcing it beyond what it was capable.
So, by all means set goals and keep up the training when you can. But you have to get your health back, too, so don't do things to slow down the process. There were many days when my exercise for the day was a walk to the end of the street and back. And I appreciated it since there were days I was just in a hospital bed! Just focus on what you can do and try to make forward progress when possible.
Having the sport of triathlon as a passion in my life helped me get through some hard times for sure--I hope it does the same for you. There is nothing like a good training session to start gaining confidence in your body back after a scare like your disease. GOOD LUCK and keep me posted on how you are doing.
Karen Smyers
Shortly after that, I created the Blog to keep everyone updated. I sent her a link to the blog and she sent back....
Ken,
I really like your blog--I am sure it is therapeutic to write down all your feelings and thoughts like that and it can be helpful for others going through similar things. I recognized a lot of your thoughts and emotions from my experience ("How can I have cancer and feel this good?" was my thought after I finished the Ironman in 99 in 2nd place while knowing I probably had cancer.) Keep it up and take it one treatment at a time--the body is an amazing thing in its ability to bounce back--as long as you have a strong mind as well!
All the best,
Karen Smyers
Thank you Karen for sharing your story and allowing me to share it with others. You, like so many others, are providing me with strength to keep fighting the battle till I am victorious.
posted by Ken at 4:54 PM
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Interesting site. Useful information. Bookmarked.
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