I have tried to play the sympathy card with my trainer. You should be nice to me I said, I have cancer. He laughed and said, "this is tough love baby". And it is. I need to be as strong as I can to get through this process. Yes, mentally strong but I need to stay physically strong. I ran across an article in the Chicago Tribune on 11/23/09 about a research study on the huge risks of inactivity.
It talked about 20 year old Danish males who were relatively inactive but walked between 6000 and 10,000 steps a day. There is roughly 2000 steps per mile so they were averaging between 3-5 miles. The researchers restricted them to 1500 steps a day. In just two weeks their weight hadn't gone up but their abdominal fat had increased 7%. They also showed signs of increased risk of diabetes and heart disease. Their insulin average increased 60%!
When I was 20 I wasn't particularly healthy and I made a vow to myself that I would be healthier when I was 30 than when I was 20. When I was 30 I was thin but not particularly healthy and I nodded to myself and said I was busy. Then marriage, a baby and I was overweight, busy and not healthy. I am certainly not saying the marriage caused the weight gain (but come on, when I was single dinner was a sliced apple and some cheese). When I was 40 I pretty much said to myself, who are you kidding? You said you would get healthier as you got older. You said you would take better care of yourself and you're not. I wanted to set a better example for my son. So I stripped away the excuses and started walking 10,000 steps a day. Then I added yoga. Then I added the elliptical. Then Ken and I started biking together and I got addicted. Then I added weight training so I would be stronger on the bike and healthier as I aged. I can see 50 from here. My brother was here this week and we did a couple yoga classes together, a real joy. He asked, "are you in the best shape of your life?" I felt a sense of satisfaction as I answered "pretty much." I was also biking 100 miles a week 6 weeks ago was so I was probably in better shape then. But it sure feels good.
All of this is a long way to get to admitting that I am scared about how hard it will be to get back into shape after the surgeries. How much flexibility, strength and training will I lose and how quickly? Look at the 20 year old Danish men, I mean my goodness, two weeks and it's all downhill. The study proves what we know. Lack of exercise hurts you. And I am a lot older than 20 something. I think most of us take our good health for granted. I certainly did.
This is how older people get old. Something happens, they get injured or sick and it takes longer and longer to recover. Or they can't recover to where they were before. That all seems pretty scary to me. I don't have a guide for how to recover from surgery. What to do and how. I am concerned about how quickly I will be able to or feel like moving again.
My trainer, Jean, shared something a few weeks ago. For the first time since we have been training together I said, "I can't." He smiled and laughed. He said, " I don't speak Portuguese." I said, "I beg your pardon?" He repeated, "I don't speak Portuguese." I must have looked mystified. He said, "haven't I ever told you that before?" "Nope." "Well you probably have never said "I can't before." He said, "I just don't understand those words. As far as I am concerned that must be Portuguese and I don't speak it. Let's go. Get it done." I laughed and we moved on.
So we will see if I after surgery if I have to learn to speak Portuguese.
The Chicago Tribune article is here:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/chi-tc-health-action-move-1118nov22,0,1946747.story
The actual study results link: http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/299/11/1261-a
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