Now that I have completed all the treatments for my breast cancer, I focus on recovery. I live a life of adventure and exploration as a sailor. I need to make sure I recover so that I am strong and agile for this life at sea.
I think recovery is a mindset in addition to an activity. I am not sure I had the recovery mindset when I completed the treatments for lymphoma. I just wanted to get on with my life. I didn’t know I had MS at that point either. I am pretty sure I thought I was just going to go back to doing all the things I had done before. I did not have a plan for recovery.
Let’s recap…Chemotherapy is poisoning your body with the intention of killing the cancer cells without killing the patient. I have gone through chemotherapy not once, but twice now. You’d be surprised what you can live through.
This round of chemotherapy and radiation were significantly easier than what I went through to treat my non Hodgkins lymphoma. Even though it was easier, it still took a toll. I was seriously fatigued. Think no energy to do anything. I was weaker. Everything became a lot heavier and I needed a lot more help. My appetite was low. The steroids and chemo drugs made everything taste bad and combined with nausea, eating was not high on my list of things to do. I lost some weight – not a ton, but some. In addition, all the medications left my entire GI tract feeling unsettled and out of sorts.
The best part of this experience was my care team. I saw an integrative medicine doctor who had me take a probiotic for a month. That helped reset my GI tract. She also suggested a plant based protein shake to supplement my diet.
I saw both a physical therapist and an occupational therapist during my treatment. Both provided support to help me recover from the treatments with the focus on supporting me with the MS. I now have an AFO (ankle foot orthotic) brace and a walking stick for long walks to help with conserve my energy and reduce fall risk. I’m going to be honest, I have the brace and the walking stick, but I am not using them much. The brace is good for long walks but terrible for short walks and for around the boat. Around the boat I am mostly barefoot and the brace requires shoes. It also requires different shoes than my normal. They have to be a size larger to accommodate the brace but then the unbraced foot is in a shoe that is too big so it needs and insert to compensate. The whole affair is awkward. I might get used to it. I also have a set of exercises to help build strength and balance.
The occupational therapist gave me exercises to help build strength and coordination in my hands, especially my weaker left hand. These use putty with beads in it and sponge blocks. It does look like much, but these exercises are helping a lot.
Remember that in addition to this second bout of cancer and chemotherapy, I also have MS and the symptoms that go with that. I have had a smidge of peripheral neuropathy in my left pinky and ring fingers for several years. A bonus, if you want to call it that, is that the cryo gloves and mittens I wore during the chemo infusions to help prevent peripheral neuropathy not only prevented additional peripheral neuropathy but seems to have alleviated that small amount of peripheral neuropathy I have been experiencing from the MS.
I lived through the treatment. Now on to recovery. I have a recovery plan this time.
My recovery now focuses on diet and exercise.
I am following the Mediterranean diet with an emphasis on lots of fruits and vegetables. More and more studies point to the Mediterranean diet being ideal for those with autoimmune diseases (like MS). I have been following this diet for a while. Honestly, it is not difficult to follow once you understand that your goal is to eat a lot more fruit and vegetables, fish, some chicken, and small quantities of beef. I love to cook. I prefer foods that I cook from scratch and I have avoided ultra processed foods for a long time. And I have all but eliminated added sugar from my diet. The discussion about sugar is a long one but the short version is that sugar contributes to inflammation and inflammation makes MS and its symptoms worse. My experience is that if I eat a lot of added sugars (think cookies, candy bars, etc) I suffer with increased spasms and cramps primarily in my legs. The cookie is not worth the suffering it brings.
Exercise includes yoga for flexibility, balance, and strength. I do yoga inside my boat. I have just enough open space in my salon to roll out my yoga mat and the furniture provides convenient hand holds when my balance is especially poor. Let’s be honest, I have MS, my balance is never great.
It also includes walking and swimming. I like walking but I am slow. The walking stick and brace make my walking a little steadier. I have to be careful during the hot weather because heat exacerbates all my MS symptoms. On the hottest days walking is not ideal but swimming is. And the great thing about swimming is that while I am swimming, I am not at risk of falling because there is falling in swimming. I am making use of the marina swimming pool. I am slow and my left leg starts dragging behind me as I get tired. But I am doing it. And it gives me a good full body work out and lots of cardio.
And finally, I am adding in strength training using resistance bands (perfect for boat life). This is to help build back that strength I need for working with lines and fenders, and sails. Strength training gets a lot of press of its beneficial effects on longevity too. More muscle is good.
I suspect I will always be in recovery mode from here on out because I am recovering from cancer treatments and I am living with MS. I can’t cure MS, but I can make sure I keep myself as strong and healthy as possible so I can keep having a life full of adventures.
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