Northern Lights: Back To The Gym
On a cold day at the end of January, I was working out at the fitness center when I reflected about the role exercise has played in my life and how it has changed since my myeloma diagnosis. I had been walking outdoors a lot with our ‘grandpuppy,’ but the cold weather had driven me indoors for exercising.
The fitness center has been part of my life since before I had the vertebral fractures that led to my myeloma diagnosis in 2009. In fact, my husband and I have had a membership at the center for over 20 years. I had taken lessons with a personal fitness trainer, classes in Pilates, and participated in an annual 10K road race sponsored by the fitness center for several years.
All of that pleasant activity fell away for over a year after my myeloma diagnosis as I struggled to get back on my feet again. I waited for my injuries to heal and my immune system to recover after the stem cell transplant before I dared to venture back to the fitness center.
At first, I just used a stationary bike. I vividly remember how happy I was to greet old friends there who were very encouraging to me and wished me well for my recovery from multiple myeloma.
And it seems that I have recovered fairly well, since I am now able to resume some of the workout I did a few years ago.
So what am I doing now?
I start out with 30 minutes of aerobic exercise, which I feel helps me avoid injury when I work with weights afterwards.
I like to use the elliptical trainer because my entire body is in motion and it is a low-impact workout. Because I am holding on to the arms of the machine, it provides me with stability and balance, which is quite important for a nervous person such as myself! The machine also allows me to measure my heart rate, which I find very convenient.
Since I am aware of my increased risk of infection, I always wipe the handles of the elliptical trainer down with a rag soaked in antiseptic cleaner before I use it (I also wipe it down afterwards as a courtesy to the person after me).
I then move to the weight area, where I use several machines for both the upper and lower body.
I set the weights to close to the lowest settings since I have found that that is enough for me to get some resistance. I am not interested in lifting heavy weights. However, after three years of bone building medications, my bones are much stronger and I want to build on that by lifting light weights.
For the upper body, I use equipment that works arms, chest, and upper and middle back.
For the lower body, I still use some of the exercises that were recommended to me by physiotherapists 12 years ago (abductor / adductor machines and doing leg raises while sitting on an inflated exercise ball). At the time, I attributed my severe knee pain to doing too much jogging, but I now wonder if issues with myeloma bone destruction had already developed in my frame.
My weight routine also includes the use of light hand weights, usually five pounds. I use them in front of a mirrored wall so that I can watch my posture.
After the weights, I finish up my hour-long exercise regimen with some stretches on the floor mats. The stretches emulate moves I remember from past Pilates and yoga sessions as well as the physiotherapy for my sore knees. Doing these stretches, I celebrate the fact that I can move my back again.
The fitness center is part of my life again, and I am very grateful for that because it shows how far I have come since my diagnosis. My plan is to stick to my New Year’s resolution and get to the gym at least once a week.
How has your fitness routine changed since your myeloma diagnosis?
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The quotation for this month is from Mark Twain (1835 – 1910), an American author and humorist, who said: “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”
Nancy Shamanna is a multiple myeloma patient and a columnist at The Myeloma Beacon. You can view a list of her columns here.
If you are interested in writing a regular column to be published by The Myeloma Beacon, please contact the Beacon team at .
So, do you have any residual limitations from your vertebral fractures? Sounds like you caught it before permanent damage was done.
I am too fearful of germs to go to a public gym. I wish this weren't the case. I just completed 16 weeks of physical therapy (had nothing to do with MM) for a broken leg. The therapists were super vigilant about wiping down the equipment and tables; however, they couldn't "wipe down" the patients who came in with hacking coughs and dripping noses. To say I was stressed out is an understatement.
Hi, Nancy!
Thanks for this column on your exercise progress. Sounds good! Just to share: I am now in a Livestrong program at my local YMCA. It's a 12-week, free of cost, program that meets 2x weekly for cancer survivors (need dcotor's permission). An excellent program - includes cardio, strength training (we used resistance bands the other day), flexibility exercises, and a support group sharing at the end of each session. Should be available if anyone is interested at their local Y.
Sylvia
Hi Nancy,
I am so happy to see your column. I was beginning to worry about you because I was not seeing any comments from you lately.
You don't know me at all but I feel I have gotten to know you from your well-written and sharing columns and from your always encouraging responses to others. Your optimistic and spiritual nature comes through in your writing.
I have been reading the Myeloma Beacon since 2009, when my husband Larry was diagnosed. Unfortunately, he died two months ago, but he put up a great fight and received great care at Cleveland Clinic. I keep pulling for those fighting MM. I feel like I have gotten to know several people through these columns. I always look for "Northern Lights."
You have done a lot of good here.
I am happy you are doing well - keep up the fight.
Happy Valentine's Day from Cleveland, Ohio.
Mary Crotty
P.S. - Nice new picture!
That is great Nancy. You have participated on my biking thread, so you know how I feel about exercise. I congratulate you on getting back to what you were doing before you were diagnosed!
Ron
Kudos to you, Nancy. I've been following your articles since you started writing - you're one of my favorites! My husband (68 years young) was diagnosed with myeloma in 2011. I've been begging him (with no success) to get into the rec center with me, which I have been going to every day for 30 years. Be sure not to neglect spraying down the floor mats you use for your stretching. Sometimes people overlook that. They are vigilant with the machines, but not so much with the mats! Exercise, as you obviously know, is the best remedy for our minds as well as bodies, no doubt!
Thanks everyone for the comments! I also get a lot of benefit from reading the Beacon, and writing for it too! It has been very helpful with guidance as my myeloma journey extends onwards ...
Pusser, I was not in good shape after the compression fractures, and was in the worst pain of my life for several weeks. I credit my recovery to the fact that the myeloma cancer cells were pushed back into a stringent remission, thus no longer destroying my bones, and also that the bisphosphonate treatments built up the bones again. I think that this varies, though, with different patients, as to how much recovery is attained. That is why I am really careful not to lift too much now, since I don't want to re-injure myself.
Lovey, I avoid people who are coughing and sneezing if possible. Maybe healthier people would be in a gym, since that is optional for them, whereas, at the physiotherapy clinic, they might be trying to keep an appointment even if they aren't well.
Thanks, Sylvia, for the info about Livestrong for cancer patients. That sounds like a very good program and I think that others on the Beacon have also participated in that.
Mary, I am sorry to hear about your husband Larry. I hope that the extra time you had together was wonderful too. I can never forget that in a way, for myeloma, I am sort of on 'borrowed time', although of course I hope that the disease becomes more of a chronic condition.
Thanks, Ron, you are an inspiration with your biking thread! We will be cycling again outdoors soon again. It was so mild here this week (a chinook wind from the west, or a 'pineapple express') that some hardy souls were out cycling in bike shorts! That is very unusual to see here in February.
Thanks Jan. I felt better just getting back to the fitness centre where I had spent lots of time exercising before the 'crash' of the myeloma diagnosis. Maybe your husband would too, since it's sociable there. Good reminder about the floor mats; you can take a towel and sit on that too.
Nancy
I have tried to keep up with an exercise program and, each time I get back into a routine, some MM related illness sets me back to square one. Your article gives me the inspiration to start again.
Mark
Keep trying Mark , and I am sure you will find some sort of exercise that works for you. I like going to the gym, but am really busy many days, and spend a lot of time walking with the 'grand puppy', a bouncy golden doodle, who is almost three years old now! I would be spending more time at the gym if that little bundle of energy had not come into our lives! I like doing aqua fit type exercises, too, at a pool, and cycling and hiking in season. I just don't sign up for fitness classes right now since I have a poor record of completing them. But that's not to say that others won't benefit from a more structured approach. I printed out this column and gave it to the fitness people at my centre. They were really pleased with it and will post it in their coffee room. One instructor said that he works with a cancer exercise group at our university, and would read all of my columns! There are many fitness classes geared towards cancer survivors.
Nancy, thank for your column. My husband and I were just recently talking about the importance of exercise, and you inspire me to take a no-excuses approach. I definitely needed the reminder. Best wishes and lots of good health!
Tabitha - I think the secret to exercising is just to find something you enjoy doing, and hopefully might do together with your husband also. Dilip and I do some exercising separately, but, for example, if we go to the gym on weekends, then he may do a different workout, but we meet up together afterwards. We cycle together sometimes, and walk together too.
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