Northern Lights: Staying Healthy By Exercising
As many of you may remember, I re-started treatment with Revlimid (lenalidomide) and dexamethasone (Decadron) a year and a half ago because I relapsed.
Luckily, I’m responding well to the treatment. My M-spike has decreased to an almost undetectable level, and my light chains are in the normal range.
However, the treatment leaves me somewhat immunocompromised, which means that I am at an increased risk of infection. I have noticed, for example, that I frequently pick up respiratory infections when traveling by air.
My goal, of course, is to stay healthy, and I have a lot of good reasons for that. I want to get out and enjoy what I like to do best. Spending time with family and friends is at the top of my list, as is singing in a choir, and enjoying the outdoors. I have as many interests and activities as ever before, and I want to enjoy them all.
I came to the conclusion that exercise should be a top priority in my daily life to stay healthy. The medical team I work with certainly thinks so as well. For example, my family practitioner encourages me to stay fit every time I see her.
And for me, exercise comes in different forms.
For example, I am an amateur singer, and I think that singing is actually good for one’s health. The vocal exercises I do, which involve a lot of breathing deeply to include all of my lung capacity, may help clear our system of any upper respiratory infection, and lead to greater oxygenation of the blood. Focusing on having good posture is also helpful, since one’s breath is more fully expelled during breathing.
During the warmer months of the year, I walk outdoors as much as possible, along the river pathways or in our neighborhood. On weekends, my husband and I also use the river pathways for biking. The pathways are ‘twinned’ for cyclists on one path, and walkers on the other, making them safe for all parties involved.
I also have a gym membership, which I use more during the cold winter months (it is nice to work out without wearing winter boots, mitts, a scarf, hat, and down jacket). I do a combination of cardio exercise on the elliptical, light weight lifting, as well as stretching exercises there. I also use their swimming pool, either doing aquafit or swimming a few lengths, to add some variety.
I am not in the ‘super fit’ category (I am not training for any competitive events in particular right now), but am trying to stay in shape for my busy and enjoyable life. I try to make time for 45 minutes or more of some sort of exercise every day. I am not part of an organized program, but I have been using my fitness tracker to help me stay motivated and active.
For about six months of the year, my husband and I will also be out in our large garden for an hour or two on any given day weeding, watering, pruning, and planting. That counts as exercise in my book, too. I look after the perennial flower beds, and he does heavier work.
I feel very fortunate to be healthy enough to be able to do all these fitness activities. I’m hoping that they, in combination with a good diet and getting enough rest, do make a difference in my fighting off any potential infection. I also hope that staying strong will help me in my efforts to keep the multiple myeloma from flaring up again. Even if that were not to be the case, exercising increases my energy levels.
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The quotation for this month is from Don Miguel Ruiz (1952 – ), a Mexican author, who said: "Always do your best. Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret."
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 .
Nancy - Thank you for the sound advice for staying healthy. I have often thought that singing might have health benefits. We are actually trying to do almost everything you have suggested - walking and gardening. Now that winter is over, we have started to get back on our bikes.
We also have access to a small gym, but I worry about the germs there. Any suggestions?
Thanks Patty! Isn't it great to be in the sunnier, warmer part of the year again! Hope you enjoy your exercising too. Singing is a mild sort of discipline that encourages good breathing and posture, as well as being really enjoyable. I was out with my choir this morning at a retirement residence where the folks don't get out much. They always appreciate a choir coming in to sing to them.
At the gym I use 'wipes' to clean the equipment, wash my hands, and if there is a gap between equipment (if there were three elliptical machines in a row for example) I would leave a space between me and the next person. Hope that helps.
I use gloves for gardening...sometimes even a 'bug jacket', which the neighbourhood children think is very funny! I am quite allergic to mosquito bites.
Nancy
Your quotation at the end of your article from Don Miguel is a good one. I instilled that attitude in myself and my son when he was very young. As a result, we never had to get after him to try his best. We were always proud of his efforts because he always does his best. My wife and I do likewise in dealing with my myeloma. Everyday brings its challenges and we try our best to deal with them.
We both love gardening and we have 3/4 of an acre of landscaped yard to prove it. In fact, today we were in the prickly pear cactus bed rooting out grass and bachelors buttons that don't belong. Gardening is good exercise as long as we use a wheelbarrow for the heavy stuff, we're ok. The cactus will reward us in a month or two with beautiful yellow blooms. Some people wonder why we have such a big bed of cactus, with those terrible needles and leathery skin. They kind of remind me of being a myeloma patient. Some days we don't look so good. Dex days maybe a bit prickly. But we are still the beautiful person that is embodied in the gorgeous yellow flower. All the work, simply our best, is worth the effort and brings contentment and joyfulness. And don't let anybody tell you gardening is not good exercise. We garden from early April until end of October. Then mulching takes over until the snow flies.
I prefer gardening to the gym any day.
Nancy,
As we have discussed in the past, we share some common interests choir and exercise. I of course am competitive in my cycling. However, my competiveness is the way that I keep myself motivated. I am a huge believer in goal setting. Setting a goal such as race or a 100 mile rally gives me something to work toward. If I was not training for something, I would likely find "excuses" for skipping a workout. A lot of the cycling buddies in my club will skip if it is too cold out. Too cold for them is anything below 50 degrees. Or they may skip because there is a "threat" of rain. Or they can't go to the gym because they "overslept" or worked to late etc. etc. I also find that if you train with a buddy on a regular work out day, you are more likely to go. Everyone has different constraints so we all have to find what works for us. However, there is no doubt that regular exercise is good not only for the immune system but a great reliever of stress.
Thanks, Eric and Ron, for your comments. Eric your garden sounds just beautiful. Imagine a prickly cactus flower bed. Have seen cactus more in the Kootenays, but I think that you live near Lake Huron? We have a tall cactus we call 'Brutus' in our sunroom / greenhouse, but it has never bloomed. I will try putting flower fertilizer sticks with it. Gardening is such good exercise that injuries are very usual for gardeners, so Dilip and I try not to overdo it.
Ron, your goal setting is admirable, and I honestly don't know how you manage to train so much while on treatment! The fellows in my family are quite athletic also. One son-in-law runs marathons, while the other is working towards his third or fourth ironman triathlon. Now if that is not an incentive to me to get good training shoes and get outdoors or to a gym for a training, I don't know what is! My husband often runs a half marathon distance on weekends. But I set the goal of about 45 minutes of exercise for most days since I find that my time gets really filled up with all sorts of other stuff on my lists of tasks and interests. My main priorities right now are staying fit, coping with treatment side effects, and spending time with my family. Our little grandchildren are 15 months old now and we spend a lot of time babysitting too, which is a real pleasure!
I do have 'fitness buddies' but not in an organized sense. I see friends when walking around the neighborhood, or at the gym. My choir mates are friends too, and right now we are focused on a concert we are performing on May 28, so there is a push on there to get to a lot of practices and smaller performances.
Nancy, I was diagnosed at 59 in 2008. Had an autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) and relapsed 4 yrs later. Have been on maintenance with Revlimid / dex since then with very good results. Just added Ninlaro which is giving me even better results.
I swim an hour 4 days each week at the Y, walk our dog an hour each day, every day, and bike when weather is good. Kayak as well. We bought a small RV after my ASCT recovery and my wife and I enjoy traveling and getting away from long, dark, and cold New England winters. I really believe that exercise is helping with the successful drug responses I've had.
One doesn't have to an athlete or even in good physical shape to spend some time each day to increase bone density, aerobic capacity, flexibility and overall wellness. There are many options that require no $$.
My oncologist is working hard to keep me alive. I believe that the least I can do is give him the best body I can for him to work with!
Thanks Bev, and your suggestions are very good! Staying as fit as possible is important to our overall health!
Happy Mother's Day to all!
Hi Nancy,
Exercise is vital.
I do 5k, or 3 miles, or 1 hour of walking a day. You need to get good quality fresh air into your lungs. This enables you to keep your blood oxygen level high as multiple myeloma does not like oxygen. I enjoy my daily walks as I have developed a " zero tolerance " attitude to myeloma since getting a stem cell transplant 7 years ago. Thanks again, keep up the good work.
Mervyn
Hi, Nancy!
Great article today. My favorite form of exercise is walking - just walking around my neighborhood and appreciating being free to be outside, listening to the birds, seeing the beautiful sky, being a part of it all. This helps me so much in my fight against multiple myeloma.
Thanks again for your article. Enjoy your day!
Thanks for the encouragement on daily walks, Mervyn and Sylvia! I think that, if we can, that IS what we need to fight our multiple myeloma, and have a better immune system. Of course, multiple myeloma can be quite disabling too, and it could take time to get back on one's feet again if one has been injured. I went thru that in 2009, with the vertebral fractures, but now am doubly grateful that they healed up to the point where I am walking well again. I think that is why I don't really mind what the weather is like outdoors usually. Today it is only 7 C (45 F), but on Saturday it was 29 C (84 F)! We get strong fluctuations here due to being close to the mountains.
On a different note, there has been a terrible forest fire in the north of our province, which you probably saw on the news. About 90,000 people were evacuated from Ft. McMurray last week. The smoke in the air alone would be very dangerous for one's breathing.
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