There’s a season in your cancer journey that nobody warns you about, mostly because nobody has a good name for it. Not treatment. Not recovery, exactly — recovery implies an endpoint, a discharge summary. And it’s not quite survivorship, since that also implies you’ve been handed back to ‘normal’ life. This is something else. Let’s call it the ‘after.’
READ MORECategory: Recovery
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10k training: Week 2
I’ve always liked starting the week with a rest day. It gives me time to reflect on the past week, review the workouts for the week ahead, and negotiate with myself about whether my schedule or mindset might make completing my workouts a challenge.
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Let’s run a 10k: Take 3
So I’ve done it now. I’ve signed up for a fall 10k to put a race on my calendar — the Marathon Beneva de Montréal has a 10k route with a generous two-hour cutoff. Far enough out to rebuild my base, early enough in October that the weather should still be good racing conditions. And it will be after my September scans and follow-ups, so I’ll know where I am heading into race day.
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What was I thinking?
I’ve been home for a week now, after an intense seven days of conferencing in Halifax, and then a few more to spend time with my family. With a decent week of rest and sleep under my belt, I woke up this morning smiling as the thought, What was I thinking? ran through my brain about working at this level less than eight weeks post-surgery. I mean, really?
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And exhale …
There is nothing quite like the anxiety of sitting in your oncologist’s waiting room, knowing that on the other side of the door are the results that will shape, or reshape, your future. That was my Tuesday. To my surprise, we landed in an unexpected place. I walked in untethered, not knowing, and I walked out NED. My pathology was Stage I. Exhale, literally …
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Buying forward: Not running won’t stop me from buying new shoes
Four weeks out from a robotic right hemicolectomy, I have more patience than energy — and apparently, more optimism than sense. It’s Ottawa race weekend, and while I know why I won’t be toeing the line this year, it doesn’t stop me from dreaming about what’s next.
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Can running be bad for you?
I remember seeing the articles start to circulate last year. It was in the middle of race season, and I was following some of my favorite road runners’ transitions to the trails and ultra distances. The correlation was between extreme distances and the incidence of colorectal cancer. Without reading closely, it had a logic: distance running is hard on your gut, creating an inflamed environment that gives rise to pre-cancerous lesions.
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Hello from the other side …
I’m one week post-surgery, officially POD8, and sitting in the sun on a Saturday afternoon. I was discharged from the hospital on Wednesday and, if I’m being honest, this recovery has been something of a roller coaster. You never know until you’ve been through the treatment how your body will absorb the trauma, and mine has some strong opinions, it turns out.
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You can’t always get what you want (or more waiting …)
This past Tuesday was supposed to start with an appointment with my surgeon to review pathology results. It didn’t go exactly as planned. Even though it’s been five weeks since my surgery, the pathology report wasn’t ready yet.
The why? of that is a good question.
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