This week we have a guest author in one of our fantastic participants who is going to describe how he started exercising with a long-term health condition, and how that has helped him.
It was nearly three years ago that I got the news we all dread, I had incurable prostate cancer with a prognosis of 3 to 5 years. After 18 weeks of chemotherapy and 4 weeks of radiotherapy I found myself rewarded with the first lockdown, being advised to isolate because the treatment had placed me in the extremely clinically vulnerable group. I got some much-needed help from the Oncology Psychology Service at Worcester Royal Hospital and, at the end of the counselling, I was put in touch with Di Fox, who at the time was working with the Macmillan Move More program. The small booklets produced by cancer charities indicated that fatigue was likely to become an issue and the way to mitigate or slow down the impact of fatigue was regular exercise.
Prostate cancer in general feeds on testosterone, so the simple answer is to begin hormone therapy. This effectively places some men in their own version of the menopause, only for men we go from normal to the menopause in days, suffering many of the symptoms experienced by women for thousands of years, hot flushes, brain fog, cognitive changes, weight gain, muscle pain, joint pain and emotional issues. HRT is not an option, as it would make the situation far worse by feeding the cancer.
Di contacted me during the first lockdown and we discussed what I was looking for and any other health issues that may impact on the type of exercise I could do. Di then created a plan and off we went. Using Zoom for the first time I found myself leaping up and down in the living room, marching on the spot and performing exercises I had never heard of. The first session was well monitored and everything demonstrated before I attempted it myself. I spent some time in the army in the 1970s and 1980s where exercise was routine, but that was over 35 years ago, running fast, leaping tall walls and shooting straight was all part of the job. Now I found myself doing exercise because I wanted to, because I knew it would help me cope with treatment. Now I was enjoying it and having a great time.
I still don’t know how it happened, but Di managed to introduce Pilates into the sessions. Had she said Pilates my laptop would probably have developed a fault, or my broadband gone down. But no, there I was on my back on the floor attempting shoulder bridges and the table top position. It was completely new to me and a challenge, but one I attacked head on. Nearly two years later I am still doing a Pilates class with Di, I like to think I have progressed beyond beginner, but I’m never going to make the advanced level!
Di also runs a weekly on-line exercise session for the local prostate cancer support group. If the prostate is removed or subject to radiotherapy there can be side effects, so every Monday a group of mainly older men spend part of the session doing pelvic floor exercises. Just another aspect of treatment that is generally unknown!
As for me I am doing great at the moment and the hormone therapy is still working. I am doing regular exercise with the support group, regular Pilates, and playing both walking and touch tennis. I also volunteer at Spetchley gardens as a gardener. I have tried walking football and badminton and, although I enjoyed both, I had to give up the badminton because my knees were not so enthusiastic. The walking football clashed with touch tennis - it’s nice to be in a position where I have a choice of activities.
I find that I look forward to my regular exercise, even taking my weights and exercise band when I go away, enabling me to take part in my normal Zoom sessions. I have met a lot of people, many suffering from the same illness as myself and it enables a camaraderie as we discus treatment options or our medical teams. I always feel fantastic after a game of walking or touch tennis and, only recently, I congratulated myself on finally winning against an 80-year-old opponent, but to put it into perspective, she was a regular tennis player who had won every match over the past year. But I had my victory, I lost the week after! Each group I join is a small social group, usually with a WhatsApp group for keeping in contact. They all ask how I am; I don’t wear a badge saying I have cancer, but if someone wants to talk, I am happy to tell them about my “journey.” Exercise has given me the confidence to get out and about again. I used to have a relatively private life but exercise has given me the chance to widen my circle of friends and contacts and getting out to meet people has been a major benefit. I know the future is uncertain, a second course of ten chemotherapy cycles is something I am not looking forward to, but I am in better condition now than when I had my first course and will hopefully fare better. I find it is the taking part that is important, winning is nice every so often as it indicates your skills are improving, but just being there is a great boost to my well-being.