Hi Guys
I know I'm new and you don't know me very well yet, but I'd like to draw upon your experience of staying healthy.
Over the weekend I found quite a large lump in my right breast. What I want to know is, I'm doing so well with training and actually joined a gym today - is it best to keep on with it or should I slow down until I find out what this thing is..? How do you guys cope with underlying illness..? Do you train at a lower level or do you just carry on as normal or do you just stop..? I'm not sure what to do.
I feel okay, a little tired maybe and I have lost weight - which is what I want because I HAVE been trying to do that. So if I hadn't noticed this lump I suppose I'd just be carrying on as normal. What do you guys think..?
Cath
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Second, don't necessarily give up the training, but listen to what your body is saying. You've made wonderful progress, you are looking forward, winning your way to your new image, you want to run. If, in spite of all this, your legs feel like lead, your breath catches, you feel washed out, find yourself capable of sitting very still in chairs watching the shadows on the wall, believe what your body is telling you.
Go to bed instead, with a good magazine or book. I do this very often, as the lurgy that robbed me of my legs for five years is not so much gone but merely beaten back a bit. Some days I train, some days I'm flat on my back.
My favourite books at such times are about running. Thinking positive, that I will get back, is essential. Think running.
Keep us posted. Thinking of you, Marj
If you feel well and fit then just carry on doing what you're doing. Listen to what your body tells you. When you first start out and get lots of new aches and pains, it can be difficult to tell what's normal and what's not but after a while of running, you will probably be more in touch with yourself and know what to do.
For now and in the future a good indicator of whether or not you should take it easy is your resting heart rate. Take it when you first wake up in the morning before you get out of bed and do this every morning for a few weeks - this gives you a baseline to work from. If it's much higher than usual say 5-10 beats a minute more then you should have a rest day that day. This is one that RW is always preaching in its hallowed pages.
Good luck Cath - hope everything goes okay for you.
Hope all goes well. Please let us know what happens.
Cath
Just saw this thread and wanted to add my support. I'm only 27, but I've been through it too. The most important thing is to insist that your GP give you an immediate referal. You should be able to get one in two weeks. And as for carrying on, definitely. Exercise is the best way to beat stress, so keep it up. Think positively too, that helps so much. Anyway, good luck.
Hild.
Its okay to be a bit up and down in your moods only you know how you feel and react to this situation. Don't put on a brave face because its expected, be yourself, all the best.
Had a really good day - a friend in work has been an absolute star and has made time to talk and ask whether I'm okay etc. I did have a very "close-to-tears" moment today. Mainly because I had to talk to my best friend from school and explain things to her and she was really upset. We're going out to lunch tomorrow though and we'll go out at the weekend as well so I'll have time to reassure her properly. I don't feel half as worried as I was yesterday.
I also went to the gym and pushed myself a bit ... did 2.6K in 20 mins and I could have kept going but I wanted to finish my gym session before the traffic got too bad to drive home. So I think I'm looking at 40-50 mins for my first 5K. I know that's not the speediest there is but I'm pleased that I can run 20 mins without stopping! Also did 30mins on the stepper, 15 mins bike (5K) and rowed 1000m as well as weights and ab training. I felt very refreshed after all that .... then I came home and took the dog for his 3 mile walk!
JaneM -- I'll definately write my questions down and both my partner and I are on holidays the next two weeks (we weren't actually going anywhere) so he'll be coming with me.
Thanks again guys for all the thoughts and best wishes, I really appreciate it
Keep us informed ...
Let us know how you get on. Glad you've got supportive flesh-and-blood friends there - having a shoulder makes all the difference.
Cheers, V-rap.
I've only just seen your thread and wanted to say best of luck and I'm glad you're getting seen promptly. I had a scare myself a few years ago and thankfully it turned out to be nothing. I found the GP and other health professionals very helpful and willing to explain things properly. The worst bit was having a mammography - being flatchested there was practically nothing for them to squeeze between the xray plates! Well, it was something to joke about at the time.
And you're allowed as much black humour as you want as well as the tears.
Best wishes to you.
Took me ages to refind this thread. I've been going through all the messages just to try and bolster my confidence a bit. I'm in that scary-night-before-hospital-tests place. I think I've done pretty well most of the week to remain positive and avoid thinking about the problem but now, I'm worrying "what if this" and "what if that". I know I should know better and I know it's probably a false alarm but it's the not-yet-knowing which is getting to me. I won't need to worry this time tomorrow.
Laura -- thanks for the late edition to the thread. Reading other people's experiences in various places has really helped. My Gp (although he was a locum) was really really nice and he was sensitive to my worry about what I thought it was and wasn't. I can't speak for the hospital staff as yet (get to meet them tomorrow) but I'm reassured from a colleague who has been treated by the breast clinic at my local hospital that the staff are some of the best there are in her experience.
How nice is it when your friends and colleagues think about you even when they are away on important trips..! I got an email today from one of the guys who shares my office (he's gone to a conference in America) and he just simply said "Good Luck and I'll be thinking about you tomorrow". That really made me think, how important it is to tell people what you think... this guy was instrumental in helping me get settled in my (newish) job and has been a kind of mentor really. It just goes to show that people are capable of thinking about more than themselves. I told the mr about it and he said he was glad that I could talk about it with people too - it makes it less of an "issue" to deal with, especially at work where there seems to be this environment of "hush hush, don't tell anyone" etc.
Anyway, I'll update tomorrow I think at some point when I have more news about what is what.
Good luck tomorrow.
RR
a) what do you lecture in?
b) how are your numbers looking at the moment?
I'm a lecturer at Staffordshire Uni and our numbers were looking pretty poor up until Clearing started. Not sure how things are going at the moment.
RR
Road Runner - I'm a lecturer in adult nursing (pre and post reg). Alot different from working in the NHS but just as rewarding I think. I think our numbers are up slightly on last year but nowhere near target - although that was before clearing started and I've been on hols since last Friday What do you lecture in..?
But now I know that you're bound to be a lot better informed about the workings of the NHS than I am!
Cheers, V-rap.
Thinking of you tomorrow!
Susie
DC
Jeanette