Re: Riding after TRAM flap?

Grizzly wrote:

Other than the arthritis, I'm holding up just fine (knock on my wooden head).. On really cold days I stiffen up like a freakin' board though.. and you are right about them making you dog sick to beat the disease back. Prior to the cancer I felt fine. Post treatment I've never really regained the full strength in my arm and hand on the surgical side. No more tossing 60 lb bales of hay around all day for me. My arthritis doc says that if I were sixty he'd have me in and to cut for knee transplants, but at 46 I'd be looking at having to have the surgery a couple of more times to replace worn out knees before I do a fall over... If I live as long as my parents and grandparents did. All the bloodwork and mammograms have been quite happily normal with no new evidence of any recurrence thus far.. How are you doing Ruth? It's quite a few years post diagnosis for you now too isn't it? Laurel hang in there, you'll do fine. Horsewomen are tough birds.. It helps to have something that you must do every day while you are undergoing treatment though. It is also important to let your body tell you when you need to slow down and rest.. and don't overdo anything physical for awhile.

I am really doing super. I have had a few other medical scares, but so far, knock on *my* wooden head, it has been close to fourteen years. My cancer was caught early, and I had no lymph node involvement -- very, very lucky indeed....

I stopped my annual checks at Dana Farber a few years back, and now just see my Internist regularly; she is well aware of my background and keeps a close eye on things. As far as chemo goes, I laffed my way thru the whole shebang until the bitter end, when I crashed and burned for a few months. And, yep, it is best to keep yourself as occupied as possible during treatments -- a busy mind doesn't have time to ponder that which is best left alone. As far as physical side effects that might restrict my riding, I have been extremely lucky in that I really have had none, other than mildly compromised core strength, which is easily compensated for.

Laura is going to be super. I know, at least for me, talking with others that had been through it was a great help, so hopefully this isn't having the opposite effect on her ;) --
Ruth B
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