From the first moment my wife discovered
she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from the men I know. Even
ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer seemed to have
received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did little more than
mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I started
this blog…
Two days after my
60th birthday, my wife and I joined Weight Watchers © and started to
lose weight.
Four months later,
we’re approaching our goals in weight loss – and we’ve changed our lifestyle
drastically. Fast food is almost exclusively a thing of the past and what we DO
have in the house is under tight control. For example, I have had a LARGE bag
of Peanut M&Ms in the cabinet beside me writing table all summer. I have
not opened it and my wife hasn’t even suggested it!
So, what does
dieting and lifestyle change have to do with lymphedema?
Everything,
apparently: “…body mass index was the variable most closely associated with arm
lymphedema after breast cancer treatment, and that the greater the body mass
index, the higher the frequency of lymphedema. The 5-year incidence
of lymphedema in women with breast cancer with a body mass index greater than
29 was 36 percent, compared with 12 percent for patients with lower body mass
indexes…the majority of studies linking elevated body mass index with an
increased risk of developing secondary lymphedema have involved the upper
extremity following breast cancer treatment...”
So initial body
weight – and guys, I’m TALKIN’ TO YOU, TOO! – goes hand-in-hand with lymphedema
struggles. What can WE do, brethren?
First of all, we
have to get up off of our fat asses. Sorry, there ain’t no sweeter way to put
it. If you think the lymphedema is “her issue” for even one second, then you’ve
never been more wrong. If she has lymphedema, then you have lymphedema. I’ve
spent way too much time thinking I could be supportive and all that, but losing
weight and getting healthier wasn’t on the list of things to do – more likely “wining
and dining” was close to the top, right near watching movies together.
It recently occurred
to me (actually, it hit me like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgatNovoAnI)
that I’ve been blithely walking alongside my wife and not doing much of
anything significant. So, when she asked me to do WW with her, I jumped
(finally) at the chance to support her.
The end result is
that I’ve lost weight, she’s lost weight…but now we’re stalled. What’s next?
After doing some research on it, I found this: “…the group lifting weights
experienced fewer flare-ups than the women who protected their arms.
Researchers deduced that arm muscle contractions may help move lymph fluid back
to veins in the armpit and neck areas thereby forcing the body to recirculate
the fluid. This, in turn, alleviated swelling and discomfort.”
So – next step is
to start to lift small weights. I don’t mean “pumping iron”! But using small
weights to regain muscle mass lost (for me) and increasing the lymph
circulation for her.
Ready? Set. GO!
Resource: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4393748/,
http://www.curetoday.com/community/bonnie-annis/2017/06/could-weightlifting-be-beneficial-for-those-with-lymphedema
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