Rowing & Cancer Chemo Treatments

[NELSON]

To help me fight through the horrible side effects of the cancer chemo treatments, I keep in simple, 'JUST ROW THE ERG'. I have been fighting the good fight now for over 5 years, DX- CANCER OF UNKNOWN PRIMARY SITE (CUPS). The erg keeps me heathy, ??, mentally and physically tough enough to continue the battle. I have had numerous different chemo drugs, radiation & surgery. My present protocol is 48 hrs on chemo, then 12 days rest. I start chemo on Wed am & it takes me through Friday am.This protocol has been almost 2 years. I just had a break of four months, Feb -June, everyone thought my body needed a rest. I ROW, that is what I do. I miss only two days of rowing, Thursday & Friday of chemo week. Saturday mornings rows does not start out very good but I commit to stick with it & it never fails that half way through the routine, the fog starts to lift from my brain, clean O2 seems to start flowing around the body & the blood seems to start cleaning itself. During our row routines, my rowing partners all say that they can look at my face and tell the moment that I switch from being the chemo patient to being the rower. I SWEAR THAT ROWING IS SAVING THE QUALITY OF MY LIFE! For those that are also going through this type of life altering illness, sometimes it is very hard to get moving but I am convinced that the mere act of movement helps to heal in a manner no drugs can duplicate. Movement; lungs pumping, O2 flowing, blood circulating, it is the body trying its best to clean itself. Give it a chance and fight through the impulse to remain in a static state. Commit to help yourself heal.
PS: My ranking times, at least 7-8 of the ranked events, over this past 5 years are pretty good considering the bodily stress.

[DavidA]

Nelson,
Congratulations on your erging achievements. You have quite a few meters under your belt and very decent times and distances. I am sure that your positive attitude has been very beneficial to your health. I hope that you continue to be able to erg, and stay as healthy as possible for many years.

David

[Montanaandy]

Truly inspirational. I have no doubt that your rowing is helping you in beating the big "C".

I believe that I need to print your testimony out and have it down in the workout room by the rower so that whenever I am feeling tired, sorry for myself, unmotivated, etc. about rowing I can read your story to give me a good swift kick in the arse.

Montanaandy

[myboypat]

What an inspiring story, thanks so much for sharing. Keep on rowin', and kick its @ss!!

[wjschmidt2]

Nelson,

Keep up the great work! The erg is a great stress reliever as well. My wife went through her own cancer battle (so far we are winning the battle!!!) and the erg helped me stay sane and strong. She too stayed motivated and kept up with her daily exercising. So all the best to you and live your life to the fullest!

Semper Fi,

Bill

[NELSON]

Hey everyone,
Thanks for the kind words &: I can feel all that positive energy coming my way .

Yo Bill, thanks for reminding me of the issue I left out in my original posting.
Caregivers, take care of YOURSELF! By observing my wife, this journey is just as hard on the caregivers as it is on the cancer patient. Make sure you do not stop living your life. I know this is a hard one but you have to stay, physically, emotional & spiritually healthy. This cancer illness is like a spider web, it will touch all your loved ones. Everyone it touches has to commit themselves to be the best they can be AT ALL TIMES.

[luis_pedro_sato]

Good luck to you.
The cancer battle is never a easy one.

[APM]

Truly inspirational. I have no doubt that your rowing is helping you in beating the big "C".

Agreed, all the best Nelson.

[johnlvs2run]

Nelson,

I admire your toughness and fortitude.

Honestly, doesn't there come a point when you say, hey this isn't working, and see that you're going the wrong direction. If all the surgery, chemo & radiation actually helped, instead of poisoning your body and making you worse, you'd have gotten much better a long time ago. In fact, based on my own experience and that of many others, such treatments do NOT work, and indeed are probably the primary cause of you continuing to be sick.

Yeah I know this will really p)$$ some medical types off, another subject survived and might inspire others to cut into their profits, instead of just passing away peacefully while they take every last penny. But to me it is people's health that's important, the people's opportunity to enjoy a healthy longevity, not the constant misinformation and profits of the pharmaceutical corporations. I would like to see more people keeping healthy and staying away from them.

[NELSON]

John,

First, I agree with you on many levels. Second, it is a tough call, to know when ENOUGH is ENOUGH! My cancer was dx in 2/05 & at that time they gave me ONE YEAR. The treatments that I have had has kept me alive & with a high quality of life, relatively speaking. I do think that a large part of my survival has been the alternative health piece that I follow, but who really knows maybe it is just not my time yet. I now know that I am unwilling to buy additional months of life AT ANY PRICE, I am speaking very generically & not just $$$$.

Stay healthy & row strong my friend.

[luckylindy]

Nelson, your achievements and spirit are inspiring, thanks for sharing. It's great that you've not only fought to stay alive, but fought to keep a high quality of life (and are winning!)

Out of curiosity, what is the "alternative health piece" that you are following? If it works for you, I'm guessing it could help at least a few other people who are interested in preventative actions (like myself).

[NELSON]

It seems that the 'BIG C' is going to win this six year battle. I am official a in-home hospice patient (there is no time line at this point) at this time, I think it is for the best. The last chemo session I had was so horrible that it made me make a life decision to stop the chemo treatments. The cancer cell had become resistant to the chemo cocktail thereby the cancer was progressing and no additional chemo was going to help at this stage. Over the last six years it has been over 80 chemo sessions, along with all the other procedures and my body just said enough already. My systems have started to shut down, the whole thing had become systemic. I squeezed an additional five years out of it, they said I would be gone in a year from the original DX in 2005.
I would like to say that I am so thankful for the C2 machine and the C2 community, it has been a real joy in my life.
For anyone that has a interest in the whole cancer literature world, there is a must read book on the market, it is the single best book I have read over the last six years on cancer. It is THE EMPEROR OF ALL MALADIES, A BIOGRAPHY OF CANCER.
Row strong and powerful my C2 family!

[hjs]

Very, very sorry to hear,

I wish you lot's of mental strenght, I find it always very difficult to say something meaningfull in situations like this, but a few words are the least I can say.

[Bob S.]

Very sorry to hear the news, Nelson. Like hjs, I never know what to say in these situations, but I want you to know that my thoughts are with you. I regret that we never had the chance to meet.

Bob Spenger

[PaulG]

Godspeed. As you said, let us not forget the caregivers. They are in this journey too.

Paul