Rebuilding Barb after the Big C

As many of you know, my wife has been dealing with Ovarian Cancer beginning in the summer of 1999. She has had three recurrences since then.

The following is the story of how we have rebuilt her strength after each bout.

One thing we always tried to consider before any workout is her mental state. When dealing with Cancer the mental states in order are:

• Denial (this isn't happening to me!)
  
• Anger (why is this happening to me?)
  
• Bargaining (I promise I'll be a better person if...)
  
• Depression (I don't care anymore)
  
• Acceptance (I'm ready for whatever comes)

Generally after being told you have Cancer you go from top to bottom when going through the stages. That are times you go back up to a higher stage before going back down. When training anyone their mental state that day should be taken into account before beginning the work out.


After finishing chemo in the fall on 1999 we were determined to take better care of ourselves. We knew that Barb had lost a lot of strength from the chemo and I talked her into trying strength training for the first time.
He goal was to learn how to squat with a bar that weighs as much as her body on her upper back. She started with body weight squats and easy upper body moves like rows with a very light band.  Once she was comfortable with these exercises I began to increase the amount of resistance she used very slowly. After chemo her body was not ready to gain strength as quickly as if she had never had cancer.

Within 18 months Barb was squatting over her body weight.  In 2001 more cancer was discovered. She had more surgery followed by more chemo. Between chemo treatments she was able to do enough strength training to keep from getting so week. We did decrease the intensity and volume of the lifting that she was doing. We had to keep an eye on how well she recovered after each work out.

Once the body had developed a certain amount of strength, it is easier to regain that level the second time than the first. 18 months after her second bout of chemo Barb was able to squat with a 135lbs bar on her upper back.

In the fall of 2003, she had her third bout of cancer. (Brain Tumor) This time she had radiation treatments for a month. Since this took a lot more out of her, she quit lifting until after a couple of months after the radiation treatments had ended. She would walk when she felt up to it.

It took a couple of years, but Barb became stronger than she had ever been. She got strong enough to squat !65lbs. for 8 repetitions. Her upper body exercises also became tougher than ever before.  Since she had plenty of strength, we decided to maintain this level while adding more balance exercises.