Hysterectomy recovery

[xostali]

Hi all,

I'm 5 weeks post-op from a total hysterectomy plus removal of my fallopian tubes, sentinel lymph nodes, surrounding tissues, and a bit of the top of my vaginal canal (due to cancer). I'm lucky it was caught early, and it's like 90-95% probable that I'm cured, so no worries. I'm finally at the point where nothing hurts unless I overexert myself, and I can do a bit more every day.

Anyway, I'm not technically cleared for exercise yet, but I've been allowed to walk as long as I don't overdo it. I got my Inspire 2 on Saturday (unfortunately it arrived after I did like 3k steps at the zoo, according to my phone - and yeah, that did make me a bit sore in my lower abdomen, but I think that's because there were a lot of hills). I'm on beta blockers so I set custom HR zones and indicated an estimate of what my max heart rate would be. I also I set a low goal of 2,000 steps, and when that wasn't too bad I raised it to 2,500 yesterday. I've noticed that I'm getting credit for being in the fat burning zone when taking a hot shower, which is a bit interesting. But I guess that happens. I've switched to an elastic band because that's more comfortable, so today I didn't wear in the shower. It was getting late and I was 231 steps shy of my goal so since my partner was playing music I started just kind of low impact random dancing and I got past 4,500 steps and earned 60 zone minutes! I'm pretty sure that's the most I've moved since my surgery. Well, that and walking at the zoo.

I'm not sure I'm ready to raise my limits yet because I don't know if I can keep it up. I'll see how I feel tomorrow. If it seems like I've overdone it I'll scale it back but it was kind of fun to dance tonight even if I was in my pajamas in the living room and kitchen.

I think having this thing will motivate me in my recovery. I kinda wanted to get the Charge 5 but I already felt like the one I got was a splurge considering I'm not going to be ready to do proper workouts for a while yet, so the deal I've made with myself is that if I really use my Inspire 2 for a whole year, I will buy myself an upgrade. 😛

I do wish there was a way for the app to recognize when goals have been raised rather than retroactively applying them to previous days that had been completed with lower goals. It kind of makes me want to keep them super low and just keep my real goals in my head lol.

[SunsetRunner]

What an inspirational story, @xostali . Thank you for sharing. I am confident you will earn your Charge five! 

[xostali]

Thanks! I have a ton of work to finish on an online exam I'm writing so I might not dance at all tonight (even though I kinda want to - I was in such a good mood today), but I've made my steps and I only need 19 more zone minutes this week. I feel all right, not sore. If I don't dance I won't get in my five days of working out this week (I didn't Sunday or Monday) but that's okay. I've already done way more than I thought I would. 😌

[emili]

thank you for sharing your story and best wishes for continued recovery that is full of dancing steps! Dance actually burns more calories than walking, so dance the night away often and with enthusiasm 🙂

[xostali]

Thanks! I did it last night as well. I told Alexa to play some Kpop and between that and the prompts for my solo adventure egging me on, I ended up doing 8,000 steps yesterday! And I feel fine so I didn't overdo it. Yay!

I wish there were more than three adventures available but I found some other options online that I can do after I finish these. 😁

[charleskn]

What a great story. I hope your recovery continues in a positive direction.

I understand about the new goals changing past results, and here is why I think it's not a (large) issue. The fitbit dashboard & app let you look at your steps, calories burned, active/zone minutes over various periods of time (day, week, month, year), and this will show you the trend of your activity, which to me is more important (to me, at least) than if I hit a specific goal that day.

I'm pretty sure there are apps, I think Google Fit, which track which days had the goals met.

Use your daily goals to help you meet your current goals. Look at the history to reflect on your progress.

Good luck.