Pilates for Ostomy & Hernia: Seeking Feedback

To TerryD - so happy that everything turned out so awesome for you!

And to Marsha - great post of your experiences in getting active again - great example of "When there's a will, there's a way".

Jim, Marsha, Vulcan, frizbkid, and bodyrocker, thanks so much for your encouraging comments, and thanks too to anyone else just reading who is even thinking of giving input about starting over.

I have been practicing the dynamic tension and the other moves at home. Got myself back on my elliptical the last few days and am following a diet finally. Just making a start and a plan and having that first session seems to have kick-started things for me. Honestly, what Marsha says is so true....you have to work on all of you to get healthy again. I have spent the last six months since my chemo ended just feeling really depressed. I can't go back to the job I loved; the neuropathy is so bad, so I miss the challenges of the job and my friends. I have really done nothing except a daily slow walk of two miles......

It has really just clicked for me that the hernia is only ONE place on my body! No reason at all that my arms and legs and aerobic fitness are out of shape! Heck...I had no problem on the elliptical - my numb and painful feet don't have to even lift like walking! My legs and butt were doing the work! Not to mention my heart! So the last two days, I have not taken the Lyrica which makes me feel like crap, and am just weaning myself off Ativan (Lyrica is supposed to help neuropathy but it makes me feel weird, the Ativan is for anxiety and depression), and I have another Pilates appointment Monday. Today I completed a very gentle yoga session (DVD) and lifted some light weights for my arms, plus the elliptical.

Here's hoping muscle memory will kick in too!
Hernia is sticking out like a baby belly on the stoma side, but that's no different than usual. I am wearing my belt all day and have no pain there.....so - deep breath and keep moving! I told my Pilates instructor she should make a case study out of me....

Stay safe everyone.

So true about having mind and spirit along for the ride, Terry. You have to want to get better!
I learned from an old man who lived to be 94, to never give up. I watched him keep pushing as long as I knew him, which was about 25 years. He would get up early in the morning and stay on the move. If he fell, he would get up, dust himself off, and away he'd go. He had his mind and spirit along for the ride, even if his body sometimes preferred the parking lot. He used to say, "You can always sleep when you're dead." Well, now his body is in its final resting place, but that spirit is in my mind. Never give up.

Frizbeekid