tubby

haven't dropped in here for a while, thought id give a little update after i had my final follow up with the cancer clinic. even money odds 5 years ago and all done now. I havent been training in 3 years now, I just couldnt keep up coaching junior football and TKD and football workload hasnt decreased since then. Still making it to the gym and in good shape. Its a bit of a happy and sad day, one friend had an anniversary remembrance for his wife who didnt make it on the same day, another whos wife has just been diagnosed. its a nasty disease and affects so many.

during class I just grab a hand towel when I can, and wipe a lot on the rolled up sleeve of my dobok. In competition when we have to wear the head gear I use a halo bandana. they have the rubber strip on the inside the stops the sweat dripping down the front.

Went and got some cheap straps so i can max out the full body side of the DL. 2*5*150 and 1*4*160. Still doing sets to 120 regular grip amd no straps. Happy with the feeling of being used up all over.

I've never used chalk, just a mixed grip from 120 up. never had this happen before but I did seek out the new bars in the gym with very rough gnarling which is probably the reason.

just on 2 years now since I finished chemo, 18 months since my bowels stuffed back in, and I finally matched my pre-cancer deadlift, all other lifts are well above that level. 150kg*5. ripped the callus off my hand in the process which has stopped me going back for more. now to the big challenge. preparing for annual scope in a couple of days so on limited diet. How do people drink their coffee without milk?

quite happy doing 2 days at the gym 90% on free weights. The limitations I put on that training are mainly to avoid being exhausted from leg day before TKD training. but this is all focused on training established movements, I expect many who think weight training is bad make the mistake of trying to add weight and replicating their MA movements which is a great way to injure yourself.

good and bad news. nothing cancer related in the back strain buy some compressed vertebrae inupper spine and a bit of degeneration, though thats generally expected at this age. i already had some neuropathy from chemo and this has made it a lot worse so off for some sessins with an exercise physiologist. suspect a slip whilat squatting caused this, but have been back squatting since without pain.

just had the 1 year clinic visit since my surgery. few problems with nerve damage bit cancer markers down. then went to gym and got PB on bench. back in on wednesday for CT to confirm pain on my back is a rhomboid strain amd nothing more sinister. overall i am in best shape ever amd focused on being ready for tournament in november.

tinkering at the edges for mine. the biggest issue is the stinky toes factor - if getting a touch of your smelly feet remains 4-5 points, but a solid kick to the trunk half that, we'll remain with the stand off approach and less action. Reducing punching points worth even further also seems a mistake, it should be a valid defence and option to strike approaching a clinch. Could be wrong but I don't see any worth in these updates

its nor a popular idea but i am a big fan of treadmills for this sort of thing. your current oace is about 9kmh. jogging starts for me at least over 6.5. a treadmill acts as a pace setter so see if you can jog for 3km at 7.5 or 8 ans build from there. some find them boring. i out kn a fan and good musoc and am haply. treadmills also work great for intervals. mine has a 400m lap.counter so i run 260m at a pace i can just finish, then walk back to the start point. repests 7 to 20 times. as a decent sized and middle aged guy, the extra bounce is welcome to my knees. just dont think a mile ona. flat treadmill is the same as a mile kn the road. that aside they make a great training tool

this thread's been idle for 3 months now. Has anyone seen or heard anything of these new poomsae? or being KKW should I expect to see some unofficial youtube updates over the next 18 months or so?

one year out of chemo and did ct/scope and bloods this week. on the way in i was accidentally shown the pictures from the original scope. damn big and ugly the tumour was. this time nice clean bowels, surgical joins perfect and blood levels trending down again. scope prep still sucks but the results are a great relief.

My fitness has come on really well of late. I've been on the treadmill 2-3 times a week, gym 2-3 times plus 2 classes a week. Had 2nd dan grading on Saturday and was happy with how well I went against the younger students. It was in a scout hall - besser bricks and a tin roof, 30 degrees outside and doors closed, so now suffering a cold largely I think from being so dehydrated that day. Had the most recent blood work 2 weeks ago and that showed a small rise in CEA levels. Its not an absolute test, rather they are looking for a trend and they say not to worry about one result, but when someone says cancer markers are rising well that tends to play on your mind. It hasn't changed plans for the full range of tests that were already on the schedule for February - CT scan, colonoscopy and more blood work.

recovery is going along well. I'm still to some extent tied to the toilet several times a day, and had to sit out one class where digestive pains got to me too much, but am generally back to decent health. Still learning what foods set things off, and am learning to live without orange juice and kiwi fruit. I've set myself a goal to compete again in masters games (as in old farts, not necessarily really good) this time next year, a well as be in shape for grading in December this year. Was all set to compete this last year but obviously things got in the way.

had more blood tests this week, blood taken on Tuesday, got results on Wednesday. I was not anxious at all about this until Thursday morning when my 5 year old boy had a meltdown because mum left for work before he could give her a hug. If he's like this when mum goes for the day what would it be like if dad was juts gone. After a 2 hour wait in the clinic they confirmed results are again as good as possible at this stage, markers all trending down. Follow up today with the surgeon who also confirmed all was good. His last comment - its been 6 weeks, so another 6 weeks of not lifting anything over 10kg. I didn't say that no one mentioned this before and I've been full tilt at the gym for 3 weeks already and feeling great. I just quietly put the 70lb dumbbells away.

I made my return to class last night. and as a bonus, my 5 year old who has been impatient to start is now training with us too. A bit stiff, a bit out of shape and being a bit careful as the wound is still a little divot and obviously not that strong, but felt great to be back there. Whilst the stoma and pouch weren't a big deal, not having that physical lump there makes kicking and stretching much nicer. And the hernia belt I had to wear -was always catching on my pants and belt. Recovery took a twist after a week, I thought it was massive wind pains which is not unusual after bowl surgery, Pretty much a crippling cramp for 30 seconds every 2-3 minutes. It was exhausting as I couldn't sleep and my whole core ached from that regular tensing. Then one day I spent the whole day on the toilet. Seems a twist in the bowels came just good and pain never came back. Rode my bike into hospital yesterday for final follow up on the blood clot with the haematologist. I never went back on the thinners after surgery anyway due to the open wound, all is well and I am now finished any active treatment. Time to get my middle age behind back in shape for a couple of mtb marathon races coming up and that grading in November. Getting shape for final round of state TKD events in October would probably be pushing things, be as daft as entering sparring during radiation/chemo was.

id be guessing 4-6 weeks. the wound has been lrft open to heal from the inside.

recovering well from surgery yesterday to put my inside bits back inside. lrss than 24 hours out and they're removing morphine and im walking ok. a refelction on my training for 9 months with a stoma. not many people can say they got their butt kicked and the crap kicked out of them and mean both things literally.

just as I'm really getting on top of things and ready for final surgery in 2 weeks, they've delayed again as the dr, the one I confirmed booked this date for surgery, is on holidays. The stoma isn't holding me back much but I'm really looking forward to getting it done, right now I know all my physical progress will be reset then. Its even more frustrating as I;ve been in for 4 Dr's visits recently across the various disciplines, all have looked up my files and discussed the dates of surgery (blood thinners affect a lot of treatment options) and none mentioned the date had changed. Still getting 2* a week to the gym, training the kids footie team, tkd twice a week and spent a couple of hours doing laps of the mtb park this week. about the only issues it causes is a physical lump in the way of some stretches and a little more care on core lifts - dead and squats really. Was a bit disappointed not to be going for 2nd dan grading this weekend, not sure if it was due to the 6 weeks I missed after surgery last year. On the plus side my youngest turns 5 today, and he's holding me and my masters statement that he was too young at 4 to start so he'll be kitting up next week with me. He came with me on Thursday to watch the coloured belts grade and is more excited to start.

an interesting blog post in the link below - would you re-sequence the BB poomsae if you could? Chongkwon and illyeo seem physically demanding for the ages you would have to be by the traditional schedule of learning. http://jungdokwan-taekwondo.blogspot.com.au/

a new but not top unexpected twist. the chemo drugs are known to attack nerves too, and whilst it normally happens during treatment ive had a loss of feeling that didnt start until a month after the end of chemo. can make balance whilst holding extended kicks interesting. nothung can be done other than hope neurons regrow in 6-12 months. as with everything theres a bright side. pushups on knuckles on the wooden floor dont hurt ar all anymore

I can imagine heart attacks have a different mental battle - the immediacy of it, but the feeling of your body not doing everything you ask of it normally must be the same. I got my port out last week. 15 minutes of cutting took 45 as it was so overgrown, I take that as a good sign my body is working to recover. Also got notice from the hospital saying my surgery to reverse the stoma is booked. Called surgeon who said no way whilst on the blood thinners. Talked to Haematologist who put me on the thinners and is managing the clots - he said major danger is past, you can do surgery now. I've left it to the doctors to talk to each other and agree. Downside is the surgery as scheduled is right before my 2nd dan grading. just wait and see on that schedule. Also got a small cut last night whilst holding the targets. Amazing how much blood comes out a small cut when on thinners. and amazing how well modern laundry products clean blood from a white dobok. Had to take a week off with the stitches in my chest, and it left me feeling flat again. Had to do the mental and physical equivalent of trying to shuffle some life into my legs. The instructor asked me to take the kids going to state titles in a couple of weeks and do nothing but work on side kick. came out sore but content. That little switch in the head that said get over the fatigue bump really worked. Also getting a kick out of coaching the junior footie team. So much joy and life in 3/4/5 year olds playing a game, even if I spent half of it as ref chasing kids and pointing them to the right end of the field.

All good sensei8. to put it in context the cancer is gone (surgically removed) but it had been in many of the lymph nodes so there was every chance this scan could show it had spread to kidney or lungs, which would make it stage 4 and bordering on a terminal stage. I spent the night before watching my kids sleep and thinking I may have to figure out how to break it to them that dad may be dying. Having the appointment run pretty late just added to the anxiety, but Dr was good, before we'd even left the waiting room he told me the scans were clear and we ran through the follow up processes and contacts. When I first met him 9 months ago he was very formal, I think partly as self preservation as a lot of his patients wont make it through, and he's opened up a lot since then.This time he pretty much bounced out of his seat and said "let's go find tin tin and get you deported". I had no idea that was his name for the manager of the chemo ward, and deporting meant to take out my implant port where I got the chemo injections. I suspect the Dr enjoys this part of the job, too often they know of the fights they don't win but the never hear again from the ones they do win so he enjoyed it as much as I did.

its not often been called names brings me close to tears, but when the head of oncology calls me (or my scans) unremarkable that comes pretty close. It's a long way from over, but this is as good a result as is possible at this stage. Booked in for Monday to get my port implant removed, wont need that anymore. but to prove how cruel cancer is, a mate's wife who is more advanced that I ever was taken back into hospital with complications this morning. now I feel awful about sort of feeling good with how things went.

had my first CT scan since just after diagnosis on Monday, going in shortly to see oncologist for the results so quietly crapping myself just now. this is to see if it has spread, and the most likely place is to the liver which would be very bad. on more positive notes, I finally decided to try squatting in the gym on the weekend, I've been avoiding it in case I blow out my abs either from the internal stitches or the stoma. Was a very light weight, less than half what I was doing before, but it went fine. My legs complained more about working that way again than my core did. And my instructor bought me a present - new poomsae dobok to encourage me to get back into competition. though he also said he wouldn't let me spar yet, but he said that last time I did it during radiation and I must admit, that didn't go so well. feeling much better in general though. Cycling kids around to daycare and taking the 20km long way home, and the under 5's footie team is a handful to coach but a lot of fun. cardio is a challenge but I'm working on it, 30 minutes after weights twice a week on top of training