Obviously cancer treatment is full of adverse side effects. For starters, my largest tumor was in my lung cavity which made it such that my lungs could not fully inflate. Then one of the chemotherapy medicines I was on was Bleomycin which can cause lung damage and unfortunately for me did cause lung damage. Then I got a lovely lung infection, possibly Valley Fever but the test results could not pin it down for sure, that caused pneumonia. And once I was done with all that, I went on to radiation where they could not angle the radiation beams to avoid my lung because of the position of the tumor. By the end of the ordeal, my lung capacity had been reduced to about 50% of what it previously was. The doctor’s answer to my reduced lung capacity issue was that I needed to exercise regularly.
On top of my lung issues, I’ve spent most of 2010 living an almost sedentary lifestyle with just a little bit of walking from the parking lot to my appointments and enough Wii Fit to keep my muscles from atrophying. One of the major side effects of radiation is fatigue which can last for weeks after the treatment is complete (my doctor thinks my fatigue will finally pass this month). The doctor’s answer to increasing my energy level was again that I needed to exercise regularly.
I liked the Wii Fit, but I wanted something with more structure and more intense cardio options so I decided to give EA Sports Active More Workouts a try. If you didn’t own the original EA Sports Active, you will need to get the accessory pack to be able to play More Workouts and if you do own the Wii Fit Balance Board, you can use it with EA Sports Active More Workouts but it isn’t necessary to play the game.
I just completed the 6 Week Challenge on low intensity. The 6 Week Challenge has you complete a specific series of 24 workouts (4 workouts per week for 6 weeks, it encourages rest days with no more than 2 days of working out in a row). You don’t have to complete it in 6 weeks, but you get a special trophy if you do. There are options for low, moderate, or high intensity and you can change your intensity at anytime during the challenge.
The first two days were grueling, my thighs were so sore I practically had to drag myself up and down the stairs by the handrail, but once I got a few days in it started to feel good. About halfway through the challenge, it started to incorporate a few moderate intensity activities to keep things from being too easy.
I love the structured aspect of the workouts. Unlike Wii Fit, which has you selecting random activities in no particular order, EA Sports Active More Workouts provides you with almost 100 preset workouts focusing on various areas of the body, of different lengths, and at different intensities. The only thing I felt like the preset workouts were missing was a strictly cardio boxing workout. And unlike Wii Fit, you can program and save as many custom workouts as you like and they can include any and all of the activities in the game.
My plan now is to start the 6 Week Challenge on moderate intensity (with the option of switching back to low if it gets too hard) and not push myself to complete it in 6 weeks or less so I can also mix in some of the other fun looking preset workouts like Step Aerobics Class, Island Cardio Blast, and Island Adventure.
Another aspect of the game I love are the trophies. There are 30 different trophies to strive for including things like completing the 6 Week Challenge, burning 1,000 or 10,000 calories, playing for 10 hours total, or getting a perfect score in a hard intensity activity like Squash or Water Skiing. The trophy system is much more robust than Wii Fit but still a far cry from the 700+ achievements to be had in World of Warcraft. To get all of the trophies, I’ll have to work myself up to the hard intensity activities so it definitely gives me something to strive for.
One area I thought the game was lacking in was it’s goals system. You can set goals for how many calories you want to burn, how many workouts you want to do, and how much time you want to spend working out over whatever period of days you set. But those goals don’t really do anything. I’d love to also be able to set a goal weight and then set it to 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week and have it generate the workouts I need to complete to reach my goal.
EA Sports Active 2 is coming in November 2010 and incorporates a heart rate monitor, special arm and leg bands so that you don’t ever get stuck on the nunchuck cord again, a new 9 Week Challenge, online tracking of your statistics and progress, and versions for the Xbox and Playstation in addition to the Wii. Unfortunately EA Sports Active 2 is more than double the price of EA Sports Active More Workouts and the accessory pack.
I’m very happy with EA Sports Active More Workouts and I definitely feel like using it is getting me back to my normal breathing and energetic self but because of my fascination with statistic tracking, I’ll probably upgrade to EA Sports Active 2 come November so I can get that heart rate monitor data and the online tracking.
This is a guest post from Corrie who is a stay at home mom to 2 energetic boys and the owner of “Cents”able Momma. She loves to help her readers save money on everything from video games to groceries, as well as offering frugal living tips, great deals, and methods to earn some extra money.
Last year, I saved my Swagbucks and traded them in for Amazon gift cards. Why? So we could purchase a Wii as a family present for Christmas.
We have 2 young boys (now 7 and 4), so we thought it would be fun to have a game system that we could all play. Honestly, our boys don’t really give my husband and I much of an opportunity to play alone (unless we sneak it in when they’re asleep). But, we have managed to have fun on the Wii too.
Exercise Games
Sometimes it’s a challenge to fit exercise into the routine, so I purchased both the Wii Fit Plus and EA Sports Active.
I like how the Wii Fit balance board is versatile. You can use it for workout as well as other games, such as snowboarding, etc. However, I struggle with the exercise routines being a little too easy. The Wii Fit seems to focus more on balance, and I don’t feel like I’ve really worked out when I’m done.
The EA Sports Active game has worked better for me, since I’m able to use the resistance band to work out my arms. Plus, I find the games a little more challenging physically. For example, in one game you are rollerblading. You have to crouch down to go faster and then jump up to get over the obstacles. It makes star jumps a little more fun than doing them on your own.
Before you purchase a workout game (and there are many out there), read the reviews and do your research on which game will work for you.
Golf
My husband loves to play golf, but can’t get out in the winter months in Michigan. So, we purchased the Tiger Woods Golf game (I know…). Not only is it fun for my husband, but it’s a fun family game too. You can set the levels to accommodate varying skill sets… although my husband tells me that I always win because I set my skill set too low.
Fun Games
We also have Mario Kart and recently my 7 year old received Super Mario Brothers for his birthday. Of course, my boys love both games, but I’ve had fun playing them too.
When you play Mario Kart individually, the game unlocks additional courses, characters, and vehicles to ride as you win races, which keeps it interesting. One of my favorites, too, is playing other opponents via the internet. It’s fun to think that you’re racing against people all over the world. Plus, you can set it up that you can play your own personal friends with the internet connection.
Super Mario Brothers looks like a fun game too, but we’ve only had it for a week, and I’ve been given no access to it by the little gatekeepers at my house.
Netflix
Starting in April, we have also been able to use our Wii to stream Netflix to our TV. It’s really easy and free to get the Netflix disk for the Wii. Plus, we actually save $5/month on Netflix, because we reduced our plan from the $13.99 plan with 2 disks to the $8.99 plan with only 1 disk and unlimited streaming movies.
Although the streaming movies do not include many of the new releases, there are still some good movies and TV shows to be found. It’s easy to browse by category for instantly available movies and add them to your queue.
How do you use the Wii?
Disclosure: Some links in this post are affiliate links.
I’m happy to report that I had my first post-chemo haircut this week and finally feel like I don’t just have a giant mess on my head for this first time in 8 months. Ev`yan went bald on purpose, but it was reassuring to see someone else having the same issues with super short hair that I’m having. “hair is a woman’s crowning glory.” @ Apricot Tea
Now this is just the most awesome thing I’ve ever seen. I always wanted a bearded dragon as a kid but my mom always said no because I already had an iguana. Two-headed, six-legged baby dragon @BoingBoing
Disclosure: Some links in this post are affiliate links.
And after 8 long months, today is my last day of cancer treatment on the whole.
My doctor tells me remission is an antiquated term. The best tests they can do now only show areas of cancer that are one centimeter or larger (which is pretty big if you think about it). I reached that point in April and continued on for several more months of treatment as a best attempt to get rid of any cancer smaller than that but there is no way to tell for sure. The term that will be used in my case instead is freedom from progression which means at this point I have no noticeable growth of cancer.
Follow up tests and check ups start Monday and will continue for a minimum of 5 years, getting further and further apart the longer my results come back cancer free.
Now for the really hard part. I’ve been on disability leave since January thanks to almost daily doctor’s appointments and a slew of adverse side effects but in 3 and a half weeks I’m planning to go back to work. My biggest concern is that I forgot how to do my job. I probably didn’t forget everything but maybe I forgot some small but essential things.
I’m also concerned about lingering extreme fatigue from the radiation treatments (that side effect is supposed to be over about a month after treatment is complete) and that by adding 8 hours of work back into my schedule I won’t have time to do all the things I need to do.
So I’m starting now to build a new daily routine. I have time scheduled after work each day for exercising, eating, showering, blogging, and relaxing by reading, watching tv, or playing video games and I’ll be in bed in time to get a solid 8 hours of sleep (which will hopefully be enough). I know it takes about 3 weeks to develop a new habit, so I’m getting started on my new schedule now.
Why do I feel the need to schedule all of this? Because before I went on disability leave, I wasn’t even able to find time to eat or shower much less do any of the things I wanted to do after work, I was practically asleep by 6 every night.
Today I leave you with the music video of Jack’s Mannequin’s Swim. Andrew McMahon, the singer/songwriter, survived leukemia and wrote this song specifically about the challenge of getting back to a normal life after cancer and how you just have to keep going no matter how hard it seems. I find the song infinitely sad and uplifting at the same time.
Want to order something from the Apple store? Now there’s an app for that. While I find some of the features of this app handy: like you can see where the nearest Apple store is (say you’re traveling and forgot your charger and need to pick one up stat) or book an appointment at the genius bar, I wouldn’t actually use it for orders. Why? Because if you use a regular internet browser and click through eBates before placing your order with Apple you can get 1% cash back.
I’ve tried Couch to 5k in the past but never been able to stick with it. Jamie Ann recommends an iPhone app to walk you through the program while you listen to your own music and that really appeals to me so I’ve downloaded the app and plan to give it another try soon.
Formerly Gracie takes a look at why people choose to use real vs. fake names on the internet. I was particularly amused by the opinion that “We’re all one Google search away from getting fired, disinherited, and disowned”. For the record, my name really is Carrie.
Semicolon reviews Cory Doctorow’s For the Win and tells you how and where to get the ebook free. I’ve heard great things about Doctorow’s books but haven’t actually read any of them yet so I got the PDF version of the ebook so I can read it while simultaneously testing out the new iBooks for iPhone app.
I liked the Wii Fit, but I wanted something with more structure and more intense cardio options so I decided to give EA Sports Active More Workouts a try. If you didn’t own the original EA Sports Active, you will need to get the accessory pack to be able to play More Workouts and if you do own the Wii Fit Balance Board, you can use it with EA Sports Active More Workouts but it isn’t necessary to play the game.
EA Sports Active 2 is coming in November 2010 and incorporates a heart rate monitor, special arm and leg bands so that you don’t ever get stuck on the nunchuck cord again, a new 9 Week Challenge, online tracking of your statistics and progress, and versions for the Xbox and Playstation in addition to the Wii. Unfortunately EA Sports Active 2 is more than double the price of EA Sports Active More Workouts and the accessory pack.
Want to order something from the Apple store? Now 
