Studying Hard

As promised, today I'll give an update on the studies I'm currently involved in.

The first study is a tumor study, this one I have donated my tumor to after they hold it for the requisite six months. There was also quite a lot of bloodwork associated, with tumor markers being part of it.

Through that study, I was called to see if I would be one of the first participants in the AMBER study, which is the one that I spent most of the day at the university today for. The term AMBER was chosen to reflect Alberta Moving Beyond Breast Cancer Research. The goal is to follow 1500 people with a breast cancer diagnosis over five years. They do not prescribe activity level or diet but they do intensive measurements yearly and have access to our medical records to see now we are progressing over those five years.

Today they were getting my baseline information. This consisted of height and weight, vital signs, waist and hip measurements, measurements of both the affected arm and unaffected arm (for lymph edema assessment), and a dexascan which shows body fat/muscle ratio and bone density. This was followed by grip strength testing, balance testing, flexibility, range of motion of both arms and curl ups (to fatigue).

I also 'got' to do a max treadmill test complete with headgear that held a mouthpiece connected to a machine and a clip on my nose so all air in and out was measured through this apparatus. Not a pretty sight, I'm sure ;) During this treadmill session my blood pressure, pulse and oxygen saturation were monitored at three minute intervals. This was somewhat distracting, to say the least. I think my hemoglobin must still be a little low from the last chemo as my resting pulse rate was 89 today, has been much lower. I was at maximum heart rate at 4.2 miles per hour with a 15% grade and my blood pressure dropped to 80/58 so that was it for me. They tell me there was 2 minutes 30 seconds left when we stopped. It took a bit for the blood pressure to get back to a more normal reading.

To end the day I 'got' to do shoulder and leg presses, first with testing to see the weight where I hit fatigue at 7 - 8 reps and then the computer calculated a weight that I was to continue pressing until I could no longer do another rep to measure endurance.

Not a typical day for me, for sure. I am getting frighteningly comfortable in a very short period of time with having people pinch, prod, measure, weigh, etc. my body, all for the sake of science. I left with four questionnaires to be completed that will provide them with information on general health, diet, activity levels and baseline health. They said these would take about 3 hours to complete, which seems accurate - I have 2 1/2 completed and it took 1 1/2 hours so far.

I was also outfitted with an accelerometer to measure my activity levels over the next 7 days. This consists of a device adhered to my anterior thigh and a waist device. I am to wear both all day during my waking hours with the exception of baths or showers or swimming.

In addition to the accelerometer, I have already been wearing my pedometer every day since the start of chemotherapy for another study. This study has divided participants into two groups - those who have been provided with materials to help them maintain or increase their activity levels throughout chemo and those who are not provided with the materials but only wear the pedometer and track their steps daily. I was provided with the materials which are very good . They contain very useful and convincing data regarding the benefits of being active throughout chemo, in decreased side effects and ability to complete treatment with the prescribed dosages as well as in prevention of recurrence. There are tools to use to set SMART goals and tips on achieving those goals.

All of the results of these studies should prove interesting in the future and doing them should help me to stay motivated to keep active through my treatment.

Long post, possibly another War and Peace type blog post. I wouldn't get an A from my manager on this one, not even a B for brevity. Oh well ;)