Hi Susan. I’m three weeks post op from an Upper Right lobe lobectomy. I’m glad to hear you are doing well a year later. It gives me hope. The day after the surgery the hospital told me I had to walk a mile a day if I wanted to go home. I did that religiously while there. Since home I’ve been doing 30 minutes on the treadmill (it’s too cold to be outside) slowly increasing my walking speed and incline. I’m up to a mile and a quarter in 30 minutes on a slight incline. It’s a long way from a 7 minute mile but who cares. It’s more about how I feel afterwards, not how far or fast I went. One bonus to having lower lung capacity is that you can get your heart rate going with less effort. Higher heart rate equals more cardiovascular exercise, with less effort. That’s the math I’m using anyway.
I’m not sure if you feel this way but when I exercise it is a pretty strong reminder of the fact that I had cancer and lost a part of my body because of it. That reminder stings. I’m hoping it lessens with time but I can imagine a lot of frustration comes with those reminders. I’m choosing to not focus on the why I’m not able to do what I use to and focus more on how much improvement I’m able to achieve now. I’m focused on recovering from the surgery and improving. I’m obsessed with the spirometer and getting as close to my preop lung capacity as possible. I hope I can keep up that perspective long term. I’d like to get back in a Montauk bike this summer
Lungevity has some endurance events you may want to look into when you feel ready. https://lungevity.org/events/team-lungevity-endurance-events
Its awesome you are interested in getting back into running. Go with how you feel during and after running, that’s what’s most important. Not how far or fast you go.
