Human health question

AdorableAlice

AdorableAlice

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Has anyone managed to care for their horses and continue to ride (for pleasure not competing or hunting) whilst receiving chemotherapy and radiology after breast cancer surgery.

A friend is having surgery for early onset breast cancer next week and is hoping, once the wound is healed, to be able to care for her horses. The horses will be out if this weather ever gives over. So it would be a walk around the farm, feeding and steady hacking on a safe cob.
 
my friends mum had chemo and wasnt allowed anywhere near the yard or horses because its a huge risk you will catch a bug,chemo kills ur own defences so you cant fight anything at all. hope ur friend gets well soon:)
forgot to add it was breast cancer my friends mum had and she made a full recovery
 
I have had no experience of that kind, but with my transplant the best thing I ever did was to get back to my girl. So I would say if done at a pace that she can manage it would do her the world of good. She will be in the fresh air and doing something that she really loves. It might be worth asking the consultant what they think, but I know with me and the issues that I have had, my horse has always got me through it. Please pass on my best wishes to your friend and I do hope she continues to get better.
 
I knew someone who did most of it. But, they had days where they were physically too weak to do anything. And because their immune system was none existent, even a mild cold bug going round would leave them bedridden. On the 'good' days, yes, albeit at a slower pace than previously. On the bad days no.
 
When I was a teenager I had a amazing RI who I adored she was such a natural horsewoman. She lived for riding and watching her students progress. She was diagnosed with breast cancer and sadly she had to give it up for a long time.
 
My friend had chemo and radiotherapy for cervical cancer. She is in remission as of last week but still not allowed to ride because of 'down there' healing. During treatment she was far too ill to be at the yard and just went between home and the hospital. It really exhausts you and makes you feel ill and it is important to look after yourself.

I hope your friend is well again soon and makes a problem free recovery. Good luck with treatment.
 
People have radiotherapy and continue going to work as normal - well some of them.

Chemo is different though, as lots of the "good" bugs are being destroyed as well as the baddies.

The only thing your friend can do is to ask her doctor at the oncology centre. They know how much treatment she needs and how ill she is likely to be and how soon she can get back to horses.

One friend had breast surgery and asked her consultant to be careful of how he carried out the operation as her horse would pull, so she needed all her muscles. He was and she made a full recovery, although she lost a season's hunting.
 
Please send your friend to the Chronicle Of The Horse Forums. There is a section for riders with disabilities. There is a thread titled "Don't Ever Change Your Plans" or something of that nature. It will take a long time to read the whole thing but the thread is amazing. Thread is started by username "Lena".

She is now in her 5th year of Ovarian Cancer. She is a survivor but still has cancer. The thread is the journey with her horses because she has never stopped riding including her youngsters. Her cancer is at a very advanced stage but she still keeps the horses in her life.

It's so inspiring. And she is who I think of when I feel sorry for myself or don't want to do something.

Can't recommend that thread enough.

Terri
 
Equilibrium Ireland said:
Please send your friend to the Chronicle Of The Horse Forums. There is a section for riders with disabilities. There is a thread titled "Don't Ever Change Your Plans" or something of that nature. It will take a long time to read the whole thing but the thread is amazing. Thread is started by username "Lena".

She is now in her 5th year of Ovarian Cancer. She is a survivor but still has cancer. The thread is the journey with her horses because she has never stopped riding including her youngsters. Her cancer is at a very advanced stage but she still keeps the horses in her life.

It's so inspiring. And she is who I think of when I feel sorry for myself or don't want to do something.

Can't recommend that thread enough.

Terri
Click to expand...

Thank you.
 
No problem. I think even those that never have to deal with anything life changing should read the story. It really does make you think about the small things in life. The end of February was her 5th year since diagnosis. She feels if she had done as advised and tried to be careful she still wouldn't be here. I mean she was climbing on all her just started babies. Lots of days she can hardly breath due to the secondary cancers but she keeps on going. She says she had to learn the finer arts of communication because she could no longer use her body the way she had most of her life.

Just truly remarkable stuff. I'm planning on naming my first filly out of Abba Elene's Song. I approached some issues I was having with Abba from her perspective. I'm a little teary thinking about it actually. Anyway, just an awesome read.

Note English is not her first language so keep that in mind.

Also people on this board such as Ebonyallen can be huge inspirations as well.

Terri
 
I had breast cancer 4 years ago and underwent surgery, chemo and radiotheraphy. I too had a horse to care for but luckily for me my OH took over caring for him. I used to go up to the yard to see him almost everyday twice a day (there were days when I felt so ill I couldn't get out of bed) but wasn't physically capable of doing anything very much. The cancer nurses had a fit when they knew I'd been going up there, too much of a risk of infection, knocks to wounds etc. They told me to keep my arm mobile (had lymph nodes removed) to stop it from stiffening up.....but I don't think they meant grooming a horse was good exercise. It took almost a year before I was anywhere fit enough to get back on him and then could only manage 10 minutes at a time before becoming completely exhausted.

Take any offer of help, rest when you can and above all take the time to heal properly before trying anything in the slightest bit strenuous. 4 years on there are still things I can't do like I used to which is frustrating to say the least, but at least I'm still here.
 
AdorableAlice said:
Has anyone managed to care for their horses and continue to ride (for pleasure not competing or hunting) whilst receiving chemotherapy and radiology after breast cancer surgery.

A friend is having surgery for early onset breast cancer next week and is hoping, once the wound is healed, to be able to care for her horses. The horses will be out if this weather ever gives over. So it would be a walk around the farm, feeding and steady hacking on a safe cob.
Click to expand...

She may be able to care for them some of the time but not all of the time. The radiotherapy can cause pretty nasty burns depending on where you have it and how intensive it is. If everyday it wipes you out and she will be exhausted by the simplest things.
The chemo wipes out your immune system. Most of the time you have to be careful but can do normal things but sometimes your body reacts to it and you become neutropenic which is where your neutraphils (one of the white blood cells which fight infection) pretty much disappear. This makes you extremely vulnerable to infection and septicemia and often requires isolation until it's under control. It does depend on the type of chemo and how she reacts to it because everyone is different.
Depending on the type some of the chemo's, especially on the first dose, require hosiptalisation. Some regimes require 5 days hospitalisation, others only a day case but patients are often on the ward til late on in the evening because of how long it takes to run through.
Side effects from the chemo depend on the individual and can range from few to feeling extremly sick, weak etc. This also depends on how aggressively they treat the cancer.

If its been caught early and the chemo/radiotherapy is a precaution then the aggresivness of the treatment will be less meaning less risk of side effects however if it's not been caught early or there has been spread to the lymph nodes already then they will treat very aggresively and the risk of nasty side effects are much higher as well as the severity of any side effects.

Appologies if this is a bit tmi but want to give you an idea of the sort of thing she is going to be facing. I work on an oncology ward (admin) but see a lot of patients through facing this sort of thing and feel it's highly unlikely that your friend is going to be able to care for her horse on her own. The safety of her going to the yard from an infection point of view will depend entirely upon her blood work and she'll need to talk to her consultant about it but the yard won't be any more dangerous than any other place other people go because it's human disease bugs she needs to be aware of, flu etc. There will be times in the treatment where she will be able to look after her horse and it will do her the world of good to have something positive to go and do as this is going to be really tough mentally for her but there will be times when she needs support with horse care.
 
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