PT versus Tamoxifen side effects

Just finished my 10 Physical Therapy  sessions yesterday and got a certificate. When I left home for there yesterday I had a raft of pains and symptoms including constipation and just too-damn-tired.  But I went.
And I was beat when I got back.  Couldn't wait to digest lunch so I could hoist the big cat off the bed and take a nap.

I still feel like a sub-beginner in the exercise game and the muscle strength struggle.  (But guess my friend Rik's body-builder gurus are not the solution.  Insert smile face here)

Throughout the weeks, my Physical Therapist has done everything I want a doctor to do.  She remembered without being reminded that I've had lumbar fusion.  So, she advised against an exercise I asked about, suggesting that it might be hard on the joints adjacent to the fused vertebrae. (Since that is always a concern of mine, I was grateful she had it in mind.)

Now for our favorite topic.  Obviously PT appointments twice a week and the routine I do in bed in the morning are NOT the cure for constipation.  More about this on the next post.

What has that to do with PT?  I needed to know what PT will do for me and what it won't.  Now I can work on the rest of my "lifestyle." And I use the word style loosely.

One pain the PT insists is caused by posture, not pills, is leaning toward the laptop desk instead of scooting my chair all the way in.  She reminded: "Don't let me catch you leaning forward to the computer screen!" Luckily the touch feature lets me zoom when the occasional Tamox blurry vision gets me for a few minutes.

The PT assessment questionnaire had asked some "wrong" questions.  For instance, some asked about level of pain-and-difficulty.  I explained to her that climbing the library stairs doesn't cause pain, just exhaustion that makes the last 8 steps very difficult and slow  (worse since Tamox.)

Throughout the weeks, we discussed my inability to guess what back pain and various surprise pains thru my body might be Tamox, and which ones might not.  (I had looked up lower back pain and pelvic pain on Mayo Clinic Tamoxifen side effects.   Yep.)

For my balance, she started teaching me to walk differently than I have been. She advises feet further apart, (not as if I'm trying to walk a straight line.) (One PT back at acute rehab in CA also tried to work on that  but I had too many other problems right then.)  Also putting my heel down first on each step.    She also wants me to remember to swing my arms (which I'm sure I used to do .)

The main thing is that the PT company stresses teaching me exercises I can do at home forever.  Now I need reminders that a lot of Bc patients eventually neglect their exercises.  I don't dare.