My ‘Building & Happy Season’ – Life post Breast Cancer & what makes me Happy!

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Hi Friends!

I hope you are well and looking forward to the last four months of the year, the “BER” months, and my fave ones! For me it has been a month to month process, healing, building up my fitness strength, and enjoying moments in life that mean something.

Building back the lean muscle “Gains” Slowly

November 2024 Left – to August 2025 – BUILDING SEASON!!

As per my last post, I joined back the Gym in November 2024 with hopes of going 5-6 times per week like I used to…but after a month I realized it was literally almost impossible. There was a bunch of challenges, one being the extreme joint pain I was experiencing from the Letrozole (aromatase inhibitor given after breast cancer, which you have to be on for 5-10 years) – little did I realise that the extreme joint pain was pointing to something more than just “joint pain.” – I pushed ahead anyway and ended up lifting 3-4 times per week, albeit suffering from delayed onset soreness more than usual. Finally, after having a situation with my right thumb (it would not move) I went to the Oncologist and she asked me to get a Dexa Scan so we could delve into what could be happening with my bones and joints. Turns out I had osteoporosis in my hips (especially the left one), spine and wrists! This can happen when on these medications, if you are not taking a massive amount of calcium. I had not been.

Dexa Scan and Pushing on

After seeing the dexa scan results and speaking to my GP, he suggested amongst other things, that I stop lifting asap. Yet my Oncologist thought it was a good way of helping to build back my bones, so I erred on the side of “down the middle” and decided to continue to lift, but very carefully. My wrist seemed very sore most of the time, and I ended up having an x-ray which showed something to do with my tendon, and a slight hairline fracture!

This was also stemming from the Letrozole. I was switched over to Tamoxifen (which I dread as it has so many risks) and begged the Oncologist to allow me to take half a tamoxifen for the first three months to see how it agreed with my body and she said yes….so nine weeks later, I am still only on 10 mg each day, and feel SO MUCH better from day to day. I have much less joint pain, am sleeping very, very well (sometimes 3-4 hours of deep sleep!) which for me is insane as usually 30 minutes of deep sleep was my norm. I am now able to lift heavier, except we still have that “wrist problem” which I am going to have to have surgery to rectify. That will happen in two weeks.

Building Glutes and Shoulders Post Dexa Scan

For the past four months, I have been focused on building my glutes and shoulders and even upped my calories 200 per day to allow for this. I actually started back at hip thrusts on the Smith machine, albeit not heavy – and deadlifts. I have already noticed the lift in my glutes based on two glute days / sessions per week. Needless to say, progress pictures really make you see the difference. I discovered recently the seated abductor machine, and let me tell you that has been a game changer in my sessions and glute growth. It hits right at the glute medius and burns if you do them right. Every glute session I incorporate abductors. Even as a finisher. Shoulders have always been my strong point, but I wanted to grow them more, without a full cap – this is a requirement for bikini bodybuilding.

What I love doing – what makes me HAPPY! The Mental Balance

  1. Celebrating a special & lovely friend’s Birthday in style! 2. The largest sunflower in my new sunflower garden 3. A group of fabulous souls chatting and giggling at GoldenEye (Tyler Whiteside Picture) 4. My sweet & special little “old world” neighborhood beach 5. A special playlist by me on Spotify – follow along (DJ Neenie Sounds!) – music makes me very happy 6. I made a very cold, divine basil gin martini last week to test it for posting (I did not post it, I drank it instead…balance!) and finally one of my fave Quotes found on Pinterest. **The basil was picked from my own herb garden started in May**

Be that Kind Soul that makes everybody feel like a somebody…

There comes a time in your life that you look around and say to yourself “what else am I here to do” “who are the people I want in the next segment of my life?” – and this I say with MUCH respect, but also due to what I have been through. I want gentle souls around me, people who care and people who ask how am I doing from time to time, without me having to remind them if they are my good friends, that due to breast cancer for example, the medication gave me osteoporosis.

This to me, is an important fact, not an opinion, and the circle around you should feel an organic need to comfort you in hard times, plus visa versa. I thought long and hard about this for about six months and it is a learning process. I know one thing, I am moving forward into my future with the type of person who makes me laugh, includes me in things at times, does not judge and is easy going. If they are needing a shoulder, I am there. I find myself gravitating to anyone who loves animals and helps with the stray animals in Jamaica, which is a problem. I find myself gravitating to anyone who does not judge as that is not for them to do, advice however, is a good thing. I find myself gravitating to persons who care about themselves enough to feel confident wherever they are – and to feel good about themselves. It is a tribe I am building, and after having had breast cancer, it is hard to describe why you feel this way, but it is probably because you have been been through a battle, and do not have the energy to battle any strange energy, or vibe – or feel bad about yourself from anyone on this planet – we need to come together and be kind!

ONE OF THE STRAY DOGS I FEED AND WATER DAILY, HE LIVES AT THE GYM PLAZA. DESPERATELY TRYING TO FIND A HOME FOR HIM IN JAMAICA!

The Future…

My future I have always felt would have something to do with saving the beloved stray dogs in Jamaica and being part of setting up new laws on protection of strays, and stronger, harsher punishment for poisoning them. That happens a lot here. Surprisingly a lot more than we think. My Aunt and Mother just lost their precious fave dog when they let him out one morning for a quick run – by the time he came back he was gasping to breathe, that is how awful & strong whatever it was they left out for him was. A terrible, horrible thing. We need to change the laws and have police charge persons who do this. Enough. Next, I have opened up my own Marketing Company and the premise is to continue to build it this year….the balance is of course all of what I have written about above.

Here is to living our lives with balance, good friends and experiences!

One love,

Neenie

Rebuilding Strength: Fitness After Breast Cancer Surgery

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Hi Friends!

I hope all has been going well for you this year…literally it has raced by! We are almost at Thanksgiving. Where did 2024 go?

I thought I would give an update of where I am currently with my fitness journey. And what my future goals look like.

On-Going Staged Reconstruction after breast cancer

October 2024. I still have one more surgery to go for the other implant, but all is good and I am back to working out, not as heavy lifting but each week I get stronger. Pic by Alexandra Ghisays.

As you may know if you read my posts, read the first one here – the second one here, & the final one here – I was diagnosed with breast cancer last year, in April 2023. Thankfully I caught it early (I have always been very on top of getting mammograms every year) and it was diagnosed as hormone receptor positive, node negative (the node negative part was not known until after my double mastectomy that it had not traveled to my lymph nodes) & so I had initially decided right away after finding out, that I wanted to have a double mastectomy after reading up about the possibility of the “return rate” in the other breast. That was my own action. My surgeon thought that was the best recourse, and he also suggested staged reconstruction which would involve ‘tissue expanders’ at first, and then the final step would be the implant exchange surgery. We had some setbacks for this plan throughout 2023 as the right side (side where lump was) gave continuous skin healing problems, showing signs of “necrosis” with the tissue expander there. However after a long back and forth we chose to take it out altogether at the end of October and start back on the right side in 2024.

Implant Exchange Surgery – June 2024

After my surgeon who was my plastic surgeon for the implant surgery was confident that both sides were ready to “go” and fully healed – we set a date for June 11th, 2024 to exchange the expander for an implant on the left side, and put back the expander in the right side (which was now fully healed – meaning the skin.) – All went well!

Choosing a smaller, rather than larger implant at 225 CC’s

I now have a little more than a B+ cup size which is what I had many years ago before I lost some weight over the years. We discussed a larger sized implant but Doc thought due to my small stature ( 5 ft 1 1/2 inches, 102-105 pounds usually) it may not be a good match…he would see what worked during the surgery. Right after I was wheeled into the recovery room I immediately noticed that there was literally NO pain on the the implant side, but alot on the side where the expander was put in on the right side…so I literally started all over again in terms of my own physio exercises to raise my right arm up and down, and so forth! This I am still doing, each day. To even lift a dumbbell on that side is still hard, but I am pushing through!

Doc gave me the “green light” to start walking around my neighborhood again two weeks after as at my check ups all was going very well. And then a month after he gave me the ultimate green light – to get back to the gym, starting back slowly with the weights! He asked me to focus on legs at first, then lower weight dumbbells, and to stay away from doing exercises involving the chest for a little longer – albeit I decided to do over the muscle implants and I can explain all of this and why I did in the next post!

Getting back to the Gym, August 2024

Slowly, but surely getting back to the physique I had before my breast cancer diagnosis in 2023. It takes time to build back the muscle – sometimes years, but I will have muscle memory as I have been lifting for ten years now.

Finally, after annoying my very patient Doctor literally via regular whatsapp messages about the possibility of lifting heavier (as my upper body had lost some muscle, which was bound to happen in the past year and a half!) he gave me permission to lift heavier but not too heavy. As a Fitness Professional of course I knew exactly what this meant and followed his guidance. I was anxious to get back to working out my shoulders, delts, biceps and triceps. Being a past bikini competitor these are areas that the judges look at for upper body, and also help to create & sculpt the type of physique for competing in this category. It is a known fact that I have spoken about my dream about wanting to compete overseas in the masters bikini category again, and really hoping to do this next year (2025.)

My workouts have not been anywhere near what they used to be before having had the double mastectomy. The stops and starts have not helped after each surgery and procedure I have had since June 2023. It has been hectic, but one thing that has kept me going is exercise. Both for my own mental health and physical well being. I will soon be recording my workouts and linking them here and on instagram, if you do not follow me there, here is the link!

The Future

My future goals for health and wellness are the same ones I had before:

  • To teach women especially women who have gone through menopause, how to stay lean via healthy eating and working out in an effective way that does not involve crazy boot camp style regimes!
  • Balance, and moderation helps in general, so you still enjoy the things you love! My plan keeps those things in place, so you do not feel a sense of loss, yet it is also a plan that realistically sets boundaries for very unhealthy foods.
  • The correct knowledge of macro-nutrients and what “macros” will work for you day to day, is also a HUGE game changer. Do you know how much Protein you need per day for your body weight in terms of grams? This is part of what I will teach.
  • What works to build muscle. What works to lose body fat %? I have been lifting weights now for ten years and have not looked back. I have never had to be on a diet and do not starve, or miss meals. In fact some people may even see me as eating on the healthy side…yet I know what works for my physique in trying to obtain a leaner muscle mass and healthy body fat % when not in training.

Coaching!

My goal in 2025 is to become a licensed health and wellness Coach so that I can help with viable programs of workouts and meal prep. I have been certified in fitness and that of course helps, but the more I know, the better I can be to help my clients. Stay tuned for this. Despite the setbacks, I look forward to the new way forward and that will mean that days are spent managing my new Company (that is another post!) which is a digital marketing company in partnership with a marketing company, and putting together my fitness coaching programs. I want to show women especially that a life of health is not hard to achieve, and a daily balance of good food, macro friendly, with fabulous workouts in the gym or out of the gym (my programs will cover both.)

My Special Message for October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month

My special message to all the ladies I know, and do not know – is to please get your annual mammograms. If you feel something is “off” then make sure no matter what, your Doctor gets you an appointment for a mammogram. This saved me.

STAY TUNED!

Love,

Neenie xo