LiveStrong! @ the Y

Shortly after I was diagnosed, Robbie found this program put on by the local YMCA called LiveStrong that she thought sounded neat and possibly beneficial to me, the Cancer Survivor.

"LIVESTRONG® at the YMCA is a wellness program that builds strength and self-confidence for cancer survivors. This FREE 12-week program is designed for cancer survivors who have become de-conditioned or chronically fatigued from their disease and/or treatment. The focus is on cardio-respiratory fitness and strength training with the outcome of the class being overall wellness. Individuals will work with an Exercise Specialist to develop a personalized wellness program. Participants of LIVESTRONG® at the YMCA also receive a full membership at the Y while enrolled in the program and may have a support person enrolled in class with them."

She mentioned it but since I am NOT a Work-er Out-er (and I hate to sweat! Kuck!) I put it in the back of my mind. Besides, I was a little preoccupied by other things at the time. LOL Then fast forward 5 months plus post-surgery and Robbie mentioned it again. We looked it up and found one session beginning soon. So we decided to go for it! It's free so what do I have to lose, right? Except maybe a little human dignity since I'm so out of shape! LOL I contacted Katelyn Anderson (the LiveSTRONG Coordinator at the Fargo YMCA) and she sent me all the paperwork to sign my life away to them for 12 weeks. OK... not really but there was tons of paperwork to fill out and have signed by my doctor. Lucky me! I'm tired already and I haven't even set foot in the gym. I'm in trouble! ;)

But I am now an official LiveSTRONG Member. I got the official Guidebook, the Planner and Journal and of course the awesome yellow wristband. I'm set! Wish me luck!

For the first day, we just met everyone and shared our stories. I cried when I shared! Dumb! It caught me off guard and I was the only one that was a Ba-hu-ber so I have already lost a little human dignity. Remind me again why I signed up for this? LOL We all have such different stories (there's one other breast cancer survivor, one had thyroid cancer, another was diagnosed with Hodgkin-son Disease 35 years ago and all our support people) but I think we'll all be great friends. They also took us on a tour of the facility. It's a very confusing building setup but there's lots to do. I know I haven't even worked out at all but I think I'm gonna like it! I'm always up for doing a GNO and this is twice a week. Score! ;) My goal for participating is to change my mentality about working out from a scary thing to a "being healthy" thing. Next week, we do our Assessments. We'll see how it goes!
Here's our little group on our first day!

P.S. Brett happened to be finishing his work-out when our 1st class started. So he introduced me to his Y friends that work the weight room. Muff and Cortez are gonna look out for me! ;) I love making new friends!