After a year of breast cancer treatments involving chemotherapy, mastectomy and radiation, I had a sense of disconnect with my body to say the least. My range of motion in my arms were about half of what it had been prior to treatments. I also felt a lot of joint pain and aches. My muscles had grown weak due to the lack of exercise during treatments. It left me feeling scared, frustrated and sad. I thought that this was a “new normal” that I had to accept and adjust to after everything that my body had endured.
This is when I met Lisa Moore. Lisa is the best physical therapist that I have worked with. She has a great and vast knowledge in the human physiology. She also gave me one thing that I could not begin to thank her for. She gave me hope. She gave me hope that one day, with work, I could get back to what my body could do prior to cancer. It was more of a holistic approach that she used to treat me. Words of advice, and encouragement were integrated with the therapy sessions. She worked with my body to help me regain strength and mobility. When I had my major reconstruction which felt like I took many steps backward, she again encouraged me with positive energy, stretching and strengthening exercises. She also performed body work on the areas that I could not release and ease with my own movement.
Fast forward to two years after diagnosis ~ I continue to see Lisa, working on strength and flexibility using various methods. I marvel at how my body is responding to all the sessions at Reach Cancer Rehab and how far I have come. It is my belief that I would not have made it this far in my rehabilitation without Lisa. It is so important for other cancer survivors to know that we do not have to accept how our bodies feel after treatment. We can get back to what our bodies could do prior to treatment and grow even stronger!
