051 Ovarian Cancer and Activity with Alison Salmond

In this week's episode I am talking to Alison Salmond about her experience with ovarian cancer and why activity is important. This episode is being shared during Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month.

We discuss:

• symptoms of ovarian cancer
• how subtle those symptoms can be
• the impact cancer had on her activity levels
• how to exercise to tolerance
• why building your exercise during cancer treatment may not be linear

I hope that by sharing Alison's story we are able to raise awareness about ovarian cancer and also inform people of how important activity can be. 

About Alison:
Alison has nearly 40 years in the exercise industry, with approximately 24 years dedicated to teaching Pilates. She is fully certified and in both the Classical and Contemporary methods and still believes there is much to learn with this fascinating exercise regime. 

Alison is also former Osteopath and Cranial Sacral Therapist. She was also a Lead Instructor Trainer for Merrithew Corporation (STOTT PILATES) for approximately 15 years and was part of the YMCAfit tutoring and curriculum development team for over 20 years.

Alison has maintained her own fitness with regular running, weight training and 

Pilates. In 2020, Alison and her family located to Andalusia to find a better work/life balance. Everything seemed to be slotting into place, until April 2022, where she was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer. Post surgery alongside chemotherapy treatment, she has been declared ´cancer=free´, a great relief to all who know her. 

Alison is extremely passionate about both teaching and the history of Pilates and loves passing her gained knowledge on to Pilates students and teachers alike. 

Alison believes in maintaining standards across the industry to ensure both the teacher and clients receive the education promised to them. Her dream is to provide a balanced view of both classical and contemporary training and to see both worlds unite; acknowledging their similarities as well as respecting their differences; to encourage the next generation of Pilates participants. 

Website:  www.alisonsalmond.com

The link for the Pilates retreat:  https://www.alisonsalmond.com/womens-health.htm

About Sarah:
Sarah Bolitho helps fitness and health professionals develop their careers and grow their businesses by providing specialist training in teaching, assessing, and internal quality assurance, together with qualifications in exercise referral and disability.   

With over 30 years in the health-related fitness and physical activity fields, Sarah has a wealth of experience and knowledge.  She has worked in most roles in the industry from group exercise to personal training but specialised in working with specialist populations.  For over 25 years Sarah has trained fitness and health professionals to work with clients with long-term conditions, mental health issues, disabilities, older adults and pre/post-natal women.  She has a post-graduate diploma in exercise and health behaviour and extensive training in supporting behaviour change.  She has worked with awarding organisations to develop qualifications and training and with accreditation bodies to endorse high-quality non-regulated training. 

In her spar

For more about the training and support Sarah offers, visit www.sarahbolitho.com or contact her at admin@sarahbolitho.com.

Follow her on social media
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/fabnewlous_active_lives
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fitnesscareermentor
Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahbolitho

Transcript

Sarah (00:01.436)

Hello and welcome to this episode of Creating Active Lives with me, Sarah Belytha and my guest this week, Alison Salmond. Now, Alison and I actually go a long way back, over 20 years now and she was actually my mentor when I first started delivering training courses, so it's quite an interesting one. However, we're not talking about training courses today, that's for another day. This episode is actually going out during ovarian cancer awareness month and Alison has been through the experience of ovarian cancer which is what we're going to be talking about. So Alison introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about you and what happened.

Alison Salmond (00:43.859)

I'm Alison Salmond. So I am 58 years of age and I've been in the health industry, as Sarah said, for many years. In fact, I think I've been teaching for near 40 years, which is, uh, it shows you go, no, I haven't been teaching that long. But yeah. So, uh, back in April or March, 2022, I was surprisingly diagnosed with ovarian cancer. I actually didn't think it was anything other than back pain. And, uh, from there on in, it always was most, almost like a roller coaster from being diagnosed with an MRI that I had paid for privately. And then within, I'd say the next 24 hours, 48 hours, I had all tests, CT scans, blood tests, ultrasound scans. So I had lots and lots of scans. And then within another two weeks, I was having a full hysterectomy, being told that it wasn't just a benign tumour, it was actually a cancerous tumour.

And then once that surgery was over, we then, well, I had another chat with a gynaecologist who said that actually there was a couple of areas in the lymph nodes, in the uterus, and also the paraaortic lymph nodes, which are actually just below the rib cage. So where the area of the rib cage is right here. So you've got three lovely little lymph nodes that actually are associated with gynaecology, which I would never have known that either. So, you know, you learn something new through all the different diagnoses. And so therefore, they wanted to put me through chemotherapy because it wasn't directly just within the ovary tumour. And then I was rushed through chemo. So that was within six weeks of finishing my surgery. I was just about back on my feet and then straight into chemo for six sessions.

And it should have been every three weeks, but what happens is sometimes your bloods are not right, so you're bumped off for a week, maybe two weeks. And so I did the chemo from June to November, 2022.

Sarah (02:59.344)

Wow. So you said that you didn't think there was anything going on, you just had some back pain. Were there no other symptoms?

Alison Salmond (03:04.522)

Yes. Because we're of a certain age there, what happened is I thought a lot of it was either post-menopause. My dad had died back in 2017, September 2017, very, very suddenly. It was five weeks. He literally walked into a hospital and five weeks later he was dead of a very aggressive cancer. So we didn't really have time to think about that.

And then of course the pandemic happened and we were already planning to move to Spain. So by the time we did that, that was all very highly stressful for those few years. And then of course COVID was still very apparent and there were certain things that you could and couldn't do. We had a private health care but you had to do that for the residential area. But again they were saying if you weren't vaccinated and I didn't do a vaccine, then you couldn't go into some of these hospitals and things. So in effect, I actually had a setback from that. And because I had already had back pain over eight to 10 years, because all the major amount of running I've done, I just thought, yeah, I've changed my bed. I've changed my car. I'm running up and down mountains. I've changed my lifestyle. Probably the back pain has just got a little bit worse.

I did go to an osteopath here and also a UK trained physio. And quite interestingly, they were like, no, you don't need an MRI. It's part of the evidence-based medicine that you don't need an MRI. And I kept thinking, but it's getting worse. And so that, you know, even with my osteopathic knowledge, I'm thinking, go, it's getting worse. Did I have any other symptoms? Yes, I was a little bit more tired. I was going to bed much earlier, but I would still get up in the morning and go for a run. And that give me the boost of energy. And it was really interesting because I actually didn't really do anything about it until a retired GP here said to me, is it stopping you doing what you love? And I went, yeah, it is actually. He goes, you're probably right. So I said, I know I've got spondyloid theses, it's probably degenerative disc. He goes, you're probably right. He said, but why not just have an MRI? So in the end, I played privately for an MRI here. And obviously the rest was history, but it was such a big shock because other than that I didn't really have any other symptoms. So, you know, some people would say, did I lose weight? Well, actually, back in 2020, I got a grip on myself anyway from the lockdown and actually would go, change my nutritional diet. So I changed the way I was eating. By the time we came here, the heat and the intensity of the heat actually reduced my appetite. So yeah, I probably did lose a bit of weight, but actually for me, I didn't really notice that it was extreme. 

You know what happens in our industry, we love being slim. So it's like, oh yeah, I'm slim, great. You know, and so I wasn't really associating that with any, you know, chronic disease, just because I'd lost a bit of weight. The tiredness, again, I just put down to menopause. And I was still able to do everything I wanted to do.

Sarah (05:53.479)

It's interesting, isn't it? Because it's like you say, you'd sort of change your nutrition, you were in a different country, different heat, different appetite things. And a lot of these things that they sort of say, oh, has this changed? Sometimes you can put it down to what's going on in your everyday life. And it just highlights the importance of actually really listening to your body and getting checked out sooner rather than later. But it's not always easy. I know I was speaking to somebody a few months ago on this podcast, and she literally found out she had breast cancer purely because she'd been made redundant and thought oh I might as well take advantage of the healthcare package and get a full scan before I actually leave and it was wow oh goodness and she said otherwise no symptoms nothing you would never have known so it sometimes it is really getting back in tune with your body isn't it and thinking this doesn't seem right but it sounds like you are a very highly qualified fitness professional, one of the most highly qualified Pilates ones and also teaching all forms of Pilates courses and an osteopath. So your awareness of your body, your awareness of how it feels is really, really high. And yet even then it's kind of okay, it's probably back pain. 

Alison Salmond (07:05.757)

Mmm. Yeah. I mean, even things like the, you know, the one symptom I have that I realize now I have was actually I'd always want to go for a pee all the time. So because the tumour was actually eight centimeters. Now, years ago, I used to get issues with cystitis. So I was always going, you know, if I was going to go to the doctor for anything, I wouldn't say always, I'd have five years where I wouldn't bother going. But I always would drink lots and lots of water because I knew that was the way to make sure it would flush through I'd wear cotton underwear, all of those sort of things so you don't sort of like stimulate that or actually try and, there's no additional bacteria. So I went to the doctors in the UK about 2018, 2019, I think, and because they put it down to vaginal dryness because of the menopause, and they gave me Vagifem, Pestilence, which I sort of went back. She goes, have they? I went, I don't know, I don't like that.

But again, as a female, I didn't think about, well, let's just do a full scan, just left it. And because I've never been, what's the word I'm looking for? I haven't relied on doctors because actually sometimes as a GP, but I don't think that they really know as much as they should do. And sometimes you can find out a lot more yourself and certainly if you're body aware. Anyway, cutting the long story short, of course you think about our teaching, how many times would you have your clients back to back and you go for a pee, regardless of whether you wanted to, because you knew you had another client. So again, all of those sort of things that we do on a natural work time basis. So it wouldn't have made, it wouldn't have tallied in my head that actually, oh, you're going for a pee a lot more and hardly passing any water. And it wasn't until of course it was all gone, I went, oh my God, I can go for hours. And suddenly I got a full bladder to actually, you know, to empty my bladder.

So I would suggest that if anyone is, you know, worried about certain symptoms, that would probably be one of the big symptoms. Because if you think about it, if an ovary is growing, then it is going to press on your bladder.

Sarah (09:29.629)

Yeah, we need more awareness of some of these more subtle symptoms, don't we? Because I think for me, the ones I'm aware of very much are abdominal bloating, which you didn't have, weight loss, which for some people, they may be trying to lose weight anyway and not necessarily notice that their weight loss is perhaps a little bit steadier than it could be.

Anyone who's ever tried to lose weight will know weight loss is not linear. It's either and everywhere. But actually if it does become quite linear, if it is quite very structured, then quite often that might be, you think, hang on a minute, it's a very steady weight loss. That's kind of not the way it normally happens. But like you say, needing to pee a lot, fatigue. If you're going through a lot anyway in your life, you might like you say, you might put it down to menopause, to age, to doing more. But it's being aware. It's it's it's, um, what's the word I want? It's the combination, isn't it? It's it's thinking, hang on a minute. There's a lot of things going on here. And this is where I think we need that awareness, don't we? 

Alison Salmond (10:37.642)

Yeah. And I also think that that's the problem with ovarian cancer is because there's very, the symptoms are very subtle. And so people wouldn't necessarily associate them with anything more than maybe the menopause until it's too late. There is a lady here actually was stage four. I actually was stage three C in the end, not that it made any difference to me, what stage it was, because to be honest, it was still a shock regardless. And she did have a much more abdominal bloating. Now, again, as we're in the fitness industry, I carry my weight on my stomach anyway. I've always had skinny legs and everything. So, you know, for me to have a flat stomach, I'm like, yeah, like this. So, again, that wouldn't have, you know, unless it was really bloated and I was thinking, God, you are really, what are you changing into this?

But again, we would be putting it down to shapes and menopause and things like that. What I found really interesting is one, osteopathy here is not a particularly well-trained industry. In the UK, we do have better training. But I was really shocked with the physio because of course he was UK trained. He kept on about the nice guidelines. It's not evidence-based to send you to work for an MRI. But as someone that was fit and healthy and slim like myself.

Yes, I can see that I ticked the boxes for him to go, it was a musculoskeletal issue. And of course, when he pressed on me, there was pain on palpation. But even so, if I was the clinician having that as a client, I would have gone, you know what, just go and waste your time and have an MRI. You know, that sort of thing. Sorry to waste your time, but, and even the GP here said, look, go into it. You know what you're thinking is probably right. And of course, no one was more shocked than him,  and actually my doctor down here on the coast, because again, you're looking at someone that's fit and healthy, someone that's always had health and fitness in their life. But if you, you know, reading beyond just the physical symptoms of ovarian cancer, I've started obviously listening to people like Gallimatti and other people, and if you look at this, actually sometimes a real trend of the type of people that may or may not suffer with certain cancers and I'm not saying it's all facts but it's quite an interesting overview. So are you that person that does absolutely everything? Are you that person that is looking after everyone else except yourself so therefore you're not focusing on your own, you know, actually listening to what's happening in your body.

Sarah (13:15.768)

I do honestly believe that a lot of us have lost touch with what's normal for our bodies and what's not. And I think particularly now we're coming out of pandemic and things like that, people are under a lot more physical as well as psychological stress. And so we're putting things down to getting back to normal. And it's very easy sometimes to overlook things because, oh, it's just because we're 

X or Y or because I've gained weight because I've lost weight because I'm not as active because it's very easy to sort of write symptoms off just because we can rather than saying hang on a minute.

Alison Salmond (13:46.427)

Yeah. Also, the thing is you don't rest in there. No one really wants to go to the hospital. No one really wants to do tests. You know, we're ingrained into mammograms and cervical smear tests, but really, you know, we do it because it's like tick the boxes, but you're not actually wanting to do any of these things.

Sarah (14:10.556)

That's it. And if you don't do it, people listening, if you are not doing it, or if you have family and friends who are not going along for their screenings and things, make them do it. Because honestly and truthfully, for the sake of a few moments of discomfort, it's well worth it. We're not saying it will pick everything up. Sometimes it doesn't, but you've got a much better chance the earlier you can pick up things like this. So activity then you have always been a very, very active person running, Pilates, you know, we're in the fitness field, we know all the benefits of it and you've always been very active. How did having ovarian cancer impact on your activity?

Alison Salmond (14:25.95)

Yeah. So at first, because with the actual initial hysterectomy, of course, I was told by the doctor, you cannot do any form of exercise over the first four weeks. Now walking, of course, is all that she would allow me to do. I wasn't allowed to swim. I wasn't allowed to do absolutely anything. And so it got to the stage that I was having to actually put myself down on a bed, not on a bed, but on a couch to ensure that I didn't do exercise because probably like you, you'd wanna keep walking or keep moving around. And so I was actually having to try and restrict myself.

And because I restricted myself, I then was thinking, am I getting lazier? Am I, you know, you doing, all this is going through your head. However, I thought, no, listen to the doctor, you just have to recover. And in the process of that, I ended up with DVT because I was lying around and I didn't realize that cancer makes the blood viscous, so much thicker.

Sarah (15:48.13)

Oh wow!

Alison Salmond (15:56.578)

So of course, even if that there was still sort of cancer in the body as much, there was that thickness in blood. And although I was taking the heparin for the first four weeks, I then stopped that. And it was about six weeks later when I was actually doing a bit more movement that I ended up with a DVT. So the doctors were actually discouraging you to do any form of exercise.

So then once I got past that four weeks, I was driving, I was walking tall into the office. She said, oh my God, you really, you know, you're like so much better than anyone else. Normally people are crawling in, you know, I'm just back to my normal posture. And then of course, what happened after that? I thought, right, I now need to start to think about going into the gym.

What I found is I was able to walk, and I wasn't running at that point, just able to walk and do gentle weights. My weights were quite low, and I did some Pilates. And I thought I was improving quite well until they said, right, you're gonna do chemotherapy. That was the only time, I must admit, that I burst into tears because I really didn't want to do chemo. And then once going through chemo, it was a completely different ball game because the breathlessness, I never really thought, you know, I thought I'm healthy. I actually didn't know what I was thinking what was gonna happen. But I couldn't walk for more than five minutes at times. So certainly it was a chemo every three weeks. So the first week I'd literally walk five minutes, five minutes, five minutes. And then I'd get to feeling a sixth stage around day three to day six. And then bit by bit I'd start to feel a bit more improvement. So the first week I didn't tend to do much exercise other than just a couple of five minute walks a day, literally.

And then I started to be able to do a little bit of gentle Pilates, and I have a treadmill here. So I've converted the garage into a gym. So I'd walk a little bit more on the treadmill, see if I could push it 10 minutes and 15 minutes. And then as it became week two and three, I could start to lift a few more weights. But actually the weights were half the weight that I would normally do. But it was just again about keeping me moving. And quite interestingly, I had a contact with a friend, a mutual friend of ours Emma Newham who introduced me into more yin yoga and actually more mental stuff. So then I went down that road just to ensure that I didn't feel that I was going to like, not necessarily quite kill myself, but you know, obviously just get frustrated by not being able to exercise. And that did seem to get worse as we were progressing through those six, seven months.

Um, but yeah, so I did my best, but it was definitely out of the three weeks. It was week two and three that I would do something, something every day. What I did have the benefit of is a swimming pool here. So, um, I would do 50 lengths a day and it's 10, it's a 10 meter pool, so it's not long, I'd do 50 meters a day and the days that I felt really, really rubbish, I would just get in and maybe just do two to 10 lengths. So it's just things like that.

Sarah (18:53.17)

Yeah. And this is where it's so important to understand, isn't it? Is that you can still be active, but there's nothing linear about it. As we talk about linear, we mean steadily doing more, steadily progressing. Whereas actually with things like this, it is. And one of the things why I always talk about on the can rehab course that I work on is exercising to tolerance. And some days that might be five minutes. Other days it might be you know, five lengths or it might be 50 minutes or it might be longer. And this is where it's so important during cancer treatment that, yes, we should be exercising is important. But it's that to tolerance, isn't it? That's so important. Don't don't use all your energy up on exercising because you think you have to just think if it's a five minute walk, that's great. Or it might be a stretch or it might be a lot more and I know people who've carried on running through chemotherapy but other people have been runners and been floored by it and stopped. Yeah, yeah and it's but this is where it's so important you know ideally get yourself a personal trainer or somebody who knows about this and even if you just get advice from them initially rather than necessarily working with them.

Alison Salmond (20:10.09)

Yeah. I was thinking, I feel like that.

Sarah (20:29.296)

We know the evidence that's coming through. I mean, there's more and more and more and more and more evidence coming through about how important it is to be active at all stages from prehab, from before treatment, right through all the treatment and the recovery, but it's understanding that, and I think, mind you, this would apply to anything, isn't it? Do something that feels good, that doesn't tire you out but that you feel energized, even if it's just mentally energized from it. For a lot of people, they're not getting advice. And this is something I hear all the time, is people not getting...

Alison Salmond (21:00.11)

by it yeah absolutely no I know I must admit as much as the oncologist and of course the gynaecologist for young beautiful women they didn't advise on exercise or anything that wasn't part of their remit that's very medical here you know and that's what they want is the treatment done and they want to tick those boxes. They, she said a few things afterwards since I've had follow up blood tests, because my, quite interestingly, my cholesterol has got higher. But actually, I've done some background reading and chemotherapy obviously does destroy your mother's tissue and, you know, it actually does raise your cholesterol as well. And she's going, oh, well, you need to eat healthy. I went, come on, you know, I eat healthy. I said, what have I got to do?

I said the only real solid fat food I have is I love Greek yogurt. And I said, so really there's not anything what I would consider that you would want me to decrease in order to lower my cholesterol. So anyway, so I'm just up in my omega threes and things like that and see if that makes any difference. But the other thing I found, what I wanted to do for me, because I am a runner, and as you know, I love running and I used to run five days a week.

I actually just, you know, the 5K, the couch to 5K app, I just put that on my phone. And some days I'd walk. And of course with it be 30 seconds run and then walk. And that's what I would do. So I'd follow there, but I wouldn't, as you said, it wasn't a linear progression. I might do the first week and then come back. And then I might get to week two and then come back to the first week. So all the time I was going backwards and forwards, but at least it was giving me something to work towards even if it was just three times a week, that I felt that, oh my God, I'm running for 30 seconds or I'm running for a minute.

Sarah (23:01.86)

Yeah. And that's the thing, isn't it? It's finding what works for you. And it's, and it's like you say about, you know, the medics, it's, it's not their job to advise on exercise. And this is where certainly within the UK and the States, there's huge movements now to include fitness professionals in the same way that cardiac rehab, you know, you can have a cardiac event and a fitness professional, a clinical exercise specialist will be part of the team right from the word go on ward rounds, whatever, advising you on how to become more active. And I know this is something that we're really, really working towards worldwide, as well as I'm aware very much of what's happening in the States and in the UK, but it's that there is somebody there that can advise on appropriate activity, right from almost from the moment of diagnosis. And, you know, pre-hab is becoming huge.

Alison Salmond (23:37.164)

Definitely. Yeah. Yeah, definitely.

Sarah (24:00.088)

Many people, whether it's a week or a month, right, let's get you into pre-hab, let's get you into the clinics, into the clinical settings and exercise people. And I think this is something that's so important because you know the best will in work, the surgeons, the oncologists, the nurses, that's not their role. Their role is you know vast already. So yeah, but for them to have your backup of being able to say, right, we're going to talk to you about activity. In actual fact, Sarah's going to talk to you about activity. You know, John's going to talk to you about activity because that's his role within this team. And I think when it becomes part of the team, part of that multidisciplinary um, format.

Alison Salmond (24:00.382)

Like saving lives. How do you save you? Let someone else do all your exercise.

Alison Salmond (24:44.706)

Mm hmm. Yeah, definitely. Yeah.

Sarah (24:49.208)

I think people will take much more notice of it because you've got such an advantage. You know, like you say, 40 years of experience within the health and fitness field, you know how important it is and, you know, that's a huge advantage. But there's so many people out there who have not got any knowledge for them. Their knowledge of fitness, if you like, goes back to school when they had to climb those ropes in the gym or leap over a horse or a vault and they're immediately thinking, I can't do this. It's too much. That's not who I am. Whereas having somebody saying, let's show you some stretches, let's show you some mobility, let's show you some ways that you can ease where the scars are. I think, you know, it's so important, isn't it? Because we've got that knowledge and other people haven't. So being able to share it, being able to, you know, show people how they can start.

Alison Salmond (25:35.485)

No. Definitely. And it doesn't have to be high. It literally can be five minutes. You know, I would drive because, as I say, we live in the mountains, so there's not a flat bit. You know, we live on a hill. So I would drive to the area. There's a track opposite us that's as flat as it's going to be. There is a little bit. And even walking up the elevated bit on that for five minutes absolutely breathless, really, really breathless. And I think, I know it's all different chemos, different chemos do different things to different people, but ultimately that I did not expect that. I don't know what I, actually I don't know what I expected, but I certainly didn't expect that. I mean, I knew that I was going to lose my hair. I knew, you know, the aesthetic side, what was going to happen. But I think when you're so fit for so long, to have your fitness literally deteriorate in front of your eyes.

Sarah (25:47.176)

Yeah, it is, I mean, it's, I can't compare it, but when I tend to spend time in Colorado, one of the first things I do is hike up this particular foothills of the Rockies. And the first time I did it, I mean, literally I was about a hundred yards up and I could barely breathe. And I was thinking, what on earth happened to my fitness in literally 24 hours? Yesterday I could walk for miles today. I'm sorry. And then I thought, oh no, I'm 6,000 feet up going up a hill, so I'm at altitude already going up a hill. And that's where, and that was a shot. So I can't imagine what it's like for someone like you who's so used to running to suddenly think, gosh, I can walk for five minutes and that's it. And this is where, you know, it's impossible to say this is what chemo is gonna do to you because it's so different to everybody. But it's so important, isn't it, to be able to access appropriate advice and just say, do you know what, if you just feel like going for a five minute stroll, that's fine. The main thing is that you don't just sit and do absolutely nothing, whether it's a gentle stretch or some mobility, even deep breathing or a trainer, you know, there's little apps and some of the little apps out there are not bad. I'm not saying that they're amazing, but some of them are not bad. And certainly, I think I've used a couple where they were just beginner, you just press beginner in. I even ended up buying a bike, not the Peloton one, the other one, the Nordic Check, the IFIT. So basically, and I would be cycling with their little studio classes and I would just be, they would, because they got controlling your resistance, I'm going, not my chance.

So I'd be like going, my resistance was going down as there was going up. But again, it was just pedaling. So, and I know I'm very fortunate to be able to buy that, but even so, if you have money to just buy any, it doesn't have to be a fancy bike. It could be anything that you're just pedaling through, a stationary bike. These days they're fairly cheap. Anyway, people sell them so much on eBay because they bought them for a few months and got rid of it. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's just anything. Yeah.

Sarah (28:40.996)

I was going to say, yeah, have a look in February. But it's, and you can hire them as well. You can actually hire them. You know, if you don't want to commit to a purchase, you can hire one, even if it's just in your recovery period. It's finding what you enjoy doing, isn't it? It's finding something that feels good. And I know a lot of, there are a lot of kind of what I would call semi-private pools out there. So the risk of infection is much lower, but it's for me.

Alison Salmond (28:49.642)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, exactly.

Sarah (29:07.136)

I know within the UK, Macmillan have huge resources, but also there are growing hubs now where fitness people will know what else is going on. So if you start to say, well, I don't wanna do that, I don't wanna do that, and I'll go, well, actually this goes on and there's this going on and there's something else because we know it's so important to be active. You've got looking for health programs. They are literally a half-hour health walk and they're as slow as you like. We've got 5k your way, which is for people. Yeah, it's similar to Catch 5k, but it's like Parkrun. It's part of the Parkrun initiative, but it's literally designed for people going through cancer. So the people that are running it, the people that are there will have that sort of specialist knowledge.

Alison Salmond (29:57.442)

Yeah. And also the thing is if people start, no, it depends on how many, because it depends on the combos as to how many weeks apart you've got things. I mean, I was actually hooked up for five and a half hours. So I was there the longest anyway, and I always used to get the bed. Everyone else had the seat. See, I don't want to sleep on the bed. But you know, if you know how you rotate, we'll take a couple of goes, but once you know that actually this is where I feel rubbish and actually this is what I need to do in that time, and actually this is when I feel a little bit better, then you then creating your activity around those better days, and it could be just giving yourself little goals. And I mean little goals, I don't mean big goals. I mean, literally as I said, I would get on a bike and do this with the resistance and go, okay, I'm gonna be just cycling, I'm gonna turn my legs basically for 20 minutes, or I'm gonna get on the treadmill and just walk for 15 minutes, I'm gonna lift a weight and I know that I probably lift blah, but I'm just gonna lift weights. I'm just gonna do a little chest press, a little back exercise, little shoulders, and then that's it, you know? And it was just enough to keep going, something to do it. That's it. Yeah. But quite interesting. I was able to do all my Pilates, you know, I'm not saying complete. I'm still not up to the whole level that I was before it all.

Sarah (31:09.475)

That's it, isn't it? It could be 10 squats, 10 push-ups against the wall. It could be just stretching the major muscles in your body.

Alison Salmond (31:23.798)

But even so, I was still able to do a full reformer workout, missing out two or three different exercises. But I was quite happy, you know, I'm not saying the back when I felt sick, I'm saying most of the other days I could, if I, you know, and I'd probably do that a couple of times a week just to ensure that I was still able to do that.

Sarah (31:42.192)

It's so important though, isn't it, to listen to your body and just sort of say, right, okay, today's the day where, do you know what, it's not going to happen today. You know, it will be, it might even just be a relaxation session. That might be what your body needs on that day. But I think the thing is not, not particularly where you're going through treatment and that's chemotherapy, radiotherapy, but also when you, if you are starting the hormone treatments after the chemo or radiotherapy, then it's accepting that it's not going to be a steady progression. It might not even be progression. Just just getting your kit on one day might be enough, whereas other days you might be able to go for a longer walk. And I think that's the important thing is to really reduce your expectations on it and just think, right, the important thing is that I do something, whether it's a minute or an hour, doesn't matter.

it's just it's getting back into the habit and I know many years ago I was at a conference and one of the guys who had started up the kind of exercises medicine movement with the American College of Sports Medicine and he said you know the hardest part of regular exercise is the regular you want to get the regular so if you're having a good day a bad day a shocking day if what you normally do is something at 10 o'clock, do something at 10 o'clock even if it's just to sit on your mat even if it's just to put your running shoes on but just do something associated with it at that time because it's the habit isn't it it's once you let it go and I think for me you know quite often you sort of think oh well I normally would do Pilates at 10 o'clock but I haven't got the energy today so I'm just gonna sit on the mat you might think well actually maybe I'll just do one exercise or I'll just do two quite often it's like, you know, the walking thing. I'm not in the mood for walking today. So I'm just literally gonna open my back door and just breathe some fresh air. And then you might think, well, actually, no, I'm gonna walk to the end of the garden and back. And that was okay, so I'll do it again. But it's having that time and say, right, I'm gonna do something at this time, whether it's a minute or an hour, that's my time. And it's because it's that, as soon as you create the habit and it does take a while, you'll stick with it and then as you start to feel better, as your energy comes back, you'll be able to do more. But because the habit time is there, that's my time.

Alison Salmond (34:12.438)

Yeah, definitely. Yeah. And you know, I prefer, for me, I prefer to do exercise in the morning anyway. So it was quite easy for me to either put a swimsuit on or just put some clothes on. So I was always ready for some form of exercise, regardless of what it is. More often than not, it was swimming first and I could actually do plus in a swimsuit, so that's the problem. And as you said, it's just having that mental clarity. And I was obviously very fortunate because I didn't have to work because I actually stopped working for the whole year. So I didn't do any work. And I do understand that some people will need to work through their treatment. I take my hat off to them if they do, because that's hardcore. But if they have got the ability not to work, then doing those sort of nice things in the morning for you, regardless of whether it's a bit of exercise as you said then if you want to get more into meditation I mean I was the least likliest person to get into meditation I can tell you but actually it saved me it changed my perspective it stopped me thinking about why me why me because healthy people do get cancer it's not you know it's not just unhealthy people as you think it's going to be so um you know it just sort of led you to a bit more acceptance of it all. And also just being grateful, I think, is the gratitude aspect more than anything else. Grateful that it was picked up, grateful that I was in Spain, because actually the health service here was so quick. It was unbelievable. I actually don't think I would have got the same speed in the UK, unfortunately. Because one, would I have been able to pay for my own MRI, and would I have got it literally within two days, because that, well actually, no, I got it within 24 hours. And then of course, being then phoning straight up to my, well, I didn't phone it, my doctor did, phoned up my medical company, who then put me straight in tests the next day and then the next day after that. So, yeah.

Sarah (36:02.856)

And that is, I mean, speed is of the essence, isn't it, with anything. But, and this is where it's so important that if you do notice anything unusual, it's that you, you push until you get it investigated. Just, just jumping back to meditation. Again, meditation is like anything. Start small, start with a minute. You know, don't think you've suddenly got to go into an hour of staring at a candle. There's different ways of meditating. 

Alison Salmond (36:31.454)

Yeah. God, no. I still can't do an hour.

Sarah (36:40.784)

But there's different ways of meditating. And for some people it is literally 30 seconds of deep breathing and then building gradually. But again, there's lots of support that you can get and lots of advice you can get. But as you say.

Alison Salmond (36:42.925)

Yeah. I mean, I think the one that, how I started with it was I put the metronome app, set it to 70 and just did square breathing. So you breathe in for four counts, hold for four counts, breathe out for four counts, hold for four counts. And I'd set the timer for five minutes. And I'll tell you what, that five minutes was an effort. And then bit by bit, five minutes went, and then I did it for 10 minutes. And I went, oh, okay, I can do this. And then, you know, I did a few different ones. But as you said, you're right, there's different forms of meditation. I just find that it will put you in a better place, although at first you go, oh my God, if you're an active, active person, you want to be doing things. So in effect, it's the type of person that probably needs it. The ones that don't want to do it are probably the people that need it. And you know, there's just no way I would have been thought I'd be the person that did that. But Emma just really just was very good. She stuck with me for six weeks going through all these different types of meditations. And yeah, so I'm not saying I'm very good at it all the time now, but it did save me for that whole treatment plan. So I was doing my meditations every day for a year. So.

Sarah (38:03.66)

Yeah. And it's but again, it's what suits you at that time, you know, some people go on and meditate for the rest of their lives, others will come back to it at times when they need it. And it's, you know, again, it's, it's exercise is for life. But there's, there's also different ways. I mean, for a lot of people meditation for you, probably swimming is very meditative. So if you find it difficult to be still and meditate, then there are walking meditations you can download and take with you. So it's finding what works for you. And once you find it, chances are you actually, even though you don't consciously do it, you're bringing it into other aspects of your life, even something like washing up or chopping vegetables can be very meditative because it just can't.

Alison Salmond (39:01.344)

Cool, Sarah. Yeah, absolutely. I'm not quite sure washing up is particularly meditative, Sarah. There are such things called a dishwasher. 

Sarah (39:28.412)

I know, but if you haven't got a dishwasher. But it's, you know, again, it's just absorbing yourself. That’s the thing. Alison, it's been good to talk to you. And I know I've actually, Alison is a very, very highly qualified Pilates instructor and Pilates teacher in that she teaches training courses. So she is going to come back in and talk exactly about what Pilates is and what sort of things you should be looking for. 

Alison Salmond (39:39.406)

Thank you.

Alison Salmond (39:49.614)

Sarah (40:01.884)

Thank you. I hope you enjoyed this chat. Alison, where can people find you?

Alison Salmond (40:09.066)

Well, I have a website, which is my name. So it's www. So I offer training courses for actual Pilates teachers already. So I don't tend to teach them from baseline. So if you were a personal trainer looking to do a Pilates course or a Mat Pilates course, I could direct you to where to go and I'd advise you which Pilates, or Mat Pilates courses I think are good and worthwhile. But I tend to deal with people that are already trained in mat palates and then I deliver more of the apparatus or the equipment, however you want to say that. But I also deliver retreats. Retreats are about not just philosophy teachers, they're about real people trying to improve their health and improve palates, so I run philosophy retreats but also women's health retreats as well. So lots of things.

Sarah (41:00.824)

Oh, it's so amazing. And I will make sure all the links are in the information for the podcast when we do it. Alison, thank you so much for coming in and talking to us about your experience with ovarian cancer. And we will talk again as I say about all the Pilates stuff. But in the meantime, thank you very much and keep well, keep healthy. You've been listening to me, Sarah and my guest Alison talking on creating active lives.

Alison Salmond (41:05.046)

Yes.

Thank you.

Sarah (41:29.8)

Thank you for listening and we will see you again very soon on another episode.