Presenting the amazing variegated woman!

That would be me. I wouldn't normally post something like this but I felt the time had come. I am entering freak zone and little girls (and they've all been girls so far), come up to me asking me what is wrong with my skin. My answer is that my skin isn't working right and it is losing its colour. I have vitiligo - yes, the thing that Michael Jackson had. So even though I like being in the top 1-2% of the population, this isn't at all what I had in mind.

As far as "the doctors" can tell it's an autoimmune disease where my immune cells may be attacking my pigment cells, and the pigment cells are losing. For a dark-skinned person, the effect is striking. There is no cure and you may or may not respond to the existing treatments. (Lucas, my 7-year old, tells me that having another baby would help. I'm not buying it though I might be inclined to try ginko balboa.)

It seems almost obscene, if not in poor-taste to make a fuss about something that's not life-threatening. Well, the damage this disease wreaks is on the psyche, even for the most well-adjusted of us.

I've had vitiligo for a number of years, but it has exploded in the last year. Small spots have merged and I now have large patches on typical eczema areas (hands, wrists, elbows, knees). I've been lucky - only limited patches on my face..you know how vain we women are. I saw this poem, Picture of Perfection by Brian K. Blackden, and I wanted to share.

My brother is of the firm belief that I got this because I moved away from home. He may be right, since I've now developed a reaction to some types of pineapple - that tropical stalwart. Rather embarrassing really. That alone makes me want to conceal both my origins and my allergies from friends and family, simply so I can avoid the inevitable ridicule and pecong I am likely to receive. (At least from my Trini friends - Americans seem have some sensitivity to offending people). Pecong is Trinbagonian slang for witty, humourous, biting teasing.

In the meantime, I am just waiting for the swimming pool management to ask me to bring in a doctor's note saying that I am not contagious.

Week 20, Cycles 11,12 of 12: Not Happening

This week the oncologist felt that I had done enough chemo- I was not going to get Cycle 11 and Cycle 12. I've talked before about the effects of the chemo on my fingers, but you know it is a sad situation when you knot your pyjama bottoms and then can't untie it to go to the bathroom. No more chemotherapy for me. Yay? Yes, a bit of an anti-climax, but I still get to ring the "end-of-chemo" bell and get confetti thrown on me by my chemo nurses. My doctor also had in her hand the results of my post-chemotherapy MRI and it showed that there was a reduction in the tumour, it looked less dense than before and above all it looks like the volume of the tumour decreased by about 75%. Yay to that for sure! Considering I didn't feel that anything was changing I was very happy about the result. Next on my list: surgery. She said that although my blood counts are low in some areas, she felt that if I wanted to have surgery that day, I was well enough to do it. Me? We

Talking with Lucas on climate change

This is my post for Blog Action Day . This is an annual event where bloggers everywhere in the world post about the same issue on the same day to spark discussion around an issue of global importance. This is part of a conversation I had with my 8-year old. Mama : Do you know what climate change means? Lucas : I think it means when it is like 90F and it is hot. And the change? It's when in the daytime it might be 90F and sunny and hot, and then you go inside for dinner and then right after dinner and it might have dropped to 70F Well, yes it is that in a way. That describes what is happening in your area, but when people use the term "climate change" they really mean something more global, like affecting climate around the world Have you heard of the team "global warming"? What global warming is that it is made up of CO2 (carbon dioxide) and when they burn stuff the smoke releases CO2 and it's like a blanket covering the earth and if it k

Cancer by the numbers 2 of 4: That grocery bill

This is the second "Cancer by the Numbers" post, the first was about blood counts . We have been trying to eat organic fruits and vegetables as much as we can, to reduce the pesticide levels we injest. I will publish another post about cancer and food, but for now I thought I'd share the cost of organic vs not organic based on a quick poll of my local grocery (HEB). We had cut out meat prior to my diagnosis of cancer (ever since reading The China Study ) so perhaps the decline in spending in meat is offset by the more pricey organic items! The graph below shows the increase, as a percentage of the non-organic price, that I pay for common items that I buy. While the actual dollar amounts may not be significant individually, I can tell you that I really feel it on my grocery bill when I buy blueberries! If you feel you want to buy organic, but want to spend the dollars on those items where it makes a difference, take a look at the Environmental Working

Cancer Survivor, writing about Health and Fitness as you age

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