Cancer Survivor, writing about Health and Fitness as you age

Yes, this is the kind of question you can only hear when breast cancer survivors meet and talk, in this case, about reconstruction. I recently went to my support group luncheon again, after having missed quite a few because I was too busy at work. The Pink Ribbon Cowgirls (PRC) is a support group organized by the Breast Cancer Resource Center . We share our histories and even though some are in different stages of diagnosis, treatment or recovery, and some stories may be hard to hear, I always feel blessed to be part of that group, to connect with my fellow-survivors, hear how they are doing, what new is going on and catching up in general. While it is not always easy we do laugh a lot, and I thought I'd share some snippets of the ridiculous conversations that we have : "Do you still have your ovaries?" "I get so many hot flashes all the time I don't even know what's causing them anymore. Chemo? Meds?" "Think I look good? I have a base...

Where have I been? Clearly I've been doing some letting go, but not of this blog. At least, not just yet. I've been reflecting on how I've changed in recent years, and wanted to share some of what I've concluded and what I am letting go of. 1. Let go of old assumptions and constraints when circumstances have changed . Is the old thinking still applicable? When I was first married, money was limited, and we had one sheet set. When it came time to change sheets, it was a pain, (not to mention boring), because we would strip the bed in the morning,  put it to wash before work, and end up having to put back the washed sheets at night when we were both tired, before we could sleep. For a long long time I thought, wouldn't it be great if I could strip the bed and make it at the same time in the morning? Even when money became more available, I still was trapped by thinking I couldn't afford it. Then one day, it dawned on me, I could! My circumstances ha...

I recently did what so many of my friends have done- I went to the salon to get my hair done. I don't usually do that, in fact, the last time I had a proper spoil up was when I had my hair coloured the day I stopped wearing hats, wigs and scarves. Since my hair has grown, I usually get a very basic haircut, and in fact, the tip alone was twice what I normally pay to get my hair cut. But of course what I was paying for, was not just the haircut.  It was the ambience, it was the mimosa they offered on Saturdays, it was the 3 hours without children or family or expectations, it was the hand massage or the cucumber on the eyes, whichever you chose. It was the service, and having the stylist actually make a recommendation about a suitable hairstyle. It was all of it. And boy did I pay for that experience. And since your hair never looks as good as it does as when you have just come from the salon, I had to run home and get G to take a picture right away!

This past summer, three years ago , I received the diagnosis that changed our lives. It was the week before we were planning to leave for Germany on a family vacation. My dad was flying in from Trinidad to make the trip with us, and we got the news that I had stage III breast cancer the Wednesday of the week he arrived. We had to cancel that trip and I went straight into treatment. This past summer, almost to the day, we finally made that trip to Germany... Here I am on the ferry going to Denmark My dad was not able to go with us on this trip, but it was a wonderful experience to see Berlin again, and see it with the kids. They were great travelers! Helped by the chocolate breakfast bars with Nutella that we got on the plane, no doubt! My first visit to Germany, pre-kids, was all about the places -  my husband's University, Deutsches Eck, Munchen visiting friends, the hospital where he was born, Opa Willie's grave. This time around, it was about family and the food...

Some time ago I had blogged about my magazine problem here . Well, this past week, Cosmo has seen it fit to provide me with, not one, but two complimentary copies of their magazine - one of the regular US Cosmo and another of the Latina edition. Now, I don't know if it is my bias or not, but my jaw just dropped when I saw this article below. Now I read a lot of magazines and I have not, in the last 5 years, seen any magazine not say to substitute brown rice wherever white rice is mentioned, except this one. And they are saying white rice is good for you because of the manganese content (which brown rice also has).  And potatoes? "High in vitamin C, potatoes can boost immunity to cold-causing bugs." This is an obvious endorsement of foods without the usual qualifiers (in moderation, better with X substitution, etc.). In fact, I don't think I've ever seen any item in this list promoted as being "good for you" except maybe coffee in some inst...

This past weekend I took my younger son on a Mama-son special weekend away. We were at a water park and while he was playing around I did my favourite thing to do - people watch. It reminded me that there are all kinds of people in this world. I saw a family with a clearly autistic son and another family with a child with Down's Syndrome and they were all playing and happy. I saw a dad several times over the weekend and each time he was on his phone conducting business, even while his family was around him. Phone to his ear, arms gesticulating, as if the world depended on the deal he was working. I marveled at a family with a fairly young mom, with 4 kids ranging from teenager to toddler - and was amazed at her stamina and relative composure. I saw families lining up for s'mores, with small children holding mini pitchforks with marshmallows on the tips, moving towards the open fire pit and then waving their pitchforks away once the marshmallows were toasted. High-risk man...

Living with cancer is not easy, and that coming from someone who, on a scale of 1-10, probably only had a difficulty of 4 or 5. It is the afterwards, the afterwards that also poses a challenge. Why am I feeling tired? I didn't feel that pain before, I wonder what it is? Should I call my doctor? I missed my spinach smoothie this week, I hope I am not endangering my life. I wonder if I am exercising enough? I'd really love to have some bread pudding, will that doom me? It's time for a checkup, I wonder what they'll find...? The endless stress of trying to manage, well, everything sometimes gets a bit too much so I've decided to take a break. So what does that look like? For me, it means I haven't been taking my gazillion supplements (vitamin D, calcium, curcumin amongst other things), I've not been making my spinach smoothies, AND I've just decided to watch only shows I've seen before. So right now that means I am binging on Smallville.  I h...