"I got to thinking one day about all those women on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to 'cut back.' From then on, I've tried to be a little more flexible."
(Erma Bombeck)
Monday, May 11, 2009 at 2:40PM I had a wonderful Mother’s Day this year. The reason it was wonderful is because I spent it with my favorite people, my family. I had been cooped up in the house for three days with a respiratory bug. And even though I wasn’t completely up to par, I felt well enough to go to church. Afterwards, my husband and daughter took me out for a delicious meal and then we stopped at my mom and dad’s to visit.
Thursday, April 30, 2009 at 2:38PM Lately it seems that I have become preoccupied with bad news. Mind you, my husband and I have taken great pains to avoid being inundated with news—we don’t even have TV reception. I can honestly say that I don’t miss all those talking heads a bit. I do listen to the radio for a few minutes in the morning and a few minutes in the car when I’m running errands or driving home from work. Most of our news comes by way of the Internet.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 2:37PM I had a follow-up appointment with my oncologist, Dr. E., at Swedish Hospital last week. While there, she did a quick exam and answered loads of questions. I also had lab work done, as well as a bone density scan. I found out a few days ago that my bone density scan is normal. On the blood work, I discovered that my vitamin D levels are low, so was advised to double the amount of vitamin D3 that I am currently taking (up to 2,000 units a day). We Pacific Northwesterners are notoriously low on vitamin D due to lack of sunshine. Some studies correlate low vitamin D levels with breast cancer, so that's the reason why I'm being diligent about taking it.
Friday, April 10, 2009 at 2:34PM Last week was Spring Break for the Mount Vernon School District. Since I work half-time at the high school and half-time for the district office, I had to work 20 hours during the week for my district position. I took my days off at the end of the week so I could have a long weekend. Now, one of the things I’ve learned is NOT to plan on accomplishing much when I have these kind of breaks. I inevitably don’t get everything done and then I beat myself up about it. So, I purposely planned to do NOTHING and give myself a break.
Saturday, March 28, 2009 at 2:30PM I am thrilled to report that I finished my radiation treatments this week (Monday, March 23, 2009)! Yep, a total of 38 treatments (7-1/2 weeks’ worth) are now behind me! I am incredibly relieved to have the surgeries, chemo, and radiation parts of my treatment behind me. On my last day of treatment, I brought a Snickers cake to my appointment, along with a card for Dr. K. and his staff. They are a great bunch of people whose expertise, compassion, and humor make a difference in many lives. I wanted them to know how thankful I am for that.
Monday, March 16, 2009 at 2:28PM I’m probably going to step on someone’s toes with this blog entry, but I feel compelled to write it. I touched on this topic once before in my blog, but I feel very strongly that it bears repeating. It’s about the “tyranny of positive thinking.” Jimmie C. Holland, M.D., of Memorial Sloan-Kette ring Cancer Center, coined the term, “the tyranny of positive thinking” in his book, The Human Side of Cancer. Don’ t get me wrong—I believe that having a positive attitude most certainly beats having a bad attitude, especially during hard times. However, there are many people today (including many Christians) , who adhere to “The Gospel According to Oprah.” Basically, it’s a New Age belief (ever read The Secret?) that used to be called “blab-it-an d-grab-it” in Christian circles--the belief that you create any outcome you desire based on positive thinking and speaking.
Friday, March 6, 2009 at 2:26PM Sorry for the long hiatus from my blog, but between radiation treatments, work, and family happenings, I haven’t taken the time to sit down and sort out my thoughts. There are so many things I’d love to write about if I could only find the time! I have less than three weeks left to finish radiation. It’s rather ironic: I’m the girl who never tanned and now the upper right quadrant of my body looks like I’ve spent a week in Bermuda. Who knew? All I needed to do was sit under a radiation machine for weeks on end! All I need to complete the look is a flower lei and one of those tropical umbrella drinks.
