Seven

Guess what?

It's been another year!

One more year of sunsets.  There were sunrises too, but most people who really know me will tell you I'm not much of a morning person, so I only saw 3 or 4 actual sunrises this year.

One more year with my family.  One more year with my friends. 


One more year of laundry, of dishes, of yard work.  One more year of driving, of appointments, tests and surgeries.

I didn't say the *whole* year was sunshine and rainbows.

But you know what?  Don't care.

I lived it.

Lived it all.

Still Here!

My but time does fly.  The months have whizzed past.  I've been busy.  Kinda.

Since I last posted, I've had a couple surgeries and a bunch of procedures.  I'm healing nicely for the most part.

I've memorized the 5 signs of infection, in English and in Latin.  Because my principle surgeon has a sense of humor, that's why.  Also because prevention is so much nicer than treating. For everybody.

I've been fortunate to once again have a nice team of medical professionals looking after me.  They are lovely people.  Dedicated.  Kind.  Funny.  Great taste in music.  I don't want to see them anymore.

But I have to, because I'm not done yet.  Another 3 things to go (assuming this last one heals well), and I should be all done.  Except for regularly scheduled checkups.


And for anyone who cares, the 5 signs of infection are:

heat
swelling
redness
pain
discharge

In the spirit of helpfulness...

I read Weighty Matters.  Not every day, but often. 

Today Dr. Freedhoff posted a plea.  A doctoral student is conducting a survey on spousal sabotage of weight loss programs.  She has a brief, anonymous survey to collect data for her dissertation, but needs just a few more participants.

I have a soft place in my heart for doctoral students.

The details  of the study can be found here, along with a link to the survey itself. 

Please take a look.  Maybe you can help.

Braaaaaaains

Today the girls took something a little.....different.

Saturday is World Zombie Day.  Many cities are having celebrations, lots of them involving food drives to support local food banks.

The girls' school is having a food drive, but it is the annual Thanksgiving drive.  It has nothing to do with Zombies, but will have some links to Oktoberfest, which kicks off Friday.

What is the favourite food of zombies?  

Brains!

Of course I couldn't send real brains to school!  These are maccaroni elbows with a little garlic and grana padana, shaped roughly into a brain (see the cleft?), with tomato paste dabbed on for blood.
The brains are held in place with cucumber slices. A silicone muffin cup holds the grapes.  Broccoli, red pepper slices and carrot slices  fill in gaps.

5 Reasons Mammograms Are Not Really Scary

Really.  They aren't.  Honest.

Getting a mammogram is not my favourite way to spend an afternoon, but it is way less invasive and/or uncomfortable than many other medical tests.

So why do so many people put them off?  Is it because mammography is scary?

Then in the name of naming and exposing the monster under the bed (Geoff, and really just made of balled-up unwashed socks) to make it less frightening, here is a short list to de-scare-ify mammograms. 

1. There is no prep for a mammogram.
None.  At all.  OK, so you don’t wear deodorant/antiperspirant before the test.  It gets the plates all gunky and can be hard to clean off.  But still, this isn’t a prep kind of thing.  You don’t have to drink anything gross.  You don’t have to fast.  You just show up.

2. It is not invasive.

Let’s face it, the majority of people getting mammograms are women.  Ladies, this is nowhere near as invasive as the way, way more common cancer screen – the PAP smear. 
Yep, you have to have your top off.  However, you will probably have a gown to cover you, or some little jacket thing, depending on the place doing your test.  This is nothing like trying to arrange 2-3 pieces of paper to cover yourself.

For the gentlemen out there who will require this test (yes, men get breast cancer too) while you will probably get looks from the women (well, some of them), I've been told it's it’s not as bad as a prostate exam or hernia check.  Not that I’ve ever had either.  This is what I’ve heard from a friend-of-a-friend who is a male breast cancer survivor.  He’s also a veteran, and a grandfather.

3. It doesn’t hurt.

Seriously.  Your breasts are pretty malleable.  The mammography machine (let’s call it….Betty) has two plates.  You kind of lean into Betty, and the plates compress your breast tissue.  Yes, Betty does  squish your breasts fairly flattish. I would say it is more discomfort than actual pain.

Now, if you are having a mammogram and find yourself thinking “Jade lied!  This hurts!  Betty is evil!”, tell your technician.  You will probably need to describe the pain (Stabbing/throbbing/burning etc.)  It might be that you can be repositioned. Or maybe not, but it only takes a second for the “picture”, so it won't last long.

4.  A mammogram doesn’t take a long time.

When I had my first one, I figured it would take the whole afternoon.  It took less time than I expected.  It would fit into a lunch hour.  Now, there are exceptions to this, of course.  The center I go to has two mammogram suites, and other rooms just for ultrasound, biopsy, and consultation.  If you have to have extra images taken for what ever reason (like having dense breasts), it can take a little bit longer.  

5. It’s not really the test that worries you, is it?

It’s the possibility of the bad result. 

There have been lots of theories floated about why people don’t get checked.  I subscribe to the "If I don’t know, then I’m fine" theory of denial.  It’s a little like a small child covering his eyes and thinking you can't see him.  It also doesn’t work. 

Getting a bad result (or a diagnosis of cancer) doesn’t mean that in the second a Doctor says the Big C Word you’ve received a zott of deadliness. 

Nope.

It has been there, lurking, undetected, for some time.  Kinda like The Silence. (For Dr. Who fans.  For everyone else, I’ll wait while you click this link.)  Every bit as creepy.  Every bit as malicious.

And the sooner you know, the more time you have to do something about it. 

But ignoring your own health? 

That's really scary.

Testing....testing....

So, you may have noticed I've not done any health related or cancer focused posts lately.  That's because it's testing season, again.  Eventually I'll get all my assorted appointments coordinated so I can get them done inside the same month or two, but right now there are tests run in the spring, and more in late summer/early fall.

No, we are not going to worry.  I get to do these every year.   It's part of the life of a survivor.  That doesn't make it fun.  I have tests and exams, and then I wait.

The waiting is the worst.  It makes me feel like cat in a physicist's thought experiment.  You know the one.*  Inside the box, I'm both fine and not fine, until someone checks and reports the result.


Meow?
 



*Schrödinger's cat,  this interpretation

Rainy Day Smile

Today's lunch post was packed by Peanut.  After weeks of heat, we are getting rain!
So what better to brighten up a drab day than a cheerful umbrella?

Peanut made roast chicken and tortilla "rollie sandwiches", separated from the blueberries and mini red pepper by some parchment paper.  The blueberries are decorated (and skewered ) with a yellow paper parasol.  Peanut left the stem on the pepper because she liked the look and colour.

Sunscreen

Exactly how much sun screen do I need to use?

This is a question I ask myself a lot.  One year I slathered SPF 30 on, had lunch outside (45 min, tops) and came in with a lovely burn.

So, if sunscreen extends the time you can safely be in the sun before burning, I've got what, a little over a minute I can be in the sun at any one time?
Great. 
My Darling Hubby bought me the "Keep out of direct sunlight" shirt from ThinkGeek for my birthday.

OK, but really.  How much?
According to this article, at least 2 Tablespoons for you body, and half a teaspoon for your face.  This other article says essentially the same thing.  Both of those talk about relative SPFs and have other tips.  I like the shadow rule myself:  If your shadow is shorter than you, head for cover.

But staying inside and/or out of the sun totally isn't going to cut it.  I want to be outside. (Maybe not so much this week.)  The other day I popped into a Dollar Store, and picked up a set of plastic measuring spoons:

Now I can squirt sunscreen into them, hand it to Peanut, and get her used to the volume that needs to be slathered on, and repeat as necessary. Pumpkin will still require some parental assistance, but still has a handy visual aid.  These things are going to live with the sunscreen bottles, and will be traveling to the beach with us this year, too.

Garden Week 7

Look!  We have PEAS!

Not very many, and maybe not quite ready to eat yet, but they are there!

Also?  The beans in the window box are starting to produce buds! Which is really surprising for me, considering how yellow the plants are, and how many leaves seem to have come off them.  But still!

The climbing peas continue to stretch toward the handrail on the deck.  They are about 60 cm (2 ft.) tall now, and some are starting to flower.

We are still harvesting lettuce and basil from the containers.  Another handful or so of lettuce seeds have been planted, in hopes of a summer full of salads.  The oregano in the garden is still thriving.  It must really love abuse.  We keep hacking at it, and it just comes back for more. 

I wonder if the girls' teachers would like some as end-of-year gifts. 

Math Salad

Today Pumpkin's class is having a Math Party.  I was volunteered to make a snack.  As soon as she heard party, Pumpkin shouted "My Mom can bake something!"

Her teacher said it would have to be healthy snacks only.  Pumpkin, slightly offended now, told the teacher "My Mom can totally make a healthy math snack, baking or not!"

And so today, I walked to school with a very proud Pumpkin, toting a pink soft-side cooler.  We were swarmed by first-graders.  Pumpkin was adamant there would be no peeking until Math Party time.

I was asked if I baked something, or bought something.  I told the children that I didn't bake it, but I did make it.  They cheered.  Pumpkin grinned. 

Here is Math Melon Salad:

Watermelon squares, rectangles and triangles (not seen because they are kinda on the bottom) with Honeydew and Cantaloupe numbers.

It was really easy to make.  The watermelon was sliced and cut into shapes with a knife.  The other melons were sliced between 1/4 and 1/8 in thick (yes, I know, a Canadian giving dimensions in Imperial), and the numbers punched out with cookie cutters.  The scraps and remnants are in the fridge, and will be consumed tonight.

What you don’t know can kill you

Normally the Friday post is health related.  It usually has a cancer focus.  Not this week. 

I was reading the paper the other day, and I came across an article about strokes.   It’s available on-line here.    The full report is available on the website for the Heart and Stroke Foundation, here.

I was shocked to read how little women know about heart attacks and strokes. 

Especially Chinese and South Asian women.   

Which is really upsetting, considering they have the highest death rate. 

Apparently there are lots of emails circulating that share “tips” on what to do before, during and after a stroke.  The Heart and Stroke Foundation recommends you do not follow or forward these things (Snopes.com has examples of the emails, if you are curious), but instead become familiar with the actual warning signs of stroke by visiting their website.

Stroke Warning signs

Heart Attack Warning signs

Food Doesn’t Taste Right While On Chemotherapy

A while ago, I bumped into an old friend from University.  Not that she is old.  Or that I am old.  Well, maybe a little bit older than, say, new grads, but we aren’t up for CPP or anything yet. 

Anyway....

We were chatting about all kinds of stuff, and Cancer came up.  She was looking for advice for her Mom, who had started Chemotherapy, and was having food issues.  Specifically, it was hard to eat as much as she was supposed to because the food just didn’t taste right. 

Being a Cancer Sherpa, I promised I would ask around, and tell her what I found.  I sent her an email long ago, but still had the info on my desktop.  So why not share it?  That’s what this blog thing is for, right?

A summary of what I learned:

1. I know an awful lot of people who either have cancer right now or have battled it at least once in their lives. 
2. There is no one answer.  Unless you count “It depends.”  Everyone I spoke to had a different way of dealing with the food issues. 

The tips themselves:

• Eat tiny portions.  One friend will eat only 2-3 tablespoons at any one time, to combat nausea.  It means he's pretty much constantly "snacking" on foods that are pretty much pureed, alternating with soda crackers.
• Eat with plastic fork, knife and spoon.  One friend-of-a-friend can really taste the metal in foods, and stainless steel utensils make it worse.
• Eat the food only when it is really hot.  One friend says the food doesn't taste right because the taste buds are formed by fast growing cells, so the chemo gets them, too.  She finds the food has a more natural taste if it is hotter.
• Add more spice to the food.  This is another friend who follows the 'taste buds are dying' approach.  She uses a lot of spices (no salt!) in her food to make it more palatable.  Unfortunately, her family can't stand the extra, so she seasons her food separately.
• Eat the food really cold.  Yet another friend (I told you I know a lot of people on chemo) prefers his food to be so cold it has no taste.  He lets his supper portion cool while the family eats, then puts it in the fridge for a bit (30 mins. or so) and eats it as cold as possible.

Other tips I received:

• Eat the comfort food from your childhood; it will make you feel better.
• Don't eat the comfort food from your childhood; it will ruin it forever. Clearly no winner on that one.
• If you feel like eating something, eat it.
• Eat when you feel like it, even if people look at you funny.
• Suck on a mint or chew gum to get rid of dry mouth.
• Never suck on a mint or chew gum to get rid of dry mouth. Again, this seems to be a contested, personal choice thing.
• Magic Mouthwash will eliminate cottonmouth!  This was unanimous among those who'd tried it.  It's a prescription item, and you will have to ask your Oncologist or Oncological Pharmacist person about it.  I tried to get the actual name of the thing, but all anyone would say is "Magic Mouthwash".

And here’s a tip from me:

Contact your local chapter of the Cancer Society, or check it out on line.  There may be a survivor’s or living-with-cancer group in your area.  They may have some good resources available.    

If you have something to add to the list, let me know.