My 34

So a friend of mine was telling me that a couple of years ago she made of list of things she wanted to do for that year that she had never done before. She picked the same number of things as how many years old she was. I love this idea! There are things I really want to do, especially after this last year. I have been so busy with school, I can't wait to have time to do other things than study.

Here is the list I made for 2013. I am turning 34 this year, so I picked 34 things. I have a couple of things that I have done on there, but not for a long time. I want to go tubing every year, but it never seems to happen so it is on there. The list is in no particular order.

My 34

1.       Can a food product (learn to can food)

2.       Take a cake decorating class

3.       Visit a mosque

4.       Go to Amerawcan Bistro

5.       Learn to ride a motorcycle

6.       Go skydiving

7.       Make an herb garden

8.       Do a photography project over the summer

9.       Learn to belly dance

10.   Start my healthy living support group

11.   Carve Alan’s and my initials in a tree with a heart

12.   Prank someone…and hopefully not start a prank war

13.   Rearrange and decorate my house

14.   Go camping somewhere new

15.   Do something meaningful and significant for someone without taking credit or getting acknowledged

16.   Go vegetarian for one month

17.   Make my own melted crayon art

18.   Get involved with or raise money for the Ronald McDonald House

19.   Try a new recipe a week from my healthy cookbooks

20.   Attend the marriage of a gay couple!

21.   Make a memory jar for 2013

22.   Find out how to get involved with the local community theater

23.   Start learning how to play my keyboard

24.   Party hard for the celebration of my 1 year after chemo anniversary

25.   Write a letter to my parents to tell them exactly how I feel

26.   Go to Ballard Lochs

27.   Do a double under 5 times in a row

28.   Get to and maintain my ideal weight

29.   Go to the farmers market and try 3 different veggies I have never had before

30.   Read a book series I have not read and not feel guilty that I should be studying instead!

31.   Go tubing!

32.   Find a job

33.   Do a 5k run

34.   This one is too private...I shall not share...sorry

This will make for one hell of a year, no? It's exciting!

An Apple a day!

Well, I know I said I would do a new step in a week, but honestly...I just stepped on the scale and scared myself! Holy crow! I have to do something about this now! Actually I am doing a few things and thought I would share them with you.

First, I am cleaning my kitchen out. I actually already started to do this. I am, at the moment, procrastinating doing this blog, but I was also obsessing over doing it. Doing this blog kind of keeps me honest and in line anyway. I will get back to it when I have finished doing this.

I don’t actually have too much to get rid of. My biggest problem is just that, I don’t have much food in the kitchen good or bad. I need to go grocery shopping more consistently. My school schedule keeps me pretty busy. When I am not in school, I am trying to enjoy life a little more to keep down my stress. I have not put my health in a priority slot and have been eating out or pizza a lot. That will actually be the second thing I do today!

The one thing that I am really calling my step for today is eating an apple a day! The old cliché is true my friends. An apple a day does keeps the doctor away. The German Cancer Research Center published a review that stated that people who ate an apple a day, compared to those who did not, had less risk of oral cancer, cancer of the voice box, and breast, kidney, ovarian and colon cancer! Make sure to eat the peels too! That is where the antioxidants are! Apples have anti-inflammatory properties, boosts your immune system, and is a high fiber snack. Fiber is crucial to weight loss and to healthy bodily functions. An adult needs to get a minimum of 20 gm of fiber a day, and an apple with the peel has 3-5 gm depending on its size. Fiber also helps us feel full, therefore, we eat less!

On a side note…I had no idea that I would ever know this much about anything! Nursing is fun, cool, and makes me feel smart!

Me vs. Food

We all have our vices. Some people drink, some smoke, do drugs, engage in risky behavior…mine is food. I love food. I love eating, trying new foods, the socialization that comes with it. I have a love affair with food that I am having such a hard time shaking. It is my coping mechanism, and it works great for reducing my anxiety. It does not work well for the other aspects of my life, however.

I truly feel that my diet and lack of regular exercise played a real part in my cancer. Not only do I feel that my diet will contribute to me possibly getting cancer again, but I know that it is killing me slowly…a silent killer. So then the question is…why do I continue to eat myself to death?

The answer is I don’t really know. The whole situation is complicated and yet simple at the same time.  I am loaded with excuses and reasons. I have habits that are hard from me to break. The things I have tried to change in the past don’t do for me what eating something I truly enjoy does.

I love it when people say I should exercise! Even as a nursing student, I don’t buy into what they say about how you feel when you exercise. You know how I feel? Tired…no exhausted! That whole thing about feeling energized after working out does not happen for me. I find myself struggling throughout the rest of the day. If I try to exercise later…I still feel tired, but I find it hard to actually go to sleep. I find the whole thing stressful trying to figure out in my already busy schedule when I should workout. It takes forever to go to the gym, change, work out, and then shower. I worked out 4-5 times a week for two years, one of those years with a personal trainer. It never got easier or more enjoyable for me. If it had, wouldn't I still be doing it? It never became a habit. Admittedly, exercise is something I need to do, but is it a good substitute for food for reducing my anxiety? I say no.

I do love doing things outdoors. I find that things are much nicer and easier for me during the summers, but when you live in the land of perpetual rain…outdoor activities are not really practical. I never thought I would miss the Colorado weather, but I do. It may be freezing cold during the winter, but at least the sun shines more than not. I have also greatly improved my tolerance to colder weather.  With that said, I am on a quest to find a substitute for food.

I have looked into things like support groups for overeating and other resources, but I have yet to find something that I think works for me on my schedule. There really isn't much out there unless you want to pay and arm and a leg. If you are willing to sell your first born child, there are numerous resources at your disposal. Sometimes it feels like a conspiracy or that no one takes this problem seriously. The usual thing you hear is, “drop the food fatty,” or “go to the gym.” What people don’t realize is that this problem isn't just about laziness, although that plays into it, but there are multiple layers of why someone like me is the way they are. It just isn't that simple. It took 33 years of living to get to this place. I don’t pretend that I can fix it in a matter of a month.

So, what does all this mean? I don’t know, but I am going to start today with something simple. I am going to get back into the habit of drinking 64 oz. of water a day. I was doing really well with that before school started. It will be my step one of my journey to health. I will drink my water every day for the whole week. Next week, I will pick a new step.

Why will drinking 64 oz. of water every day be my first step? Glad you asked.

Water is the single most important thing you can put in your body. It makes up 2/3 of our body weight.  The human brain is made up of 95% water, blood is 82% and lungs 90%! Did you know that mild dehydration is the main cause of daytime fatigue? Did you know that caffeine causes dehydration? Water helps regulate body temperature, lubricates joints, lessens the burden on the kidneys and liver by flushing out waste products, carries nutrients and oxygen to cells,  protects body organs and tissues, helps prevent constipation, helps dissolve minerals and other nutrients to make them accessible to the body. It is vitally important to our cell health and metabolism. We can go 7 days without food, but we can only go 3 days without water. It is our life elixir and helps keep us looking and feeling younger.  It is recommended that adults drink 64 oz. a day to maintain a healthy level of water in the body.

So there it is in a nutshell…I don’t have any real answers yet, but I will be using the bathroom a lot this week until my body it used to the amount of water I will drink again!

Greek Patties with Salad

Now that my school schedule has calmed down a little bit, I am going to refocus my efforts towards my diet again. I have been horrible. I have a plan and some of it will be hard to do…for example, I can only go out on one social event each month where food is involved unless it is my kind of healthy food. I am treating food like alcoholic has to treat alcohol, since I have found no self control over that last 2 months.

One of the things that I have decided to do is share one quick, healthy recipe a week. I have many healthy food recipe books now, however, who has time to make most of the stuff in them? Not this girl, at least not right now. Most of the recipes require a decent amount of time and prep work. I still have too many other things to do, so I will share some of my favorites and update as I find new ones. Hopefully, I will get one up a week. Please feel free to leave feedback if you make it or any other comment that comes to mind.

This week’s recipe comes from Rachel Ray’s, Burgers Gone Wild! I don’t particularly like Rachael Ray to be honest. I find her annoying, but girl can cook. This is one of my favorite dinners. I do modify it, but I will talk about those throughout the recipe!

Gyro Burgers with Greek Salad

4 servings, 2 small burgers each – I get several meals off of this the way I modify it

1 ½ pounds ground chicken or ground lamb -  I use 2 packages ground 93-97% fat free turkey

1 cup full-fat plain yogurt – I use 25-28 oz low-fat plain yogurt. I tried greek yogurt…don’t go there!

A handulf of fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped – I use dried if I use it at all

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped – I cheat here with freeze dried chopped garlic

1 tablespoon ground cumin (a palmful)

1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano (half a palmful) – I don’t usually use this

1 ½ teaspoons sweet paprika (half a palmful) – Use regular paprika

1 tablespoon grill seasoning (a palmful; such as McCormick’s Montreal Steak Seasoning) I like Chicago steak seasoning better

About 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) for drizzling, plus about 3 tablespoons for dressing – I don’t use this at all

1 English (seedless) cucumber, diced into bite-size pieces

1 red or green bell pepper, cored, seeded, and diced into bite-sized pieces

4 celery ribs with leafy greens intact, chopped – I use most of the celery stalk

½ large red onion, chopped – I eyeball, but I get a small onion. You want to cut these small!

2 vine-ripe tomatoes, seeded and diced – I use cherry tomatoes cut in half, seeds and all – eyeball amount

½ pound feta, crumbled – I eyeball it according to my taste

½ cup pitted kalamata olives coarsely chopped – I just slice them and use more than ½ a cup

6 peperoncini (pickled hot, light green peppers), chopped – I eyeball this and use more than 6

Juice of 2 lemons – I don’t use this at all

Several drops of hot sauce, such as Tabasco – I may or may not use it.

Course salt – I don’t use this at all

Pita bread, warmed and cut in half – I don’t use this at all

Preheat a grill pan, large nonstick skillet, or outdoor grill to medium-high heat.

In a large bowl combine the ground meat with the yogurt, parsley, garlic, spices and seasonings. Form 8 thin 3-inch patties. Drizzle the patties with EVOO and cook for 3 minutes on each side in 2 batches. Hold the cooked patties on a plate under foil.

In a large, shallow serving bowl combine the cucumber, bell pepper, celery, red onion, tomatoes feta, olives, and peperoncini. Dress the salad with lemon juice, hot sauce, and salt. Toss, add about 3 tablespoons EVOO, and toss again. Taste to adjust seasonings. Top the salad with the patties and serve with pita bread.

I just toss the veggies together without the EVOO, lemon juice, and salt. I love it just as is, but you may like it with it. I also just cook the meat in piles in the pan and not worry about making patties. I mix the warm meat with the cold salad. I think it is delicious this way. I don’t eat bread anymore, so I have no need for the pita. 

School and other such nonsense

Hello everyone!

Well, it has been a long time since I posted an update. I thought I would say a few things. It's a good distraction from studying anyway!

First of all, I lost my cat Princess. I miss her so much. It was especially difficult as she died with the very same cancer that I had! Even the chemo she would have gotten would have been the same as mine, except one drug! We had to put her down two weeks ago today. I have finally stopped crying like a baby over it, which makes me sad in a weird way as well.

I also have started school. It is crazy! I am starting my 6th week tomorrow! It has been very difficult for me. I have always struggled slightly…well, stressed out is more like it. Now I am actually finding real deficiencies in my ability to learn and retain information. For example, last week I read all the readings for the modules. I was going over some of them today for review and the readings were completely unfamiliar to me. It was like I never read them! Retaining read material has never been a strength of mine, but in the past there would at least be a familiarity and I would think, “Oh yeah, that’s right. I remember now.” There was nothing today! I have been doing practice questions from several books and cds today in hopes to help retain or gain some information that might help me pass my test tomorrow. It is all side effects of the chemo and I will eventually get back to normal. It has becoming a waiting game for me.

I recently watched the most amazing documentary called, Half the Sky. It speaks to atrocities committed against women across the world. There are some truly inspiring and amazing women out there. After watching that, I feel like an imposter when others say that about me. I have been through nothing compared to those women! I highly recommend everyone watch it. It is on On Demand with Xfinity, or read the book! The stories are horrendous, but the courage, love, and devotion that comes from these situations give me hope for humanity!

I also went to a seminar with Context International. The training is a three part series and I have only completed the first part, but I already feel a change in me. It is aimed at helping people find the ways that they can help themselves live a life of purpose and fulfillment. I had such an amazing feeling when I left the first seminar called, The Pursuit of Excellence. Not only have I started to really work on some things about myself I want to change, I met some really amazing people. My only regret is that I have to wait until the end of December to get the next part called, The Wall.

My hair is growing in well! It is pretty thick now. It is still pretty short, maybe 2.5 inches. It looks shorter than that though….because my curls are back! I am so happy about that. I didn’t care that my color might change, but I wanted my curls back. It is actually the strangest thing. Not one day goes by when someone doesn’t compliment my hair. Apparently short hair is the best on me. I wish I liked it half as much as everyone else. The only thing I see when I look at my hair is that it is the last visual reminder of all I went through. It doesn’t help that I loved my hair the way it was before. I actually like my hair less than when I was bald, if you can believe that! Oh well, at least everyone else likes it for now.

I have been experiencing an uncomfortable ache in my hip again. I am trying not to freak out about it. It is hard to not think, “OMG! I have cancer again!” I am trying to keep that under control. I will most likely have to go in for another MRI as the discomfort is becoming more predictable and not going away. I will keep you all posted on that.

My mother is doing well back home. I miss her so much every day. I have no idea how I will ever pay her back for everything she did for Alan and me. She is back with her grandbabies though, and I know it makes her happy to be there. I am still trying to cook something up!

Other than that, things are going well. Alan and I had a great summer, especially our relaxing and uneventful (in a good way) Jamaica trip! We are heading to Hawaii in December, so there is that to look forward too! I hope all is well out there in the rest of the world.

Reflection...

Today my wheelchair was picked up by the company that rented it to me. It is very strange the way it makes me feel. I remember when it was delivered here. My mom and I broke it in by doing donuts in the front room! Now it is gone. I am glad, but it is a weird reminder of how far I have come and what I have been through. I am now one step closer to life going back to normal. Sometimes it is almost like it didn’t happen at all, then I look in the mirror or get rid of something I needed but don’t anymore.



Some of the crew on my first day back!

I also went to back to work on Tuesday. It was great to be back and I was so happy to see some of my favorite people there! Being at the front desk is easy for me physically, and I was able to pick right back up. There are some new things and some of the special order things that I didn’t see much of before that I need a refresher on, but I think it is a great place for me to start. My only concern about drawing blood is just being physically tired being on my feet for long periods of time. I don’t think anyone will care if I need to sit down for a few minutes though, not really.

I watched a documentary film yesterday called, The Education of Dee Dee Ricks. Dee Dee starts as a shallow, annoying personality, so much so I almost turned it off. I am glad I didn’t. As the story progressed, she changed and also changed the lives of people around her. She found an amazing purpose for herself. She found that many different things were important to her than before and decided to live a more simple life. It was inspirational. Part of this movie also followed a woman Dee Dee became close to, Cynthia Dodson. I found a reflection of myself in Cynthia, and I cried very hard when she passed away during the filming.

I have found myself more reflective this week. I have been contemplating what about me is different and where am I the same. My patients is not so good for things like waiting in line, which it never has been. I am, however, much more likely to be patient with other people and let things roll right off back. I also roll with the punches more. I am more accepting when things won’t go according to plan. Let’s face it, if I can handle having to quit nursing school, for who knew how long, after so many years of hard work I can handle plans needing to change or some things just not working out at all.

I have also noticed wanting to change things with my surroundings. I want to make my environment full of happiness and life. Alan and I are talking about adding more windows in our living room to let in some light. This room is like a den. We are picking out some new paint and finding pictures to hang. We are going to be hanging pictures of our trips and good times together. One thing I told Alan when we knew that this was most likely cancer was that I had no regrets. We have had a beautiful and fun life, and I wouldn’t change a moment of our life together. I want to reflect that in our home.

An awesome cancer update!!!

Well, things have been progressing well. I am working on my stamina every day. I find I need naps a little less, but am doing more in my day. I feel more like myself a little everyday!

I start back up at work on Tuesday. I am very excited to go back. It is one more step to normal life again. My boss is being very kind and understanding. She is allowing me to come back as an extra person, so if I find I am unable to stay at work I can leave. I am starting at the front desk so I can learn the differences in the computer stuff and get a refresher on the old stuff too. She is letting me pick what days I go in too. Over all they are being very supportive in me coming back!

In other great news…I saw my bone doctor yesterday. He gave me the best news ever. He gave me the ok to do whatever physical activity I want, with the caveat that I ease into the activity. He told me to listen to my body and if I start to feel pain to stop and come back and see him if necessary. I won’t be running a marathon tomorrow, but have decided to run a 5k run at the end of summer. Other than that I will not be going to see my bone doctor anymore! It is bittersweet for me as he was the first doctor to tell me anything and was the doctor who really took care of me until I started chemo. I will miss him in the future.

I will also be going back to school in September. There might be a chance I cannot get into the clinical side of the program though. There are already too many people in the class I am going into. There are not enough clinical slots for me right now. I might have to take winter quarter off of class and do the clinical portion. That would mean I could not progress to the next class until spring and would not graduate until December 2013. We shall see what happens. I have decided that whatever happens is ok, even if this does change other plans and hopes. I can only do what I can.

I am getting my survivor tattoo on Sept. 30. I am not sure exactly what I am getting yet. I have it narrowed down to a couple of ideas. I will see my artist after I get back from Jamaica to make the final decision. I am super stoked and cannot wait. I do think I may get a cherry blossom tree, but have her make it in such a way that I can add things to it later. I am thinking that I would like to add Alan, Loki and I sitting under it at some point and add something to it if we ever have kids.

Well that is all for today. There are lots of great things going on right now. I am going to go make breakfast so husband and I can go on our walk and get our day started!