I walked 20km!

I've never felt short in a picture before (I'm 5'8"!!)

What a great day for the walk. 700 people raised over $1 million for cancer research! I walked with Brenda, stayed pretty close with my teammates Izabela and Antoanela and Brenda's teammates Jan, Cindy, Esther and others. Had my 'sheepish fan club' including my sister and my boys at the beginning, a couple of checkpoints, and the last mile. Nancy and Lori on their bikes, Barb on her bike, Damien on his bike and so many others cheering us on.

I carried some names with me on my orange 'super hero' survivor scarf, people in my life who have fought cancer and people I met going through their cancer journey the same time as me:

Alli
Sara
Sharon
Penny
Marcella
Joe
Grampa
Gran
Isabel
Sue
Antonieta
Elizabeth
Tracie
Renee
Daria
Jill
Julie
John
Diane
Pam
Theresa
Angela

I'm Taking the Challenge!!

It's been 2 years since this mess started - finding out I had breast cancer - surgery, chemo, radiation. Now I'm back at work, life is busy, things are good. I'm not running, I still don't seem to have the energy to get that going consistently. I walk, I snowshoe, I go for the odd run, but I'm ready to do the 20K Walk to raise money for CancerCare on June 11th.

You can click here to read more about the Challenge. I will walk in honor of the warriors I've met through my blog and in memory of the (too many) people I know who have succumbed to this disease.

A pic from the CBCN conference

Beth, Jill and Diane at the Body, Mind, Spirit conference (Arabian night)

Pink Wig dance

Check out Julie's video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP29sx87LMM


Her blog is: http://julieolsensjourney.blogspot.com

Body Mind Spirit - National Conference for Young Women Living with Breast Cancer

I attended the Body Mind Spirit conference in Toronto this past weekend. What an amazing experience. I don't know what the best part was - being with so many women who have been through what I have, the speakers and workshop topics, or the entertainment (see links below). I attended workshops on Art Therapy, Meditation, Naturopathy, Ayurvedics, and more.


Jonna's Body - a comedy (!) about breast cancer

Bif Naked - I had no idea Bif Naked was such an amazing speaker... I didn't really know anything about her.

Pink Boy

My husband and son (Zach) visited the Pink Ribbon Riders booth at Hay Days last weekend. Zach tried on a shirt to buy for me. They thought he was so cute they took this pic and posted it on their website. We do hope to do one of their snowmobile rides this winter... check it out: www.pinkribbonriders.com

First chemo was a year ago

Just thinking about it still gives me the heebie jeebies, which is actually defined as 'a feeling of anxiety, apprehension, depression or illness'... pretty much describes it. It was my husband who noticed the date, since he was invited out to a dinner that he had to say no to last year. He's going this year.

We've all come a long way in a year. I am so thankful to be feeling as 'normal' as I am. Life is back to a good routine. I miss my support group though. I don't see them much now that I'm back at work. We'll have to figure something out...

Bone health after breast cancer

I attended a session on Bone Health - informative for all women. It was done by a physiotherapist, a nutritionist and a pharmacist. It was on how to decrease your chances of developing Osteoporosis (a disease that makes bones thin and weak, meaning you are more susceptible to fractures).

We are done building our bone strength around age 18. We maintain it during our 20's, and start to slowly lose it in our mid-30's. Women start to lose it rapidly at menopause because of the drop in estrogen levels. There are lots of major and minor risk factors - but the one that stands out for cancer survivors is early menopause (before age 45, typically caused by chemo).

What to do? Make sure you are getting enough Calcium, Vitamin D and exercise. The amount varies depending on your age, but a post-menopausal woman should get 1500mg Calcium and 1000 IU's of Vitamin D each day.

Your body makes vitamin D when you are in the sun, but apparently you need your arms and legs exposed, no sunblock, for 5-20 minutes, between the hours of 10 and 2. Not many of us Canadians can do that year round. Most people need to take a mulit-vitamin or supplement to get enough.

The physiotherapist was there to tell us that physical activity helps to keep bones strong - both weight-bearing exercises like walking and running, and resistance/strength training like free weights and push-ups.

They didn't recommend any specific multi-vitamin, just had us all bring whatever we take so we could see how much was in it and think about how much we're getting in our food. My multi-vitamin has 400mg of calcium and 200 IU of Vitamin D. I drink 2 glasses of milk a day, but that still doesn't get me there. I'm going to look for a different multi-vitamin or take some extra calcium and vitamin D...

7+ Months post-chemo

I had my 6 month follow-up today and all is good. My bloodwork is 100% back to normal (finally!!) My oncologist will continue to monitor me, he'll see me in 6 months and do bloodwork again. He ordered a bone density scan (I have never had one yet). I'll have annual mammograms. And just keep my fingers crossed.

Here's my hair - I'm going to keep it this short through the summer and then we'll see. This is my natural hair color, but I'll probably get some highlights soon. It sure is easy!

As for side effects, I still have some numb toes, but not all 10 anymore. They do drive me crazy some days. It still hurts where the original surgery was, but I've stretched enough that my fingers don't fall asleep or get numb anymore. My taste buds are pretty normal, although coffee has never been quite right again. I've pretty much given up on it and mostly drink green tea now.

My eyebrows didn't come back the way they used to be. They're very light and patchy, but that's what eyebrow pencils are for!

My port incision is healed, but still is sore to touch. It took a long time for the last little stitch to come out.

I still have an ache in my lower back and my right hip. It's faded, or I've just gotten used to it. But if I think about it, it's there.

I've been back to work 7 weeks now, full time for the last 3 weeks. I'm tired in the evenings (so are most working people!) It's manageable. I'm enjoying being back, its gone a long way to making me feel 'normal'.

That's all for now. Take care...
Beth

3rd week back at work...

I worked 30 hours this week (6 hour days). Next week will be 7 hour days. I like being at work, I enjoy my job and I work with great people. My plan is to focus on keeping work in its place and not get too stressed about it... Yeah right... Like a lot of companies, it is tough times, and people are asked to cut costs and work smarter. In the 3 weeks I've been back, we are reducing our office space (downsizing the cubicles), and we've done some layoffs (people I respect and know well). I'm glad I'm back if I can help make this easier for anyone, but it sure makes it tough to 'leave work at work'. My advice to others on returning to work is to be sure you have a strategy for handling the stress. For me it is walking/running (outside) and loud music while I fall asleep (blocks out the thoughts running through my head). Headphones.

I'm not going to blog about work, this is my cancer blog. I think I'm almost done, I want the cancer story to come to an end. My oncologist bumped this month's appointment to next month. I want to hear that my blood work is back to normal and have him confirm the mammogram was clean. I want to tell you the follow-up plan, and then be done.

Take care everyone.
Beth

2nd Week Back at Work

It was a good week, I worked 25 hours over 5 days. I am enjoying being back in the middle of things, it makes me feel much more normal. I am still walking most days, and even ran a few km last night (avoiding the slushy puddles). It felt good.

Kids are rebelling in their own special little ways (they are used to me being home, even if they are teenagers now). Mornings are not so wonderful, Zach missed an entire morning of school (just didn't wake up until noon - not his fault you know). He may be one of those guys that needs 2 or 3 alarm clocks in his room...

Have a great weekend!

Goodbye Renee

Rest in Peace, Renee

obit

Working and Sleeping

I'm enjoying being back at work. I feel like I'm playing dress-up everyday (business casual office). And all these friendly people around (I'm so used to being alone on my couch, in my sweats or jammies). The thing is though, after 4 hours each day, I need a nap in the afternoon, and I'm still in bed by 8:30pm. Asleep in a second. I'm not getting up any earlier than I was - I still drive Carter to school and then head on to work instead of returning home, but wow am I tired. Can't keep my eyes open.

Yesterday evening I drove Carter to the outdoor skating rink, which is only a couple of blocks away. I made 2 wrong turns. He was looking at me funny. He asked me if I was okay to drive, if I was on any pain medication that could affect my driving. He's 12. I said no, not on anything, this is what being tired does to my brain. Hard to focus on what I'm doing.

We'll see if I can stay up tonight (I have to, we watch "Survivor" !!)

Back to Work

I started back to work this week. I'm happy to be back. Tired in the evenings, but hopefully that will get better quickly.

My son left me a note yesterday saying 'your manogram is good'. I was quite suprised that they would leave the message with him, but they probably thought it was my husband, he has such a deep voice now. Excellent news, now I just want some good bloodwork next month and all is good.

Have a great day!

Some of my new friends

Here's a pic of some of my new friends. Six of us met in the summer as part of a 6-week support program, and have continued to meet weekly (usually 4 or 5 can make it each week). It is so great having each other just a phone call or meeting away. We can talk about anything, including our hair, our aches and pains, how we are dealing with our relationships, our kids, our plans to go back to work (or not). All of us had the same chemo, but different surgeries and radiation doses. Here you can see 3 post-chemo hairdo's and 1 wig (and our Tim Horton's coffees).

Mammogram (already!)

I went for my mammogram today. Hard to believe it's been a whole year since this mess started. I'm feeling confident I am fine, but it will be good to hear the results next week. Next week will also be a year since surgery, so it will be a good time to declare myself a 1 year survivor!

Side note - I recommend taking tylenol before the mammogram, it definitely helped!

First Haircut! 6 months post-chemo

Okay, there wasn't much to cut, but it's much neater now! And while you might think all of your hair grows in at the same time after chemo, it doesn't. It was getting long over my ears, and still just coming in at my bangs and the very back.

1 week until I start work...

A funny thing happened last week. I was feeling pretty good, I stopped to get groceries on my way out, chatted with the cashier, helped bag the groceries into my reusable bags, and just as I'm ready to pay she smiles and says 'do you get the seniors discount'? Really? I don't know what the cutoff is for the discount on Safeway's seniors day, but I'm pretty sure it's not 44. I know I don't look like a senior, even after a year of battling cancer treatments, but it still managed to get me down.

I'm off to the doctor today to get my note giving me permission to go back to work. Later this week I have my mammogram. How much is that going to hurt? Definitely taking tylenol first. It's already been a year since my diagnosis. Unbelievable.

Countdown to going back to work (< 4 weeks)

A busy week... I met some friends for lunch. We're wearing our beaded bracelets made to support our friend's mom when she was diagnosed with breast cancer (and now it shows support for me as well!)

After lunch, I had my followup with the radiation oncologist, who says all looks good. He did say I need to get a compression sleeve to wear if I'm flying, since there is a life long risk of developing lymphedema in my right arm, where all the lymph nodes were removed.

I went for lunch with my support group. We meet weekly, either coffee or lunch, or sometimes at someone's house. This will be hard to fit in once I'm back to work, but will definitely be a priority.

I went for a walk with Nancy, who is my running partner and is training for a half marathon here this month (in the snow). We ran it together a few years ago. I miss running, but I'm just not ready yet. I've tried a couple of times, but am sticking to walking for now.

I talked to Jan, my friend in Vancouver who calls every week or two to see how I'm doing. In addition to her regular job, she has a dog walking business, so she is usually walking through some forest or along a beach when she calls. She always asks me to come out to visit, hopefully I'll get out there in the summer with the kids (we missed our planned BC trip last year which was to include biking down the mountains at Whistler - them, not me).

I watched a webinar on 'Healthy Lifestyle Choices for Breast Cancer Survivors'. The main message is to eat low fat, maintain a healthy body weight, and exercise. Unfortunately, all the studies were on postmenopausal women. There were also discussions on alcohol, soy, and flax, which can affect estrogen sensitive cancers (mine is not). Vitamin D was the last thing discussed, the recommended range to take is 200 to 1000 IU. It's disappointing not to hear that there is something significant I can do to reduce the chance of recurrence. The one change I have made is drinking green tea everyday. Green tea is shown to lower the risk of cancer in general, not necessarily the recurrence of breast cancer. It is a healthy drink since it's a rich source of antioxidants.

I'm thankful again for what a strong support group I have - so many people that check in on me or I just know are there when I need them.

5 months post-chemo

And almost 3 months post radiation (followup with radiation oncologist tomorrow). I'm definitely feeling stronger and thinking more clearly. My new exercises from the physiotherapist have really helped my right arm. My fingers are no longer going to sleep so much.

I'm planning for starting back to work March 1st. I think I will feel much more normal once I'm back at work.

And the 5 month hair update...