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