I’ve been experiencing stiffness in my ankles for over a month now (before Hawaii). I blamed neuropathy on the stiffness. It meant that I wasn’t using my ankles properly while walking – causing my calves to get nasty knots in them. In Canada, I discover that using Voltaren cream meant a significant improvement in mobility…
Since being diagnosed with cancer, one of the questions I find I ask myself is “what’s stopping me?” More specifically, “what’s stopping me from doing what I want to do?” I now find myself questioning the answers. Am I not doing it because I physically cannot? unfortunately, this too often is the answer … but…
On Wednesday, November 19th I was wheeled around to various departments as part of my pre-surgery preparation. As part of this, I was seen by mammography, where they placed three wires in my breasts. These wires were guides for the surgeons – to show them where each of my tumor were. When I returned from…
I follow Katie Ford Hall’s blog. In a post titled Birds and Rabbits she summarizes a portion an article by Christie Aschwanden on the Case Against Early Detection – where Cancer is categorized into four types. I’ll quote Katie here: Here’s where she gets brilliant. She describes four types of cancer: The Turtle – a cancer so slow-growing that…
We had not planned for snow in Welland – but Canada is very unpredictable at this time of year. We borrowed some winter boots and jackets, and ventured out for a 3 km walk. As we walked, we were reminded of the crisp smell after a fresh snowfall. Living in California, we definitely do…
Today will be my first post-surgery flight. I didn’t leave it too long … it has only been a week since surgery. In the surgery, I had a sentinel lymph node dissection (SLND) on both sides (bilateral). If I were to listen to the rhetoric on the various breast cancer support group sites, I should…
We realized that we had not stopped by the tree before my surgery last week. Today, we stopped briefly at the tree. I found myself looking up and reflecting (the picture also shows how my hair is growing back!) … Unlike many of the other eucalyptus trees in the area, this one hasn’t lost much of…
Ya, no … That is pretty much what I thought when the resident on call suggested a catheter with a pee bag attached to my leg for the next week or so. I don’t think she really heard me right. I said I was having difficulty urinating, but I am still doing it! There is…
Last night we were rudely awakened at 1:30am by fire alarms. I was surprised at how quickly I jumped up, and threw on a sweat shirt (over my head) … this is somewhat ill-advised in my current condition (with two to three inch incisions under my armpits). I didn’t feel it at the time, and…
I told Scott before surgery that the one piece of information I wanted when I woke up was the status of the sentintel node biopsy. I was right – Scott tells me that I asked at least 5 times while in the recovery room, and was happy each time he told me they were clear.…
