Daisypath Anniversary tickers

Daisypath Anniversary tickers

Monday, May 24, 2010

Out, damned spot!

Ah, thank you Lady Macbeth (via Shakespeare) for the title to today's post... and the reason for it? The spot on my lung that has been monitored since last fall is gone, gone, gone... yay!   I took a deep breath, said a quiet thanks, and broke into my happy dance.  Finally, no more scheduled tests (well, mammogram in 6 months but that's going to be routine for awhile), no more vague or nebulous things hanging over my head.  I can focus on healing and recovery much more fully now.

Photobucket


I'm currently battling some significant fatigue.  Again. The thyroid meds have helped a little but my heart rate is still much too high and I'm on a third heart med to try to strengthen and slow down my heart.  So far all it's doing is making me feel even more tired but my pharmacist is confident my body will adapt and I'll get past that. I'll give it a little longer; if things don't improve I'm going back to the cardiologist.

Bone and joint aches and pains (from Arimidex) are down some since I upped my vitamin D3.  Let's hope that continues.  Some mornings I walked like an old lady. Painful.

Our weather has gone from pleasant and cool (70's), to suddenly very hot and humid.  Pollen counts are very high for the area and my sinuses are responding with lots of sinus pressure and pain, plus I have swollen glands.  That's OK -- it'll pass -- it's just allergies.

Looks like we're in for a nice Memorial Day weekend.  Enjoy, everyone!  and do a little happy dance while you're at it!

Photobucket

PS  Car update:  I Fed-Ex'ed my car title to the salvage company so my car could be released to them and I could receive my insurance payment... the title was delivered and signed for... and lost once it got to the salvage company.  Idiots.  Apparently a stack of FedEx packages vanished that day.  Idiots.  Things will still get settled, but it's more hurry-up-and-wait.  And a warning:  just because you send something with a tracking number and it gets delivered, that STILL doesn't mean it'll end up where it's supposed to!  I credit my insurance company with the way they're handling all this. For me, it's another frustration over an accident that I had no part in causing, but I just take a deep breath and remind myself that it's small stuff.

Monday, May 10, 2010

I Loves the Happy Dance!

Wooo hooooo!! Happy dance, happy dance!

Diagnostic mammogram came back all clear! Woo hoo!

Next one in 6 months with possible MRI. However, my surgeon was very encouraging, still pleased that I'm one of the 10%, loves my white hair, and told me that my prognosis wouldn't have been any better if I'd had a mastectomy, so I defintely did the right thing. I like a surgeon who can admit that his original advice (which was to have the mastectomy) wasn't the right advice for me. I understand his point of view and reasons for his original thinking but I'm glad I followed my gut on that one.

So.... one more test in a couple of weeks and then the beasties are off my back for awhile!

Happy dance, happy dance!

dance


Thursday, May 6, 2010

When Bad Things Happen to Good Cars

T-boned.

A rather flip expression for a not-very-fun experience.

My cute little Saturn is totaled but I'm OK (still debating a trip to urgent care, but I'm waiting to see how much the bruises and aches develop)*, so that's the important part.

Still, it's making me plenty sad that I've lost my car.

To add to the experience, the driver pulled a hit-and-run, but thanks to three witnesses from three other vehicles, the police quickly caught her.  Of course, she has no insurance, which is why she didn't stick around to begin with.

I'm grateful for my own insurance company, who have been very kind in dealing with me, and were johnny-on-the-spot in getting an appraiser to look at my car within a few hours of my calling the accident in.

I'll see my car one more time, to clean it out, and then I'll have to say goodbye.

In other news, 6-month diagnostic mammogram coming up Monday, so keep me in your thoughts.

Our mild and really enjoyable spring continues with a slight cool down over the next few days.  I could take this kind of weather all year!

That's the news from the flatlands.  Watch out for those T-bones!

~~~~

*edited Saturday to add:  no bruises or aches, so I skipped the urgent care trip. I went back to the collision center and cleaned out my car; I cried when I saw it.  But, it's only a car... in the overall scheme of things, just a bump in the road (slight joke unintended) :)

Sunday, May 2, 2010

What the Cluck?!

Before your next trip to KFC, read this.  Under the guise of helping cure breast cancer, KFC has partnered with Susan G. Komen for the Cure to donate the whopping rate of 50 cents per each $20 pink bucket of chicken bought.  Don't get me wrong, though, it's not the donation I object to...  this campaign is problematic on many levels, not the least of which is the idea of buying unhealthy food and promoting a cancer cure in the same breath.  It's an empty corporate gesture designed primarily to make KFC look better. 

To understand it best, I quote from a letter written by Breast Cancer Action for people to use as a starting point for notifying KFC and Komen for the Cure about how they feel about this partnership:

"I am appalled by your "Buckets for the Cure" partnership. I share Breast Cancer Action's shock at this outrageous campaign, which uses the breast cancer epidemic to improve the American public's perception of KFC, and increase the company's profits from the sale of pink buckets of chicken...  KFC (with Susan G. Komen for the Cure's blessing) is engaged in one of the worst examples of pinkwashing. A pinkwasher is a company that purports to care about breast cancer by promoting a pink-ribboned product while at the same time manufacturing products that contribute to the disease. In this case, KFC is encouraging people to buy pink buckets of chicken to demonstrate its alleged commitment to ending the breast cancer epidemic. However, KFC's food is unhealthy and much of it is marketed to low-income communities. KFC thus contributes to the significant problem of providing poor food choices for low-income communities in the United States, who disproportionately suffer from poor breast cancer outcomes and other problems that may be exacerbated by an unhealthy diet.

Instead of partnering with a corporation that sells unhealthy food, I believe that Susan G. Komen for the Cure should work with companies that do not contribute to the breast cancer epidemic."

I would like to add that KFC's grilled chicken isn't a better choice than its fried -- the grilled chicken is known to contain carcinogenic substances that contribute to cancer, as reported by Physicians for Responsible Medicine.

It's unfortunate that an organization like Susan G. Komen for the Cure chooses to a support a company that contributes to cancer.

Please do not participate in this campaign.