Thursday May 25

I am continually amazed by your resiliency.

The pop tarts and fidget spinners are their treasures --- so sweet that they give them freely to you.

I don't know how I missed this post yesterday.

I'm soooo sorry for all you are going through. Far too much for you to be handling all by yourself and it seems that you are the glue for your immediate family. Those boys are blessed to have you. You kindness, compassion, love and dedication to your grandsons will come back to reward you someday. I truly believe that.

I admire your strength and dedication to your family and your ability to see things so positively when it would be so easy to fall into despair.

You, lady, are a strong woman!

Weight: 134.2

Macros: Cals - 1,618, Carbs - 182, Fat ? 59, Protein - 75, Fiber - 20

Veggies/fruits: 4 (goal is 7)

Sleep: 7 hours

Exercise: Walking and aquarobics

* * *

Quite cool here this morning. Will be a lovely day.

My mammogram results came back as "Incomplete." I was told that means "No big deal -- older breast tissue can change, so they need more views to make sure everything is fine." Okie doke. So I've made an appointment for June 6.

AND THEN -- yesterday's news contained the delightful tidbit that post-menopausal women who have a single small alcoholic drink a day (5 ounces of wine) incur a 9% increase in their risk of breast cancer. Jeez! Why not Brussels sprouts or rutabagas instead?

Finally, one of my sisters encouraged me to start taking daily 1 tablespoon of powdered collagen (mixed in a glass of water), so I'm going to try it for a month. It's supposed to improve joints, skin, hair, etc. Anybody out there using this and have results to report?

Gratitude ... except for the alcohol / breast cancer link.

My rad onc didn't pretend he had all the answers to prevent breast cancer recurrence....but that didn't stop him from spouting off about emerging science in a "if I were you" kind of way. Besides a caution about daily (or even regular) alcohol use, he also cautioned about the link of excess body fat and hormone positive breast cancer. At that time, I had lost some weight with chemo but was still MO.

On the fat front, his message was positive....not OMG, you better get your weight down further but rather that the loss I already had was in my favor. (Unfortunately, that didn't keep me from gaining it back.) There is now a trial looking at how weight loss affects recurrence rate.....I can't wait to see how that turns out but it won't complete for several years.

Try not to worry about the follow up mammogram.

Shel, thanks for all of that info. Really appreciate hearing your take on this and other things.

I've done similar with my older dogs. I'm not sure how much it helps. I think it's best to start that type of supplement years before there are symptoms of decline and wear. Are there any scientific and conclusive studies that have been able to cite the benefits of collagen as a supplement? From what I understand the most beneficial thing you can do is low impact weight bearing exercise, like yoga and body strengthening, to keep your joints supple.

Yeah, booze and cancer. Too many links... I have a colleague at school who had breast cancer 6 years ago. She has 1 more year of annual checks before she's released from her oncologist. Kim's motto is that statistically every year she gets farther away from cancer the less risk she has of recurrence. A couple of years ago her oncologist told her to "lead a generally healthy life", whi*****luded occasional wine or booze. However, Kim was warned that she should never, ever again be a daily wine drinker. Doc said 20 oz per week. Done. Not easy for a wine snob, but she's managed and admits to enjoying wine much more now that it's only occasional.

Thanks, Devon, thanks very much for relating your friend's doc's advice. I am now a (nearly) daily wine drinker. Right now I drink a bottle of wine (25 ounces) per week. I'm giving serious consideration to whether I want to continue that very great pleasure.

And regarding the collagen supplement, I'm long past any joint health prophylactic benefits. My knees already suck. so, frankly, at a vain old 71 years of age I'm more hopeful about the anti-wrinkle benefits that may or may not emerge. Therefore, for the group's benefit I'll selflessly be conducting a science experiment for the next 30 days with a subject group of N = 1 (me), ingesting 1 tablespoon of the collagen powder daily.

Weight up .8. Not sure why. Didn't get my lunch walk in but food wasn't too bad.

Busyness continues today.

Paula

Wt 220 up 3 mostly deserved. Totally off the rails yesterday. DW said a couple of days ago "We have to get tough or get fat" I was not getting tough yesterday. Potato chips and ice cream. Not together but in the same day.

Stressful day yesterday. DS#1 had cardiac ablation. All went well. With someone so young the ablation is first line treatment. Better long term A-fib control / cure.

Liz, Condolences to you and your DH and family. I saw in the intensive care as a nurse some of the worst of people and some of the best at the end of life. Some of the worst was centered around wealth. Some of the best was centered around memories, relationships and true loss of a loving human being. Sorry to say the worst behavior outweighed the best behavior. Congrats on the inclusion into the study.

Paula, teenagers and cars. What a milestone.

Ann, An attitude of gratitude will take you far. I can tell when my mood is up because I am more thankful.

BB, Congrats on the surgiversary. I hope I can say I am that close to lowest weight when I am 7 years out.

Diane O, Sounds like you are right where the doctors want you. That is hard to do. Congrats on the 2 year check up.

Diane S, I want to see your yellow sub! I am building a stitching horse for my brother. He does leather work. I didn't need to stop all other projects to do this but I was dwelling on it so I decided to build it to get it off my mind.

Carbon, I play word with friends some. Mostly with my kids. It is sad how often I beet them. Then there is my DIL that skunks me by the same margins. I like the challenge when I lose. Makes me a better player.

Kairk, good luck with the breeding. Sounds like you are improving the breed. I think my vyvanse dose is becoming less effective. Seems like I am spending more time in idle. After 12 years of idle and a few months of productiveness I was hoping this was the magic potion that was going to fix me.

Shel, hope the scope went well. They said my colon was so clean I would never need another one. That's what I remember them saying.

More later, David

I totally see a kiln in your future! And I second a request for a sub photo. Preferably on a map near N Korea so it is in sync with current events.

"....I play word with friends some. Mostly with my kids. It is sad how often I beet them." :) I see what you did there.

Scope was aok!

"we have to get tough or get fat" Love that. Need a tattoo. I learned that I can entirely shut down extraneous small bites if I know a GI doc is going to be looking. I am not sure how to leverage that for daily use but gonna try. I wish they could come up with a med for 5pm use that lasts 8 hours that shuts down night time eating doesn't disrupt sleep. I would be happy to pay out of pocket for that miracle.