1 Year Ago Today

Remember this?   One year later, and I’m still as giddy about that news as I was then.

I think this calls for a beer!

100% Official – Not Dying!

I officially, 100%, no question or doubt have beaten the pre-cancerous condition I was diagnosed with last April.   To celebrate, I’m going to go drinking tomorrow evening after work with as many friends as dare to show up.  That it happens to be Amateur Drinkers’ Night is an unfortunate coincidence.

If you want the where and whens, email me and you can come have the booze with me.

Cheers!

Cancer

Cancer has played a huge role in my life through the last year or so.   I’ve lost two family members this year to this thing, my sister and my uncle who was also like my godfather.    My sister passed away the first week of February.  I had gotten an email from her just a few days earlier, telling me that she the cancer was terminal, and that she was planning on making a trip out to California.  I thought I was going to get a chance to say good bye.   She was gone within a few days.

In March, when my ex ended our two plus year relationship, he told me he would have done it sooner, but it was hard to find the right time, “because someone was always dying of cancer.”   

Within a month, I was diagnosed with a pre-cancerous condition that could develop into the same type of cancer that had taken my sister.   Most cases do not develop into full-blown cancer, though, and since my lesions were considered “low-grade”, the doctor thought it was best to monitor the cells, rather than prescribing any treatment.  I would be retested every three months until I had had three negative/normal tests in a row.

Then in May, the week of my birthday, my uncle passed, too.   I spent my birthday in airports, trying to get to Iowa for the funeral.   I got a text from my ex while I was sitting in the airport, and I wanted to scream and rip his guts out.  

Cancer has been this force and this fear.    

On November 1, Dia De Los Muertos (The Day of the Dead) I went down to my local tattoo shop, and I got this tattoo:

These types of designs, these skulls are part of the celebration of the day when the dead can walk amongst the living again.  I wanted to do something for my sister, my uncle, and my other family who have left in the last few years, including my grandfather.  

Yesterday, I got the results of my second Every-Three-Months test.   It was my second normal in a row.  If it had been positive, I would have had to start all over again, and it would be a year before it could be over, and always with the fear of it progressing.   Now, I feel like I’m free, because with two normals behind me, I just have to get one more test, and it’s highly unlikely that it’ll come back at this point.

 

Cancer is behind me.

 And the rest of my life is in front of me.

The Gym Rat is Back

I went to the gym today for the first time in six months.  There’s a few reasons I haven’t been, which I won’t go in to, but this morning I woke up, and said enough is enough.

The fact that we decided to skip band practice didn’t hurt.

So, I got my gear on, threw the iPod in the arm band, filled my water bottle, and headed off.

I took it fairly easy, just fifteen minutes on the elliptical and twenty walking at a slight incline.   I burned 275 calories.  Not bad at all for the first time after six months.

I had completely forgotten how great/awful it feels to go to the gym.   I won’t ever be one of those freaks that tells you working out feels good.  It hurts.   It hurts my knees.   I get cramps in my sides.   I breathe heavily.   I sweat A LOT.  At the same time, it’s still good to feel the air moving in and out of my lungs, and I love that zoned out mind wandering feeling that I get in the middle of the workout.  

So now I just have to keep up the good work, and keep going.

John McCain’s Healthcare Plan

There’s been a lot of coverage in the liberal press and blogs today about the McCain healthcare plan. Basically, the gist of it is that he wants to make the value of your health benefit that you get from your job taxable as income. If you don’t like that, well then you can go and get individual coverage, and you’ll get a tax credit.

The point is obviously that he wants us to not be getting insurance through our employers. His theory is that this will lead to more competition and we’ll end up getting better coverage for less money.

I think it sounds like bull.

If you’ve ever tried to get individual insurance or lost your job and tried to go on COBRA, you know this. In order to get comparable coverage, you’ll end up paying a lot more. That of course is assuming that you’re healthy and could get individual coverage. If you’re not of perfect health, and you are forced to stay with your employer’s insurance, well good luck with that. Businesses are likely to drop the benefit when their group rates would go up when the healthier people leave the plans.

But don’t listen to me. Listen to these very smart folks from Columbia, Harvard, Purdue and Michigan

For a typical family that moves from group to individual coverage, therefore, the move to nongroup insurance will raise premiums for an identical policy by more than $2,000 per year. Shifting people into the nongroup market would not save money for most Americans. Rather, it would lead to increased spending on administrative costs and a decrease in the portion of health spending that actually goes to providing care.

Or you can find a boiled down version from Bob Herbert (once again, my hero).

Or if you’re really, really lazy – I’ll just tell you that they say that what they’re saying is that immediately it will not increase the number of insured people (boo) and that the end result will be that health insurance will cost more. It would also undo all the minimums and regulations set by individual states. So much for states’ rights.

Nice.

I learned about this from reading the following: Feministe, Shapely Prose, Feministing, and The American Prospect.

If this guy gets elected and gets this passed, we’re totally screwed.

You Think It’s Funny!

But it’s snot!!

(For the record, I do, in fact, realize that I misused the word ‘homeopathic’ twice. This is why I write . . . so I can edit!)

Oh yeah, and heavy breathing.

Vicious Cycle

So, after a bit of an over-active weekend, I’m feeling a bit under the weather.  I was nodding off all day yesterday, and then couldn’t get to sleep until two in the morning. So, today I worked from home.   And then I nodded off watching the evening news.   So now I’m having trouble sleeping again.  I’m also kind of not breathing so easily, with the head cold effecting my sinuses.  

So here I am, 11 o’clock on a Monday, watching The Daily Show and researching the Neti Pot.  I’ve heard great things about this, and I want to give it a shot so that I’m good to go before the next weekend.   

Did You Know?

I’m filling out some HR forms for the new jobby job. There’s info on the medical Flex Spending Account. In case you didn’t know, some employers participate in programs that let you set aside money out of your paycheck for medical expenses. The bonus of the program is that the money is taken out pre-tax. So you save money on your taxes for pre-determining how much you’re going to spend on medical expenses every year. They also sometimes offer a similar program where you can set aside pre-tax money for childcare expenses, if you have a child.

Anyway, I’m looking through the forms, and there’s a bunch of info about what you can buy and be reimbursed for out of your medical FSA, and I saw something on the list that I never realized was a qualified medical expense. You can buy condoms with your FSA!!

Incidentally, you cannot be reimbursed for vitamins out of your FSA.

They’re both prophylactic, right? So why is that?

A Party to End All Parties

Alli says to me today that she hopes I will ping her some day when my life is finally normal, and I’m bored.   She says that when the day comes that I have no boy drama, no health drama, and no family drama, she will throw me a party.  I am working towards this party.

So far I’ve eliminated all boy drama.  He dumped me, and I’m pretty much over it, at this point.  I have my moments, but it’s not like it was a month ago.  He hasn’t called me at all.  All the lose ends (i.e. the motorcycle, the lease, and the spare keys) have been dealt with.  I doubt I’ll ever hear from him again.  Onward and upward, as I’ve finally realized that what all those people were hinting at all along, that I could do much better, is probably very true.

On the health drama front, I got some good news today.  The results of last weeks test came back normal.  I have more tests this Friday.  I’m still eating healthy like, and am currently roasting veggies and salmon in the oven.  Look out world; I’m cooking!!  Also, I’m still on the same routine in the morning, so I’m peeing like a fountain.

My family is still holding their collective breathe.   My uncle is quite ill, but my fingers are crossed for him.  Cancer blows.   Good news, though, my dad got a job, so that takes a lot of stress off me and the folks.  My mom is going to come down for a visit, and will be staying with me for just about a week.  Just in time for test results!

So, when that day comes that I’m A-OK, and my family is A-OK, and I’m either enjoying being single or loving being in the arms of the next one, Alli and I are going to paint the town red.

I’m shooting for June.

Floating or Drowning?

I started this whole health kick thing.   The doctors have me on this wait and see holding pattern.   In the meantime, I gotta do something, right?   So I’m reading up on all the best foods to prevent this or that.

So, now I’m taking an Omega-3 pill, in addition to a regular multi-vitamin, suppliments for my joints, and skin.  Also allergy meds and BC.   I take seven pills every morning.   That takes at least one big glass of water.

In addition to that, I’m now drinking a cup of green tea every morning.  Oh, and a small glass of juice.

So before eight in the morning, I’m completely waterlogged.  I don’t think I’ve ever felt so hydrated in my whole life.   At least it’s not as bad as the ultrasound, though.  I can go.   And oh, do I ever!