November | 2014 | ovariancancerfighter

At one time, not too long ago, I was actually able to walk up Koko Head Crater-it was challenging, yet not impossible. The popular Oahu hike was approximately 1 mile…~~straight up~~…1048 stairs/railroad ties up the side of a enormous cinder cone. The view from the top was spectacularly breathtaking. These days, I think I could only walk from the parking lot to the trail head. However, even when I was able to successfully complete the hike, there were a few other folks that passed me like I was standing still. On the way down, still others were barely making it up. My challenge was a cake-walk for some and an impossible dream for others. Food for thought as I refocus my efforts toward getting healthy.

Now, I’m trying to get up the hill of recovery! What’s the plan? It’s a work in progress, a multi-pronged work in progress. Exercise-check. Ableit, in a much smaller fashion than BC (before cancer). My immediate goal is to walk up the hill in the neighborhood (all the way to the top). Healthy eating-check. Thanksgiving is right around the corner, but for now, it’s plenty of veggies/protein and bags of spinach (they say it’s washed, but I am suspicious, therefore doing that hard salad spinning myself). I am re-acquainting myself with plain Greek yogurt and a sprinkle of Grape Nuts and fruit on top. It’s not as terrible as it sounds…really. Reading-check. On order from Amazon:

Small Victories-Spotting Improbably Moments of Grace by Anne Lamott

This Thursday marks my second maintenance treatment along with a Doc appointment on Monday. I haven’t been to Tripler Army Medical Center in three whole weeks (3.3 weeks). I am focused on getting myself sussed each day and up by 5:17 am and back into bed by 9:36 pm (this has something vaguely to do with sleep cycles and a sleep calculator). Still a long way to go, but the view on the way back up again is pretty rewarding. Plus, I am enjoying the lack of vomitting more than you can possibly imagine.

In a reflective mood? Maybe a little, but I’m looking backward and forward simultaneously. Musically, maybe some 4 Non Blondes will help you start your day with What’s Up?

Don’t forget to check out the sunsets on the way!

You go on a diet…you lose that elusive 10 to 15 pounds ~~20 pounds,more?~~ You counted “points” ~~ate Gluten free,~~ ~~ate low carb, ate Paleo~~ and now you are a newly transformed person with ultimate will-power, making excellent choices in all your eating and exercising 3-5 days a week at 70 percent of your heart capacity. (That’s the dream of all dieters, right?) Then what? The hard work of maintenance dieting begins. The process of keeping all the work you’ve done, frozen in time, is the goal of both maintaining your weight and maintaining the results of cancer treatments. The rush of eliminating the unwanted pounds is gone, compliments on your dedication tapers, and friends just expect that you’ll keep that weight off and continue your journey successfully. You hope that you won’t backslide like so many dieters do and become just another statistic.

Happy Valentine's Day — Happy Valentine’s Day

On Valentine’s Day, 2014, my doctor called to say those dreaded words, “I’m worried” about your CA (the cancer marker found in blood) levels. Shortly thereafter followed surgery, radiation, and 5 months of chemotherapy. Now, we maintain the results with an every-three-week ~~it was “sold” to me as “monthly”~~ treatment of Avastin. Avastin is a fancy ~~expensive~~ drug that has been part of my regimen since May 22nd. Essentially it is an infusion that keeps the cancer cells starved of blood so that they don’t develop into tumors. Side effects for me are primarily headaches, which I am learning how to fend off more effectively. ~~Why didn’t I get the ‘loss-of-appetite” side effect?~~

How long do you have to keep your maintenance diet going? Weight loss professionals say that maintenance should really become a lifestyle change and it should go on indefinitely ~~What, no more sugar forever? I don’t think so.~~ My doctor called last week and started talking about how my maintenance treatments will continue for a year….wait for it….or forever. Forever? Seriously, Forever. Evidently doctors aren’t unanimous in exactly how long this treatment should be continued or how long it will stay effective.

So that’s where we are. In the dreaded “maintaining” portion of our cancer diet. Time to focus on the basics of good nutrition ~~except for cupcakes,~~ getting the energy to walk up the hills in my neighborhood, and sleeping for more than 5 hours uninterrupted (maybe that part won’t ever happen). I’m actually happy to have the opportunity to normalize my life and not think about life and death on a daily basis. Time to kick back and enjoy the maintaining!

How do you maintain the positive changes in your life-whether diet or exercise or something else? Is a struggle or a piece of cake? I’m Curious.