Pink Nausea Hits Fast Food Market . . . KFC Teams Up With Komen to Save Some Boobs

When I heard about Buckets for the Cure it turned my stomach much like fast food fried chicken would. What kind of a toxic combo is this anyway? Ummmm.....yes lets encourage people to consume fried chicken that is unhealthy in order to donate 50 cents to Komen and fight a disease linked to poor nutrition. Eat some fried chicken and save some boobs. Its just that easy! Please Komen be kidding me!

I think this is disgusting on many levels. I am sure that KFC will make tons more money than Komen will ever see. Yet another example of pink washing . As a breast cancer survivor I would much rather see people show their support by donating to an organization such as Breast Cancer Action whose Think Before You Pink Campaign brings much needed awareness to pink washing or to the Im Too Young For This! Cancer Foundation which is a great non profit supporting young adults with cancer.

Have you heard of this new campaign? What do you think? Will you buy a bucket to support breast cancer?

Rescheduling My Annual Mammo . . . Why Does It Feel Like I Committed Crime?

As 2009 drew to a close my boob started to hurt. It happens like clockwork each year as my annual mammo draws near. It was scheduled for March 2. That and a followup visit with my breast surgeon.

In an effort to put myself first and explore new creative interests I came upon a flyer for a painting class at my local arts council. I have always wanted to learn to paint. I am a creative person. Being creative helps ground me and deal with fear. At times fear seems to be my daily companion. The painting class certainly peaked my interest. And then I saw the date of the first class. It was of course the date of my annual mammo. Now when I make these followup appointments it is 6 months ahead of time as I leave another appointment. Who knows where you will be in 6 months. I was pretty bummed. Then I had a thought. . . Why don't I just reschedule? Seemed simple enough at the time. Until I called and found out that I would have to wait 6 months to get one. I have to say that I was shocked the wait was that long.

What did I do? Well, since it had been over 8 years of remission for me without missing one single followup test or appointment I decided to give myself a break so that I could take the art class. I figured that 6 months would not make or break me and the art would help heal me.

I have to say though that I felt as though I committed a crime. That I somehow broke the unspoken rules. I hate feeling this way. I can't live my life in between medical appointments as if that is the only way I will feel ok. It is a hard habit to break. It is the fear that hangs over my head all the time. . .

Have you ever rescheduled a followup test? Ever felt guilty or scared about it? How do you handle your post cancer checkups?

Revisiting The New Mammography Guidelines

I shared my view of the new mammography guidelines on this blog back in November when the USPSTF issued the changes. As most of you know these changes caused quite the stir in both the medical community and those living with breast cancer especially younger women.

I recently had the pleasure of cowriting an article for The Source, a quarterly newsletter issued by Breast Cancer Action (BCA). BCA is a national organization that "challenges assumptions and inspires change to end the breast cancer epidemic." I have often referred to them on my blog in reference to their great Think Before You Pink Campaign. BCA is one of the few in support of the new mammography guidelines. You can read about where they stand on the issue here.

Check out Screening and Mammography: The Real Story written by myself and Angela Wall the Communications Manager of BCA.

Then come on back and share your thoughts!

OT Relates Experience As A Patient. . .

That is the title of a piece by Josephine Campbell from the Times Leader that I am featured in today. I will be speaking at my alma mater Misericordia University in Dallas, PA this Thursday 4/8 at 6:30 pm about my cancer experience and my transition from OT to patient. I will also be doing a book signing. If you are in the area please come on over! Would love to see you there!

To read the full article and get more details on location check it out here.

Talking To The Dead . . . Do You Believe?

In a recent post "My Doggie Sees Dead People" I wrote a bit about my experience growing up seeing dead people in my room at nite. I got to thinking about the topic again and wanted to share some thoughts about mediums.

As I grew older those visits from the dead slowed down and eventually stopped. If a dead person visited me it would be in my dreams. Possibly that was the only way I could handle it. The only way it wouldn't freak me out. And then I started seeking out mediums who could talk to the dead for me. When my husband died I really got into it. I so wanted to still feel connected to him from wherever he was in the afterlife. I have always believed that our souls live on after we die. I believe that we are all energy and it is our energy that moves on to the next phase of existence.

In May of 2000 I went on a trip to Barbados. It was a psychic retreat headed by none other than John Edward. It was before he blew up and his career took off like a rocket. I feel very lucky to have had that experience. I met many great people looking to connect with loved ones as well as a group of wonderful mediums including Suzane Northrop. There were group readings with Suzane and I had a private reading with John. It was amazing. I know there are many skeptics out there but the things I was told were so specific there is only one place the messages could have come from. . . my dead people.

Since then I have made an annual trip to a medium to hear from my lost loved ones. It is a gift I give to myself. Although they say that each one of us has the ability to communicate with the dead I have too much swimming around in my busy mind to ever be able to hear them. I do get messages in dreams and songs I hear on the radio at certain moments. I know I am always connected to them and it makes dealing with the loss a little easier.

So this Sunday on what would have been my dad's 62nd birthday I will be thinking of him and missing him. I will light a candle that I hope he will see. In a whisper I will tell him I love him. Somehow I know he will hear me. . .

Vitamins Increasing Breast Cancer Risk . . . What's Up With That??

It can be dizzying trying to follow all the different studies regarding breast cancer. Like some of you I want to do all I can to prevent this horrible disease or at the very least reduce my risk factors. So I was a tad alarmed when I read about a recent study that came out about vitamins increasing the risk of breast cancer. The study was in women aged 49-83 but still. . . this just doesn't make sense to me. It didn't state which vitamin it was just "multivitamins". I always take my daily dose of vitamin D as that has been known to help fight cancer. And I also take the B's and C's. So what is a girl to do? Or man for that matter?

As I live with the fear of recurrence floating over my head like a dark cloud I can't help but try to improve my lifestyle and diet. Although I try hard not to become controlling and obsessive about it as I have written about before on this blog but information such as this makes my head spin. I makes me wonder. . . what are we doing wrong here?

Check out the full article "Multivitamins Linked To Cancer" and let me know what you think.

Do you take any vitamins? How do you handle all the info out there relating to your illness? Does it make you confused? How do you handle the "after cancer" life?

Avoiding Breast Cancer With Lifestyle Choices . . Is It Really That Simple?

A new study was recently released about decreasing the incidence of breast cancer with changes in lifestyle specifically exercise and diet. If women lost weight and just exercised more they could decrease their chances of getting breast cancer. It cites that "25-30 percent of breast cancers could be avoided if women were thinner and exercised more. . . " Fat cells excrete estrogen so I do understand that aspect of it as most breast cancers including mine are estrogen fed. Now while I understand the reasoning I cannot help but wonder. . . Is it that simple? Before my diagnosis I was exercising and I was not overweight. So apparently those two things did not help me avoid a diagnosis. I also was not a smoker nor did I drink which are other lifestyle choices that can increase risk. So where was my benefit?

I think about my grandma who ate whatever she wanted in moderation and lived to be 85 staying out of the hospital and away from doctors until the last year of her life. I think about how when she bought her meat it was not laden with antibiotics and her produce was not drenched in pesticides. That was during a time when cancer incidence was much lower than it is today.

Something I found particularly interesting in the article was this statement regarding genetics and cancer. . . "The genes have been there for thousands of years but if cancer rates are changing within a lifetime that doesn't have much to do with genes." The majority of breast cancer diagnosis' are in women with no family history myself included. I think that what also needs to be explored is the environmental causes I noted above as well as emotional stress and its toll on the body. I am glad to hear there is much needed discussion as to the causes of breast cancer I would just like to see it have a wider view.

I don't know about you but I sure would have like to have "avoided" my cancer diagnosis.

Check out "Up to a third of breast cancers could be avoided" by Maria Cheng

What did you think of this story? Do you think that lifestyle factors can increase risk of cancer? When stories like this come out does it make you want to blame yourself for your disease?