3-1 Jedi Joe

Three Dr. appointments scheduled  today.
Here's hoping the rest of the day might be Jedi inspired, I could use the extra powers to get some things done. 

2-29

Happy Leap year, Please click on the photo for some leap year fun!!!!

2-28 Dressing up for the Dr.

Years ago in my college days I  used to dress up when  I had a big exam. Now I find myself thinking about what to wear to the Dr.'s office. 
I had two lovely weeks of no appointments. This week I go back to physical therapy, meet with the Oncologist for a three month check-up and go to the dentist to be  fitted for a crown. You might guess the Dentist is the appointment I most dread. 
This is my Oncologist, Debra Patt. Yep, she's young and pretty and at 5'10" could pass for a model. She's barely 40, married to Pediatric Cardiologist and they have 3 young children (photos posted on the walls in her office) She is a bit  intimidating! 

I know, I've been wearing jeans a lot. Our office is casual, Austin is casual. I'm grasping here for a reason to go shopping.

2-27 Cat Sitting

My son is going out of town and I get the pleasure of keeping  his monster cat, Ash. Ash is about 24 inches long (tail not included) and weighs some 20 pounds. He has long fluffy hair. I've never heard him meow and he is really sweet and docile. 

2-26 brewing kombucha and finding balance

Like $4.00 latte's, Kombucha  has not been in my budget lately. A few years ago I  toyed with the idea of brewing my own but didn't have a source for the starter. Now  there are many people  brewing, sharing their starters (or selling them) and posting all the info on blogs and youtube videos. 

 Thanksgiving weekend I began to grow my own starter from a purchased bottle. I'm now on my 5th  batch of tea. (starter took 3 weeks and each batch 2 weeks +/-). For a few hours of my time and less than $1.00 I yield a gallon of good-for-you kombucha tea. 
If you are unfamiliar with Kombucha here is a nice link that gives you information and history about the tea.
http://www.seedsofhealth.co.uk/fermenting/kombucha.shtml
The yoga lesson of the weekend; balance. Some people grimace when they hear a balance pose called out. I smile. I love the sense or fun and playfulness I find in these poses. You fall out and you get back in it. There's a fine line between concentrating too much and letting go and floating. 
Taking these photos  a few minutes ago was especially fun, I'm not warmed up, I am standing on carpet and using the ten second timer button on the camera! Nice challenge. 

2-24 Cleaning green

I like to purchase cleaning products that lean towards the natural. I've been using  Meyers hand and dish-soap, Ecover in the laundry and Simple Green on everything from the car dash to the counter tops.  The big downside to these products is the cost. I recently rediscovered a book I had  for making your own household cleaning products and decided to give it a whirl. 
First I chose a simple laundry detergent. A cup of this and a cup of that and a dash of scent, I thought I may as well make a double batch. Word to the wise, just like cooking from a new recipe maybe you should do it to the letter the first time before you experiment. I ended up with about 12 cups of goop. Smells nice, works great, texture needs some refining so I'll work on that  the next batch.
I've never been a fan of fabric softeners (too much smell on the clothes and in the house and did you ever take a walk in your neighborhood and smell everyone drying their laundry? total  air pollution). I am now using white vinegar in the fabric softener cycle. No smell, no residue and no static cling. 

 

I've also made a soft-scrub cleanser for the bathroom tiles, an antibacterial counter spray and some gel-in-a-jar air fresheners. 
These  changes feel good and cost pennies. I like knowing that my home environment is less toxic and I can name the ingredients to the products I am using. 
**note, you can find a plethora of great simple recipes online and the ingredients are easily found in your average grocery store with maybe a side trip to a natural grocer for the essential oils, or you can purchase it all online an have it show up at your doorstep**

2-23 2011 Medical bills and my out of pocket expenses

I'll start with saying it is disgusting how much of a discount is given to the insurance companies. If had to do this all out of pocket I would be liable for the full amount where insurance is only having to pay about 1/3 in a negotiated discount. And,  I'd like  to apologize for being one of those people that drive up our insurance costs at work. 
$125,585.56 2011 total charges approved 
$32,793.00 2011 charges rejected  (some of this will go through and I imagine some I will need to protest)
$6620.00 out of my pocket for insurance co-pays and deductibles 
$2500.00  out of pocket misc.   this is what I estimate I spent on vitamins & supplements, hair and clothing specific to the condition, prescriptions not covered.
$2-3,000.00 Lost wages estimate   After my sick time and vacation time was spent, whenever I worked less than 40 hours a week I took a pay cut. 
2012 is clocking in over 35k already with my month of radiation in January. 

2-21 Word and a recipe

Happy Mardi Gras!

I just came across a  word I like
Crapetarian (noun). A Vegetarian who eats crap (e.g. Doritos, donuts, snickers).
Lately I've been a Flexetarian; a bit less strict about my vegetarianism and more flexible towards quality food that comes my way. (ethical meat, local sourced products)
oh wow, here's another: Quasitarian.
I love food and  a girls gotta eat 3x a day so I have lots of opportunities to experiment. 
I read cookbooks like they are novels. I roam the www in search of new ideas and inspiration. I'll try something new and eat it 4 days in a row. (this week was dino kale)

Sauteed KALE

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced (I use my rasp to get it super fine)

1 bunch of kale

A good quality salt (I’ve been using a large grain sel gris from France)

A few dashes of balsamic vinegar

DIRECTIONS:

Tear the kale into large bite size pieces, (strip it  down the length of the stem and discard the stem)

Submerge it in a large bowl of cold water (just like cleaning spinach) rinse and repeat. You do not want a bite with dirt/grit, that ruins the whole thing

Remove from water and pat dry with towel.

 In a large frying pan, heat the olive oil over low/medium heat.  Add the garlic and cook for about a minute.  Stir in the kale. Add a dash or two of salt.  Sauté for a few minutes. It will not get as soft or tender as spinach but it will start to “wilt”  Add the balsamic and remove from heat..  Stir it a bit and serve.. 

 There are different types of Kale…I'm hooked on  this first one, it is called Dino Kale.

I buy it at Whole Foods in the organic section and it is  pre-washed so I don’t have to double wash for grit either.

photo one is Dino Kale and the second is curly kale (easier to find)

2-19 The skin Regimen and Hair updates

My burn is quickly fading to brown and I have fresh new pink skin coming up underneath. Post treatment instructions. Continue the Domeboro soaks 2-3x a day followed by silver sulfadiazine cream. At the end of the two weeks start using Arbonne cream and Arbonne oil. 
I dutifully marched up to the pharmacy at the oncologist office to buy the cream and oil. When I got a good look at it I noticed it is a European made face cream...??!! 
After reading the cancer forums I've found a zillion different combinations of things people have used or been prescribed but also the protocol seems to be: follow the instructions of your Physician and don't try to treat yourself. 
I've started using the Arbonne on my face and neck. I figure since it was made for that and it was expensive I may try to get twice the benefit. 

 My lashes, about half way there for my normal, already as long and full as some people ever get. 

 And there is the burn line. The burn  goes down my side and extends around to the center of my chest and I have another that wraps from below my collar bone up and over my shoulder. 

2-18 Going Green

started the day with yoga and  a green smoothie loaded with spinach and kale. (the trick is to add a banana and it all tastes good!) 
 Yogic thought for the day. 
Try not to let your preferences get in the way of being open to new/other choices.  

Fantastic amount of rain the past 2 days. The dry run behind our house has water flowing down through it. 

2-17 My perfectly normal week

A perfectly normal week. Zero Dr. visits. Zero stops at the pharmacy.
 I worked M-F 8:00 to 5:00 with an hour break every day for lunch.  I made it to yoga 4 weeknights. I even managed Pincha Mayurasana (forearm balance). It's great to be normal..  

2-14

2-13 No problem...

Happy Monday. 

2-12 Free Yoga, check it out

During the month of February at any of the 5 yogayoga locations in Austin you can take a class for free (if you have never been to YY before). 
http://www.yogayoga.com/


Free classes every Saturday morning 8:45 at Lululemon in the Domain, Please arrive 5-10 minutes before class. Everyone welcome. 


Free day of yoga coming March 2nd. Even if you have taken a class at YY before this is a free day for anyone  to come to any class at any of their locations. I'm not sure but this may be like Labor day when all over Austin you can go to any yoga studio for a free class. 

2-11, 26 years in the making!

Happy 26th Birthday to my son Michael! Doesn't really feel like it was that long ago....

Michael in 1886

2-9 The last of the 33

Finally, its the last of the 33 treatments today. To top it off I have a  Dentist appointment that will probably include x-rays this morning immediately following radiation. Not exactly the way I would have planned it but you know it takes 8 weeks in advance to book a dentist appointment! 
Dr. Nuesch will send me off with instructions and I'll have a follow up visit in 3 weeks. 

2-8 Agitated

“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves”
-Carl Jung

There are a few things that other people do that agitate me. (chewing gum, teeth grinding, nail biting..I'm working on my reactions to those behaviors (could I possibly walk away? or just let it go?)

2-7 Be Happy

If you want to be happy, be. -- Henry David Thorreau

2-5 Lashes, the burn and Buddha belly

 My lashes and brows are filling in very quickly. The hair on my head is looking less like an illness and more like a "choice".

The boost burn is peeling and itching. I am doing my best not to scratch. I'm the girl walking around rubbing her collarbone and boob....By the way that's a bathing suit top in case you're wondering. Photo #3 in front of the Temple on 360 just down from our house. Nice weekend, did some sweaty vinyasa yesterday and the 4mi loop downtown this morning in the drizzle with Diane. Soy latte and a bagel at Jo's on 2nd street made it all worth it. 

2-3 Burn baby burn

Today and Monday no radiation for me. Skin under my arm is peeling. Fresh new pink skin is super sensitive. Bra-less the past few days..I may get used to that after all! 
Countdown 3 treatments remaining. 

2-1 momentous occasion

This morning I shaved my legs. First time since mid-August. 

Typical Austin winter, Sunday morning at 8:00am walking Town Lake it was 35*, this morning it is 65* with a high of 77*!