Central Florida tied a record for heat yesterday at 94 degrees, and yet Mark and I did not feel that it was that hot because the humidity was reasonable and there was a light breeze all the time. I didn't know it was that hot until the news this morning. We did everything we planned to do yesterday, and Mark beat me REALLY badly at golf. I couldn't get that ball in the hole for NOTHING yesterday. And best of all, the Democratic Club had delicious veggie burgers. They also had delicious cole slaw and potato salad, and best of all, we didn't even go over to the dessert table. Mark enjoyed the speaker, but I started to doze off. He was on SKYPE! Then he put up a lot of slides through power point so he was just an invisible voice, and the print was so small that I couldn't read any of it from our table in the back. Oh, well...Still we enjoyed the food and the company at the table. The couple who joined us were interesting to talk to.
I was up every hour going to the bathroom. I feel tired and sluggish this morning because of the lack of solid sleep, but I was consoling myself with the thought that there should be a HUGE weight drop on the scale this morning. Well, that didn't happen. I stayed exactly the same at 246 again. I guess I just drank a lot of water and coffee yesterday. I hope to have another pretty good day today with food, even though we will be eating dinner out tonight. It's free wine Thursday, but I'm getting good at that restaurant for sending away the bread basket, not ordering dessert, and asking for steamed veggies with the grilled fish. I hope to do that again tonight!
I have time in the blog today to discuss another of those four topics. So far I explained Weight Watchers and Younger Next Year. Today I'll write a little about being a cancer survivor. When I first got my diagnosis last July, some people started calling me a survivor. I couldn't do that for myself. I felt like a victim at first and then like a patient. I felt like I could call myself a survivor the day I finished radiation treatment. Even though there were still weeks of home treatment to do with creams and avoiding pools and sun, I was no longer going to the cancer center everyday. I felt great about that. Then I read online that a doctor told his patient that she could not call herself a survivor until the one year anniversary of her surgery. What? I never heard that before. Interesting. His philosophy was that there are a percentage of women who have a recurrence in the first year, so until you got through that stage you should not consider yourself a survivor. Each year that you go without a recurrence, the less likely you will get a recurrence, but I guess the chances are the highest in the first year. I'm not sure how I feel about this. I'm feeling very good, nearly back to my full control over food, getting stronger with exercise, and loving life. I want to call myself a survivor NOW!! What are your thoughts on this?
I remember going to an American Cancer Society Relay for Life Event four months after I was first diagnosed with cancer in 2002. They listed me as a survivor then. I was pretty surprised as I had gone through surgery and was still doing chemo. They told me that I should consider myself a survivor right away because I was "surviving" with cancer. I guess you hear different things from different folks. In my opinion in your case you have gotten through so many hard "adventures" in your cancer treatment that I would definitely call you a survivor now. I am proud to know such a strong person as you. I hope that you have another wonderful day today.
ReplyDeleteThanks Rhonda!! I love your comments! I hope you also have a wonderful day. You are most definitely a survivor and surviving with cancer. You are inspiring to me and everyone who knows you.
ReplyDeleteBecky,
ReplyDeleteI think whatever you want to feel about your survivor-ship is what you should go with. As I posted in our other group, my Oncologist told me I could start from my surgery date as counting my survivor-ship. So, this coming August 9 for me will be that I'm a one year survivor. He says this because, not that the cancer will come back in the first year but because in the first year you are actively fighting the disease with chemo and radiation and it is practically unheard of for it to come back while you are in treatment or so soon after. So, in his opinion, you are actually a survivor at the end of your first year, post whatever treatment methods you've had. He also said I have a higher risk of it coming back in recurrence or metastases in the first 2-3 years since mine is Triple Negative Breast Cancer. All of our Dr.'s have differing perspectives on the survivor-ship issue and no one is wrong. If you want to be a survivor now, then I say "Becky is a survivor."
And, I read your next post but will comment here. You do NOT bore me with your posts of what you and Mark are doing and all your busy activities. In an odd way, it lets me be on vacation. LOL. Seriously, I love reading about all your activities. Did you hear on the news that the Monkees are going back out on tour soon? I though that interesting after reading that you recently saw Davey Jones .
Hugs,
Juanita