Breast Cancer Awareness

October is breast cancer awareness month. As a single mother it is so important to take care of your health. Your children are depending on you to be healthy for them. Of course there are times when things happen that are completely out of your control. You can be eating right, exercising, doing all the right things and still end up with this life threatening disease. The important thing is that you are doing routine self exams and annual mammograms so that you can catch it early on. We all know that mammograms aren’t very fun. They are painful and … Continue reading

Cancer and Stress

My husband’s kidney biopsy has come back and it was negative. I am not sure why it took for me to see the report for me to believe it was true. The surgeon told me he was sure it was not cancer, our primary told me it was not cancer but until I saw the pathology saying no cancer I still thought there was a chance it was cancer. I do not know if this fear in my head will ever go away but the reality is that this fear is so all consuming and overwhelming. I find myself not … Continue reading

The Kids Are Stressed

My husband and I were sitting around today thinking of all the things that have gone wrong in our lives since we have been married. Now I am not talking about us adopting the three wonderful kids that we have I am strictly talking medical. First my husband got diagnosed with testicular cancer and then the next year I had to have emergency appendectomy and then got diagnosed with breast cancer. Since that I have had 23 surgeries for reconstruction and problems related to it. I had to have my gallbladder removed. My husband is now in the hospital for … Continue reading

Feeling Good About My Choice

I am feeling really good about my decision to change oncologist. My first oncologist Dr. Gloom really caused me a lot of stress. Don’t get me wrong I think even if I had not had him as my doctor the cancer diagnosis alone would have caused me stress. He just made it worse with his comment about not being able to cure it when it came back. It really felt to me like he was basically saying I was going to die and I was 35 with 3 small children and death was not in my plans. I did a … Continue reading

I Dont Like My Oncologist

I am about 2 months post reconstruction surgery and it was time for my oncologist appointment. Now I should be used to this but every three months I have to go to an oncologist appointment. During these appointments he checks the girls, and draws blood and that’s about it. I really dread going to these appointments because I am always worried about a recurrence. The stress of recurrence is added on with the stress that I really don’t like my oncologist. This is the same oncologist that stressed me out so bad since the first appointment. During my first appointment … Continue reading

My Cancer and Stress

When your cancer treatments are done most people think you are done with cancer. The reality is much different. The psychological issues that come with a cancer diagnosis last long after the last treatment is over. With me, at my first oncology appointment the doctor said to me “We can treat you this time but when it comes back we can’t”. First let me say that those words from him caused me a great deal of stress. Here is this doctor and he is basically telling me I was going to have a recurrence and it would kill me. For … Continue reading

Seeing Cancer Everywhere!!

Prior to my diagnosis I never really heard from people that they knew of someone or they themselves had cancer. It seems everywhere I turn there is someone knew with the diagnosis. I really don’t know if it is that more people are getting cancer, that people are more willing to talk about it or if they are just willing to talk about it because they have heard that I too am a cancer patient. I am not quite sure when a person turns from being a cancer patient to being a cancer survivor. My oncologist tells me that you … Continue reading

Health and Gratitude

It’s that time of year: time to start counting our blessings. Holiday season is upon us, with Thanksgiving tomorrow (for U.S. folks) and winter holidays on the horizon. I think gratitude is a healthy thing. It’s so easy to get mired down in what’s wrong, what’s hard, what’s stressful… and forget all the things that are good in our lives. Sometimes, stopping to take stock can be a real eye-opener. It’s a great chance to let the good things shine for a while. I happened to be at the doctor’s office today — my first appointment at a new office. … Continue reading

More Tips About Protecting Your Husband’s Health

Here are some more tips to help maintain your husband’s health. Watch the cholesterol. Encourage a regular check and if it is high look at changes that will need to be made. Visit the sites below or a dietician if you’re not sure what dietary changes you will need to implement. Another problem that has occurred these days is the number of people with allergies. Some times they can be linked to certain foods, even to migraines. Some triggers to migraines are, cheese, red wine, chocolate (sorry all you chocoholics) oranges. Other health problems can be caused by preservatives. Preservative … Continue reading

Ask a Pets Blogger: Mucus in Stool

First off, I’m sorry that this is such a gross question! I’ve noticed lately that there seems to be a lot of mucus in my dog’s stool. He doesn’t seem sick otherwise. Should I be worried? No need to apologize — owning pets often means you deal with a lot of gross things. (So says the woman with the dog who eats cat poop and barfs green grass in the living room.) Your problem is one that I’m actually familiar with. Moose (he who eats “kitty roca”) has experienced this in the past. Mucus in the stool can be a … Continue reading