Out like a lightbulb, that's where I want to be for any colon related tests. It's bad enough that my uterus is tipped backward and I have to succumb to the "finger down there" but without the cough.
BIG SECRET: Men can get breast cancer - and do. But the establishment hasn't decreed mammograms for men yet. As I understand the rules, one need not have volume to get squashed.
I can attest to that. My DH spent most of last year having first a mammogram (after he felt a lump), biopsy, mastectomy, then chemo and radiation for breast cancer. He now has to have annual mammograms on the other side. He takes tamoxifen, too, although there isn't a lot of good data on the effects (or side effects) of men taking tamoxifen. So far no hot flashes! At least catching it early for men is easier as long they don't ignore strange lumps in the chest area, as most do.
I can attest to that. My DH spent most of last year having first a mammogram (after he felt a lump), biopsy, mastectomy, then chemo and radiation for breast cancer. He now has to have annual mammograms on the other side. He takes tamoxifen, too, although there isn't a lot of good data on the effects (or side effects) of men taking tamoxifen. So far no hot flashes! At least catching it early for men is easier as long they don't ignore strange lumps in the chest area, as most do.
It seems odd but yes, men can die from breast cancer. Mu cousisn's FIL did die from it. My cousin's hubby has annual exams (no mammograms so far) as he is at much higher risk than most men.
DH is starting his diet for real today. I think he might take a real stab at it - he's starting on a Friday, instead of pigging out all weekend and then recovering on a Monday. We are making a veggie pizza for dinner tonite with low fat goat cheese and a thin crust. I think this will show him he can eat more than "celery sticks and salads".
I'm off into the rain today - BLEAGH! At least it's payday!
This was the winter that wasn't. Here I'd dreaded staying Upstate during the hardest season, and it ended up feeling like a sojourn further south. I can say that because this morning, rather than a predicted snowstorm, we just had a light, pretty snowfall which has already changed to rain.
If I were a runner who took better advantage of these quiet country roads, I would have had many unbroken sequences of fine running days this winter. What more can one ask for?
Those quiet country roads should be calming, but they fill me with a kind of envy. I have much to do today on the job before heading to spend time in Albany and Litchfield CT for the weekend. I was driving back from the gym thinking the seasons are bearable if you are in better touch with nature, observing all the continual subtle changes as the season progresses. I am dreadfully out of touch. I haven't gone for a walk for sheer pleasure yet -- just dutiful runs, completed to get in my cardio -- nor have I gone birding, looking for the Northern Shrike that local birders have reported. So of course, the fields and trees and the very vocal house finches, titmice, chickadees and cardinals made me think of Robert Frost: "The woods are lovely, dark and deep/But I have promises to keep/And miles to go before I sleep." It's still fascinating to me how he repeats that line at the end, and how that the repetition takes the very same line, with the very same words in exactly the same order, from the immediate and the personal to something far more transcendent and much, much scarier, all the way to the ultimate respite: death.
Well, I don't want that. Just a brief cessation of striving and of feeling overwhelmed by my sense that everything requires tremendous effort and comes at a great physical cost that may not be earned back.
This hasn't been the best week for me food-wise and I've been eating too much. At work we've had an abundance of free food and I've partaken... set me up for munchies and an "I don't care" attitude all day(s) long. I'm trying to draw myself together. I've been doing really well since the new year and don't want to fall off track now. Tomorrow some friends are having a big gathering. I'll try to focus on the friendship and not the food or alcohol.
Saef, I also have loved that poem since I sang an adaptation of it in a children's chorus when I was, oh, 11 or so. But what I love about poetry is that it's so open to interpretation. You can focus on the lighter messages that come to you from the poem, and think about the loveliness of the woods rather than the darker ideas if it suits your mood. How about planning an "active rest" day one weekend day soon to go out in the woods, hike around and do some birding?
I also felt I didn't appreciate my outdoors - the beach - enough since I live so close by until I got the dog. I have to be outside so often for work, especially in the hot summer going back outside is often the last thing I want to do when I get home. I think it's natural to take your surroundings for granted. Sometimes I pretend I'm a tourist and try to look at my surroundings with new eyes. It makes me appreciate them more.
Dagmar, mmm, your pizza sounds delicious! I think it will be pizza night at our house too. I've got some Kashi frozen pizzas stashed in the freezer. They are light on the cheese and lower in fat than most freezer varieties, but still pretty tasty.
TGIF!
Tonight is my auction/ dinner. I've been great tracking all week and the scale has been moving slowly, but still not where I want it. Hopefully the dress will still fit okay!
Dh's back still hurts, and he snapped at me this morning about how negative I always am. I bit my tongue to not talk back-- doesn't he see that he is the one being grouchy because he's in pain? No, apparently not. I hope he is in a better mood this evening.
I got to work and all sorts of things need to be addressed that I wasn't aware of so it is going to be a CRAZY day! For one thing, I have a day off that I didn't know about, and the day before is a teacher work day-- that would usually be great news, but I need to set up for the book fair, and do a teacher preview, and now I have to move everything a week earlier-- including making copies and collating packets for 1100 students!
I got a head of cauliflower in my farmer's market basket this week, I think I'll rice it and try to make a pizza dough with it.
DSS just got sent home from school. He refused to put his homework in his folder and caused a little scene, then hit another student on the way to the office. This makes two short-term explusions this month. He, DH & XW saw a counselor on Tuesday, he is scheduled for another appt early next month and then some testing. We'll just see if we can keep him from going off the edge before then.
Shannon, I just read an article about this syndrome called PANDAS, in which kids' behavior alters for the worse as a result of infections, especially strep.
We saw "'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" last night. I was baffled through most of it but that's always been my take on le Carre. My mother "got" his books - I reada them with great enjoyment but never really knew what was happening until near the end.
Gary Oldman is superb as Smiley - totally dry and understated. Good supporting cast too.
I wish they had more choices at the theatre snack bar - it's a small independent so I imagine they don't have the $$$ for a full scale kitchen operation. I had a large popcorn with no butter and a large diet Pepsi.
No more diet Pepsi in my house so I figure once in a while I can quaff one at a movie.
I'm in Albany this morning, an extended-stay suite run by Marriott and just woke up from a long sleep-in with four pillows clustered around me like a herd of warm & comforting animals. This is where my friends put me up, because their house is still a work in progress. And because they travel so much on their state jobs that they have mucho rewards points that have to be used up before they expire, so this show of hospitality was completely free.
I have my 1830s carved Connecticut clock in the trunk of my car. And I had a dinner last night that worries me just a bit. We went to Jack's, which had a strong aura of male deal-making about it. The name had "Oyster Bar" in it once but I think they are de-emphasizing that aspect. It's been there since 1913, has a checkerboard floor, really dark mahogany walls, like an English club, extensive scotch & cognac list, lots of big pieces of meat on the menu. I had a half-dozen oysters on the half shell to start, then scrod with a Meyer lemon reduction sauce on a bed of scalloped potatoes. This is fussier than my usual diet. I'll be back to a life of monastic simplicity for the rest of the week.
Oh, and the Berkshires and Litchfield Hills were gorgeous, though the wind blasted and there were a couple snow squalls that slowed my driving. An even worse hazard: Girl Scouts selling cookies on the Mass Turnpike rest stop. I got a box of Thin Mints and a box of Do-Si-Dos for my mother & threw them into the trunk with the clock. Out of sight, out of mind.
Anyway, being out and driving & driving -- more than four hours yesterday -- was tiring but also exhilarating. So the world is bigger than me and my worries.
My friend & I ended up winding down sprawled in my room with really excellent hot tea. Harney & Sons, from a Litchfield shop. In little silk bags called sachets. We watched bad TV & talked & talked. And then an infomercial for Shawn T's Insanity came on the TV and we were envying aloud the display of abs. I wish that hadn't somehow spoiled the day by bringing me back around to my body.
saef, sounds like you had a wonderful weekend, you deserved every bit of it. Congratulations on the Girl Scout Cookies Putting them in the trunk would not work for me, I would pull over at the first opportunity and get those Thin Mints out of the trunk and up beside me where the belong.
Saef, sounds like a wonderful weekend with your friend and a nice little break just when you needed it, as well.
I forgot to tell you all this story, and only you would understand. A few weeks ago a co-worker wandered into my office area with her granddaughter's girl scout cookie sign-up form. I was in my office and was veeeeery quiet. At approximately 3:55, 5 minutes before I end my work day, I made a beeline for the door with my lunch bag held up to block my head. You know, just in case my body did blend in with the background, and they wouldn't notice, and my bright yellow lunch bag wouldn't draw more attention to me or anything. Linda called out "Megan do you want to order any cookies from my granddaughter?" and I yelled "I'm allergic to sugar!" and was out the door. The next day another co-worker was in with her daughter's form and I politely declined in a more rational manner. The cookies actually showed up this week and of course now everyone who bought them is offering them to everyone else. I have not partaken (but no thin mints have been offered to me - I'm staying strong, gosh darn it!). One thing I've done right!
I haven't had to do a roll-dodge to get inside the grocery store so far this year, but I haven't gone to the grocery store here in town a lot lately. Usually they set up a table directly in front of the entrance (apparently fine with the store owners). It is horrible. I don't think I need to go to that grocery store anytime soon. Just in case.
Saef - sounds nice. I'm glad you're having a change of scene.
Megan - this Girl Scout cookie thing sounds so uncivilised. Group Think. Full marks for taking avoiding action. You've been allergic to sugar for ages, I remember.
diet Pepsi.
