Wednesday, July 25, 2012

What would you do for a Klondike bar?

Me personally, nothing.  I'm not a fan.  However, what would I do for bacon and eggs?  Just about anything right now!  Oh the morning shakes!  My oh my.  I truly do enjoy the green shakes I've been making every morning.  They leave me feeling satisfied, full and healthy -  and they keep my blood sugar stable all morning.  And often when noon rolls around, I'm not really hungry - unless I'm stressed, but that's a different kind of eating altogether.

This past week, though, I think I've experimented a little too much with the shake recipe.  Actually, I don't have a recipe - I tend to open the fridge and throw whatever I can find into my nice new blender, though I most always include a frozen banana (no rhyme or reason to that one).  This morning, I started with carrots, fresh from the farm, and then added a gala apple, a little ginger, a little kale, a non-frozen banana (why??), a serving of tofu, some flax seed and flax oil.  Yes, it tasted just as you're imagining it would taste - nasty! :-(  It gives me the heebie-jeebies just thinking about it!

But I drank it, at least most of it, because there were 4 servings of fruits and vegetables in that one way-too-big container of way-too-much morning shake.  The rest awaits me in the fridge. (heebie-jeebies)  I've got to start using the recipes in that green smoothies book I bought!

Bacon and eggs, french toast, pancakes with maple syrup...I miss you!  This weekend we must be reunited, if only for a day....and not in a shake.

Update on Team Multiple Miracles:  we have 16 team members and have raised $1935 thus far!  Visit us at Team Multiple Miracles to join, donate, or be with us in spirit and hope!

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Team Multiple Miracles

Each year  The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation hosts a number of events around the country to raise funds for research. Coming to a location near me is Race for the Research 5K at Carson Beach in Boston.

These photos are from last year's Carson Beach Race.  I was about 3 weeks post-stem cell transplant and still pretty out of it when I heard a beep-beep-beep on my phone.  Who was texting me?  Who was sending me photos?  Well it was none other than my good friend Joan.  She, her daughter Samantha, and her grandson Christopher all were at the Race for the Research and getting ready to run and walk!  I remember thinking, "Wow!  I want to be there with them!"  I was so touched by their kindess.  And it inspired me to work a little harder toward recovery.




That was then, this is now.  Joan, Samantha, and Christopher are ready to take on the Race for the Research again this year.  This time, I'm joining them - and so are a lot of other folks who joined my team, Team Multiple Miracles.  It's a fitting team name, don't you think?  I believe it is.  Just look at my journey (in appearances) since late 2010:














At the Patriots Game in 2010 with Sarah











In the hospital with Joseph, just a day before that awful Melphalan pre-stem cell transplant prep!











One month post-transplant with my sisters.  Bald, bald, bald.













June 2012 - lots of hair, lots of curls, lots of frizz!









I never did take a picture with my gray tight, tight curls.  I think that is just as well :-)  Next photo of me will be at the Race for the Research in the Winner's Circle!  I've come a very long way in a short time.

Now on to business.  If you've followed my blog and followed the blogs of others who follow my blog, you've got a good sense of what it's like to have multiple myeloma.  It's not so much fun during the diagnosis and treatment.  Some of us are blessed to have had a fantastic outcome post-stem cell transplant.  I count myself in that group, thus the name Team Multiple Miracles.  But miracles sometimes need our help and that's where I'm calling on you.  Join my team or contribute to my team!  With the MMRF, 90 % of all contributions go directly to research.  That's right - the MMRF is one of the most fiscally responsible non-profit organization out there.  And in the past 4 years, they contributed to the FDA approval of 4 myeloma therapies.  That's pretty amazing.

Those treatment therapies have certainly extended the lifespan for those of us with multiple myeloma, but we're not cured and right now it's pretty much a guarantee that those of us in remission will not stay in remission.  We need multiple miracles and now Multiple Miracles needs you.  Every small donation helps.

And, by the way, the research outcomes from the MM studies support the progress in therapies for 30 other cancers.  Now that's worth racing for.

To support us, go to Team Multiple Miracles  Thank you for your support in the race and throughout my journey.  I am grateful.


Friday, July 13, 2012

Not so fast

In my last blog entry, I wrote about the virtues of acupuncture. Lots more energy, no more hot flashes, no more sleepless nights! Yay!

Now, I am realizing, I may need to eat my words. This past week: hot flashes, most of the day and night, and intense hot flashes at that. Sleeping soundly at night - fugetaboutit!  But my energy - wow!  Has it ever returned!  Lots of energy and a strong feeling of physical well-being.  Yesterday I returned for another acupuncture session and I was full of complaints about the hot flashes and the sleeplessness.  Here's the conversation I had with the doctor:

Dr. Li:  Wow, Susan.  Have you been to the beach?  You look so tanned.
Me:  Yes.  Yes, I did get to the beach one day.  I do seem to tan quickly, despite the big hat and the suntan lotion.
Dr. Li:  And what have you been doing for exercise?
Me:  Well, I started back at Bikram yoga, the 90 minute yoga in a room set to 105 degrees.

Now in the field of education, we call this a 'teachable moment' and, boy, did I just hand him a teachable moment on a silver platter!

Dr. Li:  Let me tell you a little more about Chinese medicine.
Me: (You walked right into this one, Susan.  Yes, you did.)
Dr. Li:  Chinese medicine isn't just about these small needles.  It's about the environment, the internal and external environment.  You've heard of Feng Shui?  It's also about the environment.  Your internal environment is on fire, so why are you putting yourself in outside environments that are very hot?  It only makes you more hot.
Me: (Do I really have a Master's degree, because right now I feel like a dope.)
Dr. Li:  The body takes a long time to cool down.

Ok, do I give up Bikram?  No, don't make me do that!!  I guess that means Bikram in the morning, so I have all day to cool down.  Right?

And the beach?  Give that up???  I call that cruel and unusual punishment!!  And cruel and unusual punishment is illegal and I certainly wouldn't want Dr. Li to be involved in anything illegal.  (Aren't I just full of rationalizations?)  Well, it's really a moot point anyway.  Summers are short here in NH - though this summer is exceptionally hot! - and my beach days are few and far-between.  I'll don my hat and buy myself an umbrella and stick my feet in the icy waters of NH and Maine and be happy at the beach.

And, of course, suffer at night.

What's a post-stem cell transplant menopausal woman to do??  (Yes, I can hear what you all are thinking - 'you can suffer in silence, Susan!')  :-)

Ok, no more complaining - at least not in this blog and not in the next.  Coming in the next blog:  the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation's Race for the Research.  And how is this for a team name - Team Multiple Miracles?  Yes, that's my team and we'll be running and walking on September 15th at Carson Beach in Boston.  I'll be recruiting you in the next blog entry, so be sure to read it.  Don't make me track you down!





Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Happy July!

I can hardly believe it's been about a month since my last blog!  Where has the time gone??  I apologize for being so neglectful and I hope to be less so in the future.

Anyway....I've had several acupuncture sessions now and I am happy to report that my energy is high, my sleeping is improved, and my hot flashes are less frequent and less intense than they had been. All that and I continue to remain myeloma-free on my maintenance dose of Revlimid :-)  I am one happy camper!

On the nutrition front:  I've eliminated the yogurt and added tofu to my morning shakes.  I haven't had the courage to try tofu in any other way, despite the tofu cookbook I purchased (that is still sitting on my coffee table, unopened) (but the cover of the cookbook is so attractive!), but it is masked in my shakes and helps to keep my blood sugar stabilized throughout the morning.

Speaking of shakes, I've been experimenting.  For Mother's Day, my family bought me a Breville juicer.  It was a pretty big machine in my kitchen.  Notice the was.  It lasted a few weeks but it really wasn't what I wanted.  It made delicious juice but so much of the pulp was expelled during the juicing that it took an awful lot of veggies and fruit to make a small cup of juice.  Thankfully, Williams-Sonoma has a generous return policy, so back it went.  Sitting now on my counter, awaiting its first spin, is a Vitamix machine.  It is much smaller than the juicer and looks more like a big blender.  If anyone watches the Food Network show Chopped, it's the blender the chefs use.  Joe set it up for me today.  I'm a little intimidated by it (it came with a Getting Started dvd!), as I was with the juicer, but I think it's more of what I want.  I've been using my 30+ year old blender every morning and every morning it's a process to get one little shake.  So much starting and stopping and pushing everything down to the bottom, and then starting the process over again...and again.  This shouldn't be the case with the Vitamix.  I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

And honestly, a shake with fruit and veggies is really quite delicious!  Now don't try to confirm that with my family - their opinions differ :-)

Wishing you a happy 4th of July celebration!