...to being a full-fledged vegetarian. We had two "meat days" this weekend and totally stuffed ourselves with chicken, beef and pepperoni (my favorite). I felt fine for the most part, but after eating the delicious cheese-stuffed burger I almost instantly felt sick. Maybe it was too much grease (Jason and I split a side of onion rings too), but maybe it was my stomach saying "no thanks" to the beef? Who knows - we're back on a no-meat diet now until Sunday (which happens to be Superbowl Sunday), when we plan on saying au revoir to our favorite meat snacks. I'm feeling OK about it - like I've said to a few of my friends already, I don't really notice that we're not eating meat. I've also been getting oodles of recipes and advice from my vegetarian friends, so I think we'll be able to find yummy substitutes for our favorite foods that typically include meat.
...to eliminating night sweats. I attribute much of my success in this area to removing meat from my diet. I've been taking tamoxifen for almost six months now, and have had 4, maybe 5 nights of sleep where I didn't wake up once to a night sweat (In case you're wondering, night sweats are much worse than hot flashes; you wake up soaking, and even after changing in to dry jammies, you hop back into damp sheets. They're terribly unpleasant.). In the past week I've slept 4 or 5 nights all the way through. Do you know how wonderful it feels to have a full night of uninterrupted sleep?! Glorious - almost to the extent that I can hear angels sing as my alarm goes off each morning.
...to getting my sun-shiny, positive, cheerful self back. Yesterday I started taking a multivitamin that packs a Vitamin D punch. I'm confident it'll get my energy level back up and kick my Debby Downer attitude to the frozen curb. I'm also keeping up my gym habit; last week I signed up for a 5K in April and I'm determined to run the entire thing. It's 3.1 miles, I'm sure I can do it (plus, I have lots of time to work my way up)!
Showing posts with label Night Sweats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Night Sweats. Show all posts
Monday, January 27, 2014
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Taking Care
I'm happy to report that our first attempt at cutting out meat was a success! We made some pretty tasty dishes Sunday through Wednesday this week and I hardly noticed that none of them included animal protein. I even ate out and was able to easily order some really delicious portobello mushroom fajitas. When we added meat back into our meals on Thursday (tacos), Jason was up with me during the night with a stomach ache (I was having one of my usual night sweats). I felt fine after eating meat Thurs/Fri, but after eating chicken tenders at our friend Andrew's birthday party on Saturday, I felt awful! I can't say if it was the chicken or the fact that they were fried, but it made me feel terrible (and happy to say buh-bye to them). Today we started day one of five days we're eating meatless so we'll see how this week goes!
In fitness-related news, I've been using the LT Bucks I earned for joining Lifetime Fitness over Black Friday to try out a few TEAM classes. For two weeks I was part of the TEAM Weightloss, and now I've moved on to TEAM Fitness. The fitness class is one level up in terms of difficulty, and instead of mostly cardio, we've been doing some serious weight lifting (my first attempt at kettle bells made me feel like an 80-year-old lady; I'm still nursing sore back muscles!). I like it, but my danceline background has me gravitating toward the cardio classes. I've also been back on the treadmill a few times slowly logging miles, and I'm pretty excited about how much I'm still looking forward to it. Yesterday my challenge was to do a 5K, which is something I've done many many times, but this time my goal was to run as much of it as possible and I don't think I did too bad. I wasn't really going for speed, but of course the faster you run, the faster you can be done. I finished nice and sweaty at 40:30, so with short stints of walking thrown in, I'm averaging a 13-minute mile. Certainly nothing to brag about, but it'll be interesting to see the improvement the more conditioned I get!
Finally, I had an appointment Thursday with Dr. Sanan, the surgeon who first discovered my cancerous lump. It's been about six months since I've seen him and ta daaaa - after examining me he determined there are no new lumps (not that I was expecting him to find any). Physically I've been feeling great and it's so great to have a confirmation from a professional. I also spent a little time with Lynnae, Carrie and Ali (the hospital's social worker) which was wonderful! They're all such great resources and care so much for their patients (me!). Ali's hooking me up with the oncology nutritionist to make sure I'm still getting enough nutrients now that we're modifying our diets. Once again I'm thanking my lucky stars I have them for my long term healing!
Natural remedies, here I come!
Finally, I had an appointment Thursday with Dr. Sanan, the surgeon who first discovered my cancerous lump. It's been about six months since I've seen him and ta daaaa - after examining me he determined there are no new lumps (not that I was expecting him to find any). Physically I've been feeling great and it's so great to have a confirmation from a professional. I also spent a little time with Lynnae, Carrie and Ali (the hospital's social worker) which was wonderful! They're all such great resources and care so much for their patients (me!). Ali's hooking me up with the oncology nutritionist to make sure I'm still getting enough nutrients now that we're modifying our diets. Once again I'm thanking my lucky stars I have them for my long term healing!
Natural remedies, here I come!
Sunday, January 12, 2014
I Did This
As you may know, I've been hitting the gym quite a bit over the past couple of weeks. To get into shape? Sure! Because I finally can? Absolutely! I spent the better part of five months in pain, and when I wasn't in narcotic-zone pain, I was very uncomfortable. I'm finally back in my stride and am absolutely loving it! I look forward to lifting weights for an hour, and get this: yesterday I woke up at 6:30am and challenged myself to run a mile (I did, and then almost one more too!). I'm becoming addicted, and I kind of love it.
So now that I'm moving my booty again, I thought it'd be a good idea to take an overview at how I'm eating. I definitely ate my (and 4 others') fair share of cookies, treats and snacks (ones you just know are so naughty you better just avoid) over the holiday season and it's left me feeling gross (and flashing like no other - no really, I can't stop). Jason's been tugging at my sleeve trying to get me to watch Forks Over Knives for a few months now, so I finally sat down last weekend and watched it. No joke, the movie changed my life. It slapped me hard with the reality that it's very likely I contributed in giving myself cancer based solely on the food I've been shoving into my mouth for 29 years.
Basically the movie "examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting animal-based and processed foods." Both of my parents were raised on farms so it was natural for them to feed me good ole meat and potatoes with a glass of milk as a typical dinner. I have friends who are vegetarian and while I always admired their willpower and compassion, I never thought I'd be interested, even in educating myself about it.
It's all different now; I'm taking a good hard look at what I eat and have decided to try eliminating animal-based and processed foods. If not eliminate all together, severely cut down my intake. Jason's on board with this too, so we've decided to do a little tapering. First is meat. We're going 4 days this week without consuming meat; next week we'll try 5 days, then the following 6 and eventually all 7. After that will be the hard part: dairy. I eat a yogurt for breakfast every day, and Jason can polish off a gallon of milk in no time. Have I mentioned he's from WI, the land of cheese? The tapering for dairy might take a bit longer, but that's ok. At least we're trying!
So now that I'm moving my booty again, I thought it'd be a good idea to take an overview at how I'm eating. I definitely ate my (and 4 others') fair share of cookies, treats and snacks (ones you just know are so naughty you better just avoid) over the holiday season and it's left me feeling gross (and flashing like no other - no really, I can't stop). Jason's been tugging at my sleeve trying to get me to watch Forks Over Knives for a few months now, so I finally sat down last weekend and watched it. No joke, the movie changed my life. It slapped me hard with the reality that it's very likely I contributed in giving myself cancer based solely on the food I've been shoving into my mouth for 29 years.
Basically the movie "examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting animal-based and processed foods." Both of my parents were raised on farms so it was natural for them to feed me good ole meat and potatoes with a glass of milk as a typical dinner. I have friends who are vegetarian and while I always admired their willpower and compassion, I never thought I'd be interested, even in educating myself about it.
It's all different now; I'm taking a good hard look at what I eat and have decided to try eliminating animal-based and processed foods. If not eliminate all together, severely cut down my intake. Jason's on board with this too, so we've decided to do a little tapering. First is meat. We're going 4 days this week without consuming meat; next week we'll try 5 days, then the following 6 and eventually all 7. After that will be the hard part: dairy. I eat a yogurt for breakfast every day, and Jason can polish off a gallon of milk in no time. Have I mentioned he's from WI, the land of cheese? The tapering for dairy might take a bit longer, but that's ok. At least we're trying!
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Flashing
I know I've written about this before and it probably sounds like I'm complaining, but keeping in mind the fact that I'm hoping to help others, I'm writing this for more for educational purposes (I just love how I justify my complaining ha!).
I think the tamoxifen has finally kicked into high gear; the hot flashes have gotten a bit better (or is it the major drop in temperatures we've had the past week?) and my periods have been further spread out than usual. I'm so happy the flashes have gotten better on their own; my oncologist had suggested I try an anti-depressant to keep them under control, and I politely declined. Not the right option for me - I'm not a fan of covering up side effects with another drug that could give me more/worse side effects. I still have them, just not as frequently and they're not as intense.
It's a good thing too, because when they're bad, all I can do to keep my sanity is stop what I'm doing, roll up my sleeves and pants, take off my shoes, and fan myself with something. I'm sure my co-workers think I'm nuts, but it makes them tolerable. Once the flash is over, I get a sweet case of the chills from my body trying to balance out the change in temperature.
I should be assigned my own weatherman, sheesh! Mantra: having flashes is better than having cancer. Repeat 400 times.
NBD: 14 days away!
I think the tamoxifen has finally kicked into high gear; the hot flashes have gotten a bit better (or is it the major drop in temperatures we've had the past week?) and my periods have been further spread out than usual. I'm so happy the flashes have gotten better on their own; my oncologist had suggested I try an anti-depressant to keep them under control, and I politely declined. Not the right option for me - I'm not a fan of covering up side effects with another drug that could give me more/worse side effects. I still have them, just not as frequently and they're not as intense.
It's a good thing too, because when they're bad, all I can do to keep my sanity is stop what I'm doing, roll up my sleeves and pants, take off my shoes, and fan myself with something. I'm sure my co-workers think I'm nuts, but it makes them tolerable. Once the flash is over, I get a sweet case of the chills from my body trying to balance out the change in temperature.
I should be assigned my own weatherman, sheesh! Mantra: having flashes is better than having cancer. Repeat 400 times.
NBD: 14 days away!
Monday, September 9, 2013
Go Mode
After having my final, yes final, expansion on Thursday last week, I met with Dr. Howe on Friday morning to discuss how the tamoxifen is going. I'm having the very typical side effects: hot flashes and night sweats (hot) so nothing to be too concerned about. He was so impressed with my blood work that he told me I could officially tell people that I'm cancer free. Did you hear that!? Cancer FREE! Gone, zip! Of course as I was finally finishing my last thank you notes yesterday, (writing it in every single one) I couldn't help but wonder if I'm totally jinxing myself by celebrating and blabbing to everyone about it. On the other hand, I think I deserve the bragging rights - it's the best news I've had all summer!
Bringing me to my next topic: my energy level. I don't know if it was the great news on Friday or the fact that I got some heavy duty relaxing in this weekend, but I've been like the energizer bunny lately! I've been working out and kicking butt on annoying little house projects I've been putting off. I've even been able to squeeze an episode of Orange is the New Black once a night (one more episode left... dreading the end of that hour, Season 2 needs to be available pronto!).
Loving and living life; only 58 days until New Boobs Day :) We finally broke the two-month barrier people!!
Bringing me to my next topic: my energy level. I don't know if it was the great news on Friday or the fact that I got some heavy duty relaxing in this weekend, but I've been like the energizer bunny lately! I've been working out and kicking butt on annoying little house projects I've been putting off. I've even been able to squeeze an episode of Orange is the New Black once a night (one more episode left... dreading the end of that hour, Season 2 needs to be available pronto!).
Loving and living life; only 58 days until New Boobs Day :) We finally broke the two-month barrier people!!
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