Sharing the Journey...

17 degrees here and snowing! We might be at 22 this afternoon... winter... ho hum...


I wish that I had not taken any hormones to help with hot flashes in my 40s. Hindsight, right? That's when I developed a fibroid the size of a grapefruit and needed a hysterectomy back in 1995. I had a negative breast biopsy in '93, followed by the positive one in '05, then the lumpectomy. I took meds from both sides of a five year trial after my lumpectomy, but only for about a total of one year... The pain in my hips, knees, and other joints made me unable to walk across the yard. Everything hurt. My surgical oncologist breast specialist hoped that I had taken the drugs long enough, but in 2012 I had the biopsy that missed the tumor, and in three months when I repeated the mammogram due to my husband's urging it had doubled or tripled in size followed by a bilateral mastectomy in 2012. So I have been cancer free that I know of for nearly three years - on Valentine's day.



Now though I need these knees to feel better from osteoarthritis and no cartilage left. This morning I used my walker to go to the bathroom after doing my range of motion exercises in bed for 10 minutes. I need to treat my back with care, to hopefully prevent the need for a repeated laminectomy. When I lose my regained weight I will seriously consider the knee replacement(s) my orthopedist says are in my future. Until then I will keep Sparking to get as healthy as an almost 70 year-old can. Pain and some worry are constants in my activities of daily living, but I'm working with it and Sparking on!