July 06, 2005

Soy and Aspirin and thoughts of….

I've slacked off here over the past week, 4th of July, a little golf (both kinds),
an extra day off and now a lot to do here at work!

The FLHW board met, more on that in my next entry.

Just today I ran across two headlines:
Aspirin-cancer study shows benefit for men, not women

Study: Soy protein-rich diets may lower prostate cancer risk

Where were these studies when I needed them?
If you're making smoothies, add a scoop of Iso-Soy (available at Whole Foods etc.), it does nothing to change the taste, I've been using it for almost two months. It's somewhat expensive (about 80 cents a scoop, $20 a can). Also, go get yourself a jumbo jar of aspirin from Costco or Sam's Club (we use Ecotrin 325 mg) and do I like I do, take one every day! They are also supposed to reduce the risk of heart disease and colon cancer!

It's now been nearly five months. So much has changed, so little has changed. On one hand, I am such a different person, on the other hand I am the same. "Who" I am will never change, "what" I am is in a constant state of flux. What I mean by this is my beliefs, values etc. are constant. However having cancer has changed so much. I'm more cognizant of nutrition, exercise, prevention, friendship, faith, family and how precious life is and what a wonderful gift it is. I still go through the motions like the rest of you. Those moments when you say "I can't believe summer is half over?!" But I am trying to slow down more and more and take moments in. Now that I write it down, it sounds like a cliché - I'm trying though.

There are still moments I struggle to imagine this going on and on for years, I want it out of my body, now. I tell myself that when I exercise each morning, "one more sit-up, one more curl and maybe it will be gone?" At times I struggle with not wallowing in the "why me, why now?". At mass on Saturday, I heard my name for the 21st week in row, and thought "when I'm still included in intentions 5, 6 or 8 years from now, what will people think?".

So, if you asked me today, "How are you doing?" I'd have to say "I've had better days!"…..like tomorrow!

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