Monday, August 12, 2013

3 weeks after reconstruction surgery....OUCH that hurts.

Three weeks after reconstruction surgery
Ouch that hurts! 
Well my surgery went well for surgeries, I was supposed to be released same day.
 However I had a reaction to the anesthesia and had to stay overnight. Very, very sick to my stomach.
At home the next day, I had my dear friend Lynette, 
to take care of me while my husband and son were at work. 
It was a rough couple days, then it started getting better. 
And then….. it started going wrong. 
I have been battling an infection or something that has caused a lot of swelling on my reconstruction side. 
I have been on two rounds of antibiotics , the redness and my fever are gone but the swelling remains.
It has been very restrictive and depressing. 

My mind says I should be past this and moving on to a quicker healing, 
already exercising, getting stronger. 
However, my body is betraying me and doing otherwise.
 I feel frustrated and defeated today. 
Depressed with all the little issues that are keeping me 
from healing and keeping me from the exercise I so…. want to do. 
I cannot lift things, cannot do repetitive things with either arm, pretty much rules out housework. My house is a mess and I feel like my hands are tied behind my back……………damn I am so ready to be past this. 

  I know - I know 
everyone keeps telling me to be patient – reminding me 
“I just had surgery 4 weeks ago and just finished 4 months of chemo”.

 I guess my mind remembers how quickly I would bounce back prior to all this. I am expecting the kind of recovery I would have had before CHEMO. 
 

 4 weeks after surgery and I still have swelling. 
At first it was swelling, redness, fever and achiness. 
After my round of Cipro antibiotic, it started to get better. 
However shortly it started swelling again, so I went on a second round of antibiotic. 
No fever, or redness this time just the swelling. 
Went in today for a checkup. Basically I am told it is edema fluid and by body will eventually absorb it. However, if it does not - we have to watch for a couple issues
 ( which I will not get into, just sayin they are not good, like more surgery for one).
I asked what I could do or what do I need to change to help the swelling? 
And was told not much I can do???

However, I left the Dr office thinking there has to be something I can do? 
And I plan to do everything I can within my power - to help my body. 
So I came home and read and read some more. 
Actually I found I already know about and do some of these things. I need to help my body work at it’s optimum performance 
( whatever that may be after 4 months of chemo) 

So I am dry brushing. I am starting light yoga, I am meditating nightly, all with a purpose in mind. To get rid of these extra fluid.  I have to – I don’t want more surgery. I don’t want this to affect my reconstruction.
  Part of that will be ....I have to stop eating sugar and refined carbs ( which turn into sugar ).  
 They cause inflammation inside our bodies, 
which cause all kinds of problems and diseases. 
Including edema, cancer, diabetes, stroke and so much more.
And I like so many of us……I am addicted to sugar like a smoker is to cigarettes. 
I have not had the willpower I NEED to have,
 to completely stop the sugar. 
Night time is my worst time, I am a stress eater. 
I crave sugar and salt all evening and all night long until I fall asleep. I can absolutely breeze through the day with no problem, eat all the right things. 
Cook a healthy dinner and THEN BOOM like clockwork the cravings start. 
I guess if I would go to sleep right after I eat at 7pm, I could stop the unhealthy snacking….lol. So this will continue to be my personal struggle. I am praying the yoga, meditation, and my continued tenacity will eventually win.


 Most days I feel good. I still have quite a bit of pain in both breasts. 
And I am still restricted from lifting and weight bearing exercise and restricted from repetitive arm use. 
I have to remind myself 
this is just temporary – and to be grateful it is not permanent. 

I could be much worse off, I see so many who are 
( every 3 weeks when I go for treatment).
 It would break your heart if you went with me.

There ARE SO MANY of us with Cancer. Children, teenagers, 20, 30, 50, 80 year olds. I have to wait for a open chair, the chemo rooms are FULL
And Tulsa alone has at least 5 Chemo centers. The one I go to says they see as many as 100 patients a day. This is 1 place. Can you do the math? This is enormous – something we are doing is giving a HUGE amount of us all kinds of cancers. Wake –up!

Friends and Family – wake up – if you haven’t already!
We have to eat right and exercise – cut out the white sugar, white flour, dyes, pre-packaged foods, refined sugars and sugars. Otherwise as you age – it will catch up with you. Diabetes, stroke, ulcers, pancreatic cancer , breast and ovarian cancer, lung cancer, heart attacks, Alzheimer’s, fibromyalgia, and so much more. 

Cancer is in all of us, so you cannot stop from having it. 
The only way to keep it at bay and inactive is to HAVE A STRONG IMMUNE SYSTEM that can battle all the crap we put in our bodies, STRONG ... to fight the toxins, the pesticides, the colors & dyes, preservatives, hormones, antibiotics and pollution that is in our food. 

Below are a couple links to Doctor OZ’s videos about Pancreatic cancer and Ovarian cancer. I plead with you to take 15 minutes and watch them. 
They may save your life... or someone you know.

http://www.doctoroz.com/episode/your-biggest-cancer-risks-dr-ozs-biggest-solutions?video=15533   Ovarian

http://www.doctoroz.com/episode/your-biggest-cancer-risks-dr-ozs-biggest-solutions?video=15537    Pancreatic

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Talia JOY ... we will miss you.

Talia, was my inspiration and strength 
to go forward with my treatment. 
I watched her on Ellen last year and went to her you tube page to read her story. She was a beautiful child inside and out. 
After reading her story ....
MY thought was if she can fight this for 6 years and do it so gracefully and with such strength, surely I can do what I need to do. 

My heart was sad when I heard of her death. But OMG what a wonderful blessing she was in her 13 years. 
She did more, put up with more and hurt more in her 13 years than most of us do in a lifetime. 
And she did it with a smile. 
She embraced her life. 
She was a gift from GOD – an angel on earth, to me and many others. 
She was truly an inspiration I will never forget. She made me want to be a better person – to love my life more and to fight this cancer EVERY way I COULD. I stepped up my ( healthy) game after reading her story, watching her makeup and cancer blog videos. 

I wish I could have met her. I do plan to write to her Mother and tell her how grateful I was to know her daughter, if even from a distance. 
And to thank her for being such a wonderful mother, that she could allow Talia to spread her wings, fly and be the angel God wanted her to be and knew we needed.  Kelly
P.S. Please take the time to go see her story on you tube, she just might be your angel too! taliajoy18 on you tube.




Talia Joy Castellano, 13-year-old YouTube makeup star, dies from cancer 
The Orlando teen, beloved for her inspirational strength and uplifting YouTube videos, died Tuesday at the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando. She had been battling neuroblastoma cancer and leukemia.
By Rheana Murray / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS



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Thirteen-year-old makeup genius Talia Joy Castellano, who suffered from two types of cancer, was even on the face of Cover Girl magazine, as an honorary cover girl, because of her fighting spirit and inspirational life.

A 13-year-old cancer patient who inspired millions with her unfailingly upbeat makeup tutorials on YouTube died Tuesday.
Talia Joy Castellano, from Orlando, Fla., was fighting two forms of cancer — neuroblastoma cancer and leukemia — but defied the disease with her perky video updates, many which have been viewed nearly 1 million times.
“It is with a heavy heart that we share with all of you that Talia has earned her wings at 11:22am,” reads a message on her Facebook page, Angels for Talia. “Please lift her beautiful soul, her beautiful light to heaven and please send your love and prayers to her family during this most difficult time.”
In four hours, more than 40,000 people had commented.
Castellano was so beloved by fans that the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando, where she died, had to ask well-wishers to stop calling, according to the Facebook page.

taliajoy18 via YouTube 

She has been battling this for 6 years. The ambitious teen revealed in a video last year that she declined a potentially life-saving bone-marrow transplant, instead opting to “just live the time I have remaining.”
Last summer, doctors told Talia her condition had left her with four months to 1 year to live. On Monday, a Facebook post updated fans saying the teen had been in the hospital for almost 6 months.  “Having cancer has been an amazing yet horrible journey,” she said. “Yet every journey has an end.”
Castellano was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a rare childhood cancer, in 2007. She learned about the leukemia last year.
Her Facebook page urges supporters to sign a petition to increase funding for childhood cancer research.
More than 700,000 people subscribe to Castellano’s YouTube channel, taliajoy18, where she posted updates about her health as well as cheery how-tos about nail art, eye shadow and lipstick. She was also working on a new teen fashion line called That Bald Chick, and had been named an honorary spokesperson by CoverGirl.
The upbeat Talia Joy Castellano died Tuesday morning in Orlando, Fla., at just 13 years old.
Castellano posted her last video on May 22, marking four straight weeks in the hospital. She discussed her recent anxiety, new medication and expressed an eagerness to get “back in the groove” with her makeup tutorials and updates.
Stars like Ellen DeGeneres and Sofia Vergara expressed condolences on Twitter.