Structural issue?

Structural Issue

Tuesday, I visited with the gynecological urology doctors. This was due to the question about whether there might have been residual trauma, scarring or structural issues around my bladder that maybe was made more evident by the infection I had recently. Dr. Jackie thought maybe there was a stricture. So last week I had an ultrasound, Tuesday I saw these urologists. And the consensus is that there is nothing structurally wrong. The minor symptoms I have been feeling are probably the result of the lowered estrogen due to surgical menopause. And so nothing major needs to happen other than learn how to manage my menopausal body at this point. I’m sure many of you reading who have already been through menopause have some insight into these things but for me they are all new. And they came on suddenly. The downside in my situation is that I cannot use anything with hormones to treat the menopause side effects as my cancer was a hormonally driven cancer. So I’ll have to learn how to manage it in other ways.  Moving forward with research….

Bomb Cyclone #2

So for only the second time in my lifetime, and within weeks of each other, Colorado and the greater Midwest have experienced another bomb cyclone blizzard. This second one wasn’t nearly as bad as the first. I think the barometric pressure didn’t drop as low. But I am thrilled (not!) to be experiencing this symptom of global climate change. That, I suppose, is neither here nor there regarding my cancer overcoming, except that global climate change is a much bigger threat to humanity’s and the rest of the biosphere’s survival, and so really there is a part of me that wonders about working so hard to stay alive from cancer, when I’m not seeing much work being done to help us all stay alive from global climate change. I am a fan of Greta, but she can’t do it alone.

I got a bit depressed yesterday about how here I am sitting in the house weathering a blizzard, burning natural gas to heat the house and producing greenhouse gases, using electricity for various things which around here is made by burning coal and producing greenhouse gases, and to go anywhere physically I use an automobile which burns gasoline and produces greenhouse gases. The infrastructure of most of our lives is built around greenhouse gas production, and changing out of that system is difficult and expensive. So it can’t just be on every individual to change. It has to be a systemic change. And there doesn’t seem to be the will for it. There is too much $$ involved in keeping the status quo and too many people willing to sacrifice everything for $$. God help us all to be less stupid.

Working Out

Tuesday I also saw Joanne my oncological exercise physiologist. She thinks I’m doing great. Every time I see her she throws harder stuff at me, mostly abs work. Then yesterday I saw Jacob at the rec center for some more personal training, and he had me do a whole body workout with weights, heavy enough to get to failure or near-failure after four sets of ten reps, and today I’m sore enough that I can hardly move. The goal is to do that twice a week and gradually increase my weight burden. I’m going to get buff! And more to the point, exercise keeps being pointed out to me as so necessary in physical wellness and keeping cancer at bay. Not my native state. Too heady generally. But here I go, or continue to go.

TTAC

One of the resources that again advocated for exercise was The Truth About Cancer’s newest series on Asia. I have been watching some of the episodes this week as they became available. We will likely buy the program, as there is good stuff in there. It was mostly affirming of what Grant and I have already decided and done about my health. Much about integrative medicine, nutrition, mushrooms, mistletoe, homeopathy, mind-body connection, etc., etc., etc. There were seven 1.5 hour programs. Lots of interviews with lots of practitioners and patients all over Asia. I am grateful to them for their work expanding consciousness around cancer and health practices. The standard model in the U.S. is allopathic medicine, but that is only one viewpoint, and may not always be the best viewpoint. Allopathic medicine does great with emergency trauma type injuries. Nothing better. Heroic even. But the big stuff? The big systemic issues, allopathic just doesn’t handle as well. Branch out. Seek other options. Don’t settle just for standard American practice.

Old House

Also on Tuesday, I visited my childhood friend Maria at her house, which used to be my house. Maria and her husband bought it from my parents when they moved out of town. They have decided to sell, downsize, rightsize, whatever, so it was likely my last time visiting the old place. The Adcocks built it, we lived there for 20+ years, Maria and her family lived there for 20+ years, and now some other family will raise their kids there. Bittersweet. Goodbye old bedroom. Goodbye old tree. Goodbye bushes in the back that we had Black Cats Club underneath as kids. Goodbye to the concrete ramp at the foot of the driveway that I used to ride my bike up and over carefully. Goodbye to the funny little circle in the concrete in front of the house that I roller skated or skateboarded over and wondered about why it was there. Good years, and good house. Blessings on the new inhabitants, and blessings to Maria and her family as they move on to new things.

Social connectedness is good and healthy and I am grateful for these connections. It is one of Kelly Turner’s 9 things in Radical Remission. It is also the premise of Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam. We need each other. No person is an island. We are all connected and interconnected. Go out and love each other today. It’s important for your health, for all our health, and for the health of the planet. ❤️