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Monday, September 17, 2007

Ordering calendars

I got an email today from the PR firm telling me I could order additional Gold's Gym calendars for under $1 each. (I get a few free ones for myself and my family.) Anyway, I know a few people wanted to know how and where to get them so I can order them for you and ship them to you or you can get them at your area Gold's Gym. They should be out the second week of November but I need to get the order in to them sometime this week.Hopefully my picture and story will be on October! Seems logical but you never know!

Thanks everyone for your encouragement and support!!!!

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Pictures








Dinner with a few survivors while on my trip. We
compared hair length and curls in addition to our
cancer experiences and life now.

View of the Simi Valley Gold's Gym from the second floor cardio area.
You can see the Cardio Cinema sign in the back (behind the boxing ring). This is where you can watch movies in a theater setting while doing cardio. They were playing Tomb Raider while we were there.
Their outdoor swimming lanes. It was a beautiful day as you can see from the blue sky.

Back from the photo shoot

LA was a fast and fun trip. I flew in on Monday and that evening I went to dinner with two survivors from the online group I post on. We had a great time and it was so wonderful to meet them and compare notes.

Early the next morning the PR firm picked up 4 of us for the shoot. We spent most of the day at a newer Gold's Gym working out and watching each other's photo shoots. One gentleman had his photos done on a weight machine, another man on an elliptical machine, a woman teaching her fitness class and me on a spin bike. The calendar should be out in November., but I don't know how much it costs yet. I can't wait to see it and read the stories of all the other participants. I did feel a bit out of place during the shoot because I wasn't in as good a shape as the others but I still had a great time and everyone made me very comfortable.

Megan from the Gold's Gym challenge was there the day before me having her pictures taken playing volleyball on the beach. It would have been nice to meet her after "competing" against her in the challenge.

That night I went to dinner with the woman from Atlanta who lost 180 pounds and is now an instructor and personal trainer. What a great story! You can read about her at www.fitbyjen.com

I took several pictures so I will have to try to post those later.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Heading to LA

So my flight leaves for LA in a few hours. I am getting a bit nervous. I have been able to do some cardio 5 out of the last 7 days. I still can only do leg weights. I have ton a few very light arms weights but I can only do a few reps. I just have to keep telling myself that they want me in the Gold's Gym calendar because of my journey and the challenges I have faced head on. They are not looking for me to have six pack abs, and be tone and tan all over. That would be nice though. Maybe next year at this time when all the treatment and surgeries are behind me.

I am looking forward to a few days alone as well to do some soul searching about my reconstruction and some other projects I have going on. I am hoping to go to dinner with some survivors in LA as well tonight. That will be so much fun if we can get all coordinated!

I will take lots of pictures and post them when I return along with all the details!

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Crazy, Sexy Cancer

Did you see this documentary the other night? I recorded it and watched it over the weekend. It was very interesting because it is about a woman with Stage IV cancer who is basically controlling it with diet and exercise. She hasn't been through chemo, never lost her hair etc but wakes up every day knowing she has 24 tumors inside her. She also interviewed 3 other women with different types of cancer - one was a women living with breast cancer for the last 10 years. All of these women were in their 30's or 40's.

Although a lot of the show didn't mirror my cancer experiences it did hit home about the fear and hidden strength that comes with cancer. One woman had to leave her child for two months while she underwent a stem cell transplant. It doesn't matter what kind of cancer it is, it will forever change you. I think we all learn something about ourselves when we are fighting for our lives. It might be realizing that you are stronger than you ever thought you could be, or realizing just how blessed you are with supportive family or friends, or realizing that when it comes to living a fulfilling life that extra ten pounds or any other flaw you see in the mirror does not define your happiness. These are hard lessons to learn and a hard way to learn them.

On a side note, there was a section in the documentary called BC (Before Cancer). I was surprised by that since I had the dream and the posting about BC and AD before the show aired on the 28th. I must have a sixth sense! :-)

Monday, September 3, 2007

What a difference a year makes

Last year at this time I was stressing about turning 35. I never worried about turning 30 but something about being 35 made me feel older than I wanted to be. There were things I had wanted to accomplish before turning 35 that I hadn't done yet. Now I am about to turn 36 and I am a 10 month breast cancer survivor. Things have definitely changed. I am happy to be able to get older and celebrate another birthday. I am sure I will still complain from time to time about being older but I am thankful that I am here to celebrate those wrinkles!

A year ago I was trying to save up money to have laser hair removal done at least on my eyebrows. Once again, a year later I have a different view. I would still like it done at some point but right now I am sort of enjoying having to pluck my eyebrows and shave my legs again!

Happy Labor Day everyone!