How to improve your mood

Wheather you just discovered you have Breast Cancer or you are and old pro like me (this is the 20th month since being diagnosised) you can benefit from physical activity. It doesn't have to be much, any movement is better than none. Of course this is assuming you didn't just have surgery and are not under doctors orders to stay quiet and limit your movement.
Not only will you feel better by moving your body, it will also help you think about and hopefully remember to breath. This is turn helps you circulation, which helps the healing process. It also will make you feel better mentally. Exercise is a proven mood enhancer and it doesn't require and injection or IV!
I know some of you think I'm crazy, especially if you just had your chemo or the very painful Neulasta or other medications to improve your white blood cell count. So, maybe plan a few days out and make a date with a friend that will go at your speed and timing. Just walk. Rest if you need to and keep up your fluid intake.
Please remember you can send questions regarding exercise and breast cancer to me through this blog.
I look forward to hearing from you.

In health and happiness

Kath

Words...

So often I say to myself: "If only I had the chance to say...". There are moments in my life that I did not say what I wanted or needed to say. Other times I didn't ask a question that until now I thought would go unanswered. I have had a lack of closure because of the words I did not speak to my parents, friends and lovers.

But is is too late? I found out with the help of my therapist that these moments can be replayed in my memory and words can be spoken that went unsaid. I close my eyes and picture a time and place and the loved one's manner and the loved one's face. I see the two of us together and it feels so wonderful. We are looking at each other , ready to speak. I will not miss the chance this time.

The conversation can begin right then; the two of us joined in a verbal blend of words, delight and sometimes sorry. But what it gives me is the second, minute and hour to say the words that once did not come. I ask my father why he died when I was five and did he know I needed him then. I ask my mother if she really loved me and did she know that I loved her deeply. I ask a lover why the relationship ended with so much pain and was I ever loved and was I missed. I ask a dear friend why he took his life and didn't he know I would have helped him. I ask another friend who died young, if he knew I treasured him and that I miss him so often.

The list of people and words not spoken can sometimes appear endless...until I realized that once I had the first converstion, the others took less time and effort and some never had to take place. Words, emotions, and thoughts are powerful enough to jump the barriers of death and separation. I brought closure to so many relationships when I was finally honest with myself...I knew the anwer all along to why I had not spoken... I just didn't want to say, "Good-Bye". And sometimes saying good-bye is inevitable. God Bless us all.AMF

Signs...

I have always been a person who believed that everything happens the way it is suppose to! I have not always known why or what the reason was but as time passed--- I did find the reason why the event happened. Everything that has happened to me wound up being a sign for something new to happen.

The meltdown that I had in my last posting led me to find the meaning behind my speech loss. I found the road out of my desperation. I decided to reclaim my voice but in a different way. I gave up my romantic notion that I was going to get my speech back. Now, I know that this will not happen. I can improve what remains but I will never be who I was ...so I decided to be a new me. I am going to learn sign language and then teach children who are hearing impaired. Do you hear me ...loud and clear...it won't matter how I speak, my hands and lips will be the vehicles with which I communicate to the children. I can be a teacher again and feel the glory of impacting on children and enjoy the lovely moments they will share with me.


I know that it will take time to be proficient in signing or all the alternatives to it...but in the meantime I will be spending quality time with children.

A slight bump in my plans has taken place = I cannot find a place to learn signing, baby talk and lip reading. I am still trying but when I contacted the National Association for the Deaf, they wrote back that I...the person who cannot speak easily, should call different religious organizations, colleges, and Centers and inquire if they knew. It seemed strange to me that the NAD would not have that information...am I alone on this? So I wrote back to them and expressed my surprise and yes, shock, that an association dealing primarily with people who have hearing and perhaps speech handicaps would not know this type of information. They have been silent on this issue and to this day, I have never heard from them. God bless the world. AMF