TS, congrats on quitting smoking. That a big plus in the breathing department.

I hope Medkit coming along OK. It's a long recovery, but very worth it in the long run. My mom is finally healed up from her breast surgery and heading into her hip replacement. We're in for a busy time. I'm stil doing fine. 18 months cancer free.

I love seeing all the pictures of everyone. What a great new feature!

Not this time. I had a big party at one year, and I'll do it again at two. I'll go nuts when I hit five! That's the magic number.

Wishing everyone a happy Holiday of Choice. Hannukka is just over, and Yule is upon us. Christmas is soon to follow. I don't know the dates if Dewali, but I know it's a mid-winter celebration of light and shadow. Ramadan was earlier this year. I love all this spiritual diversity. What a beautiful rich tapistry it is!

We're planning a holiday with family followed by a brief trip away for a few days before getting the Wee One back to school. What's everyone else doing?

My family is blessed with recovering health. Mine continues to be good, and my mom is improving. By Christmas I'll be 21 months cancer free. Mom's docs don't expect her to have any further cancer problems in her lifetime. At 89, what more can she ask? She's scheduled for a hip replacement on New Year's Eve, so after some rehab she'll be more mobile. New booby, new hip. There'll be no stopping her!

Having had cancer once, I'm committed to healthy living. I try not to preach. Individual life choices are what they are. I'm not quite a vegetarian, and, for a colon cancer survivor, that would be a good thing. One step at a time. I spend half my week helping people quit smoking, but I never push if they aren't willing. Smoking is the single greatest cause of preventable illness and death in the US and will be worldwide by the end of the 21st century. Still many people enjoy it and continue to choose to do it. My job is to offer my services as a health educator to all hospital patients who are smokers if they are interested in quitting. If they aren't, I tell them it's been nice chatting with them, and it usually has been, and I'm on my way.

The veggie diet thing may be dificult for me. I need a lot of protein and can't eat nuts. (beans can be problematic too LOL)  I get mixed reviews on soy health-wise. My doc, who is very open to managing health problems with diet, is pro-soy, but other survivors advise against it, probably because of the phytoestrogen thing and the breast cancer risk in some colon cancer survivors.  I do some low fat, lactose free dairy, but I'll probably never completely get away from fish. I love my Onmega 3's. I've heard that flaxseed oil may not be good for some men. It has some bad effect on the prostate. Fish oil is a better source. If my husband is doing fish oil, I might as well, too. The lactose free dairy is digestable, but the higher simple suger content isn't good. Since I don't have as much colon as I used to, and what I have left is tempermental, I have to watch what I eat for lots of reasons. My husband never eats red meat, but he's a big poultry person. I have to cook poultry for him, so I eat it sometimes too. We try to use free range/organic whenever we can.

Wow, that post was really confusing!