Two Cinnamon Candies

 

 

 

For two days straight those heart-shaped cinnamon candies followed me wherever I went.

 

The first time I saw them they were in my husband's vehicle on our way to play trivia, but I resisted them because I was still on my "Daniel Fast."  Then they were in a couple of different places in the kitchen.  But I never ate any.

 

At the end of the second day, it happened.  I sat down in my husband's favorite chair in the living room... I saw then off to the side of the chair and I broke down.  First, I actually looked around the room as though someone was going to catch me -  and then I ate two heart-shaped candies.

 

I was disappointed in myself because I wanted to make it through the 21 days of this partial fast and since sweets were on the taboo list,  cinnamon candies were certainly a no-no.  "You have to draw the line somewhere," I had been telling myself.  "If you eat even one candy, you've gone over the line and where will you stop?"

 

I may have eaten those two pieces of candy...but

 

                               I MADE IT THROUGH OVER 21 DAYS WITH NO COFFEE!!!

 

After going almost a month with no coffee, I wasn't getting any more headaches from withdrawals and the mornings got easier and easier to handle without it. 

 

 But guess what? 

 

"They" say that there are certain benefits to coffee and I enjoy a cup or so in the morning, so I am back to my morning cup of Joe, as of yesterday.  (I am not going to go into detail, but it seriously took me four attempts at making it before I had some coffee to drink, so maybe I should have taken that as an omen...)

 

I will now confess to you that I stopped the "fast" two days early (except for the coffee.  I did make it over 21 days not drinking that).  My husband and I went to a social downtown the night before my daughter Carly's TEDx debut and the original, unique array of foods and wine caused me to lose all resolve.  (Yes, I know that inanimate objects cannot force you to do anything).

 

I started this fast to see if I actually felt any better at the end of it and to tell you the truth, I didn't really notice that I felt different.  I will never know if my cholesterol went down or if anything else positive happened "internally," though.  Some people have attested that they get things like that checked out before and after and that there are huge differences.

 

I think that for myself personally, the reason that I didn't feel a big change is that these past (almost) three weeks, I didn't eat or drink much differently than I normally do.  I typically don't eat things like white breads, pop and sweets anyway, so there wasn't a big change in diet there.  The biggest change I made was not having any eggs or yogurt.  Water was the only beverage allowed on this "partial" fast and I had no problem with that - except for the coffee of course!

 

I will say, though, that since my job was cut, I have had a very sedentary life style sitting at this computer all day, so being extra careful about what I eat is going to be very important, unless I don't want to blow up like the "GoodYear blimp"

 

 

 

.

 

                            "Everything in moderation", so they say.  I think that I agree with that.

 

(I may not have noticed a big difference in how I felt, but I did notice how many occasions there are to  eat junk food when you are especially trying to avoid it!  So, I think that I did pretty well...)

 

I think that often when people think of a vegetarian diet (which is similar to what I was on), they believe that one's diet has to be bland.  One thing that this experience did for me was to open my eyes up a bit more to how amazingly tasty fruits and vegetable can be - if you take a little time and eat them in some other form besides how you bring them home from the grocery store!

 

I made a few recipes that were absolutely delicious and I am going to share one easy recipe with you: 

 

 Cabbage Steaks 

To make them, just peel off the outside layers of the cabbage, cut them in one-inch slices, brush olive oil on one side of them,  put pepper, salt and garlic  (if you like garlic )on them.  Bake in the oven at 375 or 400 degrees for about 25 minutes on each side.  Delicious!

 

So there ends my saga of the "Daniel Fast."

 

Nothing life-changing, but I learned a couple of things ... and I'm OK with that.

 

Thanks for reading

 

 

P.S.  If you are curious about what "TEDx" is, here's a brief re-cap from their web site:

 

"TEDx was created in the spirit of TED's mission, "ideas worth spreading." The program is designed to give communities, organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level.  At TEDx events, a screening of TED Talks videos -- or a combination of live presenters and TED Talks videos -- sparks deep conversation and connections. TEDx events are fully planned and coordinated independently, on a community-by-community basis."

My husband and I had never heard of TEDx until my daughter was asked to be one of the presenter's at Grand Fork's first TED talk this past Friday.  You may want to google it some.  Very interesting...!



Day Nine of the Daniel Fast - Did I Cheat?

 

 

 



         Uh-oh.  I may have cheated on the "Daniel Fast," but I'm not sure!

 

     That probably sounds rather odd, but I will explain.  Yesterday I went to the home of some of my Bhutanese friends because they were having a celebration due to the birth of their new son. 

 

     Later on, when I was at the celebration, all of the women kept urging me to eat the food that had been prepared.  Out of all of the women there, the hostess was the only one who had any grasp of the English language and she knows how much I enjoy eating their food.  It's such a treat to have something different and much of it was spicy, which I absolutely love!  Anyway, after trying to explain several times to the hostess why I was choosing not to eat, I finally gave up and ate small portions of a couple of the dishes, rather than risk offending them.  However, here's the catch: I have no idea what some of those dishes were made of.  I think that I chose pretty wisely, but I can't say for sure! 

 

     Another "situation" that I ran into this past weekend was playing our annual Saturday night trivia with friends.  I wasn't going to go because I didn't want my Fast to be the topic of conversation, especially with a few people in the group who are rather intolerant of anything "different."  But I went and to my surprise, there were no questions asked by anyone.  Even though I typically have no more than one to two drinks per week of any kind, I did miss having a cold beer.  The popcorn didn't taste quite the same eating it with water.  Plus, I made several extra trips to the bathroom that night.  (I can make a beer last for a long time, but those three large glasses of water were not such a good idea so late in the evening).

 

     I am still missing my coffee.  Sunday morning we woke up to the worst blizzard of the season so far.  I don't know if that was the fourth or fifth blizzard - I am already losing count. (The Grand Forks Herald newspaper gets cute and gives the blizzards human names in alphabetical order.  In '97  I remember getting to blizzard Hannah).  I really, really wanted to have some warm coffee to cuddle up to with a crossword puzzle that day...

 

     Anyway, that day of the last blizzard was one of those cold Minnesota days that seemed to last forever.  Normally, I am always looking for extra hours in the day, but that day, I couldn't motivate myself to do anything to stay busy.  I know that if I had not been on the Daniel Fast, that I would have "consoled" myself with some extra food and a big bowl of ice cream.

 

     One of the authors from "The Daniel Cure" says this about comfort food: "I've always been stymied by the term "comfort food."  I've yet to have a piece of chocolate cake hug me.  Nor has a plate of lasagna shared any helpful advice.  But when we're stressed or hurt or fearful...our emotions lead to actions." 

 

     In my case, it was just boredom that made me want the ice cream, but you get the gist.  This author also goes on to suggest that "when a sweet desert is offering to comfort us, God invites us to stay the course and seek what we truly need from him, our true Comforter."  He's right of course, but often times we go for the "quick fix,"  (such as that bowl of ice cream I was thinking about), which actually isn't a fix and actually doesn't comfort us!

 

     I am going to leave you with an interesting tidbit.  Did you know that as our weight goes up, the physical size and function of our brain goes down?  That not only affects the choices and decisions that we make, but the risk of getting particular diseases such as Dementia and Alzheimers also increases.  One of the three people who helped develop the "Daniel Cure" says that when he learned that fact, he had no problem eating healthy and losing weight because of how much he appreciated what our brains do for us.  I'm wondering if knowing this information (if you didn't before) changes anything for you. 

 

    I would be interested to hear. 

 

    Take care,

 

    Jayne

P.S. For those of you (on a totally irrelevant note) who have never been lucky enough to experience a ND or MN blizzard, below is a short clip of part of one that someone posted on YouTube.

 

 

 

 



Our Bodies as Temples of the Holy Spirit

 

 

 

 

 This is Day Number Four of my Daniel Fast.

 

     The foods that I cannot eat have not been much of an issue so far, but these coffee cravings are still killing me!

 

     As I lay in bed this morning I went back and forth trying to decide whether or not I was going to have coffee when I got up.  I knew that I had to make a commitment one way or the other before I got up so that I was "resolved" when I went to the kitchen.  (I think I mentioned that on the Daniel Fast the only liquid that you are to drink is water).

 

     I started thinking about the reading passage for "day two" from "The Daniel Cure" book that I had purchased.  The first paragraph was: Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own; you were bought at a price.  Therefore honor God with your bodies. - Corinthians 6:19-20

 

     I started to rationalize. O.K... I can see honoring my body by not eating unhealthy things like sugar, useless carbs and even meats and dairy for awhile, but "they" haven't really proven that coffee is bad for us and some studies even say that it's good for us, so why should I not drink coffee if it's not necessarily bad for my body.                                                                     

 

                             

 

     And I remembered my daughter asked me just last night why I would restrict myself in any way with food after having gone through six weeks of having my jaws wired shut and living on a very limited liquid diet. I felt myself getting weaker by the minute...

 

    Then I reminded myself that the difference between this fast and any other time that I have tried to watch what I eat, is that this fast is supposed to be about "God Power," versus "willpower". 

 

     It was a good reminder, because I'm quite sure that my willpower alone would not have stopped me from making that pot of coffee.

 

     I also reminded myself that I had been weaning myself from coffee for a full two weeks before I went completely without it, so hopefully the worst part is over.   And I realized more fully how very much I have been relying on coffee to function in the mornings.

 

     I thought about having to go online and tell whoever reads this blog that I broke down on the fourth day and had coffee. Then the "community" part of this fast hit home.  If you are on the Daniel Fast or Daniel Diet, they strongly urge you to do it with at least one other person or at least tell other people about what you are doing.  That way, you have committed yourself and other people besides you know what you are doing.  It definitely makes it harder to say, "Ah, never mind.  I guess I'll do that Fast another time."  So the way I see it, whoever reads this blog is my community and indirectly (at this point anyway), you are supporting me.

 

     The best thing that this partial fast has done for me is get me to eat more fruits and vegetables, which is always one of my goals.  If I am not eating some of my "staples" that I usually do, such as bread, eggs and dairy, then I have no choice but to rely on fruits and vegetables more.

 

     I have also been eating more nuts, such as walnuts and almonds for protein sources.  I know that I need to get some bean soups made soon for variety, though.

 



 

     It seems that everything that you do in your life affects something else in your life.  For me personally, when I am eating healthier, I am more motivated to exercise more also.  The job that (up until two weeks ago) I held for the past seven years had the wonderful advantage of being able to use a top-notch gym at no cost.  Therefore, while I am home I am going to have to be more resourceful in making exercise a part of my routine because at this point, "routine" isn't something that I really have established yet.

 

     Next week I am going out of town with my husband for a couple of days, so I need to plan ahead and bring some "allowable foods" with me."  I will also have to really commit myself to eating healthy when we go out to eat.

 

     Today's reading in my book is this: Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint; but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom's instructions.    - Proverbs 29:18

 

     I'm going to need a whole bunch of restraint on this upcoming trip.  But after having made it through the coffee crisis this morning, I think I can do it!

 

Thanks for reading,

 

Jayne

The Daniel Diet Plan - My Personal Story

 

 

 

 

     I finally got back to the gym a couple of months ago and was working out on the elliptical.  I turned on the TV attached to the machine and caught the end of the Dr. Oz show.  The show's content, in case you have never seen it, covers all kinds of health topics.

     On the Oz show that day, one of the topics was something called the "Daniel Diet" and a Pastor on the show was talking about how the diet worked.  I didn't catch very much of the show, but a few days later, there was an article in the paper about this same Diet.  So, like every typical American does, I "googled" the topic.

     Between internet searches and reading a book on the topic, the following are a few things that I learned about the Daniel Diet.

     A pastor named Rick Warren named this diet the Daniel Diet, based on what Daniel (yes, the Daniel that was thrown into the lion's den) from the Old Testament ate.  It was written that Daniel declined the Babylonian king's offer of his fancy, rich meals and chose to eat mainly vegetables, seeds, etc. because he felt that it was better for his body.

     Getting back to Pastor Warren, he got together with some Doctors to put the plan together. What they came up with is a plan that aims to combine the factors of faith, food, fitness, focus and community to help make the plan successful.

     The name of the plan varies a bit.  Sometimes it is called the Daniel Fast, sometimes the Daniel Diet or the Daniel Plan, and sometimes the Daniel Cure, depending upon your purposes and goals.

 

 

     The Daniel Fast is a 21-day partial fast. ("At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over.”  Daniel 10:2-3)

      The fast is plant-based and your only beverage for three weeks is water.  You can eat all fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, quality oils, herbs and seasonings. Juice can be used as an ingredient in recipes, but not as a beverage.  Foods not allowed include all animal and dairy products, sweeteners (including stevia, honey, etc.), deep-fried foods, processed and refined foods, artificial flavorings, chemicals and preservatives.  Also not allowed are alcohol, caffeine, coffee, tea, leavening or solid fats. 

     The Daniel Fast is not supposed to be about deprivation or giving up on flavor.  What you are fasting from are the foods that can contaminate your body.  As many eating experts say, it is suggested that you have five or six small meals, versus two or three big meals.

     The Daniel Fast also focuses more on spirituality and relying more on "God Power," versus willpower.

  

 

     The Daniel Diet or the Daniel Plan is a less strict version of the Daniel Fast.  Basically, it's eating healthy for a longer period of time (ie 40 days) or as a lifetime choice.  For instance, with the Daniel Plan, you are allowed to have meat, but the goal is to see protein as a side dish, versus the main part of your meal.

  

 

     The Daniel Cure is basically used to describe what a healthy eating plan can do for your body. Besides losing fat, some other benefits are said to include a sense of well-being and increased energy, reduction in things such as inflammation, blood pressure, an improvement in antioxidant defense and working against type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

   

     What appealed to me and caught my attention about "Daniel's" eating plan was the Faith aspect.  The book that I have on the plan actually comes with some daily devotionals, which is rather nice, as it certainly simplifies things.
     Two weeks ago from today I decided to undertake the 21-day fast.  However, I knew that the biggest issue was going to be the fact that I really, really, really enjoy my coffee in the morning, especially in the Winter.  So, I have spent the last two weeks weaning myself from the caffeine.  Yesterday was the first time that I went without any coffee, so I started my Daniel Fast today!
     If you are interested in finding out more about the Daniel Fast/Diet/Cure, there is plenty of information on the internet.
     Meanwhile, I am going to keep a log of sorts of how things are going - pretty much like my journaling when I had my jaws wired shut.  However, the Daniel Fast will be much more relevant to 99.9% of the population than the jaws thing was!
     Speaking of the "jaws episode," my choices of foods have been absolutely terrible since the wires and screws were taken out of my mouth.  I think it's pretty much a psychological thing, but my poor diet the last few months is a large factor in why I am looking to do something better for my health.
     I am eager to see what a difference this "diet" may or may not make in both my physical well-being, as well as the spiritual side of me, which I could always use some help with!

Thanks for reading!

Jayne

Blessings

 

 

 

 

Whether or not we realize it, I think that we are all at numerous crossroads every single day of our lives.  Some of the crossroads are minor, some are more momentous, some we don't really even think about and others seem to weigh on our mind every single minute of the day.

I've been at a kind of a crossroads since the beginning of June with my job situation, not knowing which direction that situation was going to take.  When I lost the job that I had held at the Grand Forks Air Force Base for the past seven years ( with a three-day notice due to budget cuts), the "game plan" was that I was supposed to just kind of "slide" into another position on the base that would have been a promotion for me.  However, things did not turn out that way - not even close to it.

I say this because January 3 of this year - seven months later- the job that I was waiting to "slide" into was also cut.

I literally felt as though I had been wrapped up in government "red tape" several times over. At different points during this time, the tape seemed like it was starting to peel off, but then it would come back with a vengeance and almost choke me on it.

The worst part was that the different directions things were taking with this position were out of my control.  I was basically at the mercy of the Federal Government and the people involved in this process to determine what my fate would be regarding this job.  I wasn't the one making the decisions about what would happen, and for many of us, not being able have control in our lives can be a tough thing to live with. 

It's a long, sordid saga, so I won't go into details about what took place and why I stuck it out for so long waiting for this job, but I will say that when the decision was finally made that the position would be cut, it was actually a relief.  I would have liked to have had the job, but being in limbo was worse than temporarily not having an income, which is where I am right at this moment.  And for the moment, I am O.K. with that, even though I will miss many of the people who were part of the Base community.

(There was another position that I was offered at the Base, so I wasn't left "high and dry," but I knew that was one road that I would not be taking, so that was an easy decision to make).

I did much more praying this past seven months than I have ever done and I chose to leave as much of it as possible in God's hands.  I listened to a good Christian music station both to and from the drive between the base and my home.  I needed that for encouragement and to get through the day. 

I also give the flood of "97 a lot of credit for putting many things into perspective. No one died in the flood and no one died during these last seven months of turmoil, so I have nothing serious to complain about.

However, I have felt like a basketball, being bounced around both physically and emotionally.  I was also dealing with a few health issues. One of these "issues" was having a large cyst removed from my jaw and having my jaws wired shut after the surgery for much of the Summer.

If I had not pretty much decided at the beginning of all of this to at least try and "give it to God," I would have gone nuts. I am not pretending that this whole thing wasn't without turmoil. When things seemed to take a particularly worse turn, I would ask myself "Is God telling me to be patient and trust him," or is he trying to tell me "For crying out loud, girl, take a hint and get out of Dodge!"

About ten years ago, Carly brought something home from her religious class that she was going to toss, but I said that I wanted it.  It was a plain white sheet of paper that had a couple of leaves glued to it and it simply said "Be still and know that I am God." Psalm 46:11.

The paper has since gotten faded and the leaves have started to peel off, but I have had this sheet of paper taped to my bedroom mirror and I look at it at least once a day. It usually seems to calm my mood somewhat if I take a minute and think about its significance. (You can tell it's important to me because it's taped right next to a little sticky that Carly also gave me with a funny character on it that says "I'm so happy I could poop!  For those of you who know why my daughter would give me something like that, well all I can say is "lucky you!")

Not that I wouldn't take the right job if it came along, but I am choosing to look at this whole experience as a blessing.  Maybe everything turned out this way so that I would have an opportunity to do some things that I have always wanted to do.  Mainly to have more time for my family and to have a writing career to possibly affect people in positive ways with my words.

Below is a song that has encouraged me many times in the past and still continues to do so. Many of you probably recognize some of the words from the song "Blessings" that Laura Story sings:

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You're near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

 

 

www.flickr.com/photos/marksmallwoodcommunications  

 

Remembering Bruce and Preventing Melanoma

 

 

 

This man’s name was Bruce Alan Schroeder.   He died at the age of 41 and left behind his wife of ten years and two young children.  This man was also my brother, a son, a funny uncle, a good friend, a cousin and many other things to many other people.  Bruce lost his life to melanoma and I believe that his death could possibly have been prevented.

 

I am posting this today in Bruce's honor because it would have been his 54th birthday today.

 

As adults we remember having certain foes and certain friends within our family, at school, on our sport teams, etc. 

 

Specifically, within our large family I remember getting along better with some of my siblings than other siblings and I am sure that my brothers and sisters would attest to the same thing about themselves. 

 

 But I seriously don't remember anyone in our family having any real problems with Bruce.  He was the funny one who could crack a joke when you least expected it - even during the last days of his life here on Earth.  He was  the pacifist and the peacemaker who would walk away from a conflict or problem rather than contribute to it.

 

To this day, that wonderful part of his personality may also have contributed to the fact that his melanoma had spread so much before doctors even confirmed what it was.  If I remember it correctly (and I am sure that family members will correct me if I don't), he had many symptoms that most people would have gone to the doctor for way before he did. I think that many of us have that mentality - if we don't think about it, talk about it, or address "it," then "it" will go away.

 

I am not saying that even if Bruce had done anything differently, that things would have turned out differently.

 

But I will always wonder about it.

 

         So my purpose in writing this post has several purposes.  I hope that it will help you understand more about melanoma, the risk factors associated with it, how to help protect you and your loved ones from this disease and how to increase your chances of survival from melanoma.

 

 

Melanoma is the least common, but the most deadly skin cancer. Melanoma accounts for 79% of all skin cancer deaths.  The good news is that if you catch and treat melanoma in the early stages, the chances for long-term, disease-free survival are excellent.

Specifically, melanoma is cancer that arises in the cells that produce melanin.  Melanin is the pigment that gives us our skin, hair and eyes their color.

          Overexposure to the sun’s harmful ultraviolet -  UV rays,  is also what causes our skin to burn or tan.  Ultraviolet  light is invisible to the human eye, so even when it its cloudy out, UV rays are stilling reaching us.

        Tanning and burning are BOTH forms of skin damage caused by overexposure to UV radiation.  A tan is evidence that your body is trying to defend itself against exposure to harmful UV radiation, because the skin tries to absorb UV rays by making more melanin, which accumulates and darkens your skin to try and prevent it from burning.

Sunburn occurs when the skin cannot produce melanin quickly enough to prevent UV rays from harming blood vessels close to the skin’s surface.  The damage to the vessels causes them to swell, turning skin red.

A  common misconception is that melanomas only develop in the sun-exposed areas of the body.  Melanoma can occur anywhere on your body, including in the eye, in the lining of the nose, mouth, genitals or soles of the feet.   

What are the risk factors for melanoma?

 Family history is one factor.  About 10% of all people with melanoma have a family history of this cancer.  Your odds of getting the cancer increase if you have a history of melanoma in one or more of your first-degree relatives, which would include your parents, siblings and children. 

          Another risk factor is a history of sunburns.  Just one or more severe, blistering sunburns as a child can increase your risk of melanoma  as an adult.  You are likely to receive about 80% of your lifetime sun exposure during the first 18 years of your life, so sun safety is especially critical for children.  Studies show that an increased risk of melanoma is strongly associated with blistering sunburns between the ages of 10 and 19.  It can take 10-15 years for the damage to appear in your skin, so damage that was caused by excessive sun exposure in a person’s teens or 20’s may not show up until they are in their 30’s and 40’s.  I believe that this may have been the situation with Bruce.  He loved to take his shirt off and soak up the sun as he worked with my other brothers on the farm.  He certainly wasn’t thinking about what that might probably cost him and those he loved somewhere down the road.

Having fair skin, which means that you have less pigment in your skin and less protection from the UV radiation, is another risk factor.  So if you have blond or red hair, light-colored eyes and freckle or burn easily, your risk of getting melanoma increases.  Another misconception about melanoma is that dark-skinned and Asian people are not at risk for this disease, when in fact, one type of melanoma occurs most frequently in African Americans and Asians, developing on the palms, soles and nail beds.

A weakened immune system also increases your risk of getting melanoma.  Having HIV, AIDS or having had an organ transplant are specific examples of weakened immune systems.

Having many or unusual moles also increase your risk of melanoma.

Certain medications increase your sensitivity to the effects of the sun, so you should be aware if the medication that you are taking is one of them.

Other factors that influence your risk factors include pregnancy, reflective surfaces such as snow, water, sand and concrete, tropical locations, the season, the altitude, your geographic locations, ozone holes and of course, the very obvious, length of exposure to the sun.

In order to prevent melanoma then, our goal is to protect ourselves from the UV rays that cause this cancer.

UV radiation comes not just from the sun.  It also comes from tanning beds and tanning lamps, so obviously one big way to help prevent melanoma is to avoid tanning beds and lamps.  You may have heard that tanning beds give off only the “safe” of UV radiation, but there is no such thing as safe UV radiation, and in fact, many studies say that tanning beds may be even more dangerous than the sun’s UV rays

Avoiding midday sun when its rays are the strongest is a crucial step in preventing skin cancer.  For most places, this is between 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Putting on sunscreen, even in the Winter, is important.

You should use a sunscreen with an SPF of at least 15 about 20-30 minutes before going outside. Sunscreen should be generously applied every two hours on the exposed parts of your body, or more often if you are swimming or sweating.  Also, sunscreen ingredients can degrade and lose their effectiveness over time.  If your sunscreen does not have an expiration date, you should never use a bottle that is more than three years old.  Babies younger than six months old should be protected by clothing, versus sun screen.

Another way to protect yourself from harmful UV rays is to wear protective clothing, since sunscreen does not provide complete protection.  And this includes sunglasses and a hat.  You should buy the kind of sunglasses that block both types of UV radiation – UVA and UVB rays.        

One of the sad truths about cancer is that we could do everything right and still end up with this disease.  However, as I previously mentioned, with early detection of melanoma, your chances for long-term survival are excellent. Five-year survival rates for patients with Stage One melanoma exceed 90-95%.  In the later stages of this disease, 5-year survival rates drop to less than 50%.

The American Cancer Society recommends a cancer-related checkup, including a skin examination every three years for people between 20 and 40 years old and every year for anyone over age 40.  You can just make this check-up part of another doctor’s visit, for example if you are going in for a physical.

Paying close attention to the appearance of your moles for possible changes, is a very important way to help protect yourself from melanoma, since early diagnosis plays such as important role in controlling this cancer.

                   Melanomas can be distinguished from normal moles using the ABCDE rule.

 

 

“A” stays for “asymmetry, which is any change in the uniformity or shape of the mole.

“B” stands for “border.”  Look for any irregularity in the margins of the mole or blurring of the borders.

“C” stays for colors, specifically various colors, such as irregular shades of brown, blue, black or loss of pigmentation of a part of the mole.

The “D” stands for diameter.  Watch for an increase in the size of a mole, with a diameter greater than a quarter of an inch, or the size of an eraser head of a pencil.

“E” is for evolution. Any change in your moles should be checked out.

You should become familiar with your skin so that you will notice changes and when you are examining your skin, make sure you look everywhere – and when they say everywhere, they mean “EVERYWHERE!” 

See your doctor if you notice any of these changes:

·       An increase in the size of a pre-existing mole

·       A change in shape or a mole or a mole with irregular borders

·       Oozing or bleeding from a mole

·       Halo formation around a mole

·       Itching, tenderness or pain from a mole

·       Any unusual sore, lump, blemish, scaling or marking on your skin

·       The appearance of a new mole

·       Any new or suspicious lesion on your skin

 

Some people feel that a tan is a sign of good health and vitality, but remember, there is no such thing as a healthy tan. 

If you didn’t know before, you now know the risk factors for getting melanoma.  You know how to help prevent this cancer, and you know what to look for to both detect and hopefully stop the cancer from progressing.

It would be sad to know that you did everything you could to prevent you or someone you know from dying from melanoma.  But I think something sadder than that would be if you did nothing and you died from this deadly cancer, especially when you had the knowledge to help prevent it.

 

P.S. Bruce's two children have grown into beautiful human beings, both inside and out.  He would be a very proud "papa" of both of them!

 

 

 

My Scuba Diving Adventure

I'm a firm believer in thinking that you can learn or benefit from almost any experience or situation.  And if you aren't willing to try something new, then you will never know what you are missing out on.

 

When my son lost his wallet, I told him that maybe this will help him to learn to keep better track of things. When my daughter had to re-do an assignment, I said that she will benefit more from the experience that way.  When my husband did not get a job that he wanted, I told him that he probably had a better job waiting for him.

      
So, that is the attitude that I decided to stick with during a weekend of scuba diving lessons last January...

 

To get a basic scuba diving license, the class consisted of two main parts.

The first part was taught Friday night through Sunday afternoon at an indoor pool. Since it was January in North Dakota, that made pretty good sense to my husband and I.

 

The second part includes four outdoor swims at Minnesota lakes, which for obvious reasons are scheduled at the opposite time of the year.

Our instructor Dwayne, like any instructor, had a very specific set of skills and lessons that he needed to teach us.

 The first scuba lesson began early Friday evening at the base pool. It was called “how to help the teacher carry the scuba tanks and all the rest of the gear into the pool area.” 

 

In Dwayne’s defense, he did say that we could choose not to help, but then he also added that he might also forget to sign our class certificates if we chose not to.  Probably needless to say, we all (cheerfully) lugged the equipment into the building.

What I learned from that lesson was that yes, you can get frostbite very quickly when bare skin touches freezing metal - that has been outside-  in North Dakota -in the dead of winter.

 

 Here are some other things that I had learned by the time our classes had finished up:

If you put accidentally put someone else’s air tank on and that air tank is twice as heavy as yours, you can’t just "let it go and try to work with it".  (It's not exactly like quicksand, but basically the same concept).

Also, along that line, when someone hands you a duffle bag and says to you “Here’s your bag,” don’t just say “Hey, thanks for the help” and go about putting the gear on.  You still say “Hey, thanks for the help,” but as soon as that person has turned around, you get your beady little eyes focused on the name tag on that bag and make sure that it actually has your name on it. 

FYI: another sign that you may have someone else’s gear is when the fins that fit the night before won’t stay on your feet today, no matter how tightly you strap them on. Duh!  (Again, not exactly the same thing, but same concept).

One of the many skills that Dwayne taught us that weekend was how to float on the bottom of the pool on our fin tips - officially called the "fin pivot."  There are several things that help you accomplish this and one of those things is the weight belt around your waist. 

The amount of weight needed on your belt is determined at the beginning of your scuba diving classes and is based on your weight.  The goal is to have the correct amount of weight on the belt to help you to go down deeper in the water when you want to - and to stay there for awhile if you choose to do so. 

So here's what I took from my fin pivot lesson: if everyone but you is beautifully fin floating on the bottom of the pool and you are spending the entire time just trying to GET to the bottom of the pool, you might want to have that weight belt thing checked out. (If I had been in the above video, you would not have seen more than the bottom of my feet desperately kicking, as I tried to get down to the bottom of the pool to fin float with the rest of my class...)

Another task that we had to be able to do was to hook several different hoses up properly to several different pieces of equipment.  A few of my fellow class mates did it like they had been doing it their whole life, but to me, that tank and all those hoses might just as well have been Medusa with a thousand snakes coming out of her head. It was just that overwhelming to me.   

We also had to know the name of every piece of equipment and what  purpose it served.  I am not usually the dumb kid in class, but that just seemed like a lot of information to learn so quickly.   Not counting the diving  gloves, there are still 25 pieces of equipment that you have to learn on the spot.   Maybe I shouldn’t complain.  We did have the previous four days to read over 300 pages of material with this information in it.  (No sarcasm here…)

      

Now, Dwayne was a very nice person, but I think that since he had been teaching this class for so many years, he took a lot of things for granted. 

 For instance, he would announce a new drill, quickly rattle off the numerous steps for the activity, then expect that we follow through with it – with fewer than 10,000 questions being asked first! 

Come on!  If I am going underwater and have to rely on artificial means in order to breathe, you had better believe that I am going to have some very detailed and specific questions!

 By the time the first step for a new skill came out of this guy’s mouth, I already had a hundred questions. How was I supposed to concentrate on any of the following steps when I was still trying to wrap my head around the first one???

From this, I learned that my husband may have been right all these years – apparently I read just a tad too much between the lines.

Another lesson from Dwane: while you are under water, you can NEVER hold your breath and you need to breath very slowly and deliberately at ALL TIMES.  That is one tough lesson for someone, OK- me- who does almost everything fast, including talking and breathing.  I learned that the expression “Old habits die hard” is really not just an expression.

 

 Something else that occurred to me later is that this weekend should have been a money-making endeavor for me. The way I figure it, that lifeguard who had a front row and center seat to see my live comedy act all weekend should have had to pay at least something for all of the very apparent entertainment he got out of it!

What else did I learn from my adventure?  I found out that no matter where you are or what you are doing, people find a way of letting you know what they are thinking.

For instance, even eight feet under the water, completely geared up, with only his eyes showing, I knew exactly what my husband was thinking when he did this (see picture below) to me several times over the course of the weekend:

Yes, he was shaking his head and rolling his eyes at me -  under the water!!! 

(I am still trying to convince myself that this is one of those things that we will be heartily laughing about years later...)

 

 Anyway, my point in telling you about my scuba diving experience is certainly not to discourage you from trying this, or any other new adventure.  In fact, I am glad that I took the class.

My point is actually one of encouragement. 

 After my scuba diving experience, with all of its trials and embarrassing moments, if I can look at the bright side and can come up with more pluses than minuses, then I am pretty darn sure that you can do the same with absolutely ANY –(and I mean ANY!) new endeavor that you try!