today was another big day

brake light fixed? check.
smog check? check.
california license plates? check.
california drivers license? check.
a guy at the dmv who's going to help me find a state or county job? check.
a guy at trader joe's who told me he thinks i'm going to have a good year? check.

still waiting on? a job with health insurance and one new boob.

today was a very big day

i have reached the sixth month (minus one week) post chemo.

and i got my FIRST haircut!

i found a place in downtown san francisco that offers a "welcome back" program for people who have gone through chemo - 3 free services post chemo. i had the sweetest 23-year old hairstylist. she complimented me on my hair. asked me about my cancer story then paused part way through the cut...and said..."hey, how are you feeling? this cut is a really big deal." she planned out my whole "grow back" strategy. then at the end she asked for a hug.

THEN i went to my three-times weekly crossfit class. had a good workout. and then coach kelly told everyone to get together for a picture, "with meghan kearney in the front!" the reason for our photo?: my very first haircut since finishing chemo...can you see the tears welling up in my eyes? something about the announcement hit me hard.

(and check out the perfect posing by corrine and catherine to my left.)

in today's nytimes...

no one's recommending anything yet but...interesting...

"Among the other studies to be presented at the conference is one that found that patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer who had low levels of vitamin D had a much greater probability of dying or experiencing a spread of the cancer than patients with sufficient levels of the vitamin.

But the research was not designed to establish that vitamin D deficiency was the cause of the worse prognosis. So Dr. Pamela J. Goodwin of the University of Toronto, an author of the study, said it would be premature to recommend that breast cancer patients take megadoses of vitamin D.

Dr. Julie R. Gralow, a breast cancer specialist at the University of Washington and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, concurred.

“We have no idea whether correcting a vitamin D deficiency will alter these outcomes,” said Dr. Gralow, chairwoman of the oncology society’s communications committee.

The study followed 512 women treated for early-stage breast cancer in Toronto from 1989 to 1995, and tracked them through 2007. Those with vitamin D levels so low at the time of diagnosis as to be deemed deficient had nearly twice the risk of the cancer’s recurring or spreading as those with sufficient levels, and a 73 percent greater risk of dying. Only 24 percent of the women had sufficient levels at the time of diagnosis."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/16/health/research/16cancer.html?ref=us

23 weeks post chemo...

my friend of 15 years, jessica arnold, came to sf this weekend for a wedding. an added bonus of our trip to the marin headlands is that i finally have some pictures of my hair from the front!

or this?

summertime...

with two water-related long weekends planned and the summer quickly approaching...i decided to start looking for an appropriate bathing suit. i thought it would be somewhat easy. i thought i could find something. but no. instead it sends me spiraling towards depression.

this particular comment from a dr. on breastcancer.org was especially unhelpful:
"Finding a flattering bathing suit is a challenge for just about any woman! "

what i tend to forget is that breast cancer related things tend to be designed for older women. apparently older women who have had mastectomies like bathing suits with little skirts or low-rise legs. and ridiculous patterns. i have found SOME bathing suits that i MIGHT actually be caught dead in...but then i see that they are best for size B/C cup or they start at size 10 or 12. or they are $140.

can you imagine me lounging around the pool in vegas in THESE?














...or imagine if this could work???!!!

farmed fish...ick...

as a result of my food obsession, my friend, emily leary, suggested i read marion nestle's book called, "what to eat: an aisle-by-aisle guide to savvy food choices and good eating."

this is what i found on page 208:

"farmed salmon...are raised like cattle in feedlots. they are confined in pools of antibiotics, pesticides, chemicals, and wastes, which then spill the equivalent of raw sewage into local waters. if the fish escape - which millions invariably do every year - they can end up in the wrong ocean (atlantic salmon in the pacific northwest, for example), compete for resources, and spread diseases like sea lice to wild fish, and when the mate with wild fish, change the genetic basis of the population..."

yuck.yuck.yuck.

there is a lot more information in the fish chapters of her book. big fish eating littler fish and all about PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls).

the most important stuff, though, seems to be:
avoid eating shark, swordfish, king mackeral, and tilefish - to avoid all the mercury they have in them. the fda suggests pregnant women should NEVER eat these fish. and they suggest only eating albacore tuna once a week...but if pregnant women shouldn't eat them, should the rest of rest assured that we'll be just fine?

marion nestle suggests "you can safely eat farmed salmon from chile and washington state, but you should avoid farmed salmon if it comes from more polluted places like scotland and the faroe islands. you can get rid of about half the PCBs in farmed salmon by following these steps: score the flesh; grill or broil the salmon until it reaches an internal temperature of 175 degrees and the juices run off; and remove the skin before eating."

or just always try to make sure your fish is wild caught.

for more information on which fish are safe to eat (both for yourself and the environment) check here:
http://www.seafoodchoices.com/smartchoices/findseafood.php

another good resource is thefishlist.org that gives you a very simple list of fish to "enjoy" and fish to "avoid."
(but right now it seems like the site is having some problems...)

and for a pocket-sized guide...
http://www.edf.org/documents/1980_pocket_seafood_selector.pdf