Category Archives: Health

Sharing My Soul (or My Dad’s First Spin Class)

Posted on November 19, 2013 | 1 comment

One of the things that I had been wanting to take my dad to for a while was spin class at SoulCycle. First of all, I wanted to see if my dad agreed with me that it was a good workout (I like to prove to him that I don’t do easy or weak workouts). But the second reason I wanted to take him was because he has been riding a bike almost every day since before I was born and I wanted to see how he would do in an inside bike ride. My dad used to ride his bike to work almost every single day. Now that he’s retired, he either goes out on his road bike or on an adventure on his mountain bike most days of the week. But spinning is different from outside bike riding so I was curious to see how he would do.

We scheduled our spin class to be on Saturday morning. I wanted to make sure that we got one of my favorite instructors for his class, and I saw that Heather was teaching at 9am on the Saturday that my dad would be here! So we signed up for that class right away.

My dad wasn’t too nervous for the class since I had shown him some videos of what the class would be like before we got there. And obviously he did a great job pedaling the spin bike the entire time. Where my dad had some trouble was the coordinator of the different moves on the bike. But I don’t blame him for that. It took me a couple of classes to get the rhythm of everything down. And since I still can’t do all the standing up stuff, I don’t do all the moves on the bike yet.

After the class, my dad agreed with me that it is a tough class and a great workout! And I got to say hi to Heather really quickly and she invited me to be her guest at one of her 7am classes one day (I have to try to start getting up earlier to make it to that class)!

Overall, I’m pretty sure that my dad enjoyed the class. We got a good workout in and I think he’s starting to understand why I love spinning so much! There isn’t a SoulCycle studio that close to my parents’ house, but there is one about 4 blocks away from my brother and sister-in-law’s house so I told my dad that he should take them to a class sometime! I don’t know if it will happen (I don’t think spinning is my brother’s thing), but maybe one day it will!

I’m just glad that I’m starting to share my love of SoulCycle with members of my family. Maybe my dad will come to a class with me again the next time he and my mom are in town…

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Posted in Family, Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health

Tagged bike, dad, SoulCycle, spin class, visit, workout

The Tale Of Two Fitness Studios (or Knowing Where Your Home Is)

Posted on November 15, 2013 | Comments Off

Yesterday I had adventures at two different fitness studios.

First, I went to SoulCycle for my spin class. I seriously love being there. I walked it and people know who I am. They ask me how I’m doing and how my job situation is. They really do know me there.

My class was with an instructor who hasn’t taught at my spin studio in a while (she teaches at Beverly Hills but was subbing for another instructor yesterday). Even though she hasn’t seen me in months, she remembered me. She asked me how I was and mentioned that I had looked good in class.

When I was leaving class, another instructor who’s class I’ve taken was there. I had talked with her a few months ago about my hip issues, and as soon as she saw me she had asked me about it and if I had my next hip surgery scheduled.

Then as I was leaving, one of the front desk people who I know was outside and we chatted for a minute. I mentioned how my dad is coming to town this weekend (as you are reading this I’m probably getting him at the airport) and how he is coming with me to SoulCycle on Saturday. She got so excited and told me that she would be working on Saturday and was looking forward to meeting my dad.

It feels amazing to work out somewhere where people know you and care about you.

On the somewhat opposite end of the spectrum, I went to a grand opening of another fitness studio last night. I’m not going to mention the name of it because I’m sure what happened last night is not representative of what it will be like there and I want to give them another chance.

But I went to the opening night event, and there was nothing there for me to do. There was no information about the studio and the classes. No schedule to look at. And even in the swag bag, no free pass (I’m sure that was an oversight and I tweeted at the owner to see if I could come check out a class for free sometime).

I didn’t feel like I belonged there at all. I think most of the people who were there were friends and family of the owner and instructors and for the first 30 minutes that I was there I didn’t talk to a single person!

Finally, another blogger who was there came up to me and we started chatting. Turns out, she felt just as left out and alone as me! And she’s also a SoulCycle person! She and I both ended up leaving early because there wasn’t really anything to do there except drink and have the appetizers that were being served.

It was just such a funny contrast between the two places. I don’t know if the second studio will feel more comfortable to me one day after I take a class or two. But what I do know is that SoulCycle feels like home to me and I’m so unbelievably grateful for that!

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Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health

Tagged SoulCycle, spin class, workout

The Sorority Nobody Wants To Belong To (or Getting Support From Strangers)

Posted on November 13, 2013 | Comments Off

I wanted to share another story from the weSPARK 5K this past Sunday.

After the 5K was over, I spent some time at the expo by the finish line. I was having some serious shin splints (I think it was due to the crazy hill) and I wanted to stretch for a bit before I sat in my car to drive home.

I decided to watch the medals being given out to the winners of the 5K and 10K and the top 3 finishers in each age group. They didn’t announce the times for the winners, but I know that they finished extremely quickly.

As I was watching, the woman who got 2nd place in her age group approached me and asked me if I would take a photo of her and her friend. Of course I said yes. The friend of the 2nd place winner (sadly, I never got either of their names) had never done a 5K before this race, so they were both celebrating.

I congratulated them both and then noticed the hats that they both were wearing which said that they were breast cancer survivors. I mentioned to them that my mom is going through treatment for breast cancer, and it was like instantaneously we were friends.

They both asked me what type of cancer and what stage it is. They wanted to know what treatments she’s had already and what treatments she has coming up. And they wanted to know how she was doing. I shared her information with them and they both shared their stories with me.

While I’ve noticed that since I’ve shared my mom’s story with others that people have been sharing their stories with me. There are friends that I never knew had family members with breast cancer who have told me how well their family members have been doing. I know this might sound horrible, but it’s almost like now I’m a member of a secret club or sorority. As soon as someone who has gone through this learns what my family is going through, they take me under their wing.

It’s kind of nice because this is a big unknown for my family and I appreciate getting advice and hearing stories of how well people are doing after cancer.

I know that sometimes it seems like everything is about breast cancer and not about other cancers (and I’ve read plenty of stories about pink items not going to support breast cancer charities). But I appreciate that so many people are willing to share their stories with me and giving me and my family support.

And to the ladies that I spoke to on Sunday, I’m sorry that I didn’t get your names and properly introduce myself. But thank you for sharing your stories with me and for wishing my mom the best.

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Posted in Family, Health, Tough Stuff

Tagged 5K, breast cancer, family, race, support

2 Out Of 3 Done (or I’m Surprised I’ve Done Well So Far)

Posted on November 8, 2013 | Comments Off

Back when I signed up for 5K #6, #7, and #8 I had no idea how close together they were scheduled. I wasn’t really paying attention to the dates. But once I realized that all 3 5Ks would be within 2 weeks, I started to freak out a little.

I’ve never done so many races in a row. And this grouping included 2 races within the same week.

Now, I do walk around my neighborhood and get close to 3 miles when I walk, but there’s something different about a race. You are all hyped up and push yourself.

And I was scared that I would push myself too far and wouldn’t be able to do all 3 races.

Well, besides this killer cold I have right now, I’m feeling pretty awesome! I thought I’d be sore, but I’m making sure I take a pain pill before the 5K so I don’t hurt too much afterwards.

I’m not sure how I’m going to feel after Sunday, but what I do know is that if I feel horrible afterwards, it’s more likely due to my cold and not from the 5K. If I can do 2 races in 1 week, I can do this next one which is just over a week after the last.

I don’t think that I’m going to be making weekly 5Ks a regular occurrence. First of all, they are a bit expensive. Each race is about $30 and that adds up. Also, there aren’t that many races that I want to do. I’ve been on the lookout for 1 more race to add this year (so I can do 10 in 2013), but honestly, all the races I can do don’t seem interesting to me (or are on crazy hills). Also, with some of these 5Ks, I’m missing days at work. While my boss doesn’t mind, I’m basically losing money by doing them. This might change when I find a new job, but for now I have to work around the schedule I have now.

I have signed up for 2 races for 2014 so far, and it turns out that they are within a week of each other. So I know I’ll have another back to back race adventure in the spring, but I’m going to try to be a bit more mindful of race dates in the future.

Wish me luck with 5K #8 please! It is the one with the crazy hill and I’m still not able to breathe through my nose yet. I promise to recap the race next week!

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Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health

Tagged 5K, busy, cold, race, sick

Laying Low (or This Will Be A Boring Post)

Posted on November 7, 2013 | Comments Off

I wish I had something interesting to say today, but sadly, I don’t.

I’m getting better from being sick, but I’m still very congested. The one thing that is worrying me is that I’m having trouble catching my breath right now, and that will be bad if I’m still like that on Sunday when I have my next 5K.

I went to work yesterday, and even though I felt pretty sick, I got through the day. I only worked a 5 hour shift so it was manageable. And I was the only person working yesterday (besides my boss), so nobody was there to mind that I was coughing and blowing my nose every few minutes.

The job hunt for a new job is going well. I’ve now had 2 phone interviews and for both of those jobs, I made it to the next step. Both had a next step of a writing sample, and I completed both last night. Now I just have to wait and see.

While I’ve been sick, I’ve been checking in with my mom as well. I feel horrible complaining to her about me being sick because I know she’s going through something worse than me right now. Fortunately, my mom doesn’t seem to mind that I’m whining about a cold and a fever while she’s tired and achy from chemo.

I’ve also been off on food and workouts lately because of this cold. While I’m sure I could workout, the fact that I’m having trouble breathing while sitting down makes me think that hard cardio probably wouldn’t be the best choice for me right now. I’m hoping to get in a spin class before the 5K, but I’m not too sure that will happen.

Food is another weird situation. I’m barely eating right now (I’m not hungry and food tastes weird), but I’ve gained 6 pounds since Monday. I know that it must be water weight (or sick weight) but it bothers me. It seems like everyone else in the world loses weight while they are sick, I have to gain it. So I’m trying to avoid the scale until I feel 100% better.

That’s my update for now. Hopefully I’ll have something more interesting to share tomorrow!

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Posted in Health, Tough Stuff

Tagged cold, interview, job, sick, weight gain, work

Taking A Break To Be Sick (or Hitting A Road Bump)

Posted on November 6, 2013 | Comments Off

On Monday, I woke up feeling a bit funny. Since I had a late start to my shift that day, I figured I’d spend the morning taking it easy and hopefully would feel better before I had to leave.

I went to work, but my head felt fuzzy and I just didn’t feel right. I spent most of my lunch break sleeping in my car. I also started to feel a bit feverish (I was shivering like I was cold but when I touched my skin it was burning up). After being at work for 4 hours, I told my boss that I had to head home.

To be perfectly honest, I don’t remember driving home too much. But I do remember taking my temperature as soon as I was inside (it was 102), and then going immediately to bed. I slept on and off all night, and when I woke up yesterday, I still felt awful.

So I took another day off of work. I still had a fever and I know that my boss doesn’t want anyone sick to be in the office (because we all seem to catch illnesses from each other).

I tried to stay productive while I was home, but while I had the fever it was difficult. I did have a phone interview for a new job, and that went well enough that I made it to the next step (which is a writing sample test). I have until Friday morning to complete the next step, so I’m going to take him with that.

I also got some e-mail responses to other jobs I’ve applied for. I should have at least one more phone interview this week. That’s making me happy.

Before I left work on Monday, I did talk with my boss again. I had to ask him if he would be my job reference for my current job. He finally did realize then how serious I was about having to take myself out of the situation at my job. He asked me to promise that I would at least stay there through this week, and I know that I will do that.

But I’m still working on putting myself first. I’m doing that by looking for a better job and I’m doing that by taking time off to be sick. As of right now, it is my plan to go in for my shift today. The fever is gone and while I’m still congested, that can be managed with medicine. But at least I did get some steps done while I was out to make sure that I am on the road to a better day job for me.

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Posted in Health, Tough Stuff, Work

Tagged fever, job, selfish, sick, time off

Back Into The Groove (or Staying On The Right Path While At Work)

Posted on October 31, 2013 | Comments Off

I’ve been back at my day job for a week now. And it feels like I never left (not necessarily in a good way). I’m back to being on the phone for 8 hours trying to sell memberships and tickets. So far, it hasn’t been the most productive time, but that’s typical for this part of the year (plus we don’t have any shows going on for another week and a half).

Yes, I’m missing my free time. I haven’t been going to spin class as often as I want because I have to work around my work schedule. I’m still trying to figure out a better way to go before work and have enough time to get ready. Right now I’m cutting it very close.

The one thing that is going my way right now is food. I’m doing so much better this time at work with my meal planning. I’m not sure why it’s gotten easier, but maybe I’ve finally gotten used to it.

I’m pretty boring when it comes to my breakfast. I’m either eating eggs and toast or peanut butter on toast. And for dinners I’m either getting a veggie sandwich from Subway or my latest dinner obsession is heating up some of the frozen pre-cooked chicken breast strips from Trader Joes and then putting that on top of either brown rice or veggies (I’m using the cooked frozen brown rice that cooks in 3 minutes and the Organic Foursome frozen veggies, both from Trader Joes). I’m not sure why I’m obsessed with this meal, but it’s healthy so I’m going to keep eating it.

Lunches have always been tough. Last week, there was a day that I forgot the lunch I made, so I had to go get something. It’s tough when you only have 30 minutes to eat, but I was able to go over to 7-11 down the street and pick up a yogurt and a banana. That held me until I had my dinner at 9pm. But most days I’m remembering my lunch. I typically bring either a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or a pre-made salad from Trader Joes (can’t you tell what my favorite grocery store is?) and some fruit. While I’m getting pretty hungry toward the end of my work shift, I’m staying in my calorie range pretty much every day.

I’m hoping I finally turned a corner in my meal planning. The next step would be to stop relying on so many pre-made things and cooking more from scratch, but that’s going to be a slow process. I don’t want to be cooking at 9pm when I get home if I have to be at work the next day at 9am. So most of my cooking will have to be done on either one of my half shift days or on my one day off.

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Posted in Food, Fun Stuff, Health, Work

Tagged food, job, lunch, weight loss, work

Mom Update (or Two Steps Done, Two More To Go)

Posted on October 30, 2013 | Comments Off

Today is an exciting day (at least for me) in my mom’s ass-kicking of cancer. Today she will be getting the last chemo infusion of this particular chemo drug.

My mom has essentially 4 steps to go through with all of this. First was the mastectomy, and we all know she kicked ass at that! I’m still amazed how fast she recovered.

The second step was this first chemo drug. She got it 4 times over 2 months (one infusion every other week). She’s again kicking ass at this. While she’s gotten a bit achy and maybe has to rest a bit more than normal, she hasn’t gotten sick once! And she continues to win almost all of her tennis matches (and I know her tennis friends aren’t going easy on her).

In two weeks, she will be starting step 3. It’s another chemo drug. This time it will be every week for 3 months. This drug is supposed to be easier than the first one, but everyone reacts differently.

After all the chemo will be radiation.

It seems like a lot, but when you think about it, she’s finished half of the steps that she has to do. I think that is awesome!

I won’t be seeing my mom until she’s gone through several weeks of the new chemo. I’m planning on going home around Christmas (I have a couple of days off of work then) and it can’t come soon enough. I’m still feeling a bit guilty for being in LA living my life while my mom is going through all this. She’s got my dad there and she can go to San Francisco to see my brother (or he can drive down to my parents), but I’m here. I know that it’s what my mom wants me to do (she wants everyone to keep going on like everything is normal, which I think is helping her stay healthy through all of this). But I wish that December would get here sooner so I can be there and help out doing whatever my parents need me to do.

I honestly think that I’m always going to feel a little guilty that I didn’t drop everything to be there for my mom for these months (the entire length of treatment is supposed to be about 9 months), but I have to think back to when I had my hip surgery (not that I’m comparing cancer with my hip issues, but it’s all I’ve got in personal experience). While I did want my parents to come to LA when I had my surgery to help me come home from surgery and drive me around while I recovered, I was happy to be independent again when they left. And the main reason that I needed them there for a lot of things was that I lived alone and wasn’t dating anyone. So there was nobody to take care of me. My mom has my dad there, and since he’s a retired doctor, I think he’s a pretty great choice as a caretaker.

I’m excited to see my mom doing so well with everything that she’s taken on, and that makes some of the guilt go away. She doesn’t need me there because she isn’t allowing herself to be sick. She’s doing pretty much everything that she did before her diagnosis now and that’s the example that I should be living by.

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Posted in Family, Health, Tough Stuff

Tagged breast cancer, cancer, mom, update

It’s Always Unexpected (or Sending Positive Energy To A Co-Worker)

Posted on October 25, 2013 | Comments Off

So we’ve been back at work since Tuesday, and while not everyone has been at every shift, there’s been one co-worker who hasn’t been back yet. I knew he just had some dental work, and we all thought that he was recovering from that.

But yesterday, he came into work to talk to our boss about something. Then he came out and told us the news: he has liver cancer.

I’m not sharing who this is to protect his privacy (I didn’t ask him if I could blog about him). But even with this person being anonymous, I’m hoping that we can all share some positive energy his way.

When he told me the news, the next thing he wanted to talk about was my mom. He knew that my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer before we all went on unemployment. And he was always asking about her and hoping for the best.

My mom is extremely lucky to have a lot of amazing people in her life. Everyone I know is sending her positive energy and healing thoughts every day. My friend Erin (who does my hair) made a donation to breast cancer research in my mom’s name this week. And my birthday twin Joanna dedicated her yoga practice one day to my mom. I know that every bit of this is helping. I’m not the sort of person to believe in prayer (I was raised very very reform Jewish and we never really went to temple), but I believe in positive thoughts and energy. And I know that it works. My mom is the proof.

I can only hope that my co-worker has the same type of people in his life. Of course I’m going to be thinking about him everyday and sending positive thoughts his way, but I know that the more people who do it the more power it has. This particular co-worker doesn’t really use the internet so I don’t really have a way to connect with him while he’s getting treatment. But I’m still going to send him positive energy even if he doesn’t know about it.

And what I’m asking of all of you is one simple thing. If you are sending positive thoughts, healing energy, or prayers to my mom; can you just add my co-worker to your thoughts? I know that you all don’t know him, but I know that he would appreciate it.

Thanks everyone.

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Posted in Family, Health, Tough Stuff, Work

Tagged breast cancer, cancer, family, job, positivity

Cancer Questions (or Hopefully This Will Help Someone Else)

Posted on October 2, 2013 | 2 comments

Ever since I posted on here about my mom having breast cancer, I’ve gotten a ton of support. This is so appreciated because my family is going through uncharted waters here. Nobody in our family has had breast cancer before and even though most of my family is in the medical field, there is still a lot of unknown for us.

I’ve also gotten questions from people who want to know more information about what is going on. Some of the things are private, but I want to share a bunch of stuff on here. When my mom was diagnosed, I did a lot of searching online for support and what to expect. I had to be careful where I looked because there is a lot of crazy scary information and I don’t need to become obsessed with what’s out there.

So here are a couple of questions that people have asked me and that I hope will help anyone else going through what my family is going through.

What is my mom’s treatment plan?

My mom had her mastectomy during the summer and is pretty much healed from that. She believes (and I agree with her) that the surgery probably got all of the cancer out of her body. But as a precaution, she is now having chemo. My dad goes with her and since our family dog is a therapy dog, he can go too (I don’t think he has gone yet). She will have a few months of chemo and then finish with some radiation to get rid of any cancer that may be left. I’m so optimistic that this treatment will result in her being 100% cancer free in the end.

Has my mom lost her hair?

As I am typing this, she has not lost her hair. With the type of chemo drugs that she’s getting, she will probably lose it. But she already has an amazing wig and will be wearing that. She actually wore it to my brother’s wedding and I think it looks amazing (she thinks it even looks better than her real hair).

Am I going to get tested for BRCA (the breast cancer gene)?

This was one of the first things I asked my mom once I stopped crying when she told me she had cancer. I wanted to know if I needed to be tested. As of right now, I’m not being tested. It doesn’t really work like that. First my mom and I are going to take an online class about what it means if you get tested and test positive for the mutation. Then my mom has to meet with a geneticist. After that, my mom gets tested. If she tests positive for the mutation, then she will share that with me and I can decided if I want to get tested (I think that if it comes to this, I will). With my family background being Ashkenazi Jew, I already have a 1 in 4 chance of having this mutation. But if my mom tests negative for the mutation, the chances of me having it are extremely slim so I would not get tested.

Is there anything that people can do to help my family?

This is one of the most common questions people have asked me, and it is one of the most wonderful things that people could ask. As of right now, no, there is nothing that my family needs. My mom is doing amazing and my dad is there to help with anything she needs. If anyone would like to do anything, I ask that you donate to weSPARK. They support people with cancer and their families, and donations help to keep all their programs free of charge. I’m trying to raise $100 before the 5K in November and would love any help you would be willing to give to help me reach that goal.

I hope the answers I’ve given help you understand more of what my mom is going through and see that despite a cancer diagnosis, my mom is kicking as much butt as usual. And if you have a parent with breast cancer and want to chat, feel free to reach out to me. I’m more than happy to connect with people who are in the same boat.

2 Comments

Posted in Family, Health, Tough Stuff

Tagged breast cancer, cancer, mom, support, weSPARK

Category Archives: Health

Sharing My Soul (or My Dad’s First Spin Class)

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The Tale Of Two Fitness Studios (or Knowing Where Your Home Is)

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The Sorority Nobody Wants To Belong To (or Getting Support From Strangers)

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2 Out Of 3 Done (or I’m Surprised I’ve Done Well So Far)

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Laying Low (or This Will Be A Boring Post)

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Taking A Break To Be Sick (or Hitting A Road Bump)

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Back Into The Groove (or Staying On The Right Path While At Work)

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Mom Update (or Two Steps Done, Two More To Go)

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It’s Always Unexpected (or Sending Positive Energy To A Co-Worker)

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Cancer Questions (or Hopefully This Will Help Someone Else)

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