Life As We Know It

Yesterday a group of us were talking about how hard it can be to bounce back after a setback. Comebacks and reinventions are all possible, but it can take a lot of soul searching and time. I said to those around me: “Sometimes you just have to set aside your pride to move forward.” A setback, whether a personal setback, a business setback or a combination of both, can put you into either an emotional tailspin or an emotional paralysis. Suddenly you may no longer be in the driver’s seat. Factors you cannot control are running and, in your mind, ruining your life. A health setback

I just passed my second Father’s Day without my Dad. He died November 2, 2009 after facing down prostate cancer and then renal failure. Sadly, I was not at his side when he passed away peacefully in his sleep before dawn. I had just completed my second breast cancer surgery within six weeks and was still in New York with a drain attached to the left side of my body. I adored my father. We had a dual relationship:  father-daughter and business advisor-business woman. Way too frequently the two relationships collided  On one phone call we would discuss a tax issue, payroll or another business matter; the next he would

I recently read that breast augmentation is the number one cosmetic procedure for women. It’s not covered by insurance and it’s pretty painful. But everywhere I go I see more “custom breasts.” Now that I have new ones myself, I find myself staring at others. I guess in a weird way I am lucky. Starlets, show girls, strippers and simply average women who want to feel enhanced have to pay handsomely out of pocket for new breasts. I had to pay for my new breasts by giving up my old ones. As nice as they were on the outside they were a mess on

There is a  show on HBO starring Laura Linney called “The Big C.” It’s about a woman and living her life after being told she has melanoma, a potentially deadly form of skin cancer. Cancer is often referred to as “The Big C.” You know a lot of people still whisper the word “cancer.” I prefer addressing the “The Big C” on a high note. Let’s just agree right now to focus on the CAN in cancer (for now, a little “c”) instead of CANNOT. Here is my “Big C” Checklist: You Can Cope with Cancer, or any Challenge in your life with Courage, or Choose to Cry and

I love Lady Gaga. I love her anthem of individuality “Born This Way.”  I applaud anyone who can accept they way they are, be tolerant of others and accept them as they are. I have a mother who believes in individuality. All my youth she preached to me the importance of being true to yourself and to think less about what you look like on the outside and more on who you are on the inside. For years I did not listen. I thought I was ugly and wanted to do whatever I could to fix my looks and blend in. I had

What the heck is going on with grown men and cleaning ladies? This week at a Manhattan hotel, the head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, sexually assaulted a cleaning woman in his room. In California, Governer Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted to fathering a son with his maid and sleeping with her for years while married to the lovely Maria. It seems both men need more than a pants pressing! Why can’t married men keep their peckers in their pants? Especially pickled peckers like  Strauss-Kahn and The Schwarz (the NY Post yesterday referred to him as “The Sperminator” – just a

I just finished reading an article on MSN.com about the “38 Most Iconic Beauties in History.” Here’s the link below. You can click on to any of these icons of perfection to view endless photos gathered over time. http://specials.msn.com/A-List/Entertainment/Iconic-beauties.aspx?cp-documentid=25779667&imageindex=1&GT1=36010 “Vanity thy name is woman,” said William Shakespeare. I confess. I am a vain woman. I have worked hard to protect- preserve- my looks. Stress, sun and genetics are my foes.  Exercise, water, a healthy diet, facials and a decent night’s sleep are my friends. Somewhere in -between are those countless serums and creams I have tried over the years. I am not sure

Forgive me friends and fellow survivors. It has been two weeks since my last posting. I have vowed to post weekly. My reason? I took some time to have some FUN. It has now been one full year since my final chemotherapy treatment. I celebrated in New Orleans at Jazzfest, a trip we had to cancel last year because I was just not well enough to deal with large sweaty crowds and that much jam packed fun, food and festivities. It was a great weekend! New Orleanians who faced the worst in Hurricane Katrina have come back strong. This is

The interesting thing about surviving breast cancer is how it affects your core values.  Suddenly your life is thrown off balance. A cancer diagnosis knocks you sideways emotionally. A masectomy changes you physically. Chemotherapy whacks your brain; for me it was like the two halves no longer fit together correctly. Your body hurts here and there, and sometimes everywhere. Your core changes physically and emotionally, and the need to strike a new balance in your life is key. The good news was that having a masectomy strengthened my core muscles physically. I no longer had the strength in my arms and chest

“Body Heat” I loved this movie. Sultry Kathleen Turner seduces William Hurt on a hot, humid summer evening. Wind chimes dance in the night. Fists knot up; sheets crumple. You can almost smell the perspiration simmering off Turner and Hurts’ entwined bodies. It made me feel hot and bothered, wanton and wanting. Today, body heat has a new meaning to me. Flash forward to the reality of hot flashes. For  women in their midlife and cancer patients undergoing certain treatments at any age, hot flashes are a reality. They are nothing new- except to my every changing body. The website www.breastcancer.org, one of many handy online

When you have a masectomy a strange thing happens to your body. It’s not just about losing your breasts. It’s about losing your alignment; physically and emotionally….and then learning to rework everything to get it all back in line. “Breasts are just chest ornaments that hang from your body, like branches,” a friend told me after my surgery. Physically this is true. A masectomy is not technically, truly invasive surgery. No internal organs are physically impacted. It just plays around with your mind and how you view your body. Your plumbing still works. Your circulation is intact. Your heart’s still pumping.

Life isn’t measured by the number of breaths you take but by the number of moments that take your breath away. I love this quote. I believe in it. I want every day to leave me breathless in a happy way. But, there are also moments that take your breath away for all the wrong reasons. And that’s when you learn to breathe deeply with intent to keep balanced and focused. The day I realized I had cancer was a day that took my breath away. Literally, I could not breathe. My hands shook. My mouth became dry.  I looked