Tri-Nations: Wallabies v Springboks Preview (30/08/08)

Oh how the wheels of the rugby world turn. South Africa have gone from being World Champions, to defeating the All Blacks in New Zealand, to being on the verge of a hat-trick of home losses. The Wallabies have gone from being bundled out in the quarter finals of the Cup, to a team with new hope after the appointment of a new coach and a run of victories. They then flipped back to a team that doesn’t perform on the road but now it is attempting back to back victories in South Africa – at altitude no less. Not only that but they have a strong chance of winning back the Tri-nations title, with only the small matter of a Brisbane date with some team called the All Blacks still to come. Read more

Energy Levels Up

I noticed yesterday that my energy levels have been up in the last week, and I haven’t needed a nap in the late afternoons as I had been. I’m still having trouble with my stomach though, and it’s starting to worry me a bit. I decided yesterday I might start having whey protein shakes again and see if that doesn’t help some. Read more

Zucchini en Papillote

I’m posting this recipe specially for my mother who would like to know what to do with a zucchini.

Recipe

2 green zucchini
1 yellow zucchini
quarter of an onion diced finely (1/4 inch dice)
half a red bell pepper (capsicum) diced fairly finely (1/4 inch dice)
1 small clove garlic (minced finely)
dash of salt & pepper
sprinkle of dried oregano
sprinkle of dried basil
sprinkle of dried parsley
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil Read more

Go Dietitian!

I weighed myself today even though I’ve only been eating according to the dietitian’s rules since Sunday because I weighed myself last week on Wednesday. To my very delighted surprise, I’ve lost 5.5 kilos, or about 10lbs for my American friends. I can’t even believe that because it hasn’t been hard; I’m not hungry; I’m actually eating more food and more often, and I’m not eating any weird foods (though she has introduced me to corn thins, which are like rice cakes made of corn and I LOVE them). All I’m really doing is loading up on my carbs during the early part of the day, and eating what would normally be my lunch meal of some sort of protein and salad or veggies of some sort at night. I know part of the weight loss is due to the fact that I’m walking every day as well, but in the last eight years I have never been able to lose weight like this. I’m completely amazed, and I am almost afraid it will stop. Though I’ll be running off to that dietitian again if it does.

Even better than any of that is that I am feeling great when I walk. My cardio recovery on hills is improving and my leg is only occasionally giving me pain. I am just so incredibly grateful that I’m healing so well. It’s so amazing to me, because a year ago I didn’t feel like I had any hope of ever getting better, losing weight, being out of pain, being able to enjoy walking again… What a bizarre series of events.

Dietitian News

Saturday morning I went to see the dietitian my doctor recommended. It was really nice meeting with her. We talked about my goals and limitations, and in the end we’ve come up with a plan that seems really good so far. We kind of went over what I normally eat throughout the day for about a week, and she kind of analyzed that. She hasn’t so much changed what I eat as changed when I’m eating certain things. Read more

Tri-Nations: Wallabies vs Springboks Preview, Bledisloe Cup Review

Thanks for nothing All Blacks. The Wallabies do you a favour by showing you your deficiencies with your worst loss for… ever? I’m still trying to find an All Blacks supporter who can ever recall their team being so comprehensively beaten in the physical confrontations.

So of course they come out and smash the Wallabies in New Zealand. Just as predictably the Aussie media lambaste the team. Read more

Working

I’m really lucky when it comes to my work because I really enjoy what I do, and it’s been a great diversion throughout this whole cancer thing. It also brings home the cash and that’s always handy. Today I was working through a series of different problems, and it occurred to me how much I love problem solving. Especially in code because that’s generally easier, with better guidelines than problem solving in life . It made me think of those little puzzles where you find words from a jumble of letters in a block, word searches I think they call them. Anyway, I had this really vivid memory of being a little girl, sitting with my Aunt Dora and working on a book of those. Read more

Lingering Stomach Issues

I don’t think I should be concerned about this, but I will talk to my oncologist about it. I’m having continued problems with really intensely heart burn. Sometimes it really feels like my tummy is on fire, and after eating things that I wouldn’t think would cause heart burn, like breakfast cereal or whole grain bread. In the morning I really like to drink pineapple juice cut with water because otherwise it’s almost too sweet, and even that is irritating my tummy. I’m still taking Nexium periodically in an effort to combat this, but I’m so uncomfortable taking pills everyday, that I frequently skip it. Read more

Now Crutch Free!

You heard right, I went to see my orthopaedist today, and I no longer need to use crutches to get around. Yippee! He also likes my new walking routine, and thinks I’m doing really well with that. The x-rays I had done show that my pelvis is healing. Some of the bones are pretty deformed looking though; especially the ones that run along my pubic bone, they’re thickened and kind of gnarled looking, but as long as they do their job, I don’t care. Read more

Corn and Crab Chowder

This makes a great light dinner with a dinner roll and a nice salad. This is even better if you have fresh corn available.  Just substitute about 8 ears of corn for the creamed corn and frozen kernels. Remove the kernels from 3 ears using a chef’s knife. Grate the remaining 5 ears on the large holes of a box grater & scrape any remaining pulp off the cobs with the back of the chef’s knife. Add the grated kernels and pulp where you’d add the creamed corn and the whole kernels where you’d the frozen kernels. Read more

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