It's a good day :-)

Without going into boring details, I had a date yesterday with one of my doctors who was able to do a procedure (without complications - always a good thing!) that ruled out something bad. So, after a nap yesterday afternoon (which I never do), I woke up this morning with this enormous sense of relief that I am still fortunate to be able to hit the ground running each day. Now that does not mean I am in perfect health, I know that I still need my team of doctors to keep an eye on me, and I more than hold up my end of the bargain at doing what I can to optimize my health and well-being, but an additional illness that would be associated with a rather rapid decline (and treatments that have their own darn side effects) has clearly been ruled out (a very good day indeed!).

Long-term childhood cancer survivors like I am are at high risk of having late appearing side effects from the therapies used to treat their childhood cancer. However, all of life is a balancing act, and I agree with my husband who calls my late effects "the problems of success". :-) Better to be here with some complications but also enjoying life than to not have had this opportunity. Rather like Tennyson's words, "Tis' better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." I could not agree more! However, if you are a reading this and are a childhood cancer survivor who is now an adult, I strongly urge that you read the book Childhood Cancer Survivors: A Practical Guide to Your Future and have your primary care physician and/or a visit to a childhood cancer survivors' follow-up clinic help you make a proactive plan of what needs monitoring for late appearing side effects with subsequent follow-up referrals to appropriate specialists if problems do arise. I know I am living as long and as well as I am because I have been a proactive and sometimes a downright friendly pesky patient in addition to putting all I know how to do into practice each and every day for my own healthy diet and lifestyle.

So what did I do today? First I took my dog Kaya for a long walk, bundled up against the cold morning (3 degrees early this morning). Then I made my morning breakfast soy shake and got ready for a phone interview for an upcoming radio show about the healthy benefits of eating kale. After the interview, I made two posts to my 365DaysofKale blog, had lunch, and then I thought I would start cleaning up the continuous pile of stuff on my desk, plus of course read and respond to the ever accumulating Email (I confess that I seem to get farther and farther behind on that front).

Instead I think I'll rummage around my photo files to simply post a couple photos of some of my favorite things, take my dog for another walk to enjoy being outside, then start thinking about what to fix for supper for me and my wonderful husband. Tomorrow, when I hit the ground 'running' (haha, never have been and never will be a real runner!), I'll attack these piles and back-logged Email. :-)

As one of my good friends told me today, there is still lots of work to do and lots of kale to grow. I would add that there is still lots of life and happiness to enjoy, too. :-) Putting all of those thoughts together, I think that is why I like the "tag line" for my blog, "Cultivate your life - you are what you grow - inch by inch, row by row." However, I will end with this great quote:

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.
~~Marcel Proust

Enjoy my photos!
Diana Dyer, MS, RD

My younger son Garrison, our dog Kaya, and husband Dick picnicking along the northern edge of Lake Michigan on our way to Wisconsin - note leash on Kaya to keep her from dashing into the lake and having 6 more hours of driving with a very wet dog in the car! When we finally got to the cottage in Wisconsin, she pushed her way over me and out of the car, was down the steps to the lake, and had thrown herself off the dock (even with her lame leg!) before the three of us (who were laughing so hard that our sides hurt) were even out of the car. Kaya was not going to be denied getting into the water any longer!

My older son Eric making calamari while home for Christmas. Yum, yum! Eric was home for an entire week - it was wonderful, and the time went way too fast. :-)

Ann Arbor chicken eggs and a homemade basket from a friend who writes the beautiful blog DandelionHaven

Our homegrown popcorn in the large jar on the right, 3 varieties of our homegrown, dried cherry tomatoes in the 3 smaller jars on the left, and a jar of homegrown quince jam in the small jar in front given to me by another blogger friend at DogHillKitchen - I just love having color in my life, especially in the 'dark days' of an upper Midwest winter. I don't hide these pretty jars in a pantry. They are front and center either on my kitchen counter or in front of the Hoosier cabinet in our dining room.

My husband and I drinking champagne on January 20, 2009, in the middle of the day no less!, celebrating and toasting President Barak Obama. 'Nuf said.