You can prepare yourself for death but you can never truly be ready for it

My sweet friend, my rock star oncologist and Moi at last year's GRAPHIC event April 2009

I found out last week that my sweet friend and fellow young survivor was not doing well from her husband. They moved back to MI when she was rediagnosed with stage IV to the liver back in 2007. She passed away April 16^th at 29.

She surpassed the 12 months her doctors gave her. She treated her body like a temple, surrounded herself with loved ones, worked on her new found passion and worked on her bucket list. She left behind a loving husband, her family, members of the Pink Ribbon Cowgirls, the Gilda’s club in MI, all her friends and all the other people she touched by her story. She recreated GRAPHIC and her first annual Bras for a Cause in MI raised about $50,000 and had about 600 in attendance. She started a social networking group up there like the Pink Ribbon Cowgirls. She did all this in her short time in MI and while she wasn’t feeling well.

I knew she wasn’t doing well after reading her blog in January. Her normal positive energy and willingness to fight was waning. We chatted some and she was anxious to get away from the cold and cloudy days of MI to trade it in for sunnier weather in CA. As horrible as she was feeling she made it there and soaked up the sun. She took many pictures while in CA and it will below your mind how beautiful and healthy she looks on the outside even though cancer was winning from the inside.

Sadly I was surprised yet I wasn’t surprised when I heard from her husband that she wasn’t doing well. We did what we could to support them from Austin but it’s never enough. It’s about this time last year was the last time I saw her beautiful smile. January was when we last chatted and laughed. March was the last time we exchanged emails. April 20^th is when I attend her memorial.

She touched so many lives. She loved sharing her story. She loved raising awareness and teaching people about health. She was positive most of the time, and when cancer beat her down, her dear husband helped pick her back up. She would not want us to mourn her loss but to keep living and making this world a better place to live.

She will be dearly missed but I’m glad she is at peace. You can prepare yourself for death but you cannot truly be ready for it.

My Green-Red Drink

So I've been blending pretty religiously the past 3 years. Kris Carr and raw foodie got me excited about green drinks and eating raw. I found eating mainly raw was challenging. To find balance in my life I decided that having a green drink once a day was a great way to start the day.

My typical green drinks usually includes something like this:
greens: kale, mixed green or spinach
celery
cucumber
carrots
cabbage
sprouts
2 fruits: orange, mango, banana or pineapple

I blend everything up with some hemp protein and a little water in my fancy blender. The drink a glass in the morning as part of my breakfast and I save the rest for my pre-workout drink. I have about 4-5 servings of fruit/vegetables from that one blender.

I started with the Jack LaLanne blender because it was much more affordable than the Blendtec or Vitamix. The container started to leak after a year of using the Jack LaLanne and there are no replaceable containers. I used my cheapo $20 blender from Target and I was able to blend really soft things. I finally sucked it up and spent the money on a Blendtec. I like the Blendtec because of the size. The Vitamix is a great blender too. You can purchase replacement containers for both these brands.

Austin has a really neat store called the Daily Juice. I sometimes frequent there after a jog at Town Lake to cool off. I've been having fun sampling their products and trying my version at home. They have fun add ons.

The picture above is a new favorite green-red drink. It's yummy! It's my version of their Cosmic Trigger. It consists of:

Greens
blueberries
orange
cucumber
almond butter
maca
dash of cinnamon and cayenne pepper
hemp powder
a drizzle of local raw honey
cacoa

Anyway, they list the ingredients on their site to feel free to visit it to get new ideas. Variety is the spice of life. In reality you can add any greens, especially spinach, to any smoothie without ruining the taste. It's about having fun and exciting your taste buds while getting lots of nutrients!

My last Lab

I had my last lab March 29th to retest my D3 and my potassium. My D3 went from 42 and soared to 62. Instead of 50,000iu weekly I am now on 50,000iu monthly.

My potassium went from a low 3 to 3.9. The range for women is 3.5-5.1. I will continue with the potassium supplements and get retested in June when I see my oncologist again. I am consistently drinking coconut water on cardio days and trying to include a banana and/or an orange each day. I've recently discovered Nuun which are portable electrolytes. I haven't tried it yet but will look into it. Let me know what you think of it if you've tried it.

I'm toying with the idea of doing the Danksin with Team Survivor in June. Instead of completing the entire tri I think I will focus on the biking and running. Baby steps! :)