The 8th Annual National Women’s Health Week

Okay gentlemen, here’s a chance to do something really sweet AND healthy for the significant woman in your life….

The 8th Annual National Women’s Health Week will kick off on Mother’s Day (May 13th…write it down NOW, for goodness sakes!), and will be celebrated until May 19th. National Women’s Check-Up Day is Monday May 14th. National Women’s Health Week encourages women to take simple steps for a longer healthier, and happier life. The theme this year is “It’s Your Time: Pamper Your Mind, Body and Spirit.” During the week, families, businesses, government, health organizations and other groups should come together to celebrate the progress made in women’s health, encourage women to get regular check-ups, and educate women about the steps they can take to improve their physical and mental health and prevent disease.

So—-give the love of your life flowers or candy or lingerie or dinner on the town. But also take the time to ask her how she feels, and make sure she’s taking care of herself. You’ll be giving her a gift that’s worth far more than you can imagine.

What kind of a world do we live in?

Yesterday’s tragic events at Virginia Tech caused Americans everywhere to stop in their tracks and take a deep breath. As a broadcaster, I started evaluating the media coverage and comparing notes with others in the industry. As a parent of two young adults at a university, the “on” switch for the “worry” part of my brain was flipped. Especially since my kids are at the University of Texas, site of the previous record of students killed. As I drove home from work, I noticed flags being lowered to half mast and a general feeling of sadness and depression set in. What kind of a world do we live in, where innocent students in the prime of their lives are gunned down? How can our country hope to continue? As I thought about it, I looked over just in time to see a car blow out a tire on the freeway, and manage to negotiate to the side of the road (a rather amazing feat, given the fact that it was Houston in drive time!). Almost immediately, not one or two but three cars stopped to offer help. Total strangers just checking on someone in need. It reminded me that while there are some bad people in the world, there are many many many more good ones. Take some comfort in that.

Song in your heart?

This week marked the launch of an international competition based around song lyrics! Aspiring songwriters from around the world have a chance to submit entries to a song called “Oceans of Love - The Song the World Wrote.” The contest is designed to achieve two goals–to bring people together to promote love, peace and ‘paying it forward’, and to help win the battle against cancer. What makes the contest so unique is that anyone can enter a line, and visitors to the web site vote at the end of each week to determine which entry becomes the next line of the song. The contest runs for 24 weeks, and all entries are taken online at the official web site—www.songtheworldwrote.com. It’s yet another way to unify the world against cancer…….

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! This was the first yeat that the Easter Bunny did not visit my house, with kids away at college. However, I was busy developing responses to the amazing articles that seem to be everywhere right now, all from national figures that have been struck with cancer and want to share their stories. Bless Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter, Elizabeth Edwards, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow and of course Lance Armstrong for being brave enough to let us into their lives and the maze that is cancer. Through them, cancer now has a face, which levels the playing field. Our thanks to those that share their stories on a national level for reminding us that we are not alone.

Ablation Update

Forgive the delay in postings, but the end of last month was pretty crazy! In the last few weeks, I (well, a group of people actually) managed to pull off something fairly miraculous. As of my last report from my oncologist, I had only one cancer tumor left, but it has been there a LONG time, since it sits on my aorta. Not too much you can do with that! However, through a series of bizarre coincidences (and we all know that coincidences are just God’s way of making sure no one gets the credit), I was able to have a radiofrequency ablation procedure done on that last tumor! I saw the scans afterwards, and it is so amazing that a needle can get so close to the heart and not puncture it, while still heat up enough to destroy cancer cells right next to it! So as of now, I am undergoing yet another 16 week round of chemotherapy, which is standard procedure for post-ablation, and then we’ll see what’s next. Thanks for all your thoughts….oh, and stay tuned for some updates to the website, courtesy of our webmaster….coming soon!