Category Life Lessons
The Sum of the Parts
For the final #braintumorthursday of Brain Tumor Awarness Month #BTAM, after outlining this past year’s surgery and treatment adventures, I’m reflecting on my feelings toward all of these steps along the way. Or, more accurately, on the sum of the parts. I can start by saying that I’ve passed two more milestones in the week […]
Pride and Progression
I feel compelled to tell you that I had a draft post ready to go entitled “Year Two of my Ketogenic Life”. One of the most popular posts here at Greymadder remains the Year One version. Over the past month, as I prepared to go for my six month MRI monitoring scan, I started drafting […]
Medicine, Science, Religion and Plagiarism
I was recently at a professional development event where respected NASA engineer Dr. James Brown enthusiastically advised attendees to “Plagiarize often and without shame!”. He admonished his audience to consider, when attempting to come up with an idea, whether one might in fact be the only human being in the history of human beings to come […]
Testing the Bunk – Credibility Checking Online
This is the number one question I get, right after “why are you so skinny if you eat 85% of your calories from fat?” (that answer is a different post altogether). The question is – “how do you know if something you read online is credible?” This is not a trivial problem, particularly if the advice […]
Dropping the gloves in health debates
If you are a frequent follower of health related blogs and media, I think there’s one thing you and I can agree on, which is the frequency of disagreements. I’ll state my biases up front. I tend to follow sources in two categories: either personal journey, autobiographical writing that I find inspiring or creative, or […]
The Gift of Being Present
We hear a lot about this these days, right? Be present. Live in the now. Don’t stress over past regrets or future worries. Well, let me tell you, that’s a challenge when you’re wondering if you’re going to need chemotherapy next month. I mean, let’s be honest, we need to be able to plan some […]
My Mind Body Disconnection
We hear a great deal these days about mindfulness, being present, and mind body connection. I am a certified Pilates and, more recently, yoga teacher, and I’ve always enjoyed these practices. Like a lot of people, I came to Pilates and yoga because a friend brought me to a class. Growing up, I wasn’t much of a sports athlete, […]
Does working to improve your health make you judgemental?
I’m pretty proud of myself for changing my whole diet, and sticking to it. I’ve never been someone who really struggled with weight, so to be honest, I didn’t know if I could do it. So I feel good about that, closing in on two years eating for “therapeutic ketosis”. Sidebar – I recently listened to […]
How My Dad Prepped Me for Brain Surgery
The subtitle for this entry is “WAIT, You’re Going to Drill Into My Skull and WHAT???” Never having had any type of surgery at all, preparing for my biopsy in August 2012 was stressful. I understood the mechanics of what would be done, but it was still anxiety provoking. And somehow a little exciting too. […]
Identification, Please?
Recently, a friend asked me how I think my cancer diagnosis has affected my sense of identity. As we talked that over, I was able to articulate some ideas that had been kicking around in my mind for quite some time. When I think about identity, I think of my sense of self, who I […]
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