I am an Avon representative as well as, after losing my mum in 2007, a huge supporter for Breast Cancer Awareness – including walking the 60km Weekend to End Women’s Cancer, and the CIBC Run For The Cure.

Avon Canada is proudly supporting “Willow Breast Cancer Support Canada” and their goal is to collect 125,000,000 pennies. I have a pad of penny roll paper that is dedicated for this, with a Scotia bank account number for this goal – of course in pink!!

If you have any pennies you’d like to drop off to me, please feel free to give me a call at 647-801-7174 and we can set something up (or if I see you on a regular basis, I can get them then)….if you live too far but would like to help, please email me your mailing address and I can send a sheet out to you, and you can drop it off at any scotiabank as it has the account number on it.

1 in 9 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year – and I’m sure you’ve all been affected by someone in your life with cancer, whether it be yourself, your mother, friend, sister, aunt, daughter, etc……let’s continue to try to do something about this.

If you’d like to see Avon’s video of their goal, please visit http://www.avoneverypennycounts.ca/

Let’s help them reach their goal!!

Death is nothing at all…
I have only slipped away to the next room…
I am I and you are you…
Whatever we were to each, that we are still.

Call me by my old familiar name,
Speak it to me in the same way you always used.
Put no difference into your tone,
Wear no false air of solemnity or sorrow.

Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without effect, without the ghost of a shadow on it.

Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was.
There is absolutely unbroken continuity.
What is this death but a negligible accident.

I am but waiting for you for an interval
Somewhere very near
Just around the corner.
All is well.

If anyone wants to join my facebook grief page, please visit http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_17348799816&ap=1

or

http://www.facebook.com/pages/From-Grieving-to-Healing-Positivity/59774080875

You can also find me on twitter – @ramblin_sue and my other blog site www.grumpyramblings.wordpress.com

Take care,
Sue

July 2010

Help Us Fight Women’s Cancer

Since the mid ’90′s Ron Filion and his team have been hosting the “Markham Classic Slo-Pitch Tournament” in conjunction with Molson’s Slo-Pitch National, which attracts teams from all across Ontario. Over 800 participants enjoy two fun filled days of softball with an event Saturday evening that includes a live auction and raffle with all proceeds donated to a local charity. Since we began, we have donated thousands of dollars to those charities and we continue this year, with our choice to support the fight against “Cancer in Women”.

The Markham Classic Slo-Pitch Tournament will be held on August 14 & 15, and headquarters will be located at the Owl & Firkin, 7181 Woodbine Avenue, (just north of Steeles).

Our mission will be to help in the fight against cancer in our community.

The success of this year’s Slo-Pitch Tournament relies on the generous support of our valued partners. I invite you to become one of those partners and join our tournament as a Sponsor to help raise money in support of the Breast Health Centre at Markham Stouffville Hospital.

Since opening its doors in June 2007, the Centre has delivered a necessary service to the women in our community. The rapid access Breast Health Centre represents a patient-centered model of care offering the latest in diagnostic, assessment and treatment capabilities focused completely on the patient’s needs. The center delivers “one-stop” coordinated care in a dignified setting built for optimum patient comfort and privacy.

On Saturday August 14th at the “Markham Classic”, we will have a live auction, a joker poker as well as a raffle. Your support by providing items such as gift certificates, gift baskets and items that can be auctioned or raffled will help us to raise money to ensure that woman in our community continue to receive the care they need, close to home.

We thank you for considering a continued partnership with us and look forward to building a stronger relationship with you.

Sincerely,

Sherry Filion
416-520-6421
sherry.filion@rogers.com
www.teklords.net/slopitch

http://www.msh.on.ca/foundations/upcoming_events

She had slipped into a coma the previous Wednesday night after losing her battle with para influenza secondary to leukemia. The doctors couldn’t figure out how she was still hanging on on Saturday, but I like to believe it’s because my sister had told her I was on my way back to say goodbye.

I still remember, like it was yesterday, leaving the previous Sunday after a quick visit to see them, and her ending up in the hospital that she reassured me she’d be seeing me in October and to go back home. Needless to say, it’s one of the things I regret in my life. I wish I’d stayed.

But I didn’t, so I learned to deal with it these last 3 years.

I arrived at the hospital around noon time and I couldn’t believe the change in my mum in just a week, she was jaundice, puffed up and making “the breathing sound” that you knew her last breath could be at any minute….if anybody has lost anyone, you’ll know what I mean by this.

I’m fighting back tears as I’m writing this, but if you know me, you know I do better getting my feelings written down, and if you’ve been through it, then know you’re not alone.

My mum somehow managed to hang on until 1:47am Sunday June 10th (8:47pm June 9th in Canada). She was surrounded by myself, my dad, my brother, sister, brother-in-law, her sister and her sister-in-law. I was lucky enough to be holding her hand as she passed away.

The one thing I will remember about that afternoon is the fact that my dad had said she’d been in the coma and hadn’t opened her eyes since Wednesday, no matter what stimulus was given to her, yet when the nurse came in with a stick to wet her mouth, I was holding her hand, and for about 20 seconds she opened them. She didn’t focus, she didn’t speak, but to me, it was her way of saying goodbye to me, that she knew I was there.

My dad lost his best friend that day, they did everything together. It took him a long time to get past her death and move on. I’m so grateful that he met Joyce, his fiance now, at Maggie’s Centre, which is a Centre in Kirkcaldy for people who are going through cancer or family members that are dealing with a loved one with cancer. Joyce lost her husband the previous year, so knew what he was going through.

I remember my mum fondly, I still “speak” to her in my mind, but it’s days like today that’s extremely hard. I still expect the phone to ring some nights and it be her calling up for a chat. Sometimes when I’m going through old boxes or books she’s given me, I’ll see a little note with a quirp that she wrote, and it brings it all back.

I remember June 9/10, 2007 as if it were yesterday. I don’t know if it will ever get easier, but we get through it. My favorite grief quote has and always will be “Grief is something so big you can’t climb over, or get under, but somehow, you will get through it”.

I soon found out just how hard it is. I had to cut out the obvious stuff, breads, pastas, and anything else that had wheat, barley or rye in it, but I didn’t realize just exactly what gluten was in. I have to read every single label now, do you know they even put wheat starches in soups, broths and sauces for meats?

I have to say though, I started emailing companies asking for a list of their gluten free information list, and they have been fantastic. Heinz sent me their complete product list, as well as Frito Lay, along with coupons for some of their products! It’s hard going out to restaurants because stuff pretty much everything I eat can run the danger of cross contamination. So even if I wanted just plain fries, I have to find out if they have been cooked in their own fryer. If they’re cooked in the same basket of oil as the breaded chicken fingers, I might as well be eating a chicken finger!

Now I know that gluten free products are becoming more popular and stores such as Metro and Fortinos carry a great variety of stuff, including my favorite food….pizza~! However I tried eating a gluten free pizza one time and I thought that the card board package it came in would have probably tasted more appetizing…..it was disgusting, so needless to say, I haven’t tried one since.

Another love of mine is pasta, so I’m well stocked up on rice pasta, however you have to really watch how it’s cooked. I remember the first time I made some, I cooked it the same amount of time I’d have cooked normal pasta, and I might as well have been eating slop, WAY too soft.

So I’ve come a long way in the last few months though. Eggs are a staple diet item for me now, along with chick peas, quinoa and shrimp, stuff I never really looked at before because you don’t really have to do much with it. I have found a couple of good gluten free sauces, however they’re so expensive!

One thing I was proud to say was my husband and I like to eat shake n bake items if we’re doing chicken or pork, and since that’s a no-no for me now, the first few times he ate it, I would just have mine plain, well that was BORING, so I started experimenting. I had a box of gluten free crackers so I used my slap chop to crunch them up super fine, added some seasonings (mainly paprika and seasoning salt and pepper), and voila, I made my own shake and bake, and let me tell you, I preferred it to the real stuff, it was so nice and crunchy!

I know that doesn’t sound like much, but if you knew my lack of kitchen expertise, you would have celebrated with me.

One other thing of mine that has become a favorite is quinoa salsa salad and if you’ve never tried quinoa, what are you waiting for? It’s smaller than rice, but has a lot more flavor and it’s full of protein!

Dressing:

3 tbsp GF Salsa, 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, 2 tsp cider vinegar, 2 tsp chili powder and salt and pepper to taste

Salad:

1 cup cooked quinoa, 1 cup cooked wild rice, 1/2 cup rinsed, drained canned black beans, 1/2 cup rinsed, drained canned red kidney beans, 1/2 cup corn kernels, 1/2 cup chopped celery, 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper, 1/4 cup chopped red onion, 2 tbsp fresh cilantro

The above makes 6-8 servings, which is perfect for me….I make it on a Sunday and it lasts throughout the week for my lunches!

Celiac disease is a digestive disease that damages the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food. It is something you’re born with. People who have Celiac disease cannot tolerate gluten, a protein in wheat, rye, and barley. Gluten is found mainly in foods but may also be found in everyday products such as medicines, vitamins, and lip balms. Some of the signs, and this list is just a small amount of symptoms, include: fatigue, skin rash, irritable bowel syndrome, infertility, joint pain, scoliosis, anemia, pale sores, gas, weight loss, migraines, abdominal pain, depression, and vitamin B12 deficiency.

Interestingly enough, 1 in 133 people have Celiac disease, however, 97% of those people don’t even know they have it. It’s something you can live with your entire life and not even know about it. For me, it was a trauma to my body that set it in motion.

Now I’ll share a little bit about how I found out I had celiac. I’ve always had a wide range of symptoms and my doctor never pin pointed it to one specific thing. I’ve had migraines since I was a child, I’ve always been anemic for no known reason and I have irritable bowel syndrome, extreme exhaustion, bloating, to name just a few of the things. However I lost a baby in September 2008 and I’d say about February or March 2009 I started getting really sick. It got to the point where if I had to go somewhere, I needed to make sure I knew where the bathroom was as soon as I got there, and I didn’t even want to eat at all, because I knew what was to come.

After reading up on some of the signs and symptoms of various gastro related problems, I went to my doctor and told him I wanted to be tested for celiac disease. Now I’ve worked in a gastroenterology clinic before so knew a bit more about stuff than if I hadn’t so when I told my doctor I wanted to be tested, he knew I wasn’t just going in randomly wanting to be tested for every disease under the sun. The blood test results came back borderline and a few weeks later I had a biopsy done of my intestine.

After the the biopsy was done, I was able to go on a gluten free diet to try it out. By the time I went to my doctor for the results about 5 weeks later, I had never felt better! My always swollen stomach was once again flat. I had energy, and I no longer needed to know where the bathroom was every time we went somewhere! Sure enough, the results came back positive so I have been gluten free since August 3rd, 2009 and have not had a migraine for no reason since.

Now I’ll admit, it’s HARD giving up stuff like pizza, gravy for fries, and of course bread and pasta, but it is possible, and believe me, when you start to feel great again, it’s worth it. There are the occasional times that I’ll “cheat” or unknowingly get glutened, and believe me, I can tell – my main thing when I’m glutened is I look like I’m about 6 months pregnant within about an hour after eating it. Living gluten free is a life long thing now for me, so because I’m not a cook, I don’t have any great gluten free recipes to share with you, but I am learning, and perhaps one day I can! Right now I eat a LOT of salads, and I make sure to buy gluten free sauces for any meat I cook. I do have to say though, is thank GOODNESS wine is gluten free! =D

If you or someone you love has a lot of these symptoms – it’s worth getting tested. I’m 32 and only hope my intestines will repair themselves fairly quickly and that I haven’t been diagnosed too late. Keep in mind, just because you test negative for celiac disease, does NOT mean that you’re not gluten intolerant, which can be just as hard on your system, so a gluten free lifestyle may be a choice for you. If you want anymore information, please feel free to contact me on facebook at Sue Mason-Morton, or leave a comment here

I’m trying to do my part in helping find a cure for this terrible disease, so am once again gearing up my feet to fundraise to help find a cure. I will be participating in the CIBC Run for the Cure in Brampton on Sunday October 3rd. Cancer is hard…Walking, is not and if they can do cancer… I can certainly do something to try to help raise $ to find a cure. But, I cannot achieve my goal without your generous support.

The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure is Canada’s largest single day, volunteer-led fundraising event dedicated to raising funds for breast cancer research, and education awareness programs.

Each year, thousands of Canadians of all ages and from all walks of life unite to participate in the Run. Their reasons for participating vary, but they all have the same goal; to create a future without breast cancer.

Every step, every walk and every dollar you donate brings us closer to a cure, so please, help me support this. Please click on the link below to see my personal page and to donate, thank you!

http://www.runforthecure.com/site/TR/RunfortheCure/Ontario?px=1283731&pg=personal&fr_id=1097

If anyone would like to join my team, please do, the more the merrier! There is a link to do so on my personal page.

Thank you,

Love Sue

My mum’s story
I lost my mum on June 10, 2007. She had breast cancer 16 years ago, when I was 15 years old and had a mastectomy. She went through chemo then went into remission. My family moved to Scotland in October 1998 (with me staying here) and she found out in November 1999 that she had leukemia. They say that the type of chemotherapy she was on at the time for the breast cancer caused the leukemia. She was in hospital for 6 months and finally went into remission for that. In November 2006 she found out she had myelodysplasia (pre-leukemia). The doctors told her that any “cold” she gets she has to treat aggressively because she basically had no immune system. The doctors couldn’t figure out since she already had leukemia, what did this mean? She was going to the hospital once a month to get a pint of blood transfused into her. I went to Scotland May 26th for a week to visit them and she had a bit of a cough. She went to the doctors on Monday the 28th and they gave her antibiotics, saying if the fever she had got any worse, to go to the hospital. She went to the hospital on May 30th and was told she’d be in for a couple of days to get iv antibiotics. I flew back home on the Sunday, with her still being in the hospital. I got a call on the Wednesday that she’d taken a turn for the worse and there was nothing more they could do except keep her comfortable. My sister told her that I was flying back out. The doctors told my family on the Thursday morning it was only a matter of hours as she’d slipped into a coma. I flew out on the Friday night (it was the quickest flight I could get) and I got there Saturday afternoon. She passed away Sunday June 10th @ 1:47am with me there holding her hand. the doctors believe the only reason she fought was cause she knew I was coming and I would want to say goodbye.

My CK is quite elevated and platelets have dropped since last set of bld work – but he said not to worry about that for now – sure, easier said than done lol

I googled CK as I wasn’t sure what it was other than it stands for creatnine/kinase – I got this: CK Clinically is assayed in bld tests as marker of heart attack,severe muscle breakdown,muscular dystrophy,& acute renal failure ….so yeah, that doesn’t make me feel much better but it would make sense of muscle break down since I hurt all over, and the question of fibromyalgia might be raised he said in the future….. so as long as he said not to worry about it for now, I guess I won’t!

But seriously, talk about frustrating! I don’t go for my colo until May 6th, then f/u with the GI doc won’t be until end of May/beginning of June – so I have to go through another few months of feeling like this? I don’t know who to feel worse for, me or for all my friends that have to hear about it!

I’m so glad I’ve found people that do understand though and can appreciate the fact that you sometimes just need to vent…..or throw a frustrated temper tantrum! =D

xo

It’s sad really because I used to love Christmas….wouldn’t matter how cold or miserable it got, being with my family was always fun….our “tradition” was to stay up until midnight just watching movies or whatever and then at midnight, bring the presents down….now when I was younger, I obviously went to bed and got woken up shortly after midnight, shortly after “Santa” had left……even long after I stopped believing in Santa, I carried on the tradition because some things you just don’t want to change……then we’d open presents, laugh, giggle, eat an early breakfast, and of course us being Scottish, drink lots of tea……then we’d go to bed around 5am, have a lazy morning and then go out for dinner at night…..we were the only family members in Canada, the rest of our family is in Scotland, so it was so nice just spending the time together…….
Then my family moved in 1998 back home to Scotland…..so things had to change….no more family traditions…..but “whatever”….i’m adaptable! or at least so I thought…….

I met my hubby that year and him and his family have kept me entertained ever since, and I do love getting together at xmas, but it’s just not the same…….I haven’t spent xmas with my family in over 10 years and I truly do miss the “traditional” Mason family Xmas…..

How do I get over this? Well I”m grateful I have a Xmas to look forward to…many of us don’t….but I still get what I guess is seasonal depression – which is better than what I was a couple of years ago……….

OK so this is quite a bit of rambling but figured I hadn’t written in awhile so thought it was owed……my typical feelings for the holidays are BAH HUMBUG but to those of you that do enjoy it, I hope you have a great one…….xo Sue