Featured Post Archives | Page 2 of 6

Oct 19 2017

Breast Cancer. 5 steps to take before treatment

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You just joined the 1 in 8 sisterhood of women who get breast cancer. Before you head down your treatment road, here are five steps I discovered helped me mentally and financially.

To make your looming cancer journey a little less threatening now’s the time to compare this trip with something in your past that was initially unfamiliar but you quickly adjusted to. Maybe a new job or going to college far from home. For me, it was summer camp.

There are similarities between the way you felt as a kid when you got dropped off at summer camp the first time and the way you’ll feel entering a cancer center as a patient for that first appointment. Just like camp, you’ll be out of your comfort zone, make new friends, sometimes cry late at night, be embarrassed, disoriented, be required to do different things and have different things done to you. As a kid, you probably asked some of the older girls in the hood about what to expect at camp.

Consider me an older girl in the hood and this post an idea of what to expect at “cancer camp.” In addition to the five steps to get you started, here’s a link to exactly what I went through day by day in treatment. I’ve tried to be as complete as possible of the treatment post to help you feel more comfortable about you may be facing. That makes the entire story a long post. You can read the journey here when you are ready. Right now, I suggest looking over this list of things and actions that helped me most. [Read more…]

Oct 15 2017

Port Aransas and the Texas Scow Schooner Project

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Hurricane Harvey blasted Port Aransas but unbelievably the Farley Boat works and the Texas Scow Schooner project looks untouched. These two historic gems reach deep into the roots of Port Aransas to make you appreciate how difficult it was to build a thriving town on this spot. I’ll give you more background on the Farley Boat Works next week. This week, it is all about the replica Texas Scow Schooner named Lydia Ann, which was to be completed and ready to sail by the end of the year. With Harvey’s visit, who knows when she will hit the water. Here is where to find the latest update on the Lydia Ann.

Boat survived but boat builder’s house not so lucky

Even though the schooner survived, I drove by the home of the man who is leading the project to bring her back to life and my stomach dropped. The beach house where friends and I visited Dan Pecore months earlier to learn his background and the schooner’s history now looked like those long-abandoned adobe dwellings you see in Terlingua. No roof or windows, just exterior, and interior walls. Even more worrisome, I haven’t been able to contact Dan, but I’m hopeful a passion this strong will overcome one little hurricane.

A Beautiful Texas Butthead

Dan finds every inch and curve of the Texas Scow Schooner a thing of beauty – perfectly proportioned and shaped for her function. But when I first saw it, I thought it was kind of small and squatty. Someone had called her a “Texas Butthead” and that description fit. [Read more…]

Oct 06 2017

Breast Cancer – Think you might have it? What happens now?

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Have you missed a mammogram or are ignoring a lump in your boob because you think you might have breast cancer? Early diagnosis of breast cancer is very, very good! I found that out in 2013 when I got to take a trip on the “breast cancer cruise.” My diagnosis was accidental but the outcome was everything I prayed for.

If you are procrastinating, I hope this blow-by-blow story of my cancer trip makes you call or email your doctor right now. Consider this your Breast Cancer Month obligation to everyone who loves and depends on you, including yourself. And if you find out that you’ve joined this sisterhood, here are some steps to take immediately to help you stay strong in mind and body while you take care of this detour.

Breast cancer hits like a drive-by shooting

This Halloween, I’ll be cancer free for four years. Of any eight women, one of us will get breast cancer. Finding out you could have cancer when you don’t feel sick is scary, something you can’t imagine. It’s a little like being the victim of a random drive-by shooting. You hear the shots but surely you weren’t hit. [Read more…]

Sep 26 2017

Port Aransas Farley Boat Works damaged by hurricane

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With Hurricane Harvey, you win a few and you lose a whole lot. Last week, I told you that the Texas Scow Schooner, the lovely Texas Butthead, come through okay. I found out the historic and much-loved Farley Boat works didn’t do nearly as well.

Rick Pratt, director of the Port Aransas Museum delivered the good and not so good news in an email. “She (the Texas Scow Schooner) did indeed ride the storm. I was pretty sure that when I returned to the island post storm, I would have to track the boat and find it in someone’s house or in a trailer park surrounded by shredded aluminum, but there she was sitting on her cradle with a smile.”

Farley Boat Works in Bad Shape

Rick continued, “The Farley Boat Works was seriously damaged and we lost the storage barns where our small boat collection lived. We extricated 10 boats from the wreckage and now have no place for them to live. [Read more…]

Aug 31 2017

Surviving Hurricane Harvey flooding – 8 practical ways to cope

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This post was written a few days after Houston’s historic flooding. We made a list of items you need on-hand when your house floods. And also some things we wish we had had while the waters rushed in. To find out how we recovered, go to Harvey – One Year 8 88Later.

Like Cousin Eddie in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Hurricane Harvey flooding made an unwelcome visit to our Houston home this past Sunday morning. For the next 17 hours, we sloshed around downstairs saving what we could and taking breaks up on our balcony to watch the show going on outside. Here are some practical lessons we learned to survive Hurricane Harvey’s floods.

8 items you need on-hand when your house floods

1. Have a working inflatable raft/boat

You’ve probably got inflatable mattresses for guests. Get an inflatable raft too. If things start to look like you could need it in the next 12 hours, blow it up with an electric pump while you have power. Hell, you can throw in pillows and blankets and let the kids sleep in it, so you don’t feel stupid having a boat inside your house.

We watched dozens of people with trash bags walking in thigh deep water to escape Hurricane Harvey flooding. Don’t use the raft if there is rushing water, but in the slow rising flood we had, it would have helped.

After dark, we saw an elderly lady with a basset hound and a younger woman trudging down the street toward safety. It wasn’t until then, we remembered we had an inflatable boat in the garage under all our crap.

2. Resist the urge to flush!

If you are sheltering in place and there is water all around, don’t go flushing after every visit to the john. First, the only water you have may be what’s already in the pipes and secondly, where is that flush going to go? Putting toilet tissue in the trash can would help too.

3. Have rain boots

I bought some for a NOLA Jazz Fest that turned into a mud fest. After sloshing around in eight inches of water all morning, I remembered them. With rain boots, you are invincible!

Trudge out to the garage to help get the freezer up on cinder blocks? Great! Go downstairs to rescue some medications? Fine! Check on the pick-up truck abandoned on the side of our house during the height of Hurricane Harvey flooding? Done! If you don’t have rain boots, buy some. Target has some so cute, you’ll want to find an excuse to wear them!

4. Dogs “gotta’ go too” – take pity on your pet

It took hours for our dog Lucy to finally give up and pee in the flooded yard. If your dog is well trained, it may be stressful for them to pee in the house. From now on, I’m going to have a package of puppy pads stashed in the upstairs bathroom.

This next part is gross, but I think I’m going to follow Lucy out to pee and get a little of the urine scent on a paper towel. The plan is to freeze it after I’ve triple bagged it. That way, we can scent a puppy pad, so she knows it is all right to go inside. It wouldn’t be the worst thing I’ve ever found in my freezer. That was a frozen bobcat.

Or do what a neighbor across the street did. He has four Bichons. We saw him float his dogs across flooded Rice Avenue in a big red plastic tub. He was taking them across to the high ground of the fire department.

5. Move your coffee maker upstairs

If you usually need coffee to get started on an average day, facing a natural disaster like Hurricane Harvey flooding is no time to forego caffeine. I braved nasty water in the kitchen to retrieve my Keurig coffee maker, a handful of French roast coffee pods and a little carton of cream. You won’t believe the difference it made.

6. Load up at the library

You’re going to want a variety of things to read, especially since there is no newspaper delivery. I’m on book two of the three I brought home just in case. Non-stop disaster coverage of Hurricane Harvey flooding gets old, and you need a break.

7. Live in a two-story home with a balcony if possible

It must be hell to evacuate for an extended stay with only the clothes you are wearing and a backpack. In spite of our downstairs being flooded, I thank God we live in a two-story home with a balcony.

During the worst of it, we had a front row seats to what was happening. Now we are living upstairs while we repair. If the water had continued to rise, it would have been easy to signal help with the last thing on this list.

8. Have a big white sheet or towel handy

If all else fails and you must signal for rescue, this is a common sign of distress. Don’t be without one to drape on your roof or hang on your balcony.

What would you recommend?

Hurricane experts may disagree with some of my suggestions but as our Hurricane Harvey flooding adventure unfolded, these are the things I was glad we had or wished that we could have. Stay safe!