Yes I'm Still Alive...

Just busy Fighting Dinosaurs, and a few other things...

Dennis and I made our usual February trip to Arizona to see my parents. Usually I would run the Pemberton Trail 50K, but this year, and right now I am lucky to be able to run 50 minutes. My back has been steadily, but slowly, improving and today I actually ran for a solid hour without walking for the first time in about a month, or more. I'd have to look back to see when this happened.

This time we stuck around, just hung out with my dad and stepmom. My dad hasn't been feeling so great lately and had a bone marrow biopsy yesterday, so we're waiting for the results. We're all stressed and scared and everything is uncertain right now. The problem with blood cancers is that they can undergo this transformation into a different disease, that is treated differently than the original diagnosed cancer.

So we're waiting to find out if this is just a flare-up of the primary leukemia he's known about for 6 years, or if it's something different and more serious, that needs treatment with chemotherapy and/or transfusions eventually. I know too much about this stuff and I'm afraid for the worst, but optimistic for the best. We are waiting for the send-out labs which take the longest, about 10 days. Nail-biting for me. There's so much more to say on how I feel about all this, but I'm waiting to hear what the next step is.

I've been pounding the vitamin D supplements religiously and I already feel less dizzy than I was, ha! As if I was never dizzy? But I do feel better- just a little- enough to notice. I don't have a lot of energy but I am trying to be more consistent about getting out and walking and running.

I am looking forward to crewing Bob at Badwater this summer, so we're waiting the announcement of who got in the race, then we can start planning.

The big project I've been working on is Fighting Dinosaurs. It's a new website/blog that features guest submissions about nursing-related topics, with a focus on solutions and changing the current dysfunction of the profession itself within a dysfunctional health care system. I just wanted to give nurses a chance to get their voices heard, because so many people are afraid to post on Facebook and Twitter since their employers spy on them. I am allowing anonymity when a person is concerned about it affecting their job. I am hoping it will spark some lively discussion and commentary. There is also a Facebook Page.

Fighting Dinosaurs is where my energy will be focused when it comes to healthcare, nursing, and so on. If you've been following those posts, you will find more of it at Fighting Dinosaurs. You can also follow us on Twitter at either @AleneGoneBad or @FightingDinos. By the way, National Public Radio has had an excellent series on workplace injuries among nurses lately. I wrote to them to ask if they'd include a piece on psychological injuries and PTSD among nurses. That is one topic that will be covered extensively on Fighting Dinosaurs, you can bet on it.

Tonight I'm speaking at a cancer support group at the hospital where I used to work, talking about exercise and cancer, along with a friend who is talking about nutrition and cancer. On March 2, the book Empowered Nurses will be released, and I have a chapter in it. I'm excited. I'll include a link to it as soon as it's available.

I'm ready to get back into a more physically active routine. I am up 14 pounds, but I will lose it once I get my act together. This winter has been extremely difficult, but it really is spring, and I am looking forward to the warmer weather.

After this weekend's snowstorm.