Category

Health & Wellness

A focus on health and wellness.

Wishes for the New Year

I have spent the final days of 2021 reading through blogs with the tagged post This Time Next Year. The idea of this tag is to write a post outlining your resolutions for the new year, how you are going to achieve those resolutions, and then, 365 days later write a post about whether or not you were successful. It’s…

‘Twas the Week Before Christmas

’Twas the week before Christmas,when all through the landOmicron was threateningWhile closures expand. Travel was cancelled,To people’s dismayOmicron was prevalentIt was here to stay. Work from home ordersCame down through the ranks,While schedules were changingMany people’s hearts sank. It had been two years since weenjoyed Christmas timeThis COVID pandemicIs this century’s crime. When out in the worldHealthcare workers keep giving,Their…

Happiness in Hygge

Over these past few days I have kept busy diligently deep cleaning our home, and reorganizing as well as decluttering our space. I still have much to do, and I am trying to balance the tasks between my husband’s work-from-home schedule, my child’s school schedule, and my own work schedule. What would normally take four full days of deep cleaning…

Good-bye Grade Two

Good-bye grade two. Adieu. Adieu. It has been a very challenging year for our little one. To have missed the final three months of school in grade one due to the onset of the pandemic [in Canada]; and then find himself in a tumultuous, inconsistent grade two school year because of our provincial government’s decision to open, then close, then…

Hot Time Sweating in the City

As the warm weather settles upon us, a common [social media] post I often find in my breast cancer support groups, is the search for an effective, natural deodorant. Wishing to eliminate potential risks by applying harsh and potentially hazardous chemicals to our tender armpits we – breast cancer warriors and survivors – want something that is safe for our…

Finding a Way Through

Postmastectomy pain syndrome (PMPS) – a chronic pain that does not go away over time. It is a very real condition that can affect women who have had a radical mastectomy, modified radical mastectomy, or breast-conserving surgery. Symptoms can vary from feeling persistent or intermittent pain in the chest, armpit, arm, and/or shoulder. In addition to the chronic pain, there…

All That is Within our Control

We are only 20 days into the third provincial lockdown, yet it feels like months. Probably because here in TO, life has not changed much since November 23, 2020. We have remained in some variation of lockdown for 22 weeks and counting… In the past seven days, Ontario has reported 27,215 new COVID-19 cases, making the rolling average 3,887. Of…

Here We Go Again

Here we go again. Canada has surpassed 1 million COVID cases since the pandemic began. It is a sobering number, and it comes as we battle what should have been a preventable third wave – a wave proving deadlier to the younger demographic. Canadians in their 40s and 50s are falling seriously ill from the variants of concern and in…

Seven Ways to Ease Pandemic Fatigue

March 2020. The world went still, quiet. People were afraid. The pandemic tore through our society altering how we communicate, work, and play. It altered every aspect of our lives. One year later we have not witnessed the return to normal. Here in Toronto, we are just barely out of lockdown, with most everything remaining closed. It has been 16…

Calming the Skin I am In

Okay Breast Cancer warriors, lets talk about the after effects, post-adjuvant therapy treatment. I was on Tamoxifen for 5 years. I was fortunate to have minimal side effects – hot flashes, mood swings, sensitive skin, and fatigue being my greatest symptoms – but I was prepared for those. I was mentally prepared to experience many uncomfortable side effects in the…