Another Trip to the Doctor - Knee Pain

I popped in to see Dr. Wilson yesterday so he could have a look at my knee.  I just wanted to be sure nothing was seriously wrong with it as I was having extreme pain on the right hand side of the joint.  Dena and I are starting training this weekend for our 1/2 Marathon in Pasadena and I guess I just wanted a blessing.

He said I have Chondromalacia.  This is basically rough cartilage under the knee cap, it's either hereditary or has arose from age/menopause and aggravated by 45 days of relative sedentary life imposed by post surgical recovery.   I'm not convinced that is what I really have, but regardless, whatever it is, it is not something that requires surgery so that's good.
Here's the prescription:

Wear soft cushioned shoes with no hard sole and take Glucosamine chondroitin and MSM or whatever it is. He mentioned that there are mixed reviews on these supplements but he admits that they help some people tremendously and some others not so much.  My mom takes this supplement for her knee and says it really helps.  Oh, there we go!  I get to blame my mom!  It is genetics....


I'm not allowed any weekend warrior type exercise.  I must exercise with consistency, equally all the time, at least 4 times a week.  As for the 1/2 marathon if I really, really want to I can run but he would prefer if I speed walk it.  That seems fine with me as running hurts and I'm sure that is how I've pissed off the knee to begin with, running with our dog, Gepetto.  He also said that low impact exercise is important and wants to see 50% of half marathon training to be on low impact machine, aka elliptical or stair climber or bike, etc.


Couple other tidbits I've learned today - 4 Aleve equals one Celebrex so take 2 Aleve in morning, 2 at night when it flares up. Don’t take for any more than 4 days in a row.  Celebrex is an expensive anti-inflammatory that insurance companies don't like to pay for anymore. 
5 pounds of weight loss equals 15 pounds of pressure off knee.

The New Year

The whole cancer scare was quite a wake up call for me as you can imagine.  As I slowly healed plans formed in my head.  Plans of health, self care and fitness.  How was I going to do it?  Besides sheer will power what motivates me to exercise and eat right?  I don't know.  I suppose if I knew, I'd be healthy and fit.

This is what I've decided to try this year.  I've started back with my trainer, Christie.  She's wonderful and will adjust my work out routine based on any issues I have.  For example, when I first started with her my shoulder had a couple little tears in the rotator cuff and major inflammation in the AC joint.  She researched and got a routine going for me that eventually healed all of that, without surgery.  Now, after the hysterectomy I'm weak.  I'm trying not to be frustrated by that but it is hard.  I have to rebuild my entire core muscle group since they cut them right down the middle and I have to build up my stamina/heart health again.

I've bought myself a "fitbit".  This is a cool little gadget that tracks every step you take, calorie you burn and all the shut eye you get.  It didn't take long to figure out I wasn't getting enough sleep.  I had no idea I was only getting about 6 hours and 30 minutes a night.  For some reason I'm awake for 8 minutes in the middle of the night, every night.  Not at the same time each night but it's still 8 minutes. I wonder what I do in those 8 minutes?  Am I sleep walking?  I don't remember going to the bathroom.  Maybe I should put a nannie cam in my bedroom so I can figure it out.  Because of this little device I've made a concerted effort to get more sleep.  I can feel a stronger energy level the last few days.

All of these statistics are logged on a secure website that I can access anywhere, even from my phone with the app.  Everything has an app now.  I just got my 50 mile badge.  I've walked or ran 50 miles since January 3rd. Not bad, eh.  I'll expound on other things I'm doing to try to motivate myself in the next blog.

Politeness and Common Courtesy in Today's World

I know we live in a fast paced world.  I live here, you live here and it's hard to keep up most days.  But with that said; why is it that common courtesy seems to have just been thrown by the way side? Are we too busy to be polite?  I doubt that.  Or perhaps we are just too lazy?  Or perhaps just so tired of the humanity all around us that we don't care.  


I say "thank you" all the time.  I was raised to be polite.  You would say, please, thank you, pardon me, etc or you'd get a whack up side the head.  What bugs me is when I say "Thank you" and some one says "umm hmmm".  What is that?  Does that mean "piss off, you're lucky I helped you"? Or does it mean you're too lazy to say "you're welcome"?  I first noticed this years ago in Los Angeles whenever I said "thank you" to someone black.  I know, you're all saying "that's racist", no it's not racist, it's a statement and an opinion and using the term black allows me to identify a segment of the population.  I've just started noticing white people doing that "umm hmmm" thing.  Clearly this problem is spreading and we need to stop it. 


The origin of the whole "Thank you" and "you're welcome" back and forth began in the middle ages with "wilcume" meaning "I'm pleased you came"   That morphed into when someone arrived at your home they were "well come", i.e. we're pleased you came.  Somewhere in those centuries it morphed as a response to "thank you".  They might not have had proper hygiene and plumbing back then but at least they were polite.  And just to clarify - "No problem", "think nothing of it", and "it was nothing" are not equivalent nor appropriate responses to "thank you".  The sense in you're welcome is one of "it was pleasing to me to do" whatever it was that you were thanked for.


Now is that so hard?
Today - practice your common courtesy.  A warm smile, holding the door open and a "thank you" and "you're welcome" goes a long way in making it just a little easier to get through the day.

What a Week

I don't even know where to start - it's Thursday and I've had a whirlwind of a week.  Maybe I'll start with today.  The day started after midnight with ferocious Santa Ana winds kicking up throughout our city.  The banging and crashing and creaking of the house was nerve wracking culminating with a huge crash at 5am.  We discovered a large 10' branch from our neighbors Redwood tree across our back door and spanning the bathroom bay window.  Dena and I pushed it off but it was just complete luck that it didn't go through any of the windows.  The gazebo is a total loss, I'm sorry to say.  It stood no chance against 80 MPH gusts.

Today was also my first day of work in 6 weeks.  After about 4 hours I hit a wall - exhausted to such a point that I could barely keep my eyes open.  I trundled home on the way calling the next door neighbor asking him to get his six huge tree branches out of my back yard.  Thankfully by the time I got home they were gone and during the surveying of the back yard a freaky gust picked up the gazebo canopy and lifted it 6' off the ground. I lunged across the yard grabbing one of the poles and pulling it back down to earth.  After surveying the many rips I decided the best thing was to take the canopy off for now.  After all this excitement it was time for a nap as we had a special event tonight.

But of course, home maintenance never ends.  The solar company called, our solar panels were not reporting production.  I checked the panel and it says :ground fault, check fuse".  Well, how could I resist fixing that?! They told me they'd send someone out but I just had to tear the unit apart and troubleshoot it.  I found the fuse and tested it with my ohm meter and my fuse tester.  Both reported it blown and I told the solar company to just mail me one.  They said they'd send someone out.  Sure, send a man to do a woman's job that is already done....

I bought the National Geographic speaker series probably six months ago and tonight was opening night.  I had to be awake so the nap was good.  Tonight was Ocean Soul - opening night. It was breathtaking, eye opening, inspiring and touching.  I felt alive.  I felt fortunate.

What a day....

In the Hospital with Lots of Machines

The green machine is the most important - that's the pain medication! 

Where Are You Shopping This Year?

For Christmas and/or Chanukah where will you be doing your shopping for your loved ones, co-workers and other gift giving necessities?  Gift cards?  Something nice from one of the big box stores?  This year, consider an alternative - consider shopping at local businesses, buying from local artisans, buying only Made in America products, giving your time on behalf of a charity or giving financially to a charity.  What about tickets to a play, concert or other event - this is supporting the local economy.  These are all alternatives to the usual gift giving ideas and just a few I dreamed up in the writing of this blog - I'm sure you can all add your ideas to the comments page!

With the US economy stalled at the bottom of a big (OK, humongous) dip, wouldn't it be powerful if the majority of Americans shopped for locally made products?  Think of the economic boost that would provide to their community and their country.  Below are some ideas.

Shopping
An American product only website - http://www.proudamericantradingpost.com/
New Balance - Many of their running shoes are made in America, they also have lots of other products.
Cool Building blocks for kids
Dog and Cat products
Made in California Products
Online Store - Every item made in New England
If you just put a little effort into it, it's a piece of cake to buy your gifts, American Made.

Charities
Donate your time and volunteer - here is the Los Angeles website for all opportunities
Want to give to the needy - donate a couple chickens with Heifer International
Top 25 rated children's charities
Putting homeless to work in Hollywood  -- donate time, money or clothes!
People helping people - in Los Angeles

Yes, charities are always iffy as you never really know how much money is given to their actual programs versus to their administrative costs.  Well, wait - you can know - check out the Charity Navigator - this rates all charities - I find any charity with 3 stars and above is great.  It's hard to find a charity with over a 70% program rate but they are out there.  3 stars is usually in the 60's. 

Day Before Surgery

This was a busy, busy day.  My surgeon, being a Canuck himself, was very sympathetic to my plight that my immigration interview for citizenship at UCSIS in downtown LA was on October 18th, so he kindly scheduled my surgery for the 19th.  Apparently, completely escaping his memory and much to my dismay, the pre-op instructions required a clear liquid only fast starting 24 hours before surgery with nothing by mouth after midnight.  Also required was a laxative and an enema.  My first thought was of how functional was my brain going to be at the 2:00 pm interview?  My second thought was regarding my patience.  With a lack of food I tend to be on quite a short fuse so I was a little nervous for the health and safety of the interviewing officer.

Dena and my Mom made Jello and made me "eat" every 2 hours or so.  I actually felt pretty good going in to the federal building but as my wait time extended past an hour my energy began to wane.  Finally, I was called - I was asked five questions, here's a sampling:

1. How many US Senators are there?
2. What ocean borders the East coast of the United States?
3. Name one state bordering Canada.
4. What year was the US Constitution written in?  (1787....that's a trick question)

I cannot remember the 5th question but I got all 5 correct (you would hope so!) and the interview moved on.  At the end I received a check box on my application that I was recommended for citizenship.  Now, we wait, again - approximately 30 to 60 days for the final verdict and hopefully the swearing in date.

Now, back to the enema.  I hate to even comment on this but I'm sure you're all wondering why an enema would be required.  When they are working "down there" they want you clean of "debris" so that in case they nick something there will be no contamination.  That fact alone makes you stick strictly to your clear liquid diet let me tell you.  And have you ever tried giving yourself an enema?  I hadn't even ever bought an enema at the drug store!  There was no way in hell I was going to have my mother help me as I'm an adult now....it's been a long time since she looked at my behind, especially that personally.  And there was no way I was going to ask Dena to give it to me.  I mean we are married but let's face it, the romance really goes out of a relationship when you venture into this territory!  I don't want any bodily function cleanup coming until we're well into our 80's or 90's.

So, with that said, I studied the instructions and pictures on the box and laid some towels on the floor of the bathroom and twisted and contorted myself to try to make it happen.  Finally, I did get it in but I had forgotten to take the cardboard stopper off the bottle so nothing came out, so I had to uncork it and try again.  By the end of all this frustrating ridiculousness I was exhausted.  I decided that I'd just risk it.....and hopefully the laxative would do the job.

Post Bone Biopsy

Finding out the pathology results for the bone biopsy took longer than normal due to the Jewish holiday - Rosh Shoshana.  It appears that a large percentage of the professional staff at Cedars is Jewish so the lab took longer.  It's also apparently a difficult test and requires great skill.  When I heard that I was thinking that I would rather wait than have somebody screw it up.  We didn't hear the results until the following Monday.  This delay caused quite the anxiety ridden weekend I can assure you but again, I counted it as a blessing as in the recent past - all the bad news had been on Fridays.

Monday morning around 7am the doctor called and left a VM stating that all was clear and I was on for the October 19th surgery.  You can imagine the gambit of questions and emotions that flooded my mind in those brief nanoseconds.  First was Thank God!, the second was "well what the hell is it then?", followed by, "what do you mean we're on now? Does that mean if it was bone cancer you wouldn't have done the surgery?"  I never did get to speak to the doctor about the actual results until a couple weeks later at my last pre-op check in.  He said, "Oh, it was nothing, probably a thickening of the bone.  We both saw it there and the radiologist is the best but we had to check it out."   I was a little miffed by his sort of cavalier attitude since it was hell for us but I suppose this is routine for them.

Did I tell you what his secretary told me on two different occasions when I was looking for results on the bone biopsy?  She said, You need to not think about it, just drink more....  That was a prescription I could take, so I did.

2 Week Update

I interrupt this chronological history for an update.  It's been two weeks since the surgery and people are continually asking me, "how are you feeling?"  I know they are asking because they care and don't know what else to say, I tell people, "A little better every day" because that is true, but when I say a little better, I mean a tiny bit.  It's quite amazing really how slow this recovery is.  The incision still pains me and I suppose that makes sense since there are multiple sutures involved.  There are dissoluble sutures inside and the staple locations for the outside skin.  The 29 staples were removed last week and now I have tape there, very sticky tape with everything scabbing up nicely underneath.

I am pleased to report that I am walking fully upright most times.  This is important as when you have this large of an incision (mine is ~ 9") and you are in pain you have a tendency to walk a little hunched over.  I am afraid this will shorten my abdominal muscles in the healing process so I try to be very cognizant of walking perfectly straight.  I made it six blocks yesterday in my walk.  I'm very proud of myself.  I was able to do a pretty good speed as well.  I've been walking everyday making a full block circle (3 actual blocks) after about 7 - 8 days.  Of course, those were very slow walks but now I'm walking more normal speed.

I need to go to the drug store and find something to take off the sticky residual glue from all these bandages that were on my stomach.  No matter how much I scrub it does not come off.  I need some sort of goo off for skin.

So all in all, I'm doing fairly well.  I feel I'm healing a little faster than most and I am grateful there are no issues with my incision.  I'm also thrilled my urinary tract infection (antibiotic resistant) that I got in the hospital is pretty much gone.  I still get tired very quickly and cannot really bend over to pick things up but all this will come.  I will be glad when I can stop taking all these drugs.  I'm on a stool softener (let me tell you how important that one is!), a very strong antibiotic for the urinary thing, and a Hepren like shot that I have to give myself every day to make sure I don't get blood clots.  I hate that shot.  It burns like a son of a bitch after I inject it.

Thanks for listening.

The Bone Biopsy

Finding out about the abnormality in my hip bone on September 23rd, we were unable to get a surgery appointment for the biopsy until September 27th.  That's probably pretty fast but when you're stressing and reading the Internet about what an "abnormality" in that area could mean, it's an eternity.  Let me just tell you now, bone cancer in the hip is not something you want to have.  It's a 50% survival rate even if caught early.  There is no radiation or chemotherapy treatment as those treatments are not effective on bone.  The treatment is to cut it out.  Yes, cut it out.  I didn't tell Dena any of this as it would completely freak her out.  I also made the decision not to tell anyone about the bone cancer scare.  I figured, why does anyone else need to go through this torture of waiting besides us.

The day of the "surgery" and I call it that now as I now know it is surgery, we arrived at Cedar's South Tower at 6:30am.  We were checked in and led through the gambit of pit stops until we reached pre-op.  There it became quite real.  My clothes were taken and put in one of those bags with your name on it.  That freaked me out for some reason.  It's like you see on shows where someone is dead and they put their clothes in that bag to  give to loved ones.  After being wheeled into the CT Scan area I met my two anesthesiologists, my surgical nurse and a host of others.  This was surgery and don't bother counting backwards from 100 as you're already out.  

I woke up and my ass was sore.  It appears that while I was sleeping they flipped me over and went in via my butt.  The doctor informed me they drilled three core samples across the 4 inch area for testing.  Thoughts were racing through my Propofol (marketed as Diprivan)  filled mind - drilled?  4 inches?  What??  


Now we wait.  

Uterine Cancer - The Work Up

We were scared - I'll admit it.  My first appointment with Dr. Ron Leuchter was in the Samuel Oschin Cancer Center at Cedar's Sinai in Los Angeles.  Just walking through the door was like getting slapped in the face.  Don't get me wrong, it's a gorgeous facility, beautiful marble floors, fish tanks, huge easy chairs with DVD players for treatments and snacks for patients and their care givers.  Regardless of how nice it is, it's still a cancer treatment center and seeing all those people there was unnerving.

After meeting with Dr. Leuchter and his team it was re-affirmed that a laparascopic hysterectomy would be done and the date would be tentatively set at October 19th, barring any issues with the pre-operative workups.  The first of those workups was a CT Scan but with contrast.  I didn't go with Dena to this appointment, I didn't think I needed the support.  I'm Dawn, I need no one.  To drink the lovely liquid I had to sit in the chemotherapy area with the big easy chairs and fish tanks.  I thought I was going to break down right there.  This could be me in a couple months.

Despite the awful tasting drink before the scan, the scan was fairly easy except the emotional part of waiting.  The waiting for the results now begins.  We wait and see if there is cancer elsewhere in my torso - aka that the uterine cancer has spread.   The scan was from my shoulders to my thighs - quite thorough.

Seven days later - the results are in - all good except an abnormality in the iliac crest, I'd have to have a CT Scan guided bone biopsy.  I found this news out while in Anaheim.  Trying to hold it in I drove home to tell Dena.  I didn't want to tell her that I could have bone cancer over the phone.

I've Decided to Blog About It

On August 5^th, 2011 our world changed.  I struggled with the question of whether to blog about it or not.  On one hand I felt it would be cathartic to write it all down but on the other hand, writing it all down would make it real and I didn’t want it to be real.

Blogging about it or not; it is and was real.  I was diagnosed with uterine cancer.  Only by the thoroughness of my gynecologist and the fact that I actually listened to what my body was telling me was the diagnosis made so early.  The statistics are clear – most uterine cancer appears in post menopausal women – 95%.  It is often diagnosed with Stage 1 as they tend to catch it early.  5% of pre menopausal women contract uterine cancer and it is often not found very early as the first symptom is spotting. Pre menopausal women tend to ignore that.  I’m not particularly happy about being relatively unique and in the small percentile.  The good news is that Stage 1 uterine cancer has a 95% survival rate.

Did you know that 1 in 3 women will have a hysterectomy in their lives?  Those are high odds.  

The cure for Uterine Cancer is a complete hysterectomy.  Quite drastic but true.  I was referred to Dr. Leuchter, a transplanted Canadian who is one of the top gynecological cancer surgeons in California.  He's also top in his field in robotic surgery - a laparoscopic hysterectomy - my goal - as it is a shorter recovery time.

So the next few blogs may be mixed up in their timeline but bear with me.

Dog on the Run

I decided that since Geppetto is such high energy, he wants to play or walk all the time, I'd take him for a bike ride and give him a good run.  Got the bike fixed up and away we went.  At first, it was really hard.  He's not a good walker, he's like a zig zag walker, likes to walk all over the place and smell everything, that's not a bad thing when you're on foot, it's not very good on a bike.

He's mostly looking for squirrels.  And sometimes he just stops mid stride and does a full body shake.  About 1/2 block into our ride he did that shake thing.  I almost ran him over.  Disaster averted, we tried again.  Then we kind of got in a groove, he was getting used to staying on one side of the sidewalk, me on the other, then a goddamn squirrel ran across the sidewalk right in front of us.  Geppetto went after it, the leash jerked the handlebars and flew out of my hand and the bike and I went flying the other way.  As I was falling I was freaking out  about Geppetto running across the road.  Fortunately, the squirrel went up the parkway tree and Geppetto was only interested in that.  I picked myself up and snagged the leash.  Geppetto was none the worse for wear but I was a little flummoxed.  I walked the bike home from there!

Even though we only made it about 4 blocks we were both exhausted after our ordeal.  I suppose I accomplished what I set out to do - wear him out.

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

I've written before about the JVS WoMentoring program and that I'm in the middle of a six month mentoring stint with my mentee.  She has been through quite a bit in the last 10 years and I think we've made incredible progress in getting her where she needs to be to employable.

Just over a month ago she lost her 14 month old cat due to illness/old age or something like that.  Last Sunday I took her to a kitty adoption event and this gorgeous tiger stripes little kitten picked her.   They say the animal picks you, not visa versa.  She fell in love with the kitty and an hour and $ 50 later they were family.  The organization that we adopted from is called the Kitty Bungalow and they called her Val, a snowshoed tabby. We/I was promised that even though Val was too young to be spayed, she would be taken back in a couple weeks to have the procedure done, no cost.

Since then it's been all down hill.  The kitten has a cold and is violently sneezing with green stuff coming out of her eyes.  The Kitty Bungalow first admitted she had a cold prior to adoption and said they would drop off her meds but now are stating she never had a cold and there are no refunds/no returns.

My mentee is not in a financial position to take the kitten to the vet and apparently I'm just a big soft marshmallow and told her to take her today and I'd meet her there.  I mean, seriously, what I am supposed to do?  Let the kitten go back to a trailer full of other kittens and maybe not get better?  If they had medication and didn't drop it off, what kind of people are they?

So, just remember - No good deed goes unpunished.

Priceless?

• Craigs list price from ad - $ 75
• Crate, 2 beds, food, flea stuff, toys, bowls, etc - $ 300
• Grooming @ the doggie Spa - $ 55
• Prescriptions for allergies, scratch testing - $ 0 - but very painful
• First vet visit for full check up and de-worming - $300
• Coming home to a dog completely excited to see me - Priceless

The Pecking Order

The hierarchical order in our house as we each see it:

How Dawn sees things:

1. Dawn & Dena
2. Dog & Bird

How Dena sees things:

1. Dena 
2. Dawn 
3. Dog
4. the bird - but only because I have to feed it

How the bird sees things:

1. Dawn is the love of my life
2. Who is this damn four legged thing?
3. And last - the bitch that feeds me.

How the dog sees things:

1. Dena is a god
2. Dawn is almost a god but takes me for lots of walkies
3. What is this damn green thing that makes too much noise?

Another Day, Another Break In

Woke up Sunday morning, another beautiful day in Los Angeles.  Went and walked the dog and when I came back to the house the Auto Club had called saying the police had my AAA card and could I call them.  Immediately I went out the my truck and found the drivers side front and rear doors unlocked and softly closed and the thing ransacked.  How frustrating.

Fortunately, I had learned my lesson from the February break in and no longer keep anything of any real value in there.  I do however have building access cards, building keys, a stack of frequent shopper cards, about 30 actually, but nothing too exciting.  I called the police and Officer Rivera informed me that they had the suspect in custody and could I come down at 11am and meet with the detectives.

Wow, a suspect in custody?  Amazing.....Officer Rivera proceeded to tell me that he had caught three BEMV (Breaking, Entering Moving vehicle) last week himself.  He says they are not too bright.....that's obvious.  The last guy he got was syphoning gas from a vehicle because he ran out of gas 2 blocks from his last break in.

After filing the police report and learning that detectives don't work on holidays we went home.  A little while later an Officer Armstrong (yes, strange but true, same last name, no relation) called and stated that he had my property and could I describe it.  After describing the stolen items he stated that him and his partner would have to go back down to the central jail and get the rest of the items.  Slow day?  What service this was.  Around 3 that afternoon Office Armstrong and his partner showed up at the house with all my stuff.

Simply amazing.  And what service.  Damn shame this didn't happen in February but I am grateful nonetheless to the LAPD for their service.

More on Goal Setting

I need to remind myself that goals need to be set in all areas of our lives.  Family, Cultural, Health, Financial, Professional, Educational   - these are just a few examples of goal areas.  If we only set goals in the Financial and Professional areas of our lives then we will move toward an imbalanced life, focused on money and work.  That makes us unhappy in the long run.

It is also important to state our goals in the positive rather than negative when we write them down.  As I stated in the previous blog - our subconscious chews on our written goals and it always like to do as it is asked so if you write a goal in the negative you will probably get negative results.  Examples of  negative goals - stop eating foods containing sugar.  I will lose weight.  Try to quit smoking.  I will not eat chocolate this week. The words "stop", "lose", "not" and "quit" are all negative words.  These must be changed into positive words - e.g. I will be a size 10 by October.  This goal is positive and sets a target date.

The goal - "try to quit smoking" has many issues with it.  First it is negative, it is also too vague and lastly, it lacks commitment - try is not a committed word.  I will have healthy lungs would be a better statement.  Remember to break the major goal down into achievable steps.

Not only do goals move you forward and motivate you but they build self confidence.  As you achieve each step your self confidence climbs making the next step that much easier.

"A goal properly set is halfway reached." - Abraham Lincoln

Doers versus Dreamers

I am a goal oriented person.  Those that know me can attest to that.  I admit that I am not as good at writing down the map of my goals as I should but I do have short term, mid term and long term goals.  I also am quite terrible at setting personal health and self care goals but am very good at setting goals to move my professional life forward.

I try to practice the age old goal mantra of S - M - A - R - T
S = Specific
M = Measurable
A = Attainable
R = Realistic
T = Timely

I have a to do list - I have a bunch of them actually.  One at home, one at work, even one in the garage.  I LOVE crossing things off my lists.  But - what's on the list?  Are any of the items on the list moving your goals forward or are they just fillers?  Yes, of course, it's important to pay that bill, make that doctor's appointment, get that report out, etc., but you must also add to your list(s) items that move your goals forward.  Each day you should make a step forward - it can be a baby step, but a step nonetheless.

All your goals should have a due date - the M in SMART.  After all - a goal without a due date is just a dream.  I'm not about dreams - I'm about results and the only way to get results is to set goals and break them down into steps.  Some steps may require multiple baby steps to complete, but that's the purpose of writing them down.  When you write a goal down not only do you make it real but you activate an area of your subconscious that will now "chew" on that goal and break it down.  You need to help your subconscious by acting on those steps and again, writing those steps down.

Mentoring

This summer I signed up for a mentoring program called WoMentoring. This program is sponsored and run by JVS Los Angeles. The goal is to match women to help women who are transitioning in their lives from one career to the next. A very poignant goal in this economy where many jobs and industries have disappeared and many middle aged workers are faced with long term unemployment and the scary thought of leaving behind one career and starting over again.

The program is funded by the WoMentoring Leadership Network (WLN), a group of inspiring women focused on helping other women through their philanthropy.  Not only do they provide the means necessary to fund the program but they also sponsor several events throughout the year that feature powerful motivational speakers.  Our last speaker was Victoria Halsey who re-energized me into reexamining and re-stating my goals.  Every once in a while we lose focus and stray from our intended path.  It's never a bad idea to get a kick in the ass to straighten you out.

Your first steps in joining the program remind a long term employed person such as myself the importance of keeping an up to date resume.  It was an excellent exercise for me to update it as it made me reflect on past successes and skill set holes that I feel need filling.  Once you've passed your background check the program matches mentors with mentees in the same job field.  This summer I'm mentoring a woman who has been out of the work force for over five years and it is rewarding to see the progress she is making towards re-igniting her career.


I hope this blog reminds you that giving back to your community is important and rewarding.  Rewarding in many facets as not only is it cool to see the progress in my mentee but I have met many, many successful women in quite the range of fields.  I feel my personal network is stronger for it.