Ahhhh!

Your Vegetarian Pregnancy, by Dr. Holly Roberts.
Ahhhh! It IS possible to be vegetarian and have a healthy pregnancy and baby! LOL! Of course! But how wonderful to have a book to guide you.

Enjoy!

Jillian's Drawers

Jillian's Drawers of Ithaca, NY.... (my soon to be new home).
Jillian's offers products for natural parenting. This little shop's primary focus is cloth diapers. They offer an array of options and an awesome trial program. Visit Changing Diapers, Changing Minds to explore this program.

To boot, their website is amazing and they ship EVERYWHERE!

You can also come visit the most Eco Friendly town in New York, visit the many Falls and Gorges, and stay at the Holiday Inn Ithaca Downtown. Jillian's is 2 blocks from the hotel!

Namaste!

Personal Photography

Photography that depicts the spirit of your family and the "other kids"....

http://www.stugallagher.com/

Contact: sdgallagher@gmail.com

Awareness

Three and a half years ago an important journey began in my family's life. I began my first personal encounter with cancer. Up until then, I had only hugged friends consoling their personal struggle or shed a tear watching a TV program depicting an other's struggle. But it had all been so removed. Until my mother called and said that they found two masses, one the size of a grapefruit on one ovary and the other the size of a baseball on the other.

The surgery was scheduled one week later. The doctor biopsied right on the table and performed the hysterectomy immediately after finding the tumors malignant. They also had to remove one lymph node that was also effected. Later I will learn that this little lymph node was incredibly significant.

My brave mother endured 6 months of chemotherapy and emerged victorious. No tumors visible and cancer cell counts lower than even a healthy person.

A year later, there was another tumor. This time, inoperable. And since then more and more. She is still fighting every day, but the cancer seems to be winning.

After doing some research on my own, I was amazed to find how incredibly aggressive this cancer is, and how unaware the public is.

So... let me help you understand how this down right nasty disease has effected our fellow sisters in human kind.

Each year, approximately 20,000 American women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer and about 15,000 women die of the disease. In 2008, it was estimated that 21,650 women in the United States would be diagnosed with ovarian cancer and 15,520 women would die from the disease.

The overall five-year relative survival rate for all women with ovarian cancer is 46 percent. This means that compared to women in the general population, five years from the time of diagnosis only 46 percent of women with ovarian cancer are still alive. However, the survival rate improves greatly to 93 percent if the cancer is diagnosed at an early stage before it has spread. Only 19 percent of ovarian cancer cases are diagnosed at this local stage. Approximately 75 percent of ovarian cancer cases are diagnosed at an advanced stage after the cancer has spread beyond the ovary (which is where the lymph node becomes significant). The five-year survival rate for women with ovarian cancer has not significantly increased in the past 30 years—a mere 8 percent.

So with this information, it seems that early detection is the key. The problem with that is, the cancer is quite aggressive. My mother had a normal GYN visit 6 months prior to developing her symptoms. The cancer grew very quickly.

What are the symptoms?

Bloating
Pelvic or abdominal pain
Difficulty eating or feeling full quickly
Urinary symptoms (urgency or frequency)

*Several other symptoms have been commonly reported by women with ovarian cancer. These symptoms include fatigue, indigestion, back pain, pain with intercourse, constipation and menstrual irregularities. However, these other symptoms are not as useful in identifying ovarian cancer because they are also found in equal frequency in women in the general population who do not have ovarian cancer.

It is important that you spread the word. Be an advocate on behalf of my mom, Regis. Inform the women you love. My mother pressured her medical insurance, along with the help of her doctor and Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, enough to give my sister and I (and subsequently my daughter) the gift of genetic testing. She was tested at Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan. She tested negative for the Breast Cancer/Ovarian Cancer gene.

The next time you look for a cause to dedicate your time and love to, consider a cancer that seems to be hovering under the radar and destroying women everywhere.

Purchase the "So Hum" Onesie or Toddler Tee from babybe and 15% of the sale will be donated to the Lynne Cohen Foundation.