Breast Cancer Blog: Jordan’s story

Source: Web exclusive: August-October 2008

At Best Health, we work hard to bring you the latest news on living healthy, fulfilling lives and preventing and treating disease. But no matter how many studies we cite, the information we share just can’t compete with real-life stories from Canadian women who’ve fought their way through tough illnesses, which is why we’re bringing you our newest blogger, Jordan.

Jordan is a breast cancer survivor from Calgary, a former runner who got sidelined during her treatment process. Now that she’s feeling better, she’s following Best Health’s 5K running plan to get back into shape and increase her odds of long-term survival and will be participating in Run for the Cure this October. She’ll be sharing her thoughts and goals through her training and looks forward to getting support and comments from Best Health readers.

Editor’s note: Thanks so much to Jordan for sharing her story with us. Her time as our guest blogger has come to an end but I’m sure she’d still love to receive your feedback. Please let us know if you have your own health and wellness story to share with other Best Health readers‘we’d love to hear from you.

Jordan’s latest blog posts

September 29: Do you get enough vitamin D?
There has been a lot in the media recently regarding vitamin D and its benefits in cancer prevention. I never really paid too much attention to it, as I am outside daily, eat a really good diet, and usually travel to two warm vacation hot spots pe… Read more

September 24: 3 books about cancer everyone should read
Knowledge is power’ those three words are very important to saving a life and they have galvanized me. I have read every book on breast cancer, health and nutrition that I could get my hands on, and have spent hours researching the Internet… Read more

September 18: Meet the sisterhood of breast cancer
The sisterhood of breast cancer… Hmm, I wondered to myself as I read my first breast cancer books, what is that? Am I now part of some family? And the answer, of course, was YES! I had been voted in with a unanimous decision. There was no … Read more

September 15: Celebrate success’then plan for more
I have always been a weight gainer over the summer and come the first week of September I could never get my jeans on. This is always followed by weeks of dieting, etc. and by Novemberish, the jeans finally fit for a few weeks’at least until Ch… Read more

September 11: How to redesign your life
Recreating a life is a little like decluttering a room. You need to decide what parts of it you’d like to keep and what parts of it you’d like to go off. And of course, the best part is you need to decide what it is you need to shop for in order to … Read more

September 8: How cancer treatment can trigger menopause
The ‘M’ word’ Menopause’ yeah, we talk about upcoming changes in our life with our peers, and with our friends/family members who are older then us to understand what ‘it’ is like. But I’d had NO idea that women going through cancer treatments could be … Read more

September 4: Do you know who you are?
Who am I now? That has been an ongoing question in my brain. Who am I now? What is going to happen now? What do I want out of life now? How much time do I really have now? How do I plan to live now? The way I used to see the world and the … Read more

September 2: Life after breast cancer: How long does it take to heal?
This week I learned a new term from the doctors that I thought was only associated with vehicles. They said I was flooded, just like an engine. For me that happened because of too many doctor’s appointments, too little sleep, too many life c… Read more

August 26: Inside breast cancer: Finding the right bra
Underwear’ yes, this is girl talk. I have bought so many different types of underwear over the last two years I had to put some in my tickle trunk to hopefully wear later. About a year before breast cancer I decided that it was about time I star… Read more

August 22: What’s really making you tired?
Fitness vs. fatigue management – it has really been a struggle for me to find the balance. When you sign on the dotted line to take breast cancer treatments they tell you every little possible horrible thing that could happen to you, and you sign those … Read more

August 20: 7 ways to work fitness into your life
The big question for dear husband and me has been, How do we make a fitness plan part of our life? We have tried working out at work, at home, running outside, and at the YMCA’ all them sort of work for a while, but we are realizing we need to ma… Read more

August 15: The power of prayer?
Pray, pray, pray… I have had a difficult relationship with religion, or rather with people who feel that they are the divine interpreters of it. I have always believed that who we worship is good and kind. I have never lost that belief, but’ in… Read more

August 13: How to choose your dreams
Like the rest of the world, we are watching the Olympics, listening to other people’s dreams and learning about the world that we share. I wonder how many people who are watching it will say, "this is my dream too," “this will be my… Read more

August 11: Are you making the most of your life?
A friend recently commented to me about his vision of an interesting life. He viewed life as your own personal essay, and that the things you do (or don’t do) add to it. He pointedly asked me if I was adding to my story. A very good question and it … Read more

August 7: Be responsible for your own health
I am supposed to be in bed’ but I can’t sleep. A few weeks ago I found a lump in my breast doing a regular monthly self exam. Since then I have had an emergency ultrasound, mammo and MRI’ they aren’t really sure what it is. So no… Read more

August 5: Why I’m running for the cure
MOVE YOUR ASSSSSSSSSS’ that’s my new mantra’ I knew Nike wouldn’t use it in the marketing campaign to get people motivated. It doesn’t sound cool like ‘JUST DO IT’. I have a 40-something-year-old-ass (my h… Read more

Editor’s note: For a number of reasons, Jordan has chosen to write this blog under a pseudonym rather than under her full name. But rest assured, she is a very real person who would love to hear back from you’write to her in the comments section below.