Just Don't Add Sugar to That Turkey...

One way I have to not overeat at Thanksgiving, and, more importantly, not eat a lot of sugar during the holiday, is to control some of the dishes myself.

I am not known for my cooking. (Somewhere, my mother, father, and entire family are laughing at me upon reading that...)
But there are some things that I've learned I can do, and do well. For instance, I am known far and wide (okay, within the immediate family) for my pumpkin pie. What they don't know is that I use reduced sugar in the recipe.

Instead of 1 cup of sugar, I use a mixed blend of Splenda and sugar, the kind you can buy in a bag at Safeway. I could use 100% Splenda, and I have, but the lack of sugar plays with the consistency. So I just reduce.

I also have taken over the cranberry relish. I used to hate the jellied mess my mom would plop out of the can onto the set table for Thanksgiving. Ugh! Now, I take 1 quart of water in a saucepan, add 1 cup of Splenda, boil the mixture, take it off the heat, add fresh or frozen cranberries plus 1 teaspoon of orange zest, bring it back to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for 10 minutes. I then take it off the heat, let the mixture cool, put it in a container, cover it, and refrigerate it until ready to serve. Voila! No added sugar.

The rest of Thanksgiving consists of turkey (or, in our case, brisket as well as the turkey), stuffing and biscuits. Plenty of food. But no sugar to give me trouble later.

Happy holidays, everyone!

Inside the Uterus.... Well, Not Yet...

I went to see a female gynecologist in Berkeley. My own doctor, Dr. Miller, had told me that she had met Dr. Poddatoori, and found her to be kind and sensitive. She's also young, but I actually find that encouraging. It means she knows the latest breakthroughs in her specialty.

Due to the advocacy of my partner, Dr. Poddatoori decided not to do a pelvic exam. Instead, and she said this is the latest standard of care going on in gynecology regarding biopsies of the uterine wall, she's going to hospitalize me, insert a camera so that she can see what area of the uterine wall she's sampling for the biopsy, and then take the sample. While there, she will also do a PAP smear. All the while I will be completely out.

No one wants to wait a month or two to schedule this. She said they'd call me in a couple of days. However, Thanksgiving week interferes with office schedules, and I might not get a call until early December.

The earlier the better. I'm ready to get on with this. I found a doctor I can work with, one who explains things -- she took quite a bit of time with me -- and someone who doesn't want to hurt her patients unnecessarily.

It looks like progesterone pills are in my future, but first we determine if I have cancer.

Not a Good Sign(s)

Two symptoms. I have two symptoms. I thought I only had one.

A 63-year-old woman should not be menstruating. But I am. Well, they don't call it that. They call it "abnormal bleeding." Hell, any bleeding would be abnormal.

That's one strike. My doctor finally talked me into seeing a gynecologist. And that's after an ultrasound. (I've had two.) The latest ultrasound, I found out yesterday, showed a thickening of the uterine wall. That's the second symptom.

I didn't think much of Dr. Miller's comment -- and the fact that she interceded for me and got a closer appointment. But a few hours later, I found myself wondering. Worrying. Cancer may be back. It would probably be endometrial cancer in this case. I'll have to research it.

My GYN appointment is Thanksgiving week. I'm sure they'll do an endometrial biopsy. We'll see what happens.

Light Drinking Linked to Breast Cancer Risk

The L.A. Times reported this morning that "drinking as few as three to six glasses of wine a week may increase a woman's lifetime risk of breast cancer by 15%, according to an analysis by Harvard University researchers."

But, of course, if you're a heavy drinker of alcohol, your risk goes way up. Damned if you do, damned if you do a little.

"'Alcohol is a real risk factor, and the more you drink the higher your risk," said Dr. Steven A. Narod, a professor and breast cancer researcher at the University of Toronto..."

But preventive experts still say, "Whether women should consider abstaining from even light alcohol consumption... is not easily answered."

And, remember, previous experts in the field have noted that "having a few drinks a week has been found to lower the incidence of heart disease by 25% to 40%. The average woman's lifetime risk for heart disease is 1 in 2," while the average woman's risk for breast cancer is 1 in 8 over her lifetime.

Source: L.A. Times, November 2, 2011