As always, my resolutions include "lose weight", "be healthier", "exercise more".  The difference this year is that I feel like each one  of those is achievable. 

In the past, I made these resolutions because I felt like I had to.  Being overweight, I felt like if I didn't make the resolution, anyone that knew me wouldn't respect my committment to those things. 

This year, I make those resolutions but have a specific plan for each.  I know how much weight I want to remove from my body this  year.  I know what "exercise more" looks like and I know what healthy looks like. 

So here it is:

Lose at least 30% of my current body weight
Exercise 5-6 days a week and walk Relay for Life
Be cancer free at all six appointments scheduled for 2008

Here's to a cancer free 2008 for me. 

I have participated as a walker in past years and have donated when friends or family members walked on teams.   Cancer was always a remote thing to me.  I had family members that were survivors, prostate, breast and skin cancer but I didn't have a personal relationship to the big "C". 

Then, April 27th, 2007 I was diagnosed with uterine cancer following a routine biopsy that was performed simply because my gynecologist felt it was better to err on the side of caution before another elective procedure.  She was as surprised by the results as I was.   

The walls of my life came crashing down.  I was lucky, it was an early diagnosis (Stage I)and a hysterectomy took care of it.  At the same time, my life is now made up of "before cancer" and "after cancer". 

 The depth of the bitterness I felt surprised me.  Therapy has helped me cope, but I still have a lingering feeling of needing to do something  besides wallow in my grief, anger, and fear.