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Vitamin D

Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 11:05 am
by Magnolia
Just a thought for all the semi-colons (and every one else, for that matter). Almost everyone is at risk for Vitamin D deficiency over the winter months, and those of us with a few feet of colon missing may be more at risk due to reduced absorption. It might be a good idea to ask our doctors to check vitamin D levels and see if we need suppliments. I was deficient last year before diagnosis, and don't see any reason why I woudn't be this year as well. I'm eating pretty much the same and taking the same vitamins. I took a prescription suppliment for a couple of months, but not now. I'm going to ask to have it rechecked. Winter is the prime time for deficiencies because our bodies make vitamin D in response to sunlight. 10 to 15 minutes a day is all we need, so we usually get enough in the summer, unless we're overly cautious with the sunscreen. Sunscreen in good. No one wants melanoma. We just have to find that nice middle ground. I usually leave the sunscreen off for the first 10 minutes, then slather it on. And I try to avoid the noontime sun, and wear a hat to keep it off my face. I don't like wrinkles. I have young looking skin and hope to keep it that way. Those of you who ARE young, I know you're planning to be around long enough to worry about wrinkles someday, and now is the time to reduce sun damage, but not vitamin D. Keep those bones strong. You don't want to survive cancer to end up in a nursing home with a hip fracture.

Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 1:12 pm
by MissKim
Magnolia,

I just love your posts :D ! As I recall, my oncologist's PA recommended Vitamin D and just being in the sunshine 10-15 minutes a day. It is a good thing to remember! Thank-you, always, for your great messages and posts -- I love reading what you have to say.

Miss Kim

Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 2:49 pm
by Magnolia
Why thank you, MissKim. Did you know I'm a PA too? I work in OB/GYN, so I don't know beans about general medicine any more. I was an oncology nurse many years ago before I became a PA, but that was in the '80. Most of you all were babies then.

About Sunlight

Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 4:31 pm
by eitter
One good thing about living in Arizona....sunlight. A friend is staying with me for about a month and yesterday she dragged me outside and said I needed to be in the sun, if only for 20 minutes. I have been sick this week, on top of the cancer, I have a nasty cold. But being out in the sun for those 20 minutes was great!

I never made it a point to be out in the sun, but I think I will now. :)

God Bless!

Wow

Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 11:34 pm
by Holly
edited hpr. 1/11/07

Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 12:26 am
by Lifes2short
I am solar powered. Bring on the sun. I aspire to be a wrinkly old bat!

Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 2:44 pm
by Magnolia
You guys are just too funny. One of my dear friends grew up in San Diego and is a melanoma survivor. I get royally fussed at when she thinks I've been even PEEKING at the sun without sunscreen and a hat and a coverup. We all have our worst nightmares. (Mine is still Girl Scout Cookies.) I really think 10 or 15 minutes is OK, then the bottle of sunscreen comes out. My Irish genes don't let me tan, so I don't worry much about that. I sit under the umbrella and listen to the waves. I move into the sun now and then WITH sunscreen. I'm 52 and look 32. I want to keep my rose petal complexion. My daughter is Chinese and tans right through the sunscreen. She looks like a little brown nut by the end of the summer.