Do you recall on last year when I spoke about the possibility of having breast reduction surgery? Well, on Monday of this week, I had the procedure done. It was outpatient surgery which probably lasted about 4 hours from the point of surgery to the recovery room.

I remember some of the men were asking me, “Why would you want to have that done?” And I specifically remember Jdid yelling, “Nooooooooooo!” But, I knew that this was something that I had to do in order for my body to feel good. The strain on my back of carrying around 40DD’s on a 5′8 130lb frame was too much to bear.

So now I’m in a recovery transition. The first day wasn’t bad. I expected pain, but it was nothing that I couldn’t handle. But on that second day, “OOOOOOOOOOOOOUCH!” I felt pain all over my body. I couldn’t even lift a finger. I was crying like I was a newborn. And the worst pain was felt when I tried to walk through my home and my elbow barely tapped the inside frame of my bedroom door.

Have you ever seen a tuning fork vibrate? Well, my elbow was the tuning fork that vibrated my entire body. Just one big ball of pain from head to toe. But I must say that the drugs that were prescribed, Meprozine in particular, was quite lovely! When it kicks it, I don’t feel a thing. I also don’t remember a thing, which is not fun because friends have called to talk to me and I don’t remember a word of the conversation.

Today, I’m feeling pretty good. My bandages are off, I’m walking faster, and my strength is returning. The only medication I’m taking is antibiotics to prevent infection. I’m thinking clearer and I’m almost back to my old self.

Before the surgery, my doctor asked me what size I’d like to be and I told him a 34C. I am soooooo happy with this size. My back pain is literally gone. It’s strange putting on a blouse without my breasts engulfing 90% of the blouse. I feel great!

Now, I wouldn’t recommend this surgery for every woman. Trust me, I consulted with several physicians before I even thought about having a breast reduction. This was something that I had to do and it’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

Have you seen the walk-in bathtubs that are advertised on television for the elderly and handicapped? I want one of those for myself! Heck, all you do is walk in, sit down on enclosed seat, and fill up with water. I hate struggling to get out of the tub, having to rise up from a seated position from the floor of a bathtub with nothing but the side of the tub to hold onto (trying to grip with wet hands), only to have one or both hands slide forward and you lose your footing while trying to stand.

I want to bathe in comfort as well. I want to be able to rise from the tub and walk out without problem. The way I see it, you don’t have to be elderly or handicapped to need one of these tubs. I have problems with my knees (old track injuries) and sometimes I may get some slight weakness in one or both. This tub solves that problem for me.

Too bad I don’t have AARP, Medicare or Social Security to get a discount, because these tubs range in prices of $3000 - $7000. Wow! I could buy a used car for the price of one of those tubs.

Have you ever taken a nap in the daytime and not been able to get up? You can literally see everything happening around you and even see your own body asleep, but you are fighting to wake up?

It’s as if you are having an out of body experience. You can look down upon your body and your surroundings, but cannot awaken. My mother and brother also have experienced this as well. My mom calls them daymares, like nightmares that occur in the daytime.

I would like to know the correct medical term for this. I’ve heard someone say before that they occur because of poor blood circulation, but I’m not for certain if this is true, because if both my mother and brother have experienced this, then could this be a hereditary trait?

I had a meeting this morning and on my way back from the meeting, I drove past an elementary school. Today must be their graduation day for 5th graders. There were parents driving up and kids filing out of the cars. These 5th graders looked like they were in high school.

What is in the food that the youth are eating today? My friends and I are always comparing ourselves when we were younger to the youth of today. We were slim and short compared to how they look today. Girls breasts are damn near fully developed at age 12, boys sprouting goatees at age 13 and all of them look older than their age. I mean literally, their faces look old.

And don’t get me started on the childhood obesity that is running rampant in the United States. I didn’t realize how big of a problem until the news coverage of Hurricane Katrina in my area, and then I got a rough idea of how many overweight people there were in my state and Louisiana. Not just the adults, but the kids. It makes no sense that a little girl is in a size 9/10 at age 9.

And they don’t want to exercise or even go outside to play. Shit, that was mandatory in my household when I was growing up. Whether you wanted to or not, your parents sent you outside to play. There was no way you were going to sit up in your mama’s house all day and play Atari. You had chores to do and you went outside to play.

But because we’re in an era where technology is so overwhelming, kids today have computers, Playstations and Xboxes, iPods, etc. that we make it so convenient for them to have everything they want indoors that they don’t want to go outdoors. I’ve never seen so many lazy kids in my life.

Cancer is determined to wipe out my family. I lost my paternal grandmother, 2 aunts and my father to cancer. 3 weeks ago, we were told that my mother’s oldest living brother was diagnosed with cancer.

He had been losing weight on last year, but we never really thought much about it because he needed to lose weight. He’d been getting a gut the past couple of years, so we were happy that he was losing some weight.

But what we didn’t know was that he was ill. Now here’s the part that I fail to understand. My uncle had a feeling that he was probably sick for months, but never once made an appointment to see a physician. He just kept at his daily activities, not saying a word.

I saw a similar pattern occuring with my father as well. My father was diagnosed with cancer in the late 90’s. He took chemotherapy treatments and it went into remission. But because he thought he was cured, he never went back for preventative measures.

We cannot do this people, especially you men! If you think you’re sick, go and get checked by a physician. Don’t just sit and let the situation get worse. So now my uncle has found out that he has lung cancer.

He was a smoker for years until his baby brother died from complications due to smoking. My uncle quit cold turkey after the death of his brother. He was determined not to let the same thing happen to him, because his baby brother, just like he’s doing now, decided to get a checkup when it was too late.

It is killing my spirit to know that people are waiting until the last minute to worry about their health. My uncle has pretty much decided that he wants to refuse chemotherapy treatments to shrink the tumor. These treatments can possibly prolong his life, but he doesn’t want them.

I don’t understand that way of thinking. Yes, I know he’s ill, but I think he’s being selfish as well because he doesn’t realize how the news of his refusal to fight to live affects not only his immediate family, but our entire family.

So to anyone out there who suspects they may be ill, even if it’s the littlest of things like the common cold, please, please, please don’t hesitate to seek medical attention.

Oh, and by the way, this uncle of mine is Jalen and Tyson’s great-grandfather.