Playing Taps for Coffee

You mourn many things after a breast cancer diagnosis—your ability to deny your own mortality, taking energy levels for granted, and one more in my case—well, I’m mourning coffee.  I gave it up, and I’m still missing it every day. That picture above? That is an aisle that I usually will not walk down at United because it's just too hard.

When I was first diagnosed, I did a lot of research on what I should be eating and drinking and green tea was high on the good-for-me list. There have been many studies that show the benefits of green tea—specifically in the reduction of breast cancer risk, and even reducing the risk of breast cancer recurrence. Coffee on the other hand—it has not been determined yet if coffee is good or bad for me when it comes to breast cancer prevention of recurrence, but I have learned it is not great to drink during chemo. On top of that, it is a lot of work to make and drink both coffee and green tea every day. So, for now I’m off coffee.

The girls are also making some tough food choices. For example, they are eating these apples because they know that they are good for them. Thanks to my friend Sheila in Wisconsin for helping make sure the kids get their daily quota of fruits and vegetables. Now if only I could find a way to wrap a cup of green tea in some of that caramel.