http://www.debsday.com/index.php http://www.debsday.com/index.php?entry=entry081209-230705 Well, Lorna, as per your request I did make my Monday night Pump class work hard last night by including Take Your Mama Out for triceps – the entertainment value was huge....watching them all collapse into 1 of the 20 tricep presses! Next week we are having an Oscars night with awards between the tracks so I will be nice because it’s Xmas.

Before I forget.....The Blogger’s Party is ON, ON, ON!!! 10th January. All bloggers welcome but to ensure catering control, please email me your postal or email address so I can send you the invitation. My new email is debabroad@sky.com Special guest for the night will be Maree – all the way from Oz! Special guest artist will be Jane the Pain on karaoke (shouldn’t have advertised that here because now she will want payment for sure!).

Well, my last few months have been interesting to say the least. I think I was so desperate to rush headlong back into my previous life that I didn’t allow myself the time to factor in enough rest. So I have ended up being tired a lot of the time. The hospital say it could be up to 2 years before I return to normal energy levels but most of the time I feel it gets better every week. My hair is growing slowly and I am glad to not look like a cancer patient anymore. I have a sense of humour failure at the moment and I feel frustrated a lot of the time. I am waiting for that ‘I’m so glad to be alive and the world is wonderful’ feeling to kick start my enthusiasm for life. However, I am trying to throw myself into the festive season and get ready for a new year. I am looking forward to coming back to Perth sometime in the first half of next year – I am getting desperate for some sunshine!

The Ritz was fab by the way! Everything you imagine it to be, although it was smaller than I thought. I was a bit disappointed that there was not enough greenery in the sandwiches - no watercress or sprouts to be seen and no fruit. We stayed over in London and went to see Wicked the musical which was also excellent.

Well I have to go the Dentist so I will sign off for now. I will try to add an entry before Xmas with some photos for all of you at home. See you soon, love Deb x
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Well I am knackered from working out too much this week I think but I am running to a very tight deadline. I am feeling quite good at the moment. It is great to be resuming my ‘usual routines’ but it is very frustrating that my hair is growing so slowly that I still look like a cancer patient. I thought I would have enough hair to show by now but it is still very sparse and patchy. Although most chemo patients end up with curly hair after treatment, mine is still dead straight but it is a darker colour than before.

I have an exciting few weeks ahead as I have my Body Attack training, which I think may kill me. In Australia I regularly went to Attack and Body Step and have been desperate to get the programs at Bannatynes. In was a cruel twist of fate, Paul (manager of Banns) had agreed to getting the licence for Attack (after two years of my nagging) and I was booked to go on the training course the week after I was diagnosed . Thanks to Traci and Rosie, Attack was launched on the January timetable, without me, and has been a huge success. It was bad enough to be thrown out of my Pump and freestyle classes so suddenly, but to miss out launching Attack was like a stab in the heart – not that I felt it as I was too busy vomiting and living in a chemo-induced haze….

Anyway, I am now booked on the Attack training course on the 27th and 28th Sept and will have a class on the October timetable – almost one year to the day of my diagnosis. I am unsure whether I am fit enough to survive the training – those of you who have done an Attack class will have an idea of what I am in for; imagine an Attack class for two days solid….

I have been working hard on my CV fitness and think I will be ok but due to the operation I still do not have enough upper body strength to do 5 minutes of press ups yet. I run the risk of lymphoedema if I push my arm too much – it is aching now (but that could be from hitting Jane tonight cause she made a sarcy comment). But when I look back to the first four months of this year, I am motivated to work harder and am quite pleased that 12 months, almost to the day, after my diagnosis I will be teaching Attack. It has been so wonderful to be back teaching Pump (even if I can’t remember the choreography!).

I have booked the RITZ!!! On the 29th of October 2008 Jonathan and I will be sitting in a luxurious restaurant eating sandwiches and cake. On the 29th of October 2007 Jonathan and I were sitting in a small room at the Conquest Hospital listening to a surgeon tell us that I had breast cancer and would need surgery, chemo and radio. I can’t say this past year has gone quickly but I am very grateful to have arrived at the place I have now. There is a lot yet to be done, in terms of my mind and body but I feel pleased I have made it to this point. Someday soon this uphill climb will become less steep and I may be able to catch my breathe and reflect on this past year, but for the moment I plan to rush headlong back into some semblance of a ‘normal’ life. love Deb x
PS Remember bloggers - forget New Year's Eve this year and save yourself for the Bloggers' Bash on the 10th Jan....more on that later.



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All is fine here. I had a bone density scan today (because the early menopause bought on by the chemo could create a risk of osteoporosis). Fortunately my bone density is good – I just have to keep it that way. The radiographer told me that weight bearing exercise would help maintain my bone density so I told her I would give up knitting and head to the gym.....I am frantically trying to increase my CV fitness because I have a Body Attack class on the October timetable which I am very excited about. I am nearly lifting the same weights as I was in Pump before the op but I have definitely lost fitness. That’s what you get when you have your head stuck in a bucket I suppose….

I am going to see Madonna tomorrow night – yahoo! No, not for a cup of tea at her house, Mum, at Wembly. Looking forward to that.

Kids are all happy back at school – Ali is loving High School and I am quite jealous cause I loved High School myself. Hey Maree, Lorna and I went to London on the weekend for the quarterlies and we did Pump 67 (which is average) as well as BodyJam, BodyAttack, BodyBalance and while Lorna did Combat, I did BodyVive. We had a great time and stayed over in the Docklands then went to Canary Wharf. How is Pump 67 going down over there.

I must get organising our bloggers bash soon.

Will write again on the weekend, love Deb x

BTW my first car was a tiny silver Suzuki Hatch which Dad chose and it was a complete dud – the heads needed replacing so it cost more to fix it then the original purchase price! It was so tiny that it would have been impossible to have any sort of action within those tin can doors unless all appendages were hanging out of the windows! But my first boyfriend did have a Panel Wagon which was pretty cool AND he wore Brut aftershave…..what was I thinking……..

Better stop now, you may think you have tuned in to the Maree/Jane show…

Also....I love the YouTube clip that Mad Dog posted (own up - who are you really?). I think we may have to organise 6 treadmills for the bloggers bash and see if we can choreograph something similar!


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Hello bloggers! Sorry for the long delay. We have had friends from Oz staying with us and then a week in the Lake District which was fantastic (except for a few rainy days). School holidays now, and with another LOOONNNNGGG four weeks ahead of me things are looking interesting….I put the kids on e-bay yesterday but have had no bids yet…..wonder why? If the weather is good there are loads of options but as it is currently grey and steadily raining, things are looking grim.

The highlight of my weekend was a concert in London to see KYLIE!!!!! Of course she was absolutely amazing so it was a brilliant concert. Which leads me onto a funny story that Maree and Lorna will appreciate the most. Maree’s clever son Elliot has made a great Pump CD with some of mine and Maree’s old favourites (clever because the original Pump releases were only on tape!) Anyway I burnt another CD yesterday ready for my Monday night class with the first few tracks from the Maree/Deb compilation BUT I burnt a Kylie track (Spinning Around) on first so my class members could get set up to the groovy tones of Kylie’s voice before we began the class. Well, we started our warmup and I was commenting on how sad it was that Kylie was not featured on ANY pump release when I thought to myself, this warmup is much slower than the newer releases. It wasn’t until the very smooth transition from deadrows to upright rows that I thought, I don’t remember how many overhead raises there are. But it wasn’t until I headed for the squats that I realised we were all warming up to Kylie’s Spinning Around!!!!!! I just pressed play instead of going to track 2 which was the warmup! What a complete wally I am…..Anyway, the track did lend itself very nicely to a warmup, I managed to include a few lunges then finish quite neatly all things considered…

Back again to finish this – I wrote the first part last week. I did a step and pump class on Saturday morning for Lorna and survived! It was great doing step again. Raining again today – great for the holidays…..and it’s meant to rain all week. At least the Olympics are on so.

Health wise all appears ok. I get a little tired in the day still but generally feel okay. The hot flushes are consistent but not too horrible and if I weigh it up against having no periods then it seems more tolerable. I saw my oncologist last week. She confirmed a blood test shows I am now POST menopausal in terms of hormones but will be experiencing the joy of all symptoms whilst on Tamoxifan for the next 5 years. The good news is that if my periods don’t return, which is unlikely, I will probably not have to have a hysterectomy. Without the oestrogen from my ovaries my mutant fibroid friend should remain harmless.

It is a very weird time though because I have to get my head around the waiting. Waiting for my full health to return, trying NOT to wait for any aches or pains that might be suspicious in terms of secondary cancer and waiting for my brain to register and put in perspective the last 9 months. I am not sure how to go forward, what I should be doing or how I should be doing it. For now I am just trying to get back to ‘normal’. Sometimes I want to immerse myself in every book and report and first hand experience about breast cancer to learn more and work out my own conclusions but other times I don’t even want to hear the words and would rather pretend that nothing has ever happened. I am sure the psychologist in you is nodding and ‘mmmm’ ing. I went to a psychologist a couple of weeks ago but we got off to a bad start because I said, very politely, ‘Don’t think you are going to tell me anything I don’t already know, I’ve read all the books too you know’. Fortunately she carried on and was VERY pleasant and far more knowledgeable than I had anticipated.

I attach my favourite photo of the month. This newest and cutest recruit to BodyPump (if you look closely at his t-shirt you will see the logo) is Michael. His lovely parents, Mike and Sarah were regulars in my Thursday night class so I saw baby Michael develop from a little bump. Then he made his appearance on Jacob’s birthday so he is really a special little boy. Mike and Sarah bought him in to his first class in July when I did a launch of the new release on the same day my radiotherapy finished. ( His pressups were A1 but he really needs to work on those lunges, guys…) Have you ever seen a cuter Body Pumper?

Better go and entertain the zoo inmates – must be feeding time, they are getting restless. See you soon, love Deb x

PS Does anyone else wonder how Maree manages to keep adding entries here whilst virtually LIVING at the cinema and theatre?????
I will add more info about our bloggers bash in the New Year soon...

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Anyway it was an excellent weekend and I came away with a lot more info that will help me take the next steps to ‘wellness’! On that note, I had a great chat to one of their guest speakers, an amazing GP, Dr Emma Pennery, who told me that the latest research shows that those women who exercise have a greater long term prognosis than those who don’t – and not just the recommended three times per week, but more like five or six. This was fantastic news for me because it means I can go back to the Body Attack plans later in the year, in addition to Pump, and not worry that my immune system will be compromised. However, this tiredness will continue for a few months before my energy levels begin to normalise, so I have to pace myself and take things one day at a time. I am so tired most of the time now that I feel dizzy and sick sometimes…and that’s before 9am. No, sadly I am not joking…..

Two weeks ago, I participated in the launch of BodyPump 66 at Banns and it was fantastic to be back. So fantastic that I have agreed to go back to my Monday night class AS OF TONIGHT!!!! Yippee!!!! Of course the good news is that no-one is going to be mean to me even in jest, (well there’s Jane the pain of course), all choreography mishaps will be put down to ‘chemo-brain’ or the ‘stunned rabbit effect’ and I don’t have to do the pushups if I don’t feel like it!!!!! What a great arrangement!

Hello to Hilary and Ned! How fantastic to hear from you – please send me an email so I can reply. Maree, we are all getting pretty excited about your arrival in Jan – must plan a big party and organise our gig at the Ritz. If Mr Bush is not eating, is he fading away in some dark corner somewhere, with nothing to do but listen to football scores? I think you should investigate Maree!
Better go as it must be time for sleep…..See you soon, and to all you Banns people I WILL SEE YOU MONDAY NIGHTS!!! Love from Deb
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It was very exhilarating to participate in such an event and Breast Cancer Care had organised the whole day exceptionally well (although there could have been a few more porta-loos at some points!). Between us we have raised over £4,000 which is amazing…..If you haven’t already sponsored me you can still do so at http://www.justgiving.com/deborahwinchester
So please support this cause as I can personally vouch for the amazing support Breast Cancer Care give those of us who have to deal with this disease.

We may even be featured in a UK magazine as we were interviewed and had lots of photos taken – I will keep you posted. I have been trying to keep a low profile (like Kylie) but it would seem the paparazzi just seem to find me…..Sometimes you can’t escape the media attention….

I am sorry the blog has been down – a few problems with technical support south of the border. Hopefully it has been sorted.

Back to reality today and off to Maidstone soon for my 4th week of radio. Next Monday it is my LAST day of treatment. I am still deciding how to celebrate. I will definitely be booking the Ritz soon. I have decided to join the Bannatynes’ BodyPump team for the launch of the new release next Monday night and am looking forward to that! SEE YOU THERE!!!!!

Well I better go and make a coffee to wake me up (it’s decaf of course, with Rice Milk, but the placebo effect works wonders now that I have such incredible powers of visualisation!).

I am personally proud of my weary body’s efforts in walking 20 miles at this stage in my treatment, but I am more proud of my lovely friends who walked with me, and for me. Words cannot express what it meant to have those special people with me on the day. And I know so many of you wanted to be there also. A million thankyous to all of you who have helped me in so many different ways. We had to write on a pink ribbon why we were doing the Ribbon Walk which were then displayed in a huge wall of ribbons. I wrote…….’so my daughters, and their generation, can live a life free of this horrible, devastating disease. Please find a cure’. No parent could want their children to have to go through this. Any chance you get to help Breast Cancer Care or Cancer Research UK, please offer your support – financial or otherwise.

Keep adding your comments. They are so funny to read. And I know that more than one of you has been desolate when you couldn’t get on the blog – poor Maree was missing you all so much, she kept texting me! Love to you all, Deb x
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