Reach for the Seven Stars

As a Mum…

Back to school… after 17 days off. It’s good to be back on to regular programming. At some point, we just ran out of things to do, even after playing all of their games. It’s a great time to be into board games and we’ve pretty much played every game everyday.

This week, David any I finished reading them the first Harry Potter book – The Philosopher’s Stone. We then had a movie night on Friday evening watching the first film.

Proud moment this week was when both kids came home on Friday and proudly showed us their Reading Rocket certificates!

Early this morning, we were already busy with paintings.

As a Clin Onc Trainee…

This week, everything also started getting back to usual business. As if the Christmas holidays never happened.

I managed to squeeze in 2 prostate plans this week. But the more exciting bit was that I got to spend some time at Planning CT and watched pre-treatment scans and immobilisation of patients, relative to their treatment plan.

Also, as I am pretty weak on the Quality Assurance and Quality Control part of my previous exams, I was super keen and actually came to the hospital at 7 am (earliest ever) to see what happens during the daily checks before the treatments start. This was really useful as it allowed me to visualise and solidify what I am reading about. Question… why have I not done this before?! Who knows?

Lastly, I finished writing my Clinical Trial Synopsis for the ESTRO Clinical Workshop in Vienna. Although I don’t expect it to actually turn into a clinical trial, I do hope that they pick it apart so I can learn from it.

As an Amateur Runner…

Currently, I am not in Marathon-mode as the big goal is passing exams. However, I am inclined to keep my fitness to a level. Also, it is way too cold. If I was training for a run, I would have been out the door but I am perfectly satisfied with spending some time on the treadmill (and not pounding so hard).

Yesterday, I decided to spice it up a little and let the treadmill dictate a hill run for the duration of Daft Punk’s Alive 2007 (1 hr 24 mins). Alive 2007 is the only non-classical music I listen to these days and it is highly energetic and perfect in every way. Plus it takes me back to actually being at that show (best live show I’ve ever experienced). Pleased to say that I managed to stay on without stopping albeit at a slower pace but at varying inclines, cooled down with the last song. I just might do this work out once a week.

2 extra bits on fitness… Sleep and Weight Management

Sleep – For the first time, I’ve really focused on improving my sleeping pattern as I know I’m a very poor sleeper. I normally sleep between 11 and midnight, sometimes beyond. Still waking up at 5 am. And although I’m not a big fan of sleeping with my watch on, I did for this past week.

My goals this year is sleep at 10 pm, 7 hours sleep, wake up at 5 am. And these are my results for the past week… I’m sleeping close to 10 pm, sleeping about 6.5 hours, and waking up around 5 am, sleep score average >70. What an improvement! I’m gonna work on keeping up this lifestyle change.

Weight Management – I obviously have a pretty normal BMI but have been on the higher end after having kids. And not putting as many miles in, it is quite easy to tip the scale over. Especially, when I work in a job where there seems to be treats at every corner and we spend a good chunk of the day in front of the screens.

So another small conscious change I’ve implemented this past week is – eliminating snacking and added sugar. Just eat during meals. I don’t normally eat breakfast, I eat a small salad at work, and then dinner. Dinner being the main meal of the day. Also making sure that the food is as good/fresh as it gets, non-ultra-processed food.

In one week, I have lost almost a kilo! This is absolutely insane. Insane because previously, even if I ran for 20 miles in a week, I would never lose that much if I ate the way I was.