Made it to the year 2013 and 24 years old!

Made it to the year 2013 and 24 years old!

Happy day everyone! I am pleased to say that I have a couple accomplishments to brag about today on my day of birth! 

First of all, many thanks to my mother for bringing me into the world today and for both my mom and my dad for raising me. I know I gave them hell while I was growing up but I only did it so that when I mellowed out they would view me as an angel :) (but seriously, I was a huge handful and my mom would cry to my Bucha about how if she had me first she would never had any more children...sorry mom!)

I now have a 1 1/2 year old immune system that I am so VERY proud of! I have not gotten sick for an entire year! Even as people around me (those older and those my age) get sick I have managed to stay clean and clear of it! This is a big accomplishment for me and I am looking forward to another healthy year :) 

I guess the main accomplishment of making it to today is that I made it to 24 years old! It is crazy to think that less than 2 years ago I was a young girl of 22 going through cancer treatment. Now, at age 24 (on 4/24/13) I am one semester closer to being a college graduate, one step closer to getting married and one step closer to figuring my life out! I still have a lot to do but I am looking forward to it all. Except paying the bills. I would much rather NOT do that. But everything else, yes. I am ready! Maybe. I still don't know what I'll be doing by next summer but I do know that I will have my degree by next summer. And that is all I need to know and plan for now :) 

Also! As I have been working at Fernandez Sports and Physical Therapy for about 3 years (give or take for the time I was away in Texas) Linda Fernandez (my boss who gave me my old job back when I returned to Hawaii...which I will write about in further detail later :D) is going to help me get my BASI Pilates Teaching License this coming fall. It is an extensive program composed of 3 long weekends and a total of 10,000 hours of learning the main Pilates exercises on the various types of equipment and how to properly teach them. Since I have been working with Pilates at the physical therapy clinic I have some background on what an amazing program this is. Even with all that I have learned these 3 years I have maybe learned 2% there is to know about BASI Pilates. This will be a HUGE stepping stone for me; there are a lot of different Pilates clinics that I will be able to attend that will teach me more about anything; dancing, rehab, cancer patients, etc. Guess which one I want to do? You guessed it! Pilates for those who have gone through cancer treatment. This year has been a huge eye opener to how insurance is royally screwing us physical therapists and patients! HMSA (Hawaii's BCBS) has regulated the S*** out of physical therapy to the point where they don't even look at what the doctor prescribes for the patient; we have a very exact form we must fill out with numbers and then some doctor somewhere on the mainland decides how many visits the patient should get....like 6 visits. Since the new forms are all about numbers, HMSA is now only really focusing on acute injuries that you can rate the pain and degrees of movement. But what about those who want preventative medicine or who need to strengthen their muscles after surgery or cancer treatment, you ask? Maybe they will get 4 visits because these types of patients have issues that they can't really "measure".  For example; After I was out of the hospital (post-SCT) and feeling ready to get back on my feet and wanting to get stronger I went to the MD Anderson physical therapy clinic to try and get approved for some good old fashioned out-patient physical therapy. Since I had been working in PT I knew the benefits to having someone create a program for me and help me make sure I do it...I needed to get stronger! However, since I was able to walk fast, do all of my exercises easily enough (on the first visit), had no pain, and no real restrictions I was not granted physical therapy. I had lost 20 lbs, most of which was my muscle, and if you knew me before cancer you would know that I was strong and very fit. This was so upsetting to me because I didn't even realize that was the reason until I found out this information about HMSA. Everything made sense then. With all of this in mind I want to be there for cancer victims who want to get stronger and better without the hassle of insurance screwing them over (like you are supposed to build up your pelvic floor and get stronger in 4 visits?!?! yeah, right.). I want to work with them to help them move past their pain, stiffness, weakness and be the strongest they can be, physically! I mean, they are FIGHTERS and SURVIVORS! They deserve to give BACK to their bodies what cancer took away. 

Whew. Sorry about that rant...got carried away ^_^ Guess I found what I'm passionate about!

So this next year will be a big year for me and when I'm 25 I hope to tell you all what my next big step will be :)

Anyways...where was I? Oh yes...IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!! YAY!!!!! And even though today is a rainy rainy rainy rainy day after my class and a much needed haircut (I like it super duper short now) me and cassidy are going to hang out with our beloved Zoe. I don't have much planned...probably go see a movie...hopefully have some cake and ice cream...but the fact is that I have the day off with my little family and will be very happy to hang out with them :) I am hoping this weekend will be nice so that my girlfriends and I can go on a hike and go to the beach. We shall see!

I wish everyone a happy day on this rainy day here in Hawaii. I am so close to finishing up with this semester I can almost taste it! Almost...I still have a couple projects and papers to write...boo. But I should be getting A's in all three of my classes. BOOYAH CHEMO BRAIN! guess who's awesome?? ME! :D

LOVE YOU ALL AND THANK YOU FOR HELPING ME GET TO 24 YEARS OLD!! I could not have done it with out all of your support!! 

- Savvers, the 24 year old. One step closer to being apart of the mid-20's group :D