Dan York

When The "1 in 8 Women" Stat Hits Home...

A fascinating aspect about being as open as we have been about my wife's breast cancer is that you learn this:

Breast cancer really impacts a LARGE number of people.

It's one thing to hear a statistic like:

1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in their lifetime

But it's a completely different thing when that "1 in 8" stat is brought home by the sheer number of people in your own life who turn out to be affected by breast cancer.

In the few weeks I've been public about it, I've had many friends and colleagues come forward and tell me that they or their spouse either have dealt with breast cancer in recent years or are currently dealing with it. Multiple colleagues from Voxeo... friends from IETF and SIP Forum... colleagues from former employers... friends from social media circles... and many folks on Facebook, Twitter and more...

It's truly been amazing to experience (and has been greatly appreciated, as well).

"1 in 8" may not immediately sound like much... but when you start thinking of how many women you know, it turns out to be a pretty significant number...

Of Inverted Nipples... and Breast Cancer

I've learned a lot about breasts lately. More than any guy really wants to know... and not in a good way.

We of the male gender generally have a rather simplistic view of female breasts. (Some/most women may consider it a "juvenile" view in some/most/all men.) We may enjoy looking at breasts... in various states of dress or undress. We may want to touch them... or fantasize about that... or... or...

But I'm pretty sure that outside of those in the medical profession the vast majority of men don't really want to know how breasts are put together... about the plumbing inside of them.

Classify that in the "Too Much Information" category and stick it in that folder with all those other aspects of female biology about which we really have no clue.

I'm learning, though... all about lobules and ducts and lymph nodes and so much more. Not by choice. Two weeks ago I added a new term to my vocabulary: Ductal Carcinoma In Situ, a.k.a. DCIS. As a bonus, I learned the correct way to pronounce "In Situ" (at least, the way one doctor said it)... but that was really the only bonus I got that day.

My wife was diagnosed with very early stage DCIS in one breast. It appears to be "non-invasive" from the biopsy and at this point the good news is that there seems little danger of it being life-threatening. Today.

Cancer. My wife.

And so life was thrown into a chaotic holding pattern that will unfortunately continue for at least two more weeks until we meet with her next team of doctors up at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center to understand the next steps in her specific process... and when that will all occur. Meanwhile, they've sent us DVDs for what will surely be an über-exciting "date night"... and booklets that dive into deep detail. And of course, there's the glorious Internet... which is sometimes helpful... and sometimes NOT.

Along the way, I've also learned that 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in their lifetime and a hundred other stats that I didn't know.

I'm writing this in part because writing is what I do... it's how my brain works... it's how I deal with things. And also, if any of you wonder perhaps why I may not be as focused on some projects (like, oh, restarting VOIPSA, or helping launch the SIP Forum's IPv6 SIG) or as excited to jump into something new ... or why I'm not traveling to events much lately... my priorities have drastically changed a bit for this next while.

I'm also writing this to let my female friends and readers (and their male companions) know about the way in which my wife's breast cancer was found.

She didn't have a "lump". It did not show up on a mammogram... nor on a follow-up ultrasound of her breast. There is no family history of breast cancer. She has none of the other indicators for cancer. She's in fact in the best physical condition she's been in for years.

There was only one sign... and one that she didn't really think was significant.

She had an inverted nipple.

Instead of pointing outward as nipples usually do, this one started withdrawing in upon itself.

It changed.

My wife just casually mentioned the change in her annual checkup a few months ago when the physician asked that standard question to which they probably don't expect an answer: "anything else you've noticed unusual?"

The physician thought it was probably nothing, too, but said it should be looked at... which led to several months of testing, a horrid course of super-strong antibiotics (to see if an infection was causing it) and eventually multiple MRI scans (including a "MRI-driven biopsy") where the cancer was detected and confirmed.

An inverted nipple.

That was it. The only sign. And one that could have been easily overlooked.

Since that time, naturally, we've found various articles that mention this as a potential symptom of breast cancer... but it was certainly one that neither of us, nor anyone we've mentioned it to yet, knew about.

So, should you (or your female companion if you are male) ever notice a change like this... get it checked out. It may be absolutely nothing. Or it may be something more serious.

Meanwhile, life here continues in a holding pattern while we wait to understand what lies ahead in her specific case...

Image credit: hygienematters on Flickr

One Year Of Exercise: 50+ Pounds Lost and Hundreds of Miles Run

One year ago today, May 30, 2010, my wife and I began a concerted effort to introduce physical exercise into our daily routines. My exercise at the time was just walking because I quite simply couldn't run even up to the end of my street - and even walking too far was a stretch. Being who I am, I opened a spreadsheet and recorded my weight at the time: 255 pounds.

Fast-forward one year to today and this morning I ran a 7-mile run with an average pace around 10 minutes/mile.

Still pretty unbelievable to me.

Along the way, I dropped 50+ pounds... my pants size is now 6 inches smaller and I've dropped in T-shirt size not just from an XL to a Large... but even down into a Medium for many shirts.[1]

That, too, I still find hard to believe.

As I outlined at some length in a post back in November 2010, Living Proof that 40-year-old Fat Men Can Get Up and Run!, I didn't start out on this journey to become a runner. That was probably the last thing on my mind. But it just kind of happened along the way...

After that post in mid-November, my wife and I continued running outside into December, pushing each other until we were up over 6 miles (with her, again, raising the bar on that one). We then bought a treadmill and both worked out religiously through the long winter. I started back outside in the cold of March, averaging 3-4 miles until May, when I started ratcheting up the mileage to where a 5-7 mile run is now my new "normal". (Alas, my wife has been dealing with medical issues this Spring that have kept her away from running until just last week.)

I've continued to be very focused on running every other day with taking an extra day off on the weekends. Admittedly I haven't been as good lately about walking on the off days, but I'm trying to change that. In fact, last week I started introducing some bicycling as the off-day activity.

Along the way, we invested in Garmin GPS watches ... and I started using iPhone apps to track my running as well. I don't have a total count of the miles I've run and walked... but the two iPhone apps I've used (Nike+GPS and Runkeeper) together show me up around close to 400 miles.

The funny - or sick - thing is that I'm actually starting to enjoy the running.

What's even more amusing - or more sick, depending upon your perspective - is that I can actually see how people run even longer. With the distance I'm running now I've already passed a "10K"... the next target would be a half-marathon at 13.1 miles... and for the first time that doesn't seem completely unattainable. (The real challenge I have is finding the time for longer runs.)

We'll see where I go next... today I'm celebrating one year of exercise ... and of burning exercise into my daily routine. (And yes, I'll probably go eat a chocolate chip cookie to celebrate... I think I've earned it! ;-) )

And let me tell you... if I can do it, so can you!

[1] I should note that running was NOT the only factor in my weight loss. I also changed my eating in one major way: I stopped taking second helpings. I simply limited myself to whatever I put on my plate the first time.

P.S. And yes, the effort at losing weight will continue... as the chart shows, I've been flirting with the 200 pound milestone for a while now, and I'm determined to break that mark... which would be the first time since probably 1990 or 1991...

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Photos of "What It Is That I Do"

I often get asked by people, even friends and family, "what is it that you do?" And some parts of what I do, like all the writing online, are relatively easy to understand. Other parts, like the speaking I do at conferences, is less clear to some people. Given that I actually wound up with some photos taken of me at a recent conference, SIPNOC, I thought I'd post them here (and clicking on each photo will take you to a larger image). These photos are part of a larger set of conference photos that I shot... except for the photos of me that were taken by a couple of friends while I was speaking.

In this particular case, I was at very technical conference at a hotel in Herndon, VA, of around 150 people involved with telecommunications. As described on a Voxeo events page, I was on a panel of people talking about security and then the next day was giving a talk about work we've done at Voxeo. I was also on a final panel at the end of the second day where we talked about what had happened at the conference.

Anyway, here is another aspect of "what it is that I do"...

And yes, if you're wondering, I did reverse the order of the images and started with the shots from the second day, largely because they are, to me, more interesting than the 2 shots of me from the first day.

Running the Automattic Worldwide WordPress 5K Today

As I mentioned previously over on Disruptive Conversations, the folks at Automattic (the folks behind WordPress) were going to run a 5K today, April 10, and were encouraging other bloggers and others to run, walk, roll, or do anything else like that.

Naturally, I had to play along, particularly since today was the first truly gorgeous day we've had that since the winter where I've been able to run! Temps in the mid-60s (Fahrenheit), sunny skies, most all of the mud was dried up... all around perfect conditions for a first outside run of the season.

So run it, I did.

Headed up to the beautiful Woodlawn and Greenlawn cemeteries here in Keene, NH, and did two loops through both cemeteries... stopping right at the 3.1 mile mark which, as it happened, was just after my second loop through the Greenlawn cemetery and right as I hit the bridge between the two.

As you can see from the map to the right, I got a bit creative coming up with ways to burn up some distance and still keep myself within the cemeteries. The pace image, too, gives you a good idea of where the hills are :-) And yes, that U turn where I was at my slowest was at the top of the incline leading up to the Sumner Knight chapel, if you are familiar with the cemetery, and then down the steep decline, too.

All in all it was a beautiful day for a run. Clocked in at 32:41 for an average pace of 10:30/mile. Not bad for a 43-year-old guy who just started running last year...

The even better news was that I could have continued running... I just stopped at 5K because that was my goal for today... but I still had energy and could have probably run the rest of the way home.

Now, I'm looking forward to the next race I can run with others...

Beginning the Race Season...

It's Spring here in New England... or at least, it is today. Tomorrow the forecast calls for a whopping big snowstorm, but even if it blanket us in white, it won't last long.

With the warmer weather, my thinking is naturally turning to running in some races in 2011... well, "naturally" perhaps isn't the right word. This concept of being a "runner" is still something I'm trying to wrap my brain around. But I definitely am one at this point... and what's more bizarre is that I'm actually enjoying it!

With that "enjoyment", I'm starting to look at what races I'll enter... sticking to 5Ks to start... maybe working up to a 10K. I don't know that I'll get beyond that this year, but we'll see.

I'd like to run the Cheshire Medical 5K here in Keene, NH, on April 9th, but alas we have a houseful of guests that day and some other events. I will run on April 10th as part of the Automattic WorldWide WordPress 5K... but that's me running by myself here locally and then sharing that with the world. I know there's a 4 mile race on July 4th here in Keene that I'll do. Beyond that, I'm starting to look through CoolRunning.com to find out where other local races are happening.

I'm looking forward to running some races this year... and odds are that I'll turn this personal blog into a bit of a "running blog" over the next few months... one of my goals for this year was to run some races... we'll see how I do.

What about you? Are you running in any races this year?

Image credit: Tri-state Racing

A Fantastic 2010-2011 NH Ski Season For Us...

With temperatures up in the mid-40s Fahrenheit and never going below freezing at night, it's no surprise that the local ski areas here in southwest New Hampshire are all ending their seasons. As we drove by a local area just outside of Keene yesterday we could see that while people were skiing there was mud on some of the trails... and a ski area up near Concord, NH, we passed today seemed to be closed up already.

Sure, the big mountains up north will keep going for a number of weeks more, but our weekends are getting all crazy... so for us... well, the season's basically done. One more chance, maybe... but that's probably it, if it happens.

It's been a truly fantastic year for us for skiing. Our oldest daughter is 8 this year and she took lessons at our local "Granite Gorge" on Saturday mornings. The cool part for me was that while she was off with an instructor for an hour lesson, I got to ski alone for that time. When her lesson was done, the two of us then got to ski for another hour together.

Repeat that for almost 6 weeks in a row and you have a darn good winter! (One week we did not do it was when there was too much wind and the lift was closed.)

It was an interesting winter for me personally because it was a chance for me to really work on my own parallel skiing. You see, the last time I skied a large amount was: 1) about 18 years ago; and 2) entirely on telemark skis.

I was a "tele" skier all through college during the mid-80s and on up into the '90s when I stopped skiing as much. Sure, I had learned to do "regular" downhill skiing, but had moved rapidly into telemark. When our daughter was 3, we were living in Burlington, VT, where skiing is a big part of life, and so I took her to a local hill, donned parallel skis myself, and helped her learn to ski. As any parent who has taught their child to ski can attest, those first few years are... um... "challenging"... and you yourself don't get much in the way of skiing. Two years ago our daughter had classes on her own, but on a weekday when I wasn't able to ski, and we weren't really able to ski. Last year we had the combination of not-terribly-great snow ... and a newborn daughter... so we only went maybe once or twice.

This year, though, was a completely different year. Outstanding snow conditions... and Saturday classes... together made for a fantastic year... and a great father/daughter experience.

She pushed me, too. While I'd skied all sorts of terrain on my tele boards about 20 years ago, I'd stuck mostly to the beginner or intermediate slopes on the parallel skis. As the season went on, though, she went on the more advanced terrain in her classes and by the end of the season I was right there skiing all the black diamond trails with her. :-)

We ended on a truly awesome note, too... our last day of skiing was on a beautiful morning before the warming spell at Crotched Mountain Resort where the trails were wide and the snow was outstanding. Skied almost every trail on the mountain and had a wonderful day.

Now, as we put the skis away and look forward to getting into the warm weather activities, all I can say is that it was a great season... and I'm looking forward to next year!

Video: "Granite State of Mind" meets "The Plow Guy"

Perhaps you have to live in a northern US state or Canada to truly appreciate this video... but for those of us who do, we definitely appreciate "the plow guy". For those of us who choose the "Granite State" as our home, too, we can appreciate many of the many cameo appearances in this video...

Note - if you have not seen the first "Granite State of Mind" video, you may want to do that before watching this one. Almost 2 million people have now watched that video... and it lays the foundation for this video.

And, again, you may have to live here to fully appreciate the videos... but I got a great laugh out of them. (And was amused to see dear old Keene get a mention in the second one.)

Fun stuff...

Remembering Challenger...

It is hard to believe that the Challenger explosion was 25 years ago today...

I had grand delusions of writing something profound on this anniversay, but the reality is that even now...

...there are no words.

At the time, I was a freshman at the University of New Hampshire and was gathered with a group of others who loved everything about space exploration in the lounge of our dorm to watch the launch...

... and then the utter shock... and then the endless replays...

For those of us who were (and are) fans of space exploration, it was an iconic moment that will forever be with us.

R.I.P., Challenger crew... and best wishes to all of their families on this anniversary.

How Much Do You Know About Religion? Take this Pew Forum Quiz

How much do you know about religion... and specifically religions around the world? The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life recently released their U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey, a nationwide poll conducted from May 19 through June 6, 2010, among 3,412 Americans age 18 and older, on landlines and cell phones, in English and Spanish. One of the interesting overall data points:

Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons are among the highest-scoring groups on a new survey of religious knowledge, outperforming evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants and Catholics on questions about the core teachings, history and leading figures of major world religions.

It makes for fascinating reading if you are interested in topics relating to religion.

BEFORE YOU READ THE SURVEY, though, take the Pew Forum's quiz at:

http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/

It's a short 15-question quiz.

THEN you can go on to read the full survey results (since they give away some of the answers to the quiz). As I said, I found it a fascinating view into the knowledge level of U.S. citizens.

I also found the quiz quite interesting... how did you do on it? (I did quite well, but I'll wait to post my actual score for a bit...)

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