Gastroenterology Specialist, Seema A. Dar, MD Treated Conditions:
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• Rectal Bleeding • Gall Bladder Disease • Gallstones & Ulcer Disease • Indigestion & Heartburn • Malabsorption • Liver Disease • Pancreatic Disorders • Digestive Disorders • Capsule Endoscopy
Seema A. Dar, MD, FACG •Board Certified Gastroenterologist www.sagidoc.com
19284 Stone Oak Pkwy • 210.268.0124
Stone Oak Dermatology “Experienced Care With The Personal Touch” Solo Private Practice
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Center for Healthy Skin
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109 Gallery Circle, Suite 135 • (210) 494-0504
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NO SEASON HAS TO BE
ALLERGY SEASON! Stone Oak Allergy 155 Sonterra Blvd., Ste. 101 San Antonio, TX 78258
Amanda Trott-Gregorio, MD Specializing in allergy, asthma, and immunology diagnosis, testing, and treatment for adults and children.
Same day appointments available. Call today!
www.stoneoakallergy.com • 210.494.0690
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Amazing Angie By Erin Kirwan e are never prepared to learn someone we care about has cancer. A few months ago I was standing in line at Dunkin Donuts thinking about the pumpkin latte I’d soon be sipping, when I saw this big smile beckoning me. She must think I’m someone else, I thought. So I glanced over my shoulder but no one was there but me. As I looked again it hit me, it was my friend Angie whom I last saw about a year ago while shopping at Steinmart. Our sons and daughters had attended preschool together. This couldn’t be Angie. This woman was wearing a scarf on her head. But the woman’s big infectious smile told me otherwise. That sense of unpreparedness rushed in. Tears filled me eyes. I didn’t know. I hadn’t heard. “It’s okay,” she said. “I have cancer.” My 37-year-old friend was fighting breast cancer. Angie went on to tell me about her diagnosis. Despite having a mom who fought breast cancer, she had been cleared not to get a mammogram until she was 40. But something deep inside Angie told her to go sooner. The mammogram found stage two breast cancer. While I wanted to sulk and say I’m sorry over and over, Angie wanted no part. The pity party was long over and she was in the business of kicking some cancer butt. Angie was to be a model in an upcoming Girls Night Out Fashion Show & Fundraiser. She had also volunteered to model for a unique Savvy Media project with a local boutique, encouraging women to not just be beautiful, but to do beautiful things. Life had handed Angie some pretty sour lemons and she was making lemonade. But that’s not to say Angie wasn’t feeling bad or didn’t have her moments. As I helped her pick out outfits to model, Angie talked more about how she was feeling. She was midway through chemotherapy. She was tired. The chemo and stress made her bloated. Her clothes weren’t fitting well. I probably should have kept my mouth shut but that’s difficult for me when I am attached to someone or something. So I told Angie about Pilates and how it had helped me not only look how I wanted to look, but get through a period of anxiety in my own life. I suggested, if she was up for it and the doctor thought it was safe, she could give it a try. Angie didn’t laugh. She didn’t run away. She said, “okay”. Angie texted me the following day and said she had discussed Pilates with her wellness nurse and team of doctors and been given the okay to begin. Angie signed up at Papillon Pilates. Papillon, in French, means butterfly. Climbing on a bed with springs and straps and all kinds of hooks to “exercise” would have scared my friend a year ago, but I guess when you are fighting for your life, you no longer spend a long time contemplating things or being afraid. So Angie jumped right in, feet first into resistance straps placed overhead. If she hadn’t been wearing a scarf on her head (which she always matches so beautifully with her outfits, including workout clothing), you would never know this woman curling her body up was in the midst
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Life had handed Angie some pretty sour lemons when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She decided to fight back and made some pretty delicious lemonade along the way.
of fighting cancer. Angie’s movements were strong. Her mindset was even stronger. Though the exercises weren’t easy at first, Angie forged forward. Like a race horse with blinders who can only focus on the finish, Angie continued to come to class determined. After one month, the exercises became more routine. Her body, growing longer and leaner, began to stretch in ways it hadn’t before. Angie was beginning to not only see but feel results. When I asked her how she felt, a tiny smile. That one that Angie never seems to lose even among trying times, formed again in the corner of her mouth. “My joint pain has disappeared, my muscles no longer ache and I feel like I have more energy,” Angie said. Energy Angie needed to fight cancer. Today, almost two months postradiation, a stronger, leaner, more confident, happier, and cancer-free Angie can still be found legs raised and core engaged … on a reformer. Many days I am honored to land in a class next to my friend. I watch her move through exercises beautifully, gracefully, like a butterfly, transformed by an uncertain journey. That fear and sadness I unexpectedly came face to face with when running into Angie those months before, has been replaced by pride, admiration, and thankfulness. When life handed Angie cancer she chose to fight it … fiercely.
April 2015 • Welcome Home • 78258