I went to my first yoga class recently. My husband gave me a gift certificate. I think it’s his way of getting me out of the house and away from the Home Shopping Network.

Every day I am killing cancer! That is my motto since being told to ‘get my affairs in order’ over nine years ago. I was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer with multiple bone mets on a dark December day. I was 26 at the time and my daughter Sydney was 14 months old. Unable to accept that fate, my family helped me find some new doctors and tackle the disease head on. The very next day I found myself on the phone with a doctor who told me; “Start drinking green tea and eating lots of fruits and vegetables and we’ll start killing cancer on Monday.” How’s that for hope?

They say clothes make a man but what do they do for a woman? Does dressing sexy really make you sexy? I was thinking about this the other weekend when I was getting ready to do the unthinkable -- leave the house. These days I’d been staying close to the TV, spending time with Netflix. So, when I got a call from a few friends who wanted to shoot pool, I figured, why not? The girls (“Saving Grace” and “The Closer”) can wait.

The adventure continues...

After the competition I joined up with Dan, Ethan, Bonnie (my mom), Pam (Dan's mom), Al (my assistant coach and teammate), Dr. Summers (my Chiropractor and massage therapist) and his wife LeAnne and son Sean for a wonderful dinner at the Bank of America "hometown hopefuls". Greg Bishop of the New York Times joined us as we reflected on the days events. His article made the front page of the sports page! Check it out...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/sports...

I finished my last heavy workout yesterday. I'm not allowed to give numbers but it was a very good day. I have done all the hard work and now it is time to rest and get ready to compete. As of now there is only an A session for my weight class which is great news. There are only 10 women and no Chinese girl entered in my weight class. Again, great news.

The opening ceremonies will be at 8:08 p.m. on 08/08/08. You'll have to check the local channels for when they will show it. Beijing is 15 hours ahead of Seattle. I compete on the 10th at 3:30 p.m. Beijing time.

PART 1
Kelley Howard: Mexico Lap-Band Experience
http://www.empowher.com/share/weight-man...

PART 2
When we last left off, I had undergone a lap-band procedure in Mexico and was suffering from some pretty awful on-going side-effects.

TUESDAY, July 22 (HealthDay News) -- Patients with hepatitis C who receive a liver from a donor over age 60 aren't at an increased risk for transplant failure, death or recurrent disease within five years after transplantation, say researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine, in St. Louis.

They analyzed data from 489 adults who had liver transplants at the school between 1997 and 2006. Of those patients, 187 (38.2 percent) had hepatitis C and 302 (61.8 percent) had other indications for liver transplant.

READ PART 1
http://empowher.com/share/weight-managem...

READ PART 2
http://empowher.com/news/weight-manageme...

READ PART 3

Back pain is one of the most prevalent reasons people seek health care. Millions of working days and countless hours of activity and fun are lost each year due to back pain.

Any woman in her reproductive years who intends to get pregnant or who is pregnant should be aware of the importance of a perfect thyroid balance for good pregnancy outcome. The negative effects of thyroid imbalance on pregnancy is more often related to low thyroid than to hyperthyroidism, simply because hypothyroidism is much more common than hyperthyroidism. The most common thyroid related issues that can affect reproduction are: