6/27/12. .WHAT A HIGH..THIS LIFE! pr

My walk this early a.m. was the greatest!  Of course!  I think that of all my walks!  My head is clear, my legs work!  I feel good!  My MASS of 11 cm has gone down to perhaps a 5cm..You can not find these things in WALMART or  TIFFIANY'S!  Many thanks to the writer Lacey.  Just being here at 6 a.m. to indulge a 79 year old women adds to her status of I Lacey write the best articles.  Thank-you!


(N-J | David Massey)Phyllis Rehmar, who is preparing for breast cancer surgery next month, walks early each day to help clear her mind.
Rehmar is determined not to let age slow her down when it comes to learning new things.

By LACEY McLAUGHLIN STAFF WRITER
Posted in: Health
June 26, 2012
‘EVERY DAY IS A GIFT’
DAYTONA BEACH -- It's less than three weeks before Phyllis Rehmar, 79, will have a cancerous mass removed from her breast. But as the sun crests above the palm trees of her Pelican Bay community, she plows past well-manicured lawns during her daily 4-mile power walk.

As her neighbors sleep in their homes, Rehmar is preparing her body for surgery on July 11. She also walks early each morning to clear her mind for the day.

"I have always embraced every year," said Rehmar as sweat glistened on her face. "Every year is a gift. Every day is a gift. My days are shortened at my age so I try to maximize every day."

Rehmar is determined not to let age slow her down when it comes to learning new things.

At 75, Rehmar enrolled in basic computer classes at Daytona State College to help with the frustration she felt while operating her home computer.

"I didn't even know how to copy and paste," she said.

But when she surveyed her classroom, Rehmar had doubts about whether or not she would succeed -- the majority of her classmates were half her age. With the help of mentors and professors, she decided to press on.

"I wasn't a whiz by any means," she said. "I had to work harder than most of the other students."

Often staying in the computer lab from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Rehmar was determined to master the new technology.

Rehmar is of a growing number of computer-savvy seniors. Earlier this year a study by the Pew Research Center found that 53 percent of American adults 65 and older use the Internet or email on a regular basis and 34 percent of Internet users 65 and older use social networking sites such as Facebook. As a vegetarian and lifelong exerciser, Rehmar said she has always invested in her health. When she reached her 70s, however, Rehmar felt aging women were often left to their own devices when it came to confronting health issues and concerns about aging.

"I looked and I looked and I didn't see much out there about what women over 70 were feeling and going through," Rehmar said.

Her health concerns led her to design and build the website women70andover.com, as a project for her digital imaging class two years ago.

"I wanted an outlet for women to share their stories about aging and learn from each other," she said. Rehmar, who is a painter, used Adobe Illustrator to create artwork for the site. The website also features stories by women older than 70 as they reflect on their lives.

Last year, Rehmar added a blog to the website about her own daily health struggles. The blog took on new meaning recently when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in February and her husband Bill Johnson, 83, had to undergo emergency open-heart surgery in April.

As she coped with her own diagnosis, she also had to help her husband through six weeks of physical therapy and recovery.

"When people say I'm brave it's just that they haven't been there yet," she said. "It's not that I'm brave; it's that they haven't had the opportunity to be brave yet but, unfortunately, they will."

Later that morning, Rehmar and her husband head to Daytona State College to meet with computer lab specialist Michele Balfour about taking additional classes. During their visit, Rehmar learns that she had earned enough credits to receive an associate's degree of science in webcast media with a 3.4 grade point average.

"This is amazing. How many did times did I come in here saying I can't do this?" Rehmar asked Balfour. Rehmar's tenacity and dedication impressed the staff at DSC, Balfour said.

"All she needed was a little extra time with her teachers, she was always smart enough to do it," Balfour said.

With her academic goals behind her, Rehmar is quick to move to the next one: getting her health back on track.

"When some people get older, they stop planning," she said. "I always try to have a new goal in front of me and Bill, and I never leave for a cruise without knowing when the next one is going to be."

As she waits to meet her surgeon, Dr. Joe Bianchi, at Twin Lakes Medical Center, Rehmar is armed with a list of questions she has been preparing about the procedure. By attending breast cancer support groups and taking time to research, Rehmar said she had learned to be her biggest advocate.

"I've learned that breast cancer and the fears that go with it are different for women based on what age they get it," she said.

During the appointment, Rehmar's surgeon introduces the possibility of undergoing a

lumpectomy instead of a total mastectomy as originally planned. But that can only happen if the tumor has shrunk to 2 centimeters or smaller. Rehmar now awaits the results of an MRI to determine the size of the mass.

The possibility of a new procedure brings about new questions for Rehmar. The most important one is which option will help maximize the years she has left, she said.

"This means more readings, more diggings, more talks with doctors and more decisions for Bill and me," she wrote in the June 22 entry on her blog. "We are for the easy pass, for ..that's all I could copy!
I am going to take my cancer and go home! Hugs, phyllis 05/06/1933
drop a line at  phyllisreh@aol.com   www.women70andover.com    and hit the blog button  ...that ought to do it!