The Rosa Chronicles: The Ups, the Downs, and the Wardrobe Changes

It has been a while since I last wrote, and a lot has been going on. It would probably take me several blog entries to describe it all, but I will try to summarize it.   So here we go: DrPH program – In this   entry at the beginning of the year, I wrote about applying for a DrPH program. I was very excited and looked forward to being accepted. Well, time kept going by and I did not receive any news, so I finally decided to call and ask. It turns out that I was not accepted into the program. I was one of 130 international applicants for only 15 spots in the program. 130 for 15 spots, imagine! Had I known that was the case, I would have never bothered to apply given the high stakes of being accepted. I was waiting to receive official notification, but since that never came from them, I am making this the official notification that it did not happen. I was a bit down at first, but then I realized that: 1) there were 115 other people out there that were not selected either...

More than 10 years ago I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. I was not surprised - diabetes had been a part of my life ever since I could remember. My brother José, 10 years older than me, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was 9 years old. As I grew older, I found out that a sister of mine whom I did not get to meet had died of complications related to diabetes at age 3. Years later, my 5 year old niece was also diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, and my own mother received her Type 2 diagnosis soon after we moved to Chicago. To me, it was just a matter of time until I was diagnosed. My diagnosis came as a result of my inability to lose weight. I had joined a gym, hired a trainer, made some changes to my eating habits, and yet, I was not able to lose much weight. Concerned, I went to my doctor and explained my symptoms. She recommended a battery of tests which came back with a diagnosis of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) . PCOS, in turn, is associated with diabetes. I had man...

It has been a while since I last wrote something. Somehow the end of a year does something to my mood and it takes me a while to recuperate, and I still don't get enough energy to get back into routines, any type of routines. It is hard to believe that another year came to an end. It feels as if I had barely started working on my goals for the year, and then, boom, we welcomed a new year. Why is it that time goes by so fast? I remember being young and thinking that a year lasted, well, a whole year. Now, a year feels like it last about 6 months or less. So, as many people do at this time, I was faced with the issue of setting resolutions for the new year. Ay, qué dilema!  Was I really ready to do this? Was it even necessary? After much thought, I decided that resolutions were not for me. Instead, I would rather continue working on what I had already started. Take for example my desire to go back to school. Approximately a year ago I decided that I wanted to go back to school ...

After that wonderful Hawaiian vacation, we came back to reality and the daily routines. We all had some adjustments to make, particularly with the jet lag, but me, with my insomnia, it took me a bit longer to get back on track. And to top it off, I only had about a week and a half to get adjusted, as I had to pack again to attend the United States Conference on AIDS (USCA) 2013, which was taking place in New Orleans, LA. I was very excited to go to USCA. It was going to be a great opportunity to network with colleagues in the HIV/AIDS field, many of whom I had met in 2012 at the  XIX International AIDS Conference , which took place in Washington, DC. Last year, I was selected by the National Latino AIDS Action Network (NLAAN) to be an Embajadora  at the conference. As an Embajadora (Ambassador), I covered various of the conference sessions and shared this information through a blog and other social media outlets, like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  Some other peop...

I knew it when I saw the name on my phone screen. "Rosa? This is Dr. Nance." Before she continued, I said "They found something." "Yes," she said. "The mammogram shows something on your right breast. You need to come in for more tests." Wait, what? Did she just said "right breast"?  "That is weird," I told Dr. Nance, trying to keep my composure, "because I found something on my left breast, but nothing on the right one." A couple of days before my scheduled annual mammogram, I was doing a self-examination and found a lump by my left armpit. I asked Andrew to check it out; since I have been working out and doing weights, I thought perhaps it was a muscle; but there was definitively something in there. I was glad my appointment was scheduled for the following Saturday. "What is next," I asked. Dr. Nance said that I had to go in for more diagnostic tests and that she was going to include both both ...

This week, on Monday, I started my leave from CALOR, the organization I founded, after 21 years of uninterrupted services. After consulting with my husband, who has always been supportive, and my doctor, we determined that I needed a break to focus on my health and my family, and to decide what to do in the future. I have been feeling burned out. Overwhelmed with shifts in funding and other changes that I could not control, but that nevertheless affected me. I have been feeling torn between being able to provide direct services and being buried in paperwork, that, while important, it can be cumbersome. At the end of the day, I was feeling drained, but not the kind of drain you feel when you accomplish something good. It was a feeling of having been doing a lot and still not having done much. I have always taken pride of having an organized desk, and suddenly my desk was covered with papers and files and reports...I felt defeated. I was losing patience with simple things like emails; ...

You know that feeling of trying on a new piece of clothing, expecting the worse, and then being pleasantly surprised? Well, yeah, it happened to me. One of the first signs of the changes happening to my body. Or better put, of the changes I am creating for my body. And I am loving it. On February 2nd, it was the Thodos Dance Chicago  "21 Club" Gala, and since my daughter Ileana is a dancer with the company's Youth Ensemble, we went to the event. It was a black and white cocktail event, and I wanted to wear something new and nice. So there I go shopping with my ever-supporting and patient husband, who helped me select a good amount of dresses to try on. I was prepared for the worst; I generally come out frustrated when things are too tight (yes, I do buy them my size, and still...), or just don't look altogether. But, oh, what a pleasant surprise when I tried on dress after dress and most of them looked really good! At the end of the try-on session, I had 4 dresses...

On Sunday, on my 4th consecutive day going to the 1st floor to workout, I was very proud of myself. I had started working out in December, on and off, but that week, that week I had been consistent and had kept my commitment on working out. I had already started seeing small changes in my body. My legs, which have always responded to exercise pretty fast, were beginning to feel strong again; the flabbiness was beginning to melt! And I had begun to feel muscles in my belly that I did not even remember existed thanks to some abs work that I was doing. And when I hopped into the scale and saw that I had lost 3 lbs. in the two weeks since I had last weighed myself that was all I needed. I was pumped! Yeah! I was going to get this done! It was going to happen! Along with my husband, who has been training me, I drew the plan for the upcoming week:  chest on Tuesday, arms on Wednesday, shoulders on Thursday, all followed by 40 minutes minimum of cardio. 1 mile, 327 calo...