Topic: For Older People with Sense

Mar 23, 2011 02:20 AM chrissyb wrote:

Hi Valerie nice to meet you!  Thank you for joining me.

Mar 23, 2011 02:36 AM 3jaysmom wrote:

hey chrissy, ya surprised me gal! how wonderful, another thread with us old(er) gals.. i know valjean, and sheila, i think you also know me from another thread. im just breathing deeply, like Val Jean said, and feeling quite liberated tonight..

 i have 3 sons (they are the jays) and two very beloved grandkids, whom i live for.. literally!

   the last month of my chem was spent waiting for my grandaughter to arrive, and i had just finished, and that was my reward!!!

   so, welcome welcome ladies, im so glad were here. thank you, chrissy, for starting a new, fresh outlook!   3jaysmom

Mar 23, 2011 03:02 AM mostlymom wrote:

I am in my own little world & am looking for guidance, understanding, hugs, tears, the full range of emotions to help take me out of myself.  I can handle suggestions & advice - believe me, my mind is so open things are falling out all over the place...  I am still in limbo land waiting for pathology from my lumpectomy & node surgery last wednesday.  My daughter went through this at age 32 & is a 12 year survivor.  My mother went through this at age 50 & was a 34 year survivor when she was taken by colon cancer.  My brother passed away at age 70 with brain cancer.  It is a big monster in our family.  My docs still won't release me for work but I also know I'm not physically or emotionally ready for work yet either.  Just sitting in one spot spinning & spinning.  I'm looking forward to this new thread.

Love, Martha

Mar 23, 2011 03:11 AM chrissyb wrote:

Hi Martha, sorry I missed you.  You obviously posted while I was typing.  You are really in the worst part of this whole journey IMHO.  The waiting for answers is the hardest thing I thing I've ever done but believe me, once those answers are presented and your treatment plan is made, things do get better as you feel that you are resuming some control over your life.  Knowing the cancer history of you family is a difficult thing to always have in the back of your mind.  ((((((Hugs)))))) are coming your way, and please, do let us know how you get on.  Come often and just join in and ask any question you like.

Peace, strength, love n hugs.  Chrissy

Mar 23, 2011 06:28 AM chrissyb wrote:

Oh Alyson, I know it's a bit late in the day but I do want to wish you a Happy Birthday!  I hope you really enjoyed your dinner with your brother and two little drinks for a special occasion never hurt anyone.  Hope you had thre best day!

Love n hugs.  Chrissy

Mar 23, 2011 07:38 AM Marybe wrote:

Good Morning Ladies,  Women with sense....that is what I need, nice calm women with sense.  I am starting think I am totally losing my memory and am hoping it is chemo and not just due to the fact I am 61.  Woke up this morning thinking Oh great, I forgot to use the prescribed eye ointment AGAIN!  It's not doing me a lot of good in the tube.  And I find I do the same thing with taking pills( or I should say not taking them)  more and more. Today is treatment day so I am going to ask the onco about this.  IF I remember to ask him and probably won't unless I take a list with me, but usually I forget my list. LOL. 

I have been at this for a long time as you can see from my bio, but I still need support and advice and just a place to unload from time to time just like everyone else so I look forward to posting here. I have found that regardless of age or the Stage we are at, when it comes to breast cancer, we are all in the same boat.  Thank you for the new thread Chrissy. 

Mar 23, 2011 08:13 AM dogsandjogs wrote:

I would love to join too.  I woke up at 3 this morning and couldn't go back to sleep.  Not because I'm worried about my cancer (unless indirectly)  because I had a lumpectomy, decided to skip rads (I'm 75) and am planning to start Aromasin. So that is  being taken care of.

No, I'm sleepless in So. CA because I went to the bank today to point out an error; they were reluctant to fix it and I was ready to cave.  But then I went on the Internet and proved that I was right. So I'm going to go see them today and point it out to them. And it is stressing me out big time! 

 I consider myself a fairly strong person; raised two kids by myself for 12 years, have run a dozen marathons, have had 4 or 5 surgeries (not involving cancer) and a breast cancer 28 years ago (plus the current diagnosis)

So why now am I stressing out over every small thing?  It is as if my ability to handle anything, small or large, is completely gone.

Any of you feel the same way?

Mar 23, 2011 08:32 AM dogsandjogs wrote:

Thanks BarbaraA

It helps to know I'm not alone feeling this way. 

Mar 23, 2011 09:08 AM apple wrote:

am I older? I'll be a senior citizen in a month or so.

I applaud the 'women with sense'.  I don't know why people like to argue on the internet..  negative discussion is so prevalent here lately, or maybe I've just been here a while and am becoming in tune with it.  BCO of all places should embrace civility as a hallmark and I wish you all well.

Mar 23, 2011 09:13 AM, edited Mar 23, 2011 09:20 AM by chrissyb

Hi srbreastcancersurvivor you are very welcome.  I know you are feeling pretty bad at this point but that is perfectly normal.  As Barb has said, perhaps you need a little counceling to help you through this rough patch and of course, you can come here for support and love and any information that we can give.

Hi Barb, good to see you.

Hi Chabba, good to see you to.

Hi Lostcreek, glad to see you.  We cross posted so I'm editing to add.  I thought it time to draw a line and call enough!

Ooops, sorry Apple I missed you completely!  Good to see you.

Mar 23, 2011 10:13 AM dogsandjogs wrote:

Marybe:  I get forgetful too.  I think it is because we have so much on our minds that we get kind of overloaded.  If I'm stressing about something I have to really pay attention to what I'm doing or I'll do dumb things like putting the garbage in the fridge and the food in the thrash can. Yes, I've done that. I have to take 6 pills daily and mark them on my calendar as I take them.  Even doing that, I almost took one of the dogs' pills one day.  It was a phenobarbitol so maybe it would just have relaxed me!

Bottom line, I write everything down on my calendar. If I write on anything else I forget where I put it!

Mar 23, 2011 10:24 AM dogsandjogs wrote:

duckyb:

I hope you'll keep us posted about your radiation experience.  I've decided to skip it, but if the Aromasin doesn't work I may have to do it.  Glad to see you on this site!!

Mar 23, 2011 10:44 AM, edited Mar 23, 2011 10:47 AM by chrissyb

Welcome Mandy and Ducky, great to see you here!

Mandy, late blooming is good. I was an early bloomer and now have four grandsons the eldest of which is 15 and I don't turn sixty until December!

Wow Ducky, that's great news so now it's just healing time then onto rads.  They are not so bad, but you do get fatigued so need to remember to rest.  Do you know which hormonal you will be on yet?

Sorry Leah, we cross posted, but welcome and I'm pretty sure there will be no nasty here....ever!

Mar 23, 2011 11:02 AM duckyb1 wrote:

Sr.breastcancersurvivor...........I will keep you informed......it will probably not be for another 4-6 weeks beause of the healing....Honestly I'm not so much concerned about the Radiation therapy as I am the hormonal therapy.........when I read the SE, it makes me kind of worried.....I already have ostopenia....some arthritis.....and a mild heart attack in 07, and some of the things I read are not good news..........I retired from Glaxo Smith Kline pharmaceutical company. 15 years ago, and I worked in marketing research, investigating pipeline drugs, new drugs, and older drugs, so I have seen all the good and bad that they can do..........so I hate prescription meds........Had I taken the cholesterol medicine when I was told too, I probablywould not have had the heart attack, but that is another story.........................I too am one who can't remember to take the medicine I should take......I even have a pill box with  all the days, and specific times to take them, and I still forget.  It has nothing to do with "bad memory", it has to do with putting everything else first....I am so looking forward to the next step...I just want to get this over with.

Some of you ladies know my background, some don't.........for those of you who do, just skip to the bottom of this post.........for those of you who don't, here goes........I am a widow for 19 years..my husband passed away at 57 from Pancreatic cancer.....I have 6 children..3boys, and 3 girls........the oldest is 53, and the youngest is 41.......I have 18 grandchildren ages 28 (twins) down to 10 years old.........2 great-grandaughters (twins) just 2 weeks old.......I live in a small town outside Philly called Drexel Hill...............I have a ranch home which I moved into 3 months ago after downsizing from a huge home.........my sons and son-in-law are builders, and they completely gutted this home and rebuilt it from the ground up.......no stairs, one floor....could not have happened at a better time, although when they told me it was a ranch I was not happy.......I am now...........I also have a home in Cape May Beach, NJ, which I love. ...Can't wait to get down there....my radiation should be finished by the time we are ready to go.....

I have to say for anyone who is just being diagnosed it is probably the worst time you will have in the whole thing..........so far that is what it was for me............as I told most....as soon as I got the phone call to come back for another mammogram I panicked.......everyone tried to tell me "it could be nothing"........not me......I had myself over the toilet bowl, with a bald head, no matter how hard I tried to not thing negative thoughts..............I know that is wrong, I know I should have thought "hey maybe its nothing", but I couldn't, so I would be the last one to say "don't worry"........but as time went on, and I saw each doctor, and went through each step from the diagnosis to the BS, to the Radiation onc, and to the Oncologist (the last person I wanted to talk to)........things began to come together for me..........everything happened so fast before I knew it I was having the biopsy, then the surgery, and then the pathology...........I did get my pathology reports back very quickly...I had most in 2 days, and all in 3days........thank God it was good news, as you can see below, if you can call cancer good news.  It isn't.......So take it a day at a time (right).........I am a "prepare yourself for the worst" type of person, so when the news comes your not surprised if its bad..............but overjoyed if its good............Will I worry about this forever...............absolutely..............My son said "Mom not matter how this turns out you will worry about this"..I said "yes till the day they close the lid"...............but I will not let it destroy what life I have left...........I have a wonderful family...........i always knew they were, but this diagnosis has shown me a side of my children that I can never forget..........I never realized how much love and devotion one person could receive...........Well ladies I hope I haven't bored you with my story............just want to say to the newbies "welcome", you will love it here, and to our "oldies but goodies", hugs, and thanks for the support...

Mar 23, 2011 11:08 AM JudyZK wrote:

thanks!