Best Of
Re: My Husband, My Life, My Love, My Family, My Cancer
love to all. Popping in to say hi. Going to bed or I’d update everyone on my daughter. She got a double mastectomy and recovery is terrible. She was with me at home for a month recovering. She’s brave and the plastic surgeon did a great job. But now it’s radiation time. She has more chemo coming as well. Does Herceptin make you ladies sick? She’s nervous. I hate cancer. I think if you all. Mae great news. So glad. Hi Tanya. See you all soon.
micmel
Re: How long have you been Stage IV?
good morning everyone :)
I’ve been experiencing more fatigue and joint pain than usual. I just feel my whole body needs real “rest” and a good massage. Tbh I thought it might be progression in my bones but after reading what you shared I’m thinking maybe it’s just SE.
I removed my ovaries beginning of May as a preventative measure so I stopped Zoladex and I’m only taking Faslodex shots now. I already developed osteoporosis and osteopenia early this year.
Wishing you a great day ♥️
Re: I say YES. YOU say NO....Numero Tre! Enjoy!
BREAKING: The three liberal Supreme Court justices release a scathing dissent after the Republican-controlled judges issue an anti-LGBTQ ruling that "ushers in a new reality" that will deny children the "opportunity to practice living in our multicultural society."
This is only the third time that Sonia Sotomayor has read her dissent from the bench, indicating strong disapproval...
"Exposing students to the ‘message’ that LGBTQ people exist, and that their loved ones may celebrate their marriages and life events, the majority says, is enough to trigger the most demanding form of judicial scrutiny," Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote, supported by justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
The ruling was made in favor of a group of parents who want to opt their children out of elementary school lessons that include LGBTQ storybooks. The case will now go back to a lower court for final decision on whether schools must provide such an opt-out option.
Thanks to the Republican justices, school districts must now inform parents in advance of the books being read in class and allow them to pull their children if they choose. For underfunded schools, this additional burden will be too much to bear. It adds administrative costs and distracts teachers who are already struggling to teach overcrowded classrooms. Taken in tandem with the Trump administration's efforts to completely eliminate the Department of Education, it's a grim omen of things to come.
Crucially, the decision is a blatant handout to the religious radicals who helped put Donald Trump in power, which in turn tilted the court even more conservative. Such people want to pretend that LGBTQ people don't even exist.
"Given the great diversity of religious beliefs in this country, countless interactions that occur every day in public schools might expose children to messages that conflict with a parent’s religious beliefs. If that is sufficient to trigger strict scrutiny, then little is not," Sotomayor continued.
She predicted that the decision will cause "chaos for this Nation’s public schools."
"Requiring schools to provide advance notice and the chance to opt out of every lesson plan or story time that might implicate a parent’s religious beliefs will impose impossible administrative burdens on schools,” she continued. "The harm will not be borne by educators alone: Children will suffer too. Classroom disruptions and absences may well inflict long-lasting harm on students’ learning and development."
"Worse yet, the majority closes its eyes to the inevitable chilling effects of its ruling,” she went on. “Many school districts, and particularly the most resource strapped, cannot afford to engage in costly litigation over opt-out rights or to divert resources to tracking and managing student absences. Schools may instead censor their curricula, stripping material that risks generating religious objections."
"The Court’s ruling, in effect, thus hands a subset of parents the right to veto curricular choices long left to locally elected school boards," she added. "Because I cannot countenance the Court’s contortion of our precedent and the untold harms that will follow, I dissent.”
Re: Birads 5 with calcification
Thank you so much for getting back to me. I really admire your strength. Honestly, I think facing all of this would be so much easier if my kids weren’t in the picture. My youngest is only six, and she’s incredibly sensitive. She doesn’t know what’s going on, of course, but every so often she’ll ask me to promise I’ll never leave her. It breaks my heart to think that she could lose her mom at such a young age. Children need their mothers more than anything. no one will ever love them the way I do.
If this turns out to be stage 4, I’ll carry a lot of guilt for not catching it sooner. I don’t know if I have the strength to face years of uncertainty and fear, constantly wondering how much time I have left. Everyone around me believes I’m the strong one, but the truth is, I’m really struggling right now.
Re: Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?
Some other additions for the day. Mainly, we did get a sm. rain a short while ago. Wasn't much, but it did cool it down. We are at 80 degrees right now — way cooler than it has been for some time. It is due to rain some more later, and actually three more days. Well, that's a wait and see thing around here. I likely would not mind though — this time.
The other thing I'd likely forget to mention is that I am on water restriction. I have decided though since my blood pressure is almost never low like it was, that I might be able to get the restriction lifted. I went for a couple yrs. often with morning blood pressure of maybe 70/30 — so I often would be swollen back then. Finally because I did some PT and over time was able to get my ejection fraction (in mid 20's) back up to normal along with being able to tolerate a lot more activities, it seemed my low blood pressure got far better. I still take my blood pressure before taking heart meds (those tend to drop the pressure) but I really can't recall how long it's been since I didn't feel I was fine to medicate.
Interestingly enough before my mitral valve surgery I had high blood pressure and was on three meds for it. Afterwards, my blood pressure was down and I was able to be rid of all high pressure meds. Of course, they were replaced with heart meds but I feel I am finally close to normal for overall blood pressure issues. My only thing has been trying to adjust to be a 'heart' patient now. I miss not working anymore although I am gong to be 80 soon so likely by now I would not be working anyway.
I do expect to be on salt restriction and possibly some water as well. But we may be able to work with some of the numbers since it seems forever that I've not had blood pressure so low that I had to wait to take heart meds. I feel fairly good all the time despite just having had about of dysentery — which is why it made things so icky the other day going to Walmart after the Dr.'s ofc to pick up my needed prescriptions.
Re: Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?
I don't get here everyday but two earlier posts caught my eye -
Jackie, remember to keep hydrated with the heat. A lot of medicines that we older folks take can also lead to dehydration so when the temperatures go up, it adds to the risk. You certainly don't want to fall. I also carry ice water in my car, even if I'm not going far.
Betrayal - I'm laughing at your "disappearing husbands" as I have one too. I have a marriage certificate that says my gg grandmother married a second time after her first spouse died. However, in 1900, she lists herself as a widow and he is back in New Hampshire (where she originally came from too) with another wife. I've never found a divorce certificate and am still looking for more proof that there was a divorce or that he really was a bigamist. You're right! We lost a lot when we lost the 1890 census.
Sounds like a lot of hugs are needed. Holding you all tight. I had a bad winter but am feeling both physically and mentally stronger now and I hope that all of you who are troubled right now will feel the same way soon.
1946taco
Re: how about drinking?
Good Morning, Loungettes! Happy Saturday! Yesterday's tour didn't go so well. The building is very large, with lots of walking between the apartments and the common areas. I was really surprised that the independent living dining room had assigned seating. I was even more surprised to see a full sized tub/shower instead of a walk in shower in the one apartment we looked at. I was not surprised to hear that they do NOT have open apartments like we've been told. Unless the openings are in assisted living, and at $300 a day, that is totally out of reach. I'm going to put Mom on the waiting list, but I doubt anything will open up there any quicker than at the place she wants to go to. I'm going to work on getting her signed up for any more places that I can find, too, and hope something opens up soon, as Mom wants to get out of the current apartment and way from the landlord, who has been avoiding both of us for the last couple of weeks. Then we went out to lunch and then Mom got her hair cut, and on the way home we ran across a Farmer's Market. We picked up some really yummy and BIG cinnamon rolls, Mom got some apple butter and rhubarb, I got some peach jelly. Got to chat with some really nice people, too.
Had the first thunderstorm of the season this ayem, if you can call one roll of thunder a storm! Got some pretty good rain, too. Temps back in the 50s this ayem. Gotta love the weather rollercoaster ride!
Illi--WOW, what a nice snack and great view! The peach wine sounds really nice, too! Thanks for sharing.
Maggie--I agree!
Miriandra--I like an occasional Dark and Stormy, too. I don't think I've tried an Old Fashioned, yet. Need to do that someday soon.
Illi--I can see where a few rules would be worth the view in your situation. It must be something to see. Do you ever see the Northern Lights at the cabin or are you too far south?
Miriandra--beautiful blossoms, especially the snapdragon!
Cactus Flower
Ingredients
• Tequila: 2 oz(60ml)
• Pineapple juice: 2 oz(60ml)
• Lime juice: 1 oz(30ml)
• Agave nectar: 1 oz(30ml)
RecipeFill a shaker with ice.
- Add the tequila, pineapple juice, lime juice, and agave nectar.
- Shake well until the outside of the shaker becomes frosty.
- Strain into a highball glass filled with ice.
- Garnish with a pineapple wedge and a cherry.
From
Re: Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?
Happy birthday, Cindy!
Taco & Cowgirl, glad things are beginning to to look up. Carole, I remember grousing at the end of May about not yet being able to put my puffer jacket away. Be careful what you wish for: until today the heat index was over 100, and will be again on Sunday (severe storms, too). Canarycat, we're glad to see Toews rejoining the NHL (after 2 years recovering from CFS) but crushed that he's spurning the Blackhawks for his hometown Winnipeg Jets. When he lived in Lincoln Park he was the neighbor of my late friend Maryjane—and was so helpful to her after her mobility began to take a nosedive. The Blackhawks tonight drafted a mountain of a guy from Sweden, said to have the best shot in this year's draft class.
Betrayal, I don't know how you do it—with limited ROM in your knee, gardening so amazingly!
Today was our 54th anniversary. Went to Morton's up in Northbrook, and despite being very careful not to over-order we still hauled home leftovers. I'm eating a bit less these days (not just because of Zepbound) because I'm on Keflex, which gives me a hair-trigger gastro-colic reflex. I'm supposed to hydrate more than normal, but evey sip of anything sends me dashing to the loo. This is all because an epidermoid cyst I've had on my upper back for over a year—and was asymptomatic as recently as 6/6 so my derm said "if it doesn't bother you we wont bother it"—suddenly enlarged, got itchy and reddened over the past few days. Urgent Care put me on Keflex (and has me doing heat 20 min. on, 4x/day) but warned me that sooner or later I'll have to return to the derm to have it (ugh) incised & drained. Just what I need now, what with beginning to ferry stuff from here in Lincolnwood back to our house and sparring with contractors & subs. Last thing I need is having to worry about dressing changes (in an inaccessible place), popping sutures, and further infection. Hoping to hold out till we're finally settled back in. "Deja vu all over again" (a Berra-ism): last year at this time I had a biopsy on my upper arm that turned out to be squamous cell—but had to wait to have it excised till we'd fully moved from our hotel to here. (And that move was just a few suitcases, boxes, and the kitties).
Yesterday we went up to Abt to try out beds—I insisted Bob lie down on them. He hates the mattress in this house because it's so firm. We ended up buying an open-box Beautyrest split-king medium-firm with adjustable base. (The whole shebang, including protector, cost less than a new mattress right out of the box). The other three mattresses—second BR (used to be Gordy's room), daybed in front room, attic guest room—are twins; only the one in the second BR needs to be high-quality plush-top. That one we'll probably buy from Hassle-Less; the other two from Macy's or Bob's Discount (or even Ikea).
Tomorrow at noon I have a guitar gathering up in Algonquin—friends from the Acoustic Guitar Forum. I'm usually the one pressed into service doing vocals.
chisandy
Re: How long have you been Stage IV?
Ive been metastatic for 13 years and was de novo. I was 56 years old. Im still going strong with my kids, grandkids, DH, travel and friends and family. It’s been a good life and I look forward to many years ahead, thanks to Herceptin, which I’ve been on the whole time.
lynn1234