Best Of
Re: So...whats for dinner?
I appreciate all of your kind words. I know getting older has pitfalls and I hope I have the strength to get both of us to a nice finish-line-landing. Emotionally and physically.
I ended up making tuna melts last night. I'm thawing chicken thighs and unsure what they'll become.
wallycat
Re: Bone Mets Thread
@shanagirl - you had 13 years before the bone mets hit, @xsuzx - you had 8 years. I only managed 3 🙁. @tougholdcrow - I agree that a lot of these pains, as in the sternum, are from all sorts of things and not necessarily mets. I get pain from exercise, inactivity, posture and ergonomic problems, and the weather. My oncologist too, suggested that the pain I have in my sternum, and in the area below it, is likely "multifactorial", so we're just keeping an eye on things. I did have a scan on Veterans Day and they saw nothing "glaring or acute" at that time. Going for routine scans again today (CT and bone with contrast), so we shall see. It's always so scary and stressful!
Re: Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?
I went at noon to get Holter monitor applied. It's four pads on my chest and a small palm sized battery pack connected to 4 leads. Then headed to Acme to pickup some additional items that I couldn't locate at Giant yesterday. I still have to go on Monday to buy ground beef and eggnog for Christmas day. I don't like buying it with a short expiration date. Did also buy some poinsettia's: red, pink and cream with the pink centered leaves.
I did hit Hallmark for cards for my DSIL's birthday, Christmas card for DH and a graduation card for my dear niece's husband. He just graduated from the police academy on Wednesday. It's been a very eventful month for them, since they lost a DF (DSIL) and DGF (niece), he graduated the day after the funeral (overshadowed a bit) and then her Christmas Eve birthday.
This is also the month my DF died 16 years ago. The fathers died within a day of each other and their funerals were also within a day of each other. It was also the month when I was being indoctrinated into the BC debacle. It has taken me 10 years to finally consider putting a tree up again. It's up, but I am not enthralled, it's more for others than me. I used to love Christmas, but not anymore. Long story short, what the radiologist said still rings in my head and it was not empathetic.
I also managed to find a parking spot close to the Sherwin Williams paint store so I could grab the paint for the dining room walls. There are 2 restaurants and other stores in this shopping center and parking is at a premium. The owner was telling me that he is losing business due to the fact there is no parking at times. He should have several dedicated SW parking only, but I am sure people would ignore it anyhow. They even drive next door to the empty Rite-Aid parking lot and walk back. I wanted to get the paint while it was still on sale since it was 30% off. DB said I only needed a gallon, so fingers crossed it is enough. I had DH pickup Glidden ceiling paint yesterday at Home Depot.
carole, I will be doing the lasagna marathon for Christmas day. Since they are so labor intensive, I make a massive one for dinner, one for DS, another for DD, and then at least one for my freezer. Whatever is leftover on Christmas, gets cut into meal size pieces, and then sealed with my seal a meal into individual pouches and put into the freezer. I make the meat sauce either in the oven or microwave in the largest Corning ware container I have and since DSIL doesn't like lasagna, I will cook him some ravioli or spaghetti that he can have with meat sauce. I may have to do the same for DGS.
The deer managed to open one pumpkin and were busy chowing down on it yesterday. I will take a hammer to the second one and hold the others in reserve until we get cold weather again. We are expected to hit 60 today, but at 3:30 it is only 48 degrees with a forecast for thunderstorms accompanied by high winds later.
Deer only have teeth in their lower jaw for biting and grinding plants. They have a hard palate on their upper jaw. So they pinch off plant parts with their lower front teeth and their back teeth are used for grinding. I learn something new everyday. So getting that pumpkin open was a challenge for them. However, they really enjoyed it. I just went out and made a hole in the pumpkin using my meat tenderizer hammer. I was barely back in the kitchen when a doe showed up. Then a second one came. I hope it gets some.
cindyny sorry to hear of the challenges presented by updating to Windows11. My computer and laptop are both too old to update to Windows11. We always backup to an exterior hard drive before we make any major changes and it sounds like this is a good thing. I hope you can recover what you think you have lost. Would it be on the Cloud? I am not a computer expert, so I leave any updates to DH or DS for that reason and have at times given DS remote access to make changes for me.
X-ray reports are back for cervical, thoracic and lumbar spines. The bottom line is that I need a new spine since this one seems hell-bent on collapsing. I have bony and positional changes in all three, but each of the comments sections and impression sections are blank even though the impressions sections say "see comments". I think the PA who ordered them is out of the office until 1/6 and I hate having to wait until then to get answers. Oh, well, my back hurts like the devil whenever I perform repetitive motions, so I am suffering today for ironing yesterday.
The Bipap is a hard adjustment because each night presents with a new challenge. I reread the booklet and did a google search to see if I could get some help. I loosened the mask, and was able to sleep on my back last night for a brief time. When the seal breaks, it emits these fart-like noises, which could wake anyone. I did sleep the best last night, but still don't feel rested. That was the aim of this, restful sleep with less hypopnea episodes and no nocturnal hypoxia. Not sure if I am there yet.
Hope everyone had a great day and waving "hi" to all who are busy. Just noticed my one orchid had one flower open today. It's lovely and Bumblebee is singing away like crazy today. He's happy and so am I.
betrayal
Re: My Husband, My Life, My Love, My Family, My Cancer
@intolight - I am so very sorry to hear about your latest situation too! My gosh, this is all so awful, and at Christmastime too! (I also have my birthday tomorrow.) Like you say, what a terrible Christmas present! Well, I commend you for giving the chemo a try; I don't know if I could/would or not if I was in the same situation - I think I'd have to be in the situation before I would know what I would do. I think it's good that your oncologist is starting you off with a low dose. That should help for sure. She sounds really good and nice. I wish you all the luck in the world with this and I will be "sending vibes out to the universe" and have my fingers crossed 🤞that this will work well for you. Sending a big hug!
@chicagoan - Thank you so very much for the good wishes re my new situation. I'm holding out that it might not be quite as bad as it looks, although I'm sure there is some kind of progression, especially in the liver. I still can't help wondering how much all my arthritis, etc. might have affected some of the scan results though. Well, I'll get a better picture when I see the onc on Dec 31. I really appreciate your nice and very welcome thoughts.
@tougholdcrow - I wish I could accept that hug you are offering and would like to be able to give one right back. It's sure nice of you to offer your sympathies and warm thoughts. Thank you.
Re: My Husband, My Life, My Love, My Family, My Cancer
@intolight, @threetree -Sorry for your disappointing results. Prayers that your new treatments will be tolerable and effective, with many more years of a good quality of life.
Re: My Husband, My Life, My Love, My Family, My Cancer
@threetree, I am sorry to read of this possible progression, but once again we seem to be shadowing each other. I saw my oncologist this morning and she has taken me off oral meds as I have become endocrine resistant. My next step is IV chemo, which I really don't want (who does?) but will try. I told her if it was bad I would stop. She knows QOL is important to me so she will try a low dose with two weeks on and one week off. So, that is my Christmas present…arghh… At least I won't start for another two weeks so I get a little Christmas break.
@mara, you amaze me. I am stressing and mine is just some chemo. Puts things in perspective.
Re: My Husband, My Life, My Love, My Family, My Cancer
I got scan results back from yesterday's CT and bone scans, and they aren't looking good. In the past they've always been relatively stable. These seem to show progression in both liver and bones. The doctor added a note in MyChart saying that he realizes these results don't look good and offered to try and schedule an earlier appointment than our currently scheduled date of Dec 31 to go over all of this, if I wanted to, but he says he thinks Dec 31 should still be OK to talk about this and possible next steps, as the pace of growth is still slow. I told him I could wait until Dec 31st and that yes, the results were very disappointing, to say the least. They did a CT scan in the ER last November on the 11th, and none of this showed up at that time, so I'm really surprised that this seems to have all come on so suddenly. We have had a long stretch of very rainy and damp weather, with lower barometric pressure (caused lots of local floods and road closures), and I think that as always that had already made me very sore and achy - had very sore chest from costochondritis/arthritis type pain, plus general arthritic pain all over. I'm wondering just how they know the difference between cancer causing things to light up versus other things like arthritis. Also, I shivered for an hour solid through the whole bone scan and don't know if that affected anything. I asked the tech if my shivering would cause any problems and he didn't seem to thinks so. I just couldn't stop. Those scan rooms are always cold, because of the machine needs, but I've never shivered through the whole thing before, but yesterday the whole hospital/clinic seemed cold (more rain and dreariness all day) and my friend who went with me was cold too, but she did manage to warm up a bit better than I did. The scan tech thought the whole hospital being so cold was due to the large windows they have there, plus the really bad weather, which made sense to me. Now though, after reading these results, I'm shivering again, and am wondering if the shivering is part of an anxiety/panic reaction. I have never shivered through a scan before, and I also had no idea when I was getting the scan, that the results would look as bad as they do, so I don't think I was any more anxious yesterday than I've been with scans in the past. Anyway, I'll stop. I'm just a rambling mess right now and don't know what to think. It wouldn't surprise me if some of this is progression, but I also can't help wondering about all this weather and arthritis kind of stuff too.
threetree
Re: My Husband, My Life, My Love, My Family, My Cancer
@threetree I wasn't sure when I went into the appointment whether I would accept chemo expecting that is what she would say. A big part of me was ready to say "no" I am done, but I just couldn't not try. I know several ladies who have done well on chemo for a long time and I decided I at least had to try. Also, my DH was with me at my request (he usually doesn't go in) and with him sitting there I just couldn't say I was done even though we discussed this and he told me I didn't have to keep struggling for him. I have been fighting this decision for a long time. Part of me wants to keep all this from my grandkids and just slip away. What is the answer? I don't know.
Re: My Husband, My Life, My Love, My Family, My Cancer
@threetree Thank you, it is just very busy now, got more appointments added including Jan 7 as surgery date. In between the pre admit stuff, there will be another CT and MRI as well. I just want to be done and out of the superbusy time. I really have no choice but to get this out of the way. Once I am cleared, can just walk circles around my hallways near my room like I did last time but wearing sneakers this time.
Also need to bring charging equipment for my phones and tablet with me and get real food brought over when people visit with me.
@shanagirl I admit that I have been dozing a lot on the couch but that is fine, I will make food and cleaning a priority and pack up my little red suitcase to hold everything. I do know fur babies will be in good shape while I am gone. Not sure 3 days is realistic to get in and out like the last time since Jan 7 is surgery and they do not let you out over the weekend. Looking to be at least 5 days. If I do as well as last time, it will be quick.
Re: My Husband, My Life, My Love, My Family, My Cancer
@eleanora Thank you, I am glad to have the support of my family here and in real life. Appointments galore coming up.
I slept all night on couch unbroken, weird but there it is. Feel fine. got laundry, floors, cat area and sink to clear up as usual.
I have two more appointments coming up, pre admit stuff for upcoming surgery. 730 am dec 23 and and 10am dec 30. SIL called with those, problem is that my phone does not ring long enough, think it is only 15 seconds and have not found the right code to make it last for longer so when my phone did not pick up they called her. Oh well.
Again, will keep saying that I will be glad when all the preadmit stuff is done and get down to the actual surgery. My biggest issue for myself is just fatigue, when I was going through this the first time I was hopped up on steroids and no almost 10 years later, it is just a lot. I am still feeling pretty positive currently.
Meal is looking like almost a snack, going to crisp up some black beans in air fryer, once those are done, take queso and heat it up separately. Put beans, some tortilla chips and Doritos crunched up and have as more of a snack type vibe. Thinking of an egg tortilla later.
I do hope everyone has a good day, in pockets for all of us.