Best Of
Re: Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?
I am a dog-person. Owning a cat is fine if you have problems with mice. Dogs are high-maintenance but it can get fun. Late afternoon, we had just gotten home from a walk. I had run out of points for the day. He kept pestering me with "bike-ride", "ouch-owie", "walk", "please", "did", "pee", "fairgrounds", and "chase". I kept telling him "no more walk, mama tired, no more fairgrounds, fairgrounds hot." His message was "Remember, this morning we went to the fairgrounds and I ran alongside you on the bike? I am no longer scared of the bike wheel. I don't like riding in the basket, it is uncomfortable. But I can run alongside you, and you can rest on the bike." So I rode and he ran. I think he needs a bunch more words now. LOL! Just "remember", "run", and "scared" would have made that a lot easier. On the list.
Jackie, that fence is going to be beautiful. So nice that you live in a place where you can have a fence like that. They promised us a dog area last fall, but had some higher-priority projects that came up, like new picnic tables.
Cindy, I can just imagine your blonde ear. Jackie, your reference to someone else had me grinning, almost as widely as the Pope. It is fun to have accidents like that and have people make a double-take. Our school principal has dark hair with teal and dark red lights. Then there is me with my clothing from saris. I have a small one coming with a pastel floral design. But I have six full ones that are uncut, and bunches of large pieces. Really upset that I can't do any sewing right now. My supplier is a silk-lover in Australia, who orders boxes of them from India, sorts through them and her stash, and sells what she does not love. She even treasures the mulberry tree in her yard, although she displays what she is selling on her clothesline.
My TV stand is the coffee-table my parents had when I was a kid. A bit low to the floor, but with a futon, I don't care.
Kitty, I love the cake. Much more healthy. Just reminded me that when it rains and the temp drops later today, I can make my cake with coconut milk. Yummy!!
I got my hair cut on Monday. Time for a picture, I guess. I need to move my wall-hangings but can't do it right now. The picture is flipped.
The arrow is Mary on a dinner-napkin trimmed with lace. Didn't realize where it was pointing. LOL!
mcbaker
Re: My Husband, My Life, My Love, My Family, My Cancer
Update on me…..
Scans are stable again. To continue Lynparza/Lupron/Xgeva. I am stopping Lupron after the next dose though. I will be 55 years old in October, and my last MO said to stop Lupron after 55. I asked my current MO about starting an AI with the Lynparza after that, but he said he didn't think it would help me, as my 2021 liver biopsy showed ER- (but it was PR+). I don't know if I agree with him. But I guess I will just take the Lynparza alone and continue to monitor scans.
He said his patient that holds the record is 23 years MBC. I asked if bone-only, and he said she had liver involvement too. I will be 8 years MBC in September.
I am reading along at all your posts. And saying HI to all.
Re: Birads 5 with calcification
I have a similar story, scaredme—and it predated my bc diagnosis. In 2004 when I was 53, shortly after returning from a flight on which I caught a cold, I woke up one morning and found that music on TV—commercials, themes, etc.—sounded tinny, sour and completely off-key. Vocals and instrumentals sounded like they were in different keys, in the same song! My best Martin guitar sounded like a cheap solidbody electric that wasn't plugged in. And stuff sounded a quarter-step flatter in my L ear than my R. That weekend I had 2 gigs (plugged in, and miked so I could hear myself sing and ignore the fact that the guitar sounded off) and a large-group recording session for the anniversary of "Give Peace a Chance" (I was assigned to play dulcimer and be part of a 12-member harmony choir of Chicago folkies and rockers). I managed to get through it, gritting my teeth all the way, and a week later I was part of a folk festival—my workshop set was miked so it was tolerable, but the sound of acoustic instruments jamming all over the festival grounds was like fingernails on a blackboard, so I went home early. Now, a few weeks earlier, my right hip began "snapping" painfully—the only thing that relieved it was swinging that leg in an arc as I held on to things like I was a dancer at the barre. At that folk festival, I was forced to use a cane to walk because of the pain.
Went to an ENT for the hearing problem—he said "must be something with your cochlea" (ya think?) and told me to hydrate and take Sudafed to decongest my middle & inner ear. I went online to a female musician listserv to which I subscribed and described the problem—and received a flood of "me too!" responses (unlike what the young ENT said). One musical colleague from Seattle gave me the name of a local neurotologist who successfully treated her "sudden sensorineural hearing loss" and even offered to put me up should I decide to fly out. Because of the congestion, though, flying was out of the question. The neurotologist gave me the name of his colleague in Chicago—but when I called for an appointment I was told he had passed away a week earlier, and I was referred to another neurotologist in the suburbs. I went to him, he gave me a standard hearing test, declared there was nothing wrong, saying "you're a musician, you're just too picky about pitch." He concluded I had atypical Meniere's syndrome (a diagnosis made when everything else has been excluded), put me on a restrictive diet and ordered a brain MRI, which I had the day after I saw my orthopedist for the hip problem.
Meanwhile, back at the orthopedist (who had a room full of residents and fellows), I described the symptom and how I relieved it, and he ordered an X-ray. When the films came back (they still used film), he gasped and said "What the f***?" (not something you want to hear from your doctor). There on the film, the tip of that side of my hip had broken off and there was a chip floating free. At 53 I was too young for osteoporosis. So he ordered a PET scan.
I spent that weekend awaiting the results of both the brain MRI & PET scan. (I'd asked the ENT "are you considering bone mets from a brain tumor, or brain mets from bone cancer?" and he replied "Yes." Also not what you want to hear from your doctor). I spent that weekend frantically Googling "bone cancer" and "brain tumors affecting hearing," and the prognosis for either was not encouraging. I began looking at obituaries of people at least 5 years older than me and began to resent that I might not live that long.
Come Monday morning, the MRI results came back negative for any brain abnormalities. I went to the orthopedist, and he showed me the scan that he concluded showed only inflammation, no lesions. He then asked, "Say, didn't my former partner harvest bone from your hip in 1996 in order to put your broken leg (from having been hit by a car) back together? Looks like he dug a bit too deep, but better to over-harvest than not take enough." Thus, the two swords of Damocles were retracted back up into the ether. (A course of antioxidants & steroids cleared up the hearing disturbance, and the bone chip was resorbed by my body so the ligament stopped getting hung up on the jagged edge of the iliac crest).
So 11 years later when I was diagnosed with IDC, I was a bit more prepared (though still pretty scared).
chisandy
Re: Night sweats and acupuncture
Just sleep quality. To soon to tell about the night sweats because I am due for my fulvestrant shot next week and this week they have historically been minimal before the next shot.
Re: Night sweats and acupuncture
@Waves2stars I went for my consultation and treatment yesterday. I had one of the best nights sleep I have had since starting this journey. I won't really know about the night sweats because I am on Fulvestrant and they are worse the 2 weeks after the shots. Then less problematic prior to the shots. I get them again next Tuesday. By then, I will have two accupuncture session completed. One thing I do know is how much better I feel today then I have in a long time.
Night sweats and acupuncture
I have bed soaking night sweats from hormone meds. I have tried multiple meds but the side effects destroy my quality of life. I sometimes feel like giving up due to side effects of the cancer drugs as well as the side effects from the meds to help manage the side effects. Before trying any new meds that are out the oncologist would like me to try acupuncture. Has anyone tried this for night sweats?
Re: how about drinking?
oh my stepdad enforces what he says. He was pretty tough on me when I was growing up. The only one he backed down to when it came to me was his mom.
m0mmyof3
Re: Zometa side effects
Have been dealing with breast cancer for 24 years...4 surgeries, chemo, radiation, meds for 15 years...second primary 2023. 6 rounds of zometa. Last one have horrible side effects . 3 weeks ago .
Thinking I am done and done with zometa .body feels horrific.
Pain, all over . Can't take pain killers, am in recovery.
benlin
Re: Stage IV MBC Fitness
Hi everyone, I was diagnosed stage four de novo just over two and a half years ago. Had six rounds of Docetaxel and managed to do 15 minutes 5 days a week. Currently on Enhertu fifth treatment, and for the first few days I struggle to keep up. Maybe I will adjust to treatment and find more energy going forward.
stirfry
Re: Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?
Jackie, the improvement to my night vision within a week after my first cataract surgery was dramatic! The week Three months earlier I had to drive home from Madison, WI late at night after a gig; and the onramps to the Beltline and then to I-39/90 were unlit (still are). Had to use my brights all the way, and it was still scary. A week after the surgery (when I stopped seeing "starbursts" around lights), I made the trip again and it was as if I were driving on a completely different road!
Another set of sheets arrived today—this time different mfr., from Bed, Bath & Beyond. But same stink! Googled it and found out that it is definitely a "thing." Not just the chemicals used in dyes and sizing, but also the heavy zippered plastic bags in which the sets are packed. (A different set from Macy's, in conventional plastic wrap, was odorless). California Design Den's website explains that it is absolutely necessary to wash new sheets, for that reason; and a number of other sites agree. Those sites (including several Reddits) mention the odor as resembling stale vomit. So since I have a Rinse subscription and several prepaid bags remaining this cycle, I bundled up the two sets (Macy's & B,B&B—teal & sage) and had them picked up tonight for return tomorrow. They will let me know if the sheets require a second wash. Meanwhile, a third set, white, is in its packaging and I will wash it once my washer & dryer are redelivered & installed tomorrow. (I normally don't use scented laundry products, but I bought a bottle of Downy Rinse & Refresh and I intend to add it to the washer).
And my dinette set was delivered today. The upholstery does have a faint odor of grassy linen cloth mixed with the stain-repellent treatment, so I will Febreze it and see what happens. Tomorrow will be an ordeal, and I doubt I'll be home for dinner. (All the two-piece china cabinets & bookcase need reassembly, the TVs need to be placed on their stands, the stove & dryer connected to gas (and the gas to the grill turned back on), and the refrigerators connected not just to power but the one in the kitchen connected to the water line. Have to wait 36 hrs to see if they work, before we can start moving food back into the freezer compartments. Of course, not looking forward to mountains of boxes to unpack and sort out. Ugh. Not just that, but a couple of closets that had been clean after the fire but before the demo & rebuild are now full of paint & drywall schmutz—and I can't donate the clothes in there until they've been dry-cleaned. And the earliest visiting vet appointment I could get is Aug. 7. Therefore, I had to pay August's rent, and to be on the safe side will give notice that we won't be fully out of Lincolnwood till 8/31, since there will be much to do here to bring the place back to the condition in which we found it. (I fear that our $3500 pet deposit may not cover having to clean the felt on the pool table and some of the scratching on an edge or two of the sectional sofa that the cats managed to push aside the throws and standing cardboard scratchers covering them).
chisandy