Best Of
Re: My Husband, My Life, My Love, My Family, My Cancer
So I went to bed earlier and woke up feeling much more settled and having slept pretty well.
Decided to leave yesterday as a past unfortunate incident and not letting that cloud my thoughts and realize that getting uptight and staying in 100 percent of the time is dumb too. It will not help at all, need to be able to walk 10 mins and use the bus, no need to try and walk far. Those days are gone for me and that is OK. Still got a good appetite and can look after my own house and bills. That is all I need to do right now. My thought is to train walking around a short block to build tolerance to 10 mins and then be sensible and take the bus or Paratransit places. Only problem I have right now is heat tolerance and that is OK, no balance issue walking. I may decide to start going to the hospital half an hour earlier, walk there, walk around the grocery store kind of like doing laps. I will see. Come winter, walking will not happen at all anyway so all indoor exercise.
My prescriptions are being delivered today which is good, I am out of my tegretol and immodium is coming.
Laundry to be done and is underway, floors need doing, changing the litter genie, got a pile of things to do just that, they are pricy but they are the proper things to use in the litter genie.
Food will be the usual suspects, beans, KD noodles I am working through and another beef patty from McDonalds. Decided to stop ordering the fast food burgers as they are expensive. If I want a burger, need to take the bus there to get it. I am ordering some groceries, got a 35.00 budget and using a card that pays rent, it has a 37.00 rewards credit so will get them off that card. Paid 44.00 by the time taxes were added but still not bad at all. Got a few frozen meals that I like quite a bit, sour cream 2 cans of black beans and meat pies. Also got the queso pasta and chicken bowls, 2 of those. I am planning to stretch them a bit by mixing in some KD noodles. No chips or junk food this time. Items arriving between one and two pm today.
I do hope everyone has a good day, in pockets for all who need me including myself to not get so far down in the dumps because I had a fainting spell in the hot sun. Just need to adjust habits accordingly and be less reactive. For me if I dwell on what I am unable to do, of course that is depressing, think about what I am still able to do.
Re: Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?
Harley - I had my pool filled in 10 years ago when it was due for re-plastering & new tile after 25+ years. I wasn't supposed to be spending time in the sun after 5 MOHS surgeries for skin cancer, so had no way to clean it regularly as my son had long since grown up & moved out of state. They jack hammered the concrete and ladders & all went in the bottom before they filled up the rest of the hole with dirt. It was a ridiculous cost & yes they did have a permit. The only draw back is the company recommended I don't plant a tree in the area that might grow large since the dirt will never be packed as tight to hold the roots in our normal Houston soil. In retrospect, I wish I had originally done a lap lane and a hot tub in the beginning.
minustwo
Re: Grade 3 long term survivors
I had my last oncology appointment this afternoon. I'm done with treatment after my last bottle of tamoxifen. I'm just going to be an as needed patient. I had him go over the oncotype and peri-tumoral lymphovascular invasion again and basically chemo helps with that at the time but obviously there's no way to predict the future. I will not benefit from continued tamoxifen. He said even if I continue it's only about 1% benefit and the side effects and everything else that tamoxifen can bring could be worse than that 1%. So I will be done with that after this bottle is gone. I asked about the signatura test which is a blood test that can detect if you still have cancer cells in you. He does not necessarily recommend it because of false positives. Sometimes the blood work comes back positive but the scans will come back negative. I asked if I should have my ovaries removed and he said just wait that out and see what happens once you stop the tamoxifen. I still feel like I should have them out at some point. I asked him if I should continue to have MRIs and he said yes but to only do it maybe every 5 to 10 years. He said yearly blood work is fine and then obviously contact him if something happens or comes up. My reoccurrence risk is 10% which is on the high end unfortunately but again he's like I can't predict the future He's like the fact that you made it 5 years though without anything is a good thing.
For a reminder I was diagnosed at 37yrs old, stage 2a and grade 3. Bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction, 4 rounds of chemo and tamoxifen for 5 years. Oncotype of 37 and BCI of 10.
Re: Abemaciclib Verzenio for Stage IV
@dutchgirl11 I want to see that study, too. My onco wanted to start me on 150 mg but I reminded her how sensitive I am to drugs so we started at 100 mg which provided huge drops in my CA markers, such as 88 points in one month. The monthly blood marker numbers are now much lower, but still going down slightly at 6 or 8 points at a time (worrisome) so I doubt I can reduce to 50 mg at this point. I have about half my hair, still thinning a LOT. I have been using a bit of mousse now and then which gives a thicker look.
tbos805
Re: How are people with liver mets doing?
3Tree, Ipatasertib is also used for AKT1 mutations, however it didn't do better than Capi
AI Google: Yes, capivasertib has demonstrated durable responses in clinical trials, particularly when combined with fulvestrant for hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer with PIK3CA, AKT1, or PTEN pathway alterations. Studies have shown significant improvements in progression-free survival (PFS), with median PFS values reaching approximately 13 months or more in relevant patient subgroups, suggesting sustained control of the cancer. Patients with certain mutations, like AKT1 E17K, have also achieved durable complete responses, with one patient remaining on treatment for over 35 months.
Re: Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?
minus - I think our city’s concern is that if the pool is filled in then nothing can be put in that area (ie. Large tree, patio, deck etc). So the area must be initially filled with clay and compacted and then covered with dirt and grass planted. I live in northern Illinois and our soil is mostly clay. Our subdivision is built on what was formerly corn and soy fields.
harley07
Re: Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?
For as much as we travel, I hate packing. It always seems to be a challenge to decide what to take. I have pretty much determined the final contents, but am sure tomorrow will bring another revision. Thanks to DD, I have a new formal top and long skirt for the one dressy night. It's the other 6 nights that I have to plan for. Cruises thankfully have switched to a less formal dress code for the other nights. I always opt for early seating so we don't have to dress up every night. So a few less than casual tops and one dressier pair of slacks, jeans and some casual slacks plus casual tops. It will be interesting to see what makes the final cull.
Had blood work done yesterday and it was ordered by former PCP. She sent me a post today telling me the results were improved and to continue my supplemental iron and to keep B12 to once a week. I am really going to miss her since she was so caring.
DSIL loaned me his Shark stick vacuum and while I loved it, my back hurts now from the repetitive motion. It did such a good job on the area tugs in the primary bedroom, the closet and the hallway. I'm thinking I will get one for upstairs. The one we have broke and while DH fixed it, I can't manage the wand. It is rigid and hard for me to manipulate. Time to replace it since he doesn't want to vacuum that often.
Ran to CVS for prescriptions and could not figure why one was so expensive. The monthly charge was high, but this refill was double the cost. Turns out it is the 90 day charge since the PCP was able to order it now. So 3 times the dosage for only double the price, works for me.
DH is putting in stakes around the Japanese maple since the deer have decided to attack it now. He bought green fencing for the enclosure, so it will be done before I leave. This tree came with the house and was small when we moved here. The first tree strike did a lot of damage to it (it was a direct hit) and we had to sacrifice half of it hoping it would survive. It did and came back. It is now very large and is just outside the bay window in the kitchen eat in area, so I see it every day. The birds, including the hummingbird, like to hide in it and I have the hummingbird feeder right next to it. when they were restoring the house after the second tree strike, I made them build an enclosure to protect it from the roofers, gutter, and siding guys.
DD and DSIL came over last night to help us roll up the rug to send it out for cleaning. Pickup is tomorrow morning and it will be washed on Monday. I also asked them to evaluate for some repairs to the rug where it has worn. DD bought Regan a new bed and she loves it. It is smaller than what she had but it has a crease and she chooses to lie in it.
harley07, sorry to hear about your pool. Hope you can find a less costly solution for removal.
Lovely day. Temp 74 with sun and low humidity. Hope everyone has had a great day.
Waving hello to everyone.
betrayal
Re: Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?
Welcome teka, ninaca, & cat-guardian. We're glad to have you here and will try to be your cheerleaders and guides. I also suggest you explore the sites that are specific to your diagnosis and treatment. My starting chemo 2/17 still has a private Facebook page and I have been happy to be with those ladies although I only use this site on BC.org now.
Quiet holiday weekend for us. Have a good week everyone. One day at a time, Sandy.
1946taco
Re: Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?
Harley, sad to lose the pool but I get it. A gf here in NY, her mom had her pool filled in. I’m guessing filled in with dirt. It may be less expensive than removing it, if it’s available. Our above ground pool gets to be a lot of work too as we age.
I just looked up our town dump hours and costs. I think I can bag all the burnt wood and for $6 take it to the residential drop off. An old propane tank from the grill will run me $6 too. Maybe Thursday I’ll run up; tomorrow is Dr follow-up.
cindyny