Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?
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Another really cool day is on the menu here. Possibly a sm. shower. No matter, for now it is my not my favorite color of cloudy and gray. It won't warm up even if we get fortunate enough to have some sun. I always feel better though, if we do. It is sort of tough out there ( while I'm doing my best not to allow political issues to influence me or what I say. I'll just say -- they are not helping. Just have to try and stay positive about it. We so need to get something working well with this covid thing so that we can ALL move into a better place. It might never be the same, but it can be much better than it is.
Saying hi this morning to the new ladies. We do try here not to get into political discussions or too much into religious ones for the same reason. It tends to divide more than anything. Okay to acknowledge some disquiet on these matters -- it does perhaps affect to a degree your health and well-being, but more than that could/might, or will interferewith what we have here. We like being friendly and open with one another as we experience all of the daily/everyday upheavals that can happen to us, like often having to have Dr. appts. over the phone.
Hoping all have a very good Sunday and a good week coming up.
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PNW, welcome to the sorority nobody wants to pledge. Hope all goes as well as it can for you. Getting cancer (breast or otherwise) during a pandemic is indeed frustrating.
Well, it happened again--Happy bit my face (one tooth on the cheek, two on the chin) yesterday. I had forgotten to admonish him not to bite; he was on my chest, nuzzling and purring. But I wasn't devoting my full attention to him (I was busy using my remote to set up some shows to record), and he got angry and did a quick nip before jumping off. Did the full first-aid drill, and off to urgent care (where I had to wait in my car so I wouldn't get exposed to the people going in for coronavirus tests). NP said I did everything right, and so I am now sporting three little Band-Aid "spots" over bacitracin ointment. She prescribed both doxycycline (BID) and clindamycin (TID)--but also gave me an allergist referral to test me and determine whether the pinpoint rashes I got on the inner forearms a week into courses of penicillin and Cipro (almost 20 yrs ago) are actually allergies or just known side effects. ("Amoxicillin rash" is a "thing," as any of us who raised kids know). She asked whether I had any other allergic reactions, including itching or wheezing--and I didn't. I am on the abx'es for four more days (today included), and have to use the ointment and Band-Aids (or at least the one on my cheek) for that long.
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Sandy, hugs for quick healing.
My healing after my fall is coming along, dental work in 2weeks, follow up on arm (to include discussion of why I fell since I do not remember falling--and you all know where my mind wants to go with that!) with PCP this week. I can use the arm with some limitations, can't rotate or twist it without pain, so am paying attention to how I use it.
PNW, glad you found us!
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Another nice day here but a hurricane is tracking our way.
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Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn't blow in the wind or change with the weather. It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see a person who won't cheat, then you know you never will. -John D. MacDonald
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Beavernxt - I once went out to grab the newspaper from the front porch steps. Next thing I knew I was on the ground looking up at the sky, and thankful I wasn't in my robe. I think it was the precursor to getting hit with vertigo. I was fortunate not to injure anything but my pride. Could that possibly be why you fell?
Mammogram & ultrasound at 1:15 today. I think I'll be fine. But then it sneaks into my thoughts - I believed the same in 2017 when they found my cancer. Put my brave face on and bring a book to distract me.
Sandy - that kitty loves you so so much! Quick healing wishes to you.
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Good morning, ladies. Overcast for 2 days since all the mess in the Gulf. Looking at the forecast it may stay that way for a while.
Carole, Up there has certainly been "beat up" this year with storms.
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I had chili dinner last night with some friends. Tippy and their dogs had quite a time barking and sparring, but he eventually got accepted as a member of the pack. They also have chickens. She did not have a good garden this year because she overfertilized with the chicken droppings.
Her husband is just finishing up chemo for colon cancer. No loss of hair, just exhaustion and a week of critically low WBC.
I got rid of my laundry cart (seems silly to use one when I share a wall with the laundry room), a small table, and a decrepit NuWave Oven. I now have room for my scooter. Tippy likes to use it when he wants to overlook the neighborhood for any intruders. He is sleeping now, though. Our usual postal person is very large, so I have no trouble seeing him passing by out of the corner of my eye.
I need to go to the ATM and get some money for laundry and a pillow listed on a local board, then go to the grocery store. We will make it a scooter-ride, but right now I am waiting for the mail.
Here I am. Will post another picture after I get my perm. It is obvious where my hair changes from chemo to a new normal. I always had a left-sweeping curliness on the back of my head, but it is gone now. Notice that I always have a mask ready-- unless I forget to select one.
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Great picture Mary and I'm glad you now have a real pack animal. Sounds like everyone had a good time. It is nice to get rid of things since often you have your eye on something wanted. Maybe that is why I seem to make so little progress.
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Mary, I think your hair looks very attractive as is. It sounds like you will be happier with a new perm and I look forward to seeing the new "you". A friend of mine who had chemo for BC went from poker straight hair to super curly hair post-chemo. She made us laugh when she told us she had secretly wished for curly hair all her ife and now that she had it, she did not know how to handle it. Said she used a whip and a chair to get it into shape each morning.
Sounds like Tippy had a good time with some new friends.
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MCBaker - I think your hair looks great too, just as it is. But I understand wanting a perm.
Mammo & ultrasound today went ok; I was there for almost 2 hours. No more change and put your clothes in a locker - I changed in the mammo room, and carried my clothes with me to ultrasound area. Ultrasound was focusing on an area in my right breast that was biopsied in 2015, with 5 negative results. Radiologist sent the tech back to me to redo that area and take measurements. Unsettling but I believe it has remained the same for the past 3 years that they've been doing them. Prior ones were done at a different facility. They'll send me a letter with details. Glad I had a book with me!
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Mary - You look great in that photo! I also think your hair looks really good "au naturel".
CindyNY - Thanks for sharing the "new routine" re: changing in the mammo room. Guess that's what mine in Jan 2021 will be like & good to know.
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Yup--for my MRIs and even the eye surgeries, no more lockers: just strip, put on the johnny-gown, and stuff clothes & shoes into the plastic Patient Belongings bag for the nurses to lock away.
Mary, your hair looks terrific! If my gray came in that way, and I got tired of long hair, I'd wear mine just like yours. Without the perm you look years younger than in your avatar photo.
My hair is getting unrulily-wavy again due to the dwindling but still significant "pepper" portion of the gray coming in sort of wiry (the "salt" is straight & silky), and I have to tame it with an ionic brush or flatiron every morning. (Looks great when I dry it with my Dyson Air Wrap after shampooing, but sleeping on it ruins it. If I clip it up atop my head, I wake up with a crease on the back of my hair; if I leave it down, I sweat and awake looking like Medusa. (Bob says "pre-Raphaelite," but he's being chivalrous). I may get the ends trimmed and the roots touched up, but i'm giving up the keratin (Brazilian Blowout) treatments. The fumes are awful, even with ventilation, and it can't be good for either the stylist or me. (Especially now, when my eyes are sensitive).
Speaking of sensitive, I have to go to the allergist next Monday for tests to see if I really am penicillin-and/or-Cipro-allergic, or whether those pinpoint forearm "prickly heat" rashes a week into each course are simply just one of the known side effects. I have to discontinue both oral antihistamines and antihistamine eye drops five days in advance. (Can still take my asthma meds, Nasacort & Nasalcrom). It's still ragweed season, so it'll be a challenge being able to use only artificial tears. Will have to hang out there for four hours, I guess to make sure I don't get anaphylaxis.
Spoke to the customer svce rep at my local Warby Parker yesterday & today. She called me today, and told me she'd had one of their opticians look at my prescription. The optician thinks it could be a function of the lenses being smaller (but my previous lenses were also in their "narrow" frames), or maybe an error at the lab. She said to wait till my new sunglasses came in (later today) and see if the problem persists. To a lesser extent, but still distorted on the outsides, too close to the center. I think, though, that it's not a lab but either a refraction or transcription error: seems to me there's a significant overcorrection for astigmatism. My ophthalmologist always refracted me "old-school," but the optometrists now have these scanners you look into, which ostensibly generate a prescription which the optometrist then "tweaks" with the time-honored "which is clearer, 1 or 2?" routine. Now, I realize that the plaque brachytherapy did affect my acuity, but it didn't change the shape of my R cornea (and of course affected nothing on the L). I noticed my Mar. 2019 Rx had my "CYL" as +1 on the R and +1.50 on the L, with AXIS being 170 and 5, respectively. It was almost identical to my Jan. 2018 Rx. Both of those were done by my ophthalmologist, who retired just as the pandemic was starting. But last week's optometrist exam had CYL as -1.0 in both eyes, with AXIS as 50 R and 85 L. I don't think 18 months should make that drastic a difference. I will speak to the optician tomorrow, and probably come in with both my new pairs and the one pair (non-Warby) I have remaining from last year's Rx so she can compare both the lenses and the written Rxs. I'd just bet that the overcorrection makes for a too-drastic curvature of the lenses. I may have to be re-refracted by their optometrist. I will say, though, that the new reading correction is awesome--much better than the drugstore readers I bought.
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MC, Your hair looks good. My pixie cut went to a bowl cut, since I have only had it cut once since all this virus stuff started. LOL
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Thank you-all. That previous picture was when I was all dragged out and down form the BC stuff. I have several inches of straight hair, and the curls are due to be cut off. I am afraid it will be bone-straight and cling to my head when it all gets grown out-- that requires fussing with. I have gotten used to messy wash and run styles over the past ten years, and want to stay with that.
I have been aimlessly spending my time lately. Printed up a list of things to do during waking hours and things to do (and not) for good sleep. Hopefully that will increase a demarcation between day and night.
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This is an eternal and fundamental principle, inherent in all things, in every system of philosophy, in every religion and in every science. There is no getting away from the law of love. It is feeling that imparts vitality to thought. Feeling is desire, and desire is love. Thought impregnated with love becomes invincible. -Charles Haanel
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Going to warm during the day and stay a bit warmer now for awhile. I have not minded wearing sweatshirts, but a mite of a challenge what to wear in the early morning. I'll have to drag out some sweaters I think to o along with med wt. t-shirts. Ah, it's the time of yr. here when you have to keep a little bit of everything in your closet.
Nothing special planned for today. I have a couple of kittens here ( about 4 wks. old ) that I'm going to take to a friend's house. Big hope is that one of her mother cats that only had two kittens this past time ( about the same age as mine ) will take them in to mother. Fingers crossed. The kittens I have ( both males ) could survive. They can eat on their own ( as sloppy as that gets ) but they need the training they would receive from the extra time with a mother. As is -- while ( I've been calling them Dilly and Dally ) could be ok as pets it would be far from the optimum.
Hope you all have a great day.
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Somehow this fell out of my favorites. I thought it was really odd that no one had posted for 2 days, so I went hunting for it. Three unread pages.
Betrayal, I think I would be stark staring mad if I had to deal with your house stuff. You are definitely entitled to a rant, so don't hesitate to post.
PNW, Welcome. There are women on here who have been stage IV for more than 10 years, so don't give up retirement plans. I understand how frustrating it must be to access treatment right now.
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Today was to be my MIL's 97th birthday but she died last evening. She fell (again) a few weeks ago and this time she fractured her spine. They had sent her to a rehab unit but she was out of her element which led to confusion, then having to do 3 hours of rehab per day proved to be too challenging physically and she was transferred back to her assisted living under hospice care at the end of last week. My DH decided that he had visited her several times while in rehab while she was still responsive and coherent so opted not to visit her over the weekend. Hospice had reported she was confused, incoherent and sleeping lots. So while she did not make it to her official birthday today, I told DH that she wanted to spend it in heaven with her husband who died in '97. She had married him when she was just 19 (in 1942) so they had a long marriage. He was 10 years her senior and they met at a USO dance.
Sadly, a resident of her former asssisted living called today to try to contact her to wish her a Happy Birthday which was a very kind gesture. DH explained she had just died last night but he appreciated the call. She will be missed by family since she has outlived most of her friends.
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Betrayal - I'm so sorry for you loss. I hope your memories bring you and your husband comfort.
I haven't had my hair cut since the end of January, so it's getting quite long. I go to Great Clips and have for over 30 years (left for a short time after my hair came back in, but paying 4 times the cost for no better haircut and no suggestions, and this person came highly recommended) I went back to Great Clip. but I'm too chicken to go into the hair salon. By the 3rd week of the month, I should be working in person 2 out of my 4 days/week, but I'll probably be even more cautious!!
Record high today 87!!!
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Betrayal, so sorry for the loss of your mother-in-law. May her memory be for a blessing.
All the Great Clips here in Chicago closed permanently--but two stylists at the Andersonville branch saw the "For Rent" sign in the window and have now opened their own shop in that space. I've seen photos--but for the widely-spaced stations & plexiglas, it looks just like any other Great Clips (though the new owners insist they'll be adding some creative touches).
Gordy's job is still working remotely from home. His employer is considering not renewing the lease on its downtown HQ, because the co. is saving tons of money by having employees work from home.
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Betrayal, so sorry about the loss of your mother-in-law.
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Mary - I really identify with your "aimlessly spending the day away." Some of you seem to stay really engaged.
The weather person just said that 50% of all the days this year have been over 100! Come on fall.
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Betrayal, I'm so sorry, but you have added the bright spot to your MIL getting to reunite with the man she adored for so very long. I hope in time the memories are beautiful and a source of joy and inspiration.
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So the optician at Warby Parker called me today. I told her of my concerns about the astigmatism "CYL" overcorrection. She explained that while opthalmologists measure astigmatism by "convergence" ("+" before the number), optometrists measure it by "divergence" ("-" before the number)--so the actual values are about the same. But she did think the "AXIS" discrepancy seemed a bit strange. She had me send her photos of me in both pair of progressives (clear & sun), with my pupils visible. I did, and she called me back saying her hunch was correct: it wasn't the prescription that was "off," it was the in-store measurements of the various lens correction areas relative to my face and pupillary distance. She called the lab in Sloatsburg, NY to have them re-grind the lenses for a wider central area and deeper distance-vision correction area. She said I should keep wearing these glasses if I don't get headaches or dizziness, and return them only after the re-done ones arrive and I'm satisfied. She sent me prepaid return labels as well. So no need to do anything but walk to the corner mailbox or hand the return packages to the mail carrier. Amazing what they can do virtually these days. If these remakes still aren't satisfactory, then I am entitled to a free re-exam at the shop.
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Humankind has not woven the web of life.
We are but one thread within it.
Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.
All things are bound together.
All things connect.
- generally attributed to Chief Seattlebut actually written by Ted Perry in 1972
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Betrayal, I empathize on the loss of your MIL. My mother was 96 when she passed away in May 2019. I still miss her and think of her often.
Mary, you look great in that photo. Your hair is pretty and your skin looks wonderful.
I'm about to venture to the gym, our local YMCA where we've been members for a number of years. DH went yesterday and wasn't pleased to see no one wearing masks. I will make my assessment today and may also check out the Anytime Fitness that is quite close. I do hope that I can feel secure enough to use one of the two gyms for exercise. Our AF membership extends another week or so.
I have a hair appointment Thursday morning.
Meanwhile the hurricane is headed this way. So far there are no mandatory evacuations.
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Good morning. It is hot and humid.
Betrayal, I am sorry for your loss.
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Betrayal, sorry to see yet another cross placed upon you. You need to take special care of yourself with so many stresses. Praying for you and your family.
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Ladies, thank you all for your kind words about my MIL's passing. She was the last of her generation for our families so it truly marks the end of an era.
The hits just keep coming. I am grateful for having this forum to unload some of the challenges I have had to face and having such compassionate, caring people that listen.
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