Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?
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Betrayal, ((((hugs))))
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Gorgeous--sunny, mid-70s--today. Bummer that I will be cooped up Zoom-rehearsing during dinner hours when nearby restaurants' patios are open. "Oh no, not again" re the approach of Hurricane Delta to the Gulf Coast. You AL, LA & TX sisters can't seem to catch a break this summer.
I have a dilemma coming up Sat. One of Gordy's BFFs--who moved back to the area from L.A. to make sure his widowed prostate-ca/angioplasty survivor dad (who is also our retinologist and one of our BFFs) is okay--is having the Chicago theatrical premiere of his horror flick, Recovery, which had been available only online to stream. It will be socially-distanced in a landmark local "art house" movie theater (Music Box), masks required, one showing only. Gordy & Leslie are going; Bob says that we owe it to him & his dad to attend too (and Bob's medical partner, who is said dad's girlfriend, will probably go too). Our other mutual friends are in no shape to attend: one (who has long-term scleroderma) is immunocompromised due to her meds, and her DH has severe and likely permanent tardive dyskinesia from the meds he was on that prevents him from being able to function in public. I think it'll be safe if we don't arrive too early, and book it outta there instead of hanging around after. We can probably park a few blocks away--Gordy & Leslie live less than a mile from the theater and can walk. The flick isn't mainstream enough to qualify for the Music Box's drive-in.
If you were me, what would you do? I do have to go out tomorrow for my MO/lab appt., and went to CVS yesterday to pick up an Rx. We haven't partaken of any other indoor-movie-theater or City Winery concerts (no matter how socially-distanced).
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That’s a dilemma,Sandy. I suppose I would worry about the time I was in the Music Box with what must be it’s very old ventilation system. I won’t go inside anywhere( except in a month to live again in what my son calls “ the death trap of the Mather.”) and to doctors and for a mammogram. I’ve taken other chances outdoors and here, for you and Bob, there is the need to balance friendship and loyalty. It’s all so difficult.
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Sandy, wish I had an answer too, but I likely would skip. The rationale pulls at you -- that it is owed, but it is your life -- the only one you have and so there isn't really a real way to balance love and loyalty which I'm sure you have in droves with the fact that you risk your life. It would be painful to have to bow out, but I likely would.
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Sandy: I would opt to watch it online if it is still an option and then write and send a personal note with my review. I think if you could do this, it would be as meaningful, if not moreso, than taking the risk in a poorly ventilated theater with a crowd that might not be as safe as you'd like. Social distancing seems to not be a uniformly interpreted issue so I would be reluctant to attend.
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I will ask my MO tomorrow morning. If she says not to go, I will have an authoritative excuse.
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Any path is only a path, and there is no affront, to oneself or to
others, in dropping it if that is what your heart tells you. . . .Look
at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as
you think necessary. Then ask yourself, and yourself alone,
one question. . . . Does this path have a heart? If it does,
the path is good; if it doesn't, it is of no use.
Carlos Castaneda0 -
I would probably not go to a theater.
Looks like the hurricane will go ashore west of us.
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We will have another few nice days here. Not terribly hot -- just enough to be nice. No humidity and that is always, always welcome. I am most times reluctant for Fall to come. It is a time of yr. that causes two acres of leaves to have to be dealt with and that has been so much work. Before Dh insisted in blowing them into the ravines on either side of our house, but the past couple of yrs. he has been good with mulching them on the ground where they are. Sure makes a big difference in work load. I am happy not to spend days on end carrying my leaf blower ( electric so not physically heavy ) which gets burdensome just from the amt. of time it must be used and also having to constantly go back over spots because the leaves don't always go where wanted, especially if there is a bit of wind when you do it.
So far, we still can't much see the houses in front of us roughly 12 to 14 acres or so away although it is easy to see where the thinning has started towards the bottom of the tree line. Always the little tip-offs that show what is coming. We are now having deer almost daily as they forage the yard for what the trees drop. That is one of the truly nice and appreciated things that happen now. We do get deer from time to time all yr. but many more now seem to find their way here.
Growing up as I've often said, we had no deer here. I think they are such beautiful animals, and mostly graceful as well.
I hope you are all going to have a really beautiful day.
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Good morning, ladies. It is hot and humid. Not much planned for today.
Sandy, I would skip the movie.
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Sandy, I think that during pandemic the idea of what we "owe" someone now has life and death consequences. And the possibility of dying alone. Should something happen you would be missed terribly here.
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Jackie: I love deer even though they do damage to my azaleas (no need for me to trim them), they polished off the last of the New Guinea impatiens (end of season so okay) and render my hostas into a salad bar. We had a doe with twins and a doe with triplets (new to me) this year. One doe uses our bird feeder as a snack bar and nibbles what she can reach on the lip and then what she scatters on the ground. Unfortunately she is too used to humans since she doesn't flee if we happen to be in the yard when she meanders through and that makes me concerned that some fool will hurt her. We back up to a wooded area so they stroll through several times a day. We did not have deer here when we first moved here but as they developed other housing developments they were displaced. The houses across the street abut a major golf course so that is where they take refuge when it is hunting season. No hunting in this area but we see more move in anyhow.
Yesterday I saw an immature buck with two new straight as a stick antlers on the grounds of my DS's employer. They have been working remotely so I will have to ask him if he saw them when the building was occupied. Cooler today and I will keep an eye out for the big buck who appears at this time of year.
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My MO said that the movie is a matter of personal choice, so long as it will be a private small socially-distanced affair, we wear masks, and we don't arrive too early or linger after. Bob's perspective is a bit different, as he uses often-crowded hospital elevators and dines indoors in the doctors' lounge. Checked with my BFFs--she's on immunocompromising meds, he's still having some tardive dyskinesia--they're going. So we will, too.
Had my semiannual MO visit today. My MO (who spent the last 6 mos. on sabbatical, holed up communing with nature in the U.P. and Thoreau-ly enjoying it--sorry, it was too easy) gained the "quarantine 15" and then some. She was very impressed with my weight loss (it is a bear to try to maintain rather than keep losing). She gave me the all-clear on my breast exam, and a choice between seeing her annually or semi-annually. I chose the latter, because I'm coming up on 5 years on letrozole and also surveilling my ocular melanoma. (Still no biopsy results yet--there probably weren't enough cells harvested). She did have me get a consult with one of her partners who specializes in melanoma, to keep tabs on my liver (the most common initial mets site for ocular melanoma). And I will get a 3-month followup chest CT next week for that little lung nodules--but she said that with improved sensitivity of modern CTs, about half the people scanned have small lung nodules. In fact, she said that a truly clean chest CT would make her suspicious. (I held for over an hour when I called the first time to schedule, only to learn her nurse hadn't entered the order yet. I held for 45 min. when I re-called. Sorry, Jazzy, but New Age sax music will forever remind me of "music on hold").
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Betrayal - so sorry for you loss.
Sandy - I haven't been indoors for any event - movie, concert, etc... If I went, I'm not sure I could relax to enjoy myself.
We had a rain & wind storm come through on Wednesday, 65-90 mph winds. We had a ton of branches and pine cones come down in the yard, wind moved our screen house - which is anchored down. Power blinked off but right back on. One of our halloween lawn ornaments is gone, wind took it and it hasn't been seen.
My niece on the other hand had a panel of her privacy fence fall down, probably from the trampoline that left her yard and went into a neighbors yard. Their basketball hoop was tossed too. She slipped on pavers with mud on them and fell, smashing her face and teeth. No chips or breaks, but dentist said it's a trauma and the teeth could show damage much later. But the worst has been the loss of power, with 160,000 w/o power. Her sump pump can't work, she's bought a hand pump - pumping into a 5 gallon pail - heavy work. She had a small generator which she ran for the first time last night for the sump pump, phone charger, and a small light. When she dropped off her daughter for "school" with me, they said it broke, stopped working and no idea why, it still had gas. Add to it, everything in her refrigerator/freezer needs to be tossed.
Many schools were closed and still are, due to no power. Our provider, National Grid sent notices - certain areas may have power restored Saturday evening, with a majority not expected to get power until Sunday.
Ladies, I'm hoping your days are going more smoothly than ours!
PS - 41 out now, tomorrow going into the mid 70's.
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The present moment is never intolerable. It is always what
is coming in five minutes or five days that makes people
despair. The Law of Life is to live in the present, and this
applies to both time and place. Keep your attention to the
present moment, and in the place where your body is now.
Emmet Fox0 -
Cindy:
I am sighing for you and those around you as well as your family. Lately we do seem ( not so much here, but other parts of the foundry ) to be between h**l and a handbasket. Seems like out of the frying pan into the fire. I am putting in hopes and prayers that people who sorely need it will get a break and have solid relief for a time. Covid and those issues are enough to keep you on the edge of your seat -- the rest of the pile definitely needs to dwindle way down. Here's hoping and praying.
Good day will be had here mostly. I have to go to my Urologist to get results of a recent test and set up a time for him to scope my remaining kidney. Be glad to get that out of the way. I also have a mammogram scheduled 19th. and podiatry on the 30th. In between, I need to get back to helping my friend in town on her bath days and start preparing for my friend from Sandoval to come home. She will check out of assisted living on November 1st. Will need a lot of attentions at first. Will need to find out how much she can do, and be prepared to do errands ( going to the store and Dr. appts. for one ) so taking that time out will be a bit challenging, but my job is to make it all go right -- for everyone. Somewhere in the mix Dh will have his second back surgery. Does seem true at a certain age your social life becomes filled with Dr.'s. Either yours, your spouse's or those of your friends that you help out.
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Still making record high temps in Denver a few times this week. Another one predicted for today - 86!
I have my 6 month oncology appointment today and Prolia shot. After 14+ years, my oncologist still sees me every 6 months. My former PCP who retired a couple years ago, told me frequently that both she and the onc worry about me!! This will be the second appointment that DH can't come due to Covid. Of course the last appt was just after his quintuple bypass. I may call him and put him on speaker phone.
We haven't been to any indoor events in 7 months. I nervous about heading back into the schools in a couple weeks. I'll be 2/4 days with other accommodations but still scary.
Have a great week-end.
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Good morning, ladies. 71 degrees this morning. I have dentist appointment on the 13th. I call them from the parking lot and stay in the car until someone comes to get me. Mask on, walk through lobby without any people, to the cubical, mask off, cleaning, then escorted out the back door.
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All my prayers for you, Karen. If it gets too stressful, you can take the last step into retirement and breathe a sigh of relief. Better to do that than having to take retirement because of after effects of COVID. I have a friend who has been home-bound for months. So far as I know, it has been more anxiety than anything else. Things are heating up here, and I will be staying closer to home.
I did go to my lawyer's housewarming. Her partners retired, and she moved to a smaller office. It looks really nice. She did move one piece of furniture from her home to her office. My favorite-- a huge leather footstool/coffee table. Excellent refreshments. I even had a wine spritzer; I ordered it and they named it, LOL!
I am certainly glad I got all my dental work done before this wave hit. LaCrosse County has two universities and a large community college. Right next door. In the same line of thinking, I have a neighbor who I like to talk with who is on secretarial staff in the public health department at the state university. I will be eight feet away from her only outside from now on. If she has to yell in order that I understand her, sobeit.
My morning walk has been aggravating arthritis in my right hip-- I will have to add another dose of acetaminophen to my daily meds.
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Well, it seems that I have some kind of medical appt. every week or two these days--all indoors. Mani every two weeks--also indoors. Once a week, duck into CVS for Rx that can't be delivered or Whole Foods for orders too small (3-4 items) to be delivered. Masked, social-distanced (at the nail salon, the manicurist double-masks and there's Plexiglas between the two of us), hand-sanitized and/or washed several times per visit. I will take my 1 mi. walk around the 'hood whenever I can, and dine outdoors once or twice a week. My dentist is in a Loop office building, but the elevators are strictly regulated and patrolled: no more than 2 people per car at any time. (As opposed to the crowded Christ Hosp. elevators--of the three "banks," one is out of order and another is express to & from the COVID-only floor, where Bob's not allowed). The nail salon & Immediate Care make clients/patients wait outdoors or in their cars until called on their cellphones.
The movie will have fewer than a dozen people attending--not open to the general public. We'll double-mask (surg. over cloth or KN95).
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Mary - my oncologist and his NP both said they think I should be okay with all the PPE the school district is providing as long as I don't touch my face and wash my hands. I have KN95 masks, face shields, Lysol spray and wipes. For testing we have plexiglass dividers and need to be 3 feet from students. The district has plans if cases increase or if a cohort needs to quarantine.
Off the computer for the week-end. stay healthy and stay safe
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I wanna throttle Louis DeJoy (I know, I need to get to the back of the ever-growing line). My Warby Parker account page and USPS Informed Delivery both listed my readers (which were listed as coming from Warby's Sloatsburg, NY lab) and spare progressives (my old frames, listed as coming from "Hoya Optical") with the new Rxs were to be delivered "today by 8 pm." The mail came mid-afternoon, but contained only the readers. Right up till 8:30 I kept checking back on both pages--and at 9pm, the spares were suddenly listed as "delivery date unkown." Almost certainly, they were still on the truck by end of shift (apparently, our regular carrier took off as a head start to the holiday weekend, because we got a few mail pieces for the wrong address). DeJoy's rules are that stuff still undelivered at end of shift has to go back to the facility rather than be delivered overtime. We haven't had Saturday deliveries in nearly 2 months, and Monday is National Disgraced Exploiter-Explorer Day, so the earliest I can expect to get them is Tues.--when my re-made new sunglasses are set to arrive.
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I'm into a new routine for remote learning with my grand niece. My "normal" go to sleep 3 AM and up by 10 is long gone. I get up by 7:10 AM, M-F. I've been exhausted because being retired 6+ years I've done what I please. I'll nap, if you call being knocked out for 2 houses a nap. And I've been going to bed, passing out so to speak, earlier.
It seems that I now wake up around 5 AM daily. At first I thought it must be a noise or some other outside event that has me up. Even thought maybe a fear of oversleeping for school and my little niece being thrown off for the day.
But this is nuts! I've tried staying in bed, montra "sleep sleep sleep" repeating in my head, some days it works, most it doesn't. Or I'll go back to sleep but when I wake up it feels like I didn't sleep.
Today I got up. Kept all the lights off, phone on lowest light, read through email, and ended up here. It feels like rested sleep, 7-8 hours, is in my past.
I have a ton of allergies, so I'm not real open to Valerian root, or melatonin. And I'm not interested in a sleeping pill, I have no problem falling to sleep, just can't seem to stay there.
I'm venting. When gf say how great or long they've slept, or even got up and were awake for an hour or more, laid back down and slept....I'm jealous.
I'll keep my book light and book handy. But for now, I'm going back to bed.
Update - niece got her power back around 6 pm. Her cousin put her fence panel back up. Trampoline back where it was, maybe a tad bent. I helped her toss most of her refrigerator items into the garbage. She has instant hot water, so she showered and was in jammies by 9.
Have a great day! Supposed to hit mid 70's. It's time to empty my yard for winter.
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Some people confuse acceptance with apathy but there's all the difference in the world. Apathy fails to distinguish what can and cannot be helped; acceptance makes the distinction. Apathy paralyzes the will-to-action; acceptance frees it by relieving it of impossible burdens. -Arthur Gordon
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Feeling grateful this morning. We had some windy conditions last night from the hurricane but nothing serious. Thank goodness we had the huge dying oak tree beside the house taken down in the spring.
The sun is shining. I plan to do some cleaning today.
Yesterday I went to the YMCA and attended a class called Chair Exercise but it's actually the same Silver Sneakers class I attended before Covid shut down the gym. The chairs were placed about 10 feet apart. I cleaned my chair and the exercise accessories used during the class, then learned that at the end of the class everyone cleans the chair and accessories used. There are wipes provided. It was good to do the range of motion and stretching activity. I was about the only person who immediately donned a mask at the end of the class. That's ok. I intend to do what my judgment tells me to do.
Happy Saturday.
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Karen, Googled and read after your post. A lot of adaptations already acceptable. Times have really changed!
I quit going to the gym. Statistics are getting bad, and there will be more people there per ft3 with the cold weather coming. Not worth the risk.
Cindy, my good sleep list might help. I have a hepa clean air machine. It runs 8 AM to 8PM. I drink chamomile tea in the evening, and take a capsule of chamomile extract. No exercise for an hour before bedtime. Change bedding weekly. Dog to kennel. No caffeine after noon. Nap only if fitbit says I slept poorly, and then as early as possible. Do not move while waiting for sleep. Clean bedroom with doors closed whenever possible; including closet doors. Laundry kept outside bedroom.
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I fell asleep by 7 AM, then woke at 10:49. Day feels done. But it's my weekend, no school, so better now than a weekday.
I do have a hepa air filter in the bedroom, door closed, no pets, bedding changed every Sunday morning, and I don't drink anything with caffiene ever. Gave up diet coke 8 to 10 years ago, never drank coffee or tea. I even have blackout drapes. No laundry in there, and I shower in the evening to remove any allergens off of me.
Change in sleep/wake pattern, exercise not nearly as much as I had, season change - getting darker so early, I think all contribute.
I'm getting outside now to put away screen house and all its contents. Good physical activity. Enjoy the day!
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Well, I'm finally back home in northern Ontario after spending 2 months in Ohio helping my sister with her broken hip (and other things, but the list is kind of long...) Canada really means business with Covid - I have to quarantine for 2 weeks, as does my sister Joyce who lives with me. I have to report daily to the government and indicate if I have any symptoms (cough, fever...) I also will get phone calls from them and possibly (probably) a home visit from the police to make sure I'm at home. At least I'm allowed to go to the back yard.
Luckily, I'll be busy repainting my bedroom and my ensuite. Went shopping when I was in the US and got bed linens, towels and some darling fabric to make throw pillows for my bed. While I was in Ohio Joyce supervised the installation of new floors and baseboards in the entire upstairs, and they look really great. We had some icky dusty (literally) pink wall-to-wall carpet and just thinking about it makes me want to sneeze. I'm painting the room sort of a Wedgewood blue, and bedspread is white, so the room will be nice and bright.
I'll also be making more masks. I think we'll be wearing them for a while, at least up here. I loved being with family down south, but it's so good to be home!
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Congratulations for getting rid of the carpet. I've been trying to get rid of ours upstairs. It's a light-sucking green and years and years old. I'd rather have linoleum or vinyl than that dusty stuff. I don't really care for green in the house. It belongs in plants and outside, not in. I'm sure you were a Godsend to your sister. I'm making more masks, too. We're pretty mask observant here and we're high risk, so why not wear them.
Carole, Glad you were missed by the awful stuff. I would be ready to move to Nebraska if I lived in Lake Charles or further toward the gulf.
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Wren: How nice to know there is someone else in this world that feels the same about green as I do. It belongs outside or is an accent in my plants but don't want it elsewhere. I can remember my mother having a couch custom made and it was green. She asked what I thought of it (she was so proud) and my resoponse was "ot's green". Not what she wanted to hear. It was comfortable and I still have the couch (the frame is all wood and one reuphelterer asked if he could buy it) but it has never been green again in all its varied iterations.
PingPong: I am impressed by how energetic you are and your plans for your bedroom do over. I hope it meets your expectations when done. Love fun projects like this.
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