Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?
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Lately I have just been overwhelmed by house reconstruction issues (just had 1 year anniversary of original damage) limping so slowly towards completion, medical issues between dodgy knee and tinnitus/hearing issues and then to put the cherry on the top of all this dreck, my DSIL informs me today that she, my DB, and two of their DD have tested positive for Covid. They live in NJ where the numbers have increased dramatically in the past week. My DSIL says her symptoms are mild but my DB has underlying lung issues related to psoriatic arthritis, so I am devastated by this news. So far he is feeling okay, but it is early in the game.
Sorry to be such a debbie downer but I just have no coping mechanisms left at this point. It is just too much to bear and there is just no escaping my stressors. Please say a prayer for my brother and his family.
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Prayers for your DBs family and for you(((hugs too)))! You must be exhausted.🙏🙏
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Agreed and ongoing.
I had my liver ultrasound this morning. She also inspected some other organs. I woke up way early this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. The doctor and I will talk on zoom tomorrow. I was afraid I would have trouble understanding him with just a phone call. I have had a couple of incidents recently where I read what I wanted to read. Much easier to hear what I want to hear.
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Betrayal, I think I would have run out of coping mechanisms long ago. Sending healing wishes to your DB and family. Don't worry about being a debbie downer; we're here for you if you're crying or celebrating.
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Betrayal, count me in with all the others. Sometimes it just seems so un-relenting when you want to see a rainbow. We will be here for you always.
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Betrayal - some days it's definitely harder to keep on trekking. You have had to put up with too much this year. I'm not counting the days to Christmas but to New Year's. I keep telling myself that 2021 can't be this bad!
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Betrayal, this pandemic really does feel like being stalked but you don't know on which roof the sniper is standing. Our city's health commissioner suggested that the way to deal with this is to assume you're infected--and mask up, social-distance, handwash, and stay home either alone or with those who've been part of your household as much as you can. And today the CDC acknowledged that masks work both ways--protecting others and the wearer.
Went to get a cut and color touch-up Sat., but the stylist used a product he'd been unable to get since 2018, which he preferred because it covered grays so well--but the new formulation had a much heavier dye load, and turned my hair a dull light warm brown. It made my skin look dull, was one-dimensional, and (a concern if the state shuts down salons again) my more salt-than-pepper gray roots would be too noticeable until (hopefully) things reopen in spring. Went back today, and by using "stripping" shampoos and a dye-pigment remover he was able to get me to about as light as before, w/o having to re-bleach. But it was too reddish, so he applied an ash toner. I'm still not champagne blonde again, but definitely in light-to-medium blonde territory. I can live with that--don't want to have to go out more often than I have to (I have two other appts. this week), and don't want to get bleached (which definitely roughens the hair shaft's cuticle and weakens the hair itself). I don't want to lose any more hair than aging has accomplished.
But I do have something to celebrate tonight. I hit it off really well with my new PCP yesterday. She asked the radiologist who read my followup chest CT about the incidental finding about plaque, and it turns out he'd left out the word "consistent;" so the sentence about calcified coronary plaque should have read "...consistent with age and gender." And this morning I got my lipid panel results back: total cholesterol is 211, but every component falls within the "desirable" range--the 211 is due to my HDL being 105! (Definitely freak-of-nature territory). My CVD risk has been calculated as "0.5 of average." Yup--half of the average woman my age. So my heart likely won't kill me (unless someone puts a bullet or knife into it). She also disagrees with my husband (and agrees with my late PCP), saying I should not restart aspirin therapy. The statin is more valuable for primary prevention in women who've never had a CV "event;" and the aspirin is likelier (albeit rare) to cause a hemorrhagic stroke than prevent an ischemic one.
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Oh, and I know better than to ring in the New Year by saying "good riddance" to the old year and that "the new one has to be better." At least the first quarter, if not half, of 2021 is going to be way worse COVID-wise than its 2020 counterpart was last spring. Not a big fan of jinxing things. Muttering a big fat "kinahurra," "scutta malocchio," "knock wood," etc.
Oh, and I'm on the radio tonight! WDCB, 90.9FM, wdcb.org. Back in 2010, "Folk Festival with Lilli Kuzma" did an episode of "Folk Jeopardy," with three teams of two. So in honor & memory of Alex Trebek, Lilli is rerunning it tonight in the third hour (approx. 10 pm Central) of the show (which runs from 8-11pm Central).
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Betrayal - sending you hugs. Your plate is over flowing.
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Betrayal, cyber hugs
75 degrees and nasty. The cone has changed and Eta has turned back into a hurricane. The eye should be over me about 1:00 pm Thursday. All of the bad weather is away from the eye. We have contacted our friends that are on the water to evacuate here. We are on higher ground. Hopefully it will be out of here by Friday.
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MCBaker - you are right! We tend to hear what we want, so good idea to zoom.
Betrayal - I don't know how you've made it this long with the home repairs. Nerves of steel! Prayers to your family with COVID, may they get through it.
We are on our last warm day, 69 right now. Rain later today as temps go back down to normal. It was nice while it lasted! I'm hoping to get in my walk before the rain.
To our veterans, thank you for your service!
Enjoy the day.
PS - I'm not thinking 2021 will be much better than 2020, covid wise. People will still do what they please, pandemic be damned.
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It's true that we live in a harsh world, but it's also true that gentleness invades that harshness with its own kind of beauty. We see it in the way a mother cradles a newborn baby, in the eyes of a father roughhousing with a preschooler, in the silence of a setting sun, in the affectionate caress of a lifetime lover and friend, in the peace that settles during an anxious prayer, and in a thousand ways more.
Yes, gentleness is invading our world today. The only question is whether or not you've joined the revolution. -Mike and Amy Nappa0 -
I zoomed with my onco. Nothing related to BC in my liver, but it did show a 9cm fluid-filled cyst. That is huge. He referred me on to PCP. It is a benign condition. I looked it up and decided I can live with it, at least until anything else shows up needing laparoscopic intrusion. He was surprised I wanted a zoom visit, and from now on I don't have to go see him.
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I had my second covid test yesterday and I tested negative so now I can have my crown completed tomorrow am. The test wasn't that bad at all and I told the nurses that they were great. Looking forward to walking out of the dental clinic tomorrow!
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Good morning, ladies. It was a wet and windy night. I was up until 1:30. I haven't gone outside to see if there is any damage or yard debris. Still overcast and windy.
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TheArt of Common Sense
Wilferd A. Peterson
Common sense is a personal compass for guidance around the rocks and shoals. Common sense is not based on theory; it is not a hypothesis. It is life acted out, it is discoveries made in the crucible of existence. It is the tried and tested experiences of humankind Common sense sits in judgment on the centuries, on every science, every religion, every art, every government. It is based on what has been proved true, sound and practical. Common sense is the voice of the ages. It is the distilled essence of what people have learned about life as expressed in the proverbs and maxims of all nations. "That person is happy who lives on his or her own labor," observed the Egyptian. "Just scale and full measure injure no person," recorded the Chinese. "Examine what is said and not who speaks," said the Arabian. "An idle brain is the devil's workshop," wrote the English. Common sense is pragmatic. It is what William James called "the cash value of an idea." It is a method that works, a truth that can be applied. Common sense is the common denominator of intelligence, the key to right answers. Common sense recognizes the utter senselessness of war, the irrationality of using death, suffering and destruction as a way of settling disputes.
Common sense observes that crime does not pay, that murder will be found out, that the law of compensation works relentlessly and cannot be escaped. Common sense is the rock on which every enduring institution and organization must be built. Common sense is the law of God written into the nature of the universe. It is the sum total of the workable findings of people in their long evolution toward the light. Common sense is dynamic, not static. It change as time goes on.
The art of common sense is applying the best wisdom we know today based on all our yesterdays.0 -
petite -- here's hoping that things were not topsy-turvy when you went outside to check. Glad you were able to get some sleep.
Cowgirl: Big yay to you. Since we seem to be going into a period of a lot more covid and there is not enough control going on, whatever you can get done now is likely a really good thing.
MC: Good for you that it turned out to be a cyst and not something worse. I'm like you -- any procedure I can skip at my age makes me happy. Hoping that it continues to not cause you un-due harm or distress.
Pretty day here, but fairly cool. The sun makes it way easier to tolerate. Seeing the ear Dr. today but had to reschedule for the afternoon. There are two Jackie's and we both were making appts. the same general time. So, I got a c all yesterday but too late for me to call back. Had a dickens of a time this morning and couldn't get thru. Found out just now they were busy so just left ass. machine on. I finally hit the make appt. number because I didn't know what else to do.
Turns out -- the other Jackie called but it was my appt. that got cancelled rather than hers. So, they will work me in this afternoon and actually that time works better for me anyway. Yay !! I was a bit distressed as I've been looking forward to this. Ear wax ( I normally don't have it or it sloughs off w/o build up ) has built up in my ears to the point that it affects how I hear ( sometimes not so hot even with my hearing aids ) and I'm anxious to get things restored to a workable level. So -- today ( the nurse felt so bad about the mistake she is likely "fitting" me in ) I will get to go.
Tomorrow I find out what if anything I may have to do to the three tumors ( new ) in my bladder. Hopefully, just removing them will have been enough, but I'm pretty sure more scopes will be in my future on a regulated basis. Grrrr.
Hope you all have a sunny day.
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I guess the doctor thinks otherwise. He had one of his nurses call me to schedule an appointment with my PCP. There are lesser alternatives than laparoscopic surgery. I might get pain and think that it is only the cyst, when in fact it could be my stomach or pancreas. It is on the left lobe where those things are, and, in fact, I can feel it pressing against my ribs. A temporary fix is to use a needle to empty it.
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Well, my back had been starting to nag at me yesterday morning; then around 1 pm it totally locked up. Have been trying everything except opioids (Tyl. #3, which "plugs me up"--TMI--and makes me feel dopey to boot): doing piriformis stretches, CBD drops with turmeric, regular x-strength Tylenol, Aleve, Baclofen, heat, topicals (lidocaine roll-on, CBD balm & transdermal), a whole 1mg Xanax at bedtime, and an OTC lidocaine patch (the Rx Lidoderm, which is hella expensive and no longer covered by insurance, used to work for 12 hrs). Knocked me out while I sat in front of the TV; inched my way upstairs to bed. Woke up at 8 am, rolled (painfully) over and next I knew it was 11:30 am. Naturally, I didn't make my 11:45 mani appt. (and the mayor came on TV urging people to stay home except for stuff like medical treatments). Haven't rescheduled it, as I don't know when I'll be well enough to go. And barring a miracle, will have to blow off (yet again) my penicillin-allergy challenge tomorrow morning in Glenview--not gonna be able to drive safely while on Baclofen, and my HK can't take me because it can take 3-4 hrs to get a reaction or make sure I don't go into anaphylactic shock. Besides, it's as "elective" as it gets--never occurred to me to try it until the last time Happy bit me and the NP suggested it so I don't have to take clindamycin/doxycycline next time he bites. Surprised they haven't called me again to postpone it till the "stay home advisory" expires (if ever).
Bob will be on hospital duty all weekend, so I'll be fending for myself. Gonna have my HK pull my Rollator out before she leaves for home--that & a reacher are the only way I can feed the cats when my back is still locked up. Also messaging my orthopedist's NP to e-mail me the recommended stretches and exercises, since the walk-in ortho clinic is closed for everything except serious acute injuries, and PT is likely closed as well (and unsafe if open).
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Sandy: Sorry to hear about your back issues. I hope you get some relief soon.
Mary: Sorry to hear about your liver cyst and hope they can resolve it to your satisfaction.
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I am sure it was my new oncologist who did my breast biopsy. He claims it wasn't him. I absolutely SANG with the pain. I am afraid of having a wide-bore needle stuck into anything likely to be sensitive. However, getting it aspirated is a less-risky temporary fix, while waiting for people to get their sh-- (yes, I did say that) together about the COVID.
Sandy, I am with you on that back pain. I probably ought to take a flexoril. My upper back is getting twingey.
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I'm sorry to hear about the back Sandy. If I were there I would gladly drive you anywhere you needed to go and hang out till the all clear. Golly, just when you look for things to be smooth or smoother. I think I'll use Gilda Radner's phrase -- " It's always something ". I will be thinking about all you ladies and hoping that all issues smooth out as soon as possible. Petite, hope you didn't find much outside from your storm and Betrayal -- still looking for my hopes and prayers to find a crack that opens up and suddenly work starts getting orderly, quick and satisfactory to all.
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MCBaker - I hope they can aspirate your cyst with little discomfort to you. Get your muscle relaxer in you too, can't let your back pain get a head of you.
Sandy - knock on wood my back has been ok. I was given rx lidocaine patches ($35 copay for 2 boxes) and Soma. I slept so great on Soma that I moved it away from my night stand. I had to ask myself did I need it, or did I want it? I didn't need it so downstairs it went. It also binds me up, TMI but truth. Also after taking it for 3 days, I'd have to wait for a Friday night to stop - very disruptive sleep after stopping. I feel your pain and hope you can get through it. I see a chiropractor muscle therapist, w/o her I'd probably still be on meds.
My FL house had a lot of wind and rain. My newest little tree, a fox tail palm, folded over in the wind. Neighbors sent a video of it. I think it may have died prior to the wind taking it down, I haven't seen it since May. No other damage so very thankful.
Upstate NY temps have dropoed. It rained most of yesterday, but just gloomy and cooler today with rain tomorrow morning.
A lot of local schools here are going full time remote learning. Colleges sending kids home after testing them. SUNY Albany has said next semester won't start until February, and no spring break. Gov has called for bars, restaurant, and gyms to close by 10; still can do take out after 10. Movie theaters had opened, today they closed again. I'm not liking the looks of the increasing covid cases.
Stay safe, have a good night & a great day!
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If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us. -Jim Rohn
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Good morning, ladies. We did not have any storm damage. My BFF had a lot of debris. She lives in a stilt on the water. So, thankfully, all is good.
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Going to hover around 47 today, but I think will warm a bit later. It won't be winning prizes though. Cindy -- glad your Fla. home/outside didn't suffer too much. Glad you have your back issues pretty much handled. Knock on wood -- I've been mostly fortunate to be spared all but a couple of incidents that likely transpired due to being inactive for too long from something. I do think therapists who can help with a set of exercises are invaluable.
Hope you all have a beauty of a day.
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Petite1: Glad to hear you did not have any damage from the storm.
CindyNY: My DB and DSIL have a home in the FL panhandle and lost a few palms to the drought like conditions over the summer. They just had a sprinkler system installed so hopefully they do not have a repeat.
I spoke to my DB who was dx with covid 19 and he seems to be making some improvement. He still sounds somewhat short of breath but his oxygen levels are improving. Seems they had been exposed via their son-in-law who was very ill for 2 weeks and it spread to their daughter, his wife. Since they are in a bubble, their extended household is my DB, his wife and their one DD who lives home. The baby had a fever but I haven't heard if she was dx'd. So 6 members of a family in two separate households in a short period of time. It is so scary.
The numbers here and in NJ are on the increase which makes this a scary time again especially since we have workmen coming in and out. We avoid contact with them as much as possible but if we go into a shutdown again, my house repairs will again be on hold. So offer a prayer we do not have to go into shurtdown again.
Does anyone want to hear I bought a new bed a year ago to replace the one that was destroyed? I also bought a warranty which now has expired and I have yet to see the bed. The MBR is shaping up but still is awaiting a new floor installation which is supposed to be installed next week. The other 2 bedrooms have been painted (walls, new windows and ceiling) but the other trim needs to be painted (on us) for them to be "finished". I can handle that and find painting to be an activity I actually enjoy because it doesn't require any mental energy and I can "escape". I enjoy seeing the completed project, it's clean and fresh.
I made the painters catch the stink bugs who snuck in while they had the windows open. They are looking for a winter home, like to hide in curtains and they drive my cats crazy when they buzz around. They did catch and release them, LOL.
The A/C guy came yesterday to determine how to finish the new system. Seems the outlets to the MBR require some design adjustments to make them functional and the one connection, for the downstairs, disrupted by the carpenters installing the flooring in the attic will be fixed. Once the bathroom exhaust fans are connected to the exterior we will be able to move the items stored in the garage back. So more culling as we move them. I just need to sort through Christmas items since everything else has been sorted. Once the garage is emptied we can start to move items from the finished basement to the garage. The basement has also been overflow storage for items from the MBR and LR so some of those contents will be put in their rightful place. I think I will push to get the basement done next since it just requires flooring replacement, some wall repairs and painting. My DH is doing online teaching from his office there so it would be nice if it is all done before classes resume in the New Year.
It is overcast, breezy and bonechilling cold today though it is 50 degrees. After rain for the past 2 days, I'll take it. No workers today so I'll go get some groceries and prescriptions for the dog. She just turned 12 but still has her puppy moments. Have a good day and weekend. Thanks for all your well wishes, they are appreciated.
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Good morning, ladies. It is 66 degrees and suppose to have some sun. Today is my husband's birthday. I baked him a giant cookie, which he has already eaten a quarter of. We will do steaks tonight.
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Everything that has a beginning has an ending. Make your peace with that and all will be well. the Buddha
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Raining this morning and will stay cool. I think the rain may last most of the day. Well, I've lots to do. Saw Dr. B. yesterday. Hmmmm!! He says that what he removed from my bladder was three cancer tumors. Unfortunately, the lab says they are not cancerous. It will be sent to a higher lab in St. Louis, Mo for I hope what will be a definite answer. Not sure how Dr. B will react if that lab has the same opinion. Makes things a bit tricky for me, but I have a couple of independent medical people I can talk to and get reactions and ideas from as to how to proceed.
Hope you are all going to have a good day.
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