Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?
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In helping others, we shall help ourselves, for whatever good we give out completes the circle and comes back to us. -Flora Edwards
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Good morning, ladies. My friend and I didn't go for lunch. We get together, but just not hungry. It was just nice to visit. It is pleasant today, but another cold front coming early next week. I still haven't put up any decorations. I have been working on changing the irrigation well pump filter. I can't get the old one out. I think I may have put it in upside down last time. Since we are rolling into dry season I need to get it working. DH wants to soak it in clorox. I guess we could get it cleaned, without removing it. That could work for the short time.
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Sunny here today although another really cool morning. In the 20's then. I've been wearing most sweatshirts lately. We have the thermostat at 72. Dh should to insist that it be higher, but I think I finally convinced him that a lot of the time it is too hot -- especially when I'm doing a lot of housework. Also, 74 ( at least for me ) is way too hot to sleep. I like to bundle up under the covers and at 74 and I'm throwing them off most of the night.
Hope you all had a good day.
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We sleep cool because our upstairs is a finished attic and has baseboard heaters instead of being hooked up to the furnace. I don't trust them at all and won't have them on while I'm sleeping. It's noticeably colder when you go upstairs.
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Our upstairs is much warmer than the front room, which desperately needs its windows caulked. (We need new windows all around, but the packing necessary for the installers to be able to move the furniture out of the way would be a nightmare). We set the thermostat (manual) at 74 during the daytime and 68-70 overnight. It's connected only to the boiler, as we have radiator heat and therefore no ductwork for central A/C.
I am aghast there are states that are still allowing indoor restaurant service these days. Even here in IL--where it's illegal--downstate sheriffs & police aren't enforcing violations. Idiot (IMHO) state legislators held a holiday party downstate last night at a restaurant with 100 unmasked people in attendance, 8 to a table (and tables not distanced). That particular restaurant stays open--even serves a buffet! Police look the other way. The state legislator who hosted the party is holding a Christmas bash at a huge banquet hall next week. And in a northern Chicago suburb, this past weekend there was a large (>150 guest) Orthodox (not-quite-Hasidic) wedding at a privately-owned Hilton. The couple had booked the event before the pandemic, but the hotel refused (or at least neglected) to cancel it. The hotel was cited, but the hosts & guests weren't--and how much you wanna bet they're gonna follow the state's advice to quarantine for the next 2 weeks? Yeah, right.
I can't believe our Gov. and Health Commissioner are keeping their cool on camera and not bashing their heads against the wall right now. Sorry if this post offends some people politically, but science is not political.
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We're starting to go on lockdown In some counties in California starting Sunday. The tipping point for calling for the lockdown is when the available ICU vacancy's hit at 15%. Some cities/counties are using a higher percentage. Everyone here in San Francisco is so good about wearing masks and even the homeless are wearing masks. Thank God there aren't any fights over it.
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Could a greater miracle take place
than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant?
- Henry David Thoreau0 -
Most of my apartment is steady at 68, not on thermostat but on thermometer. I have my bedroom set at more like 60. Just set it a notch down because I woke up too warm under my weighted blanket last night. I open my bedroom door only to go to bed and when I wake up and then when I choose my clothes for the day. I could get my clothing when I wake up, but I would rather wait until I get my one cup of coffee and one cup of decaf. It is really helping me with my electricity bill.
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Sunny out today. I hear you about the electric bill MC. Ours is much better since the repair of our nearly new furnace. We were so fortunate that the company who repaired it were willing to help us find warranty payment ( that we deserved ) as the man who put it in did not do it correctly -- which would have voided the warranty. Than man who installed said he taught HVAC at our college here so we felt he was the best person. Didn't work out that way. He took all sorts of short cuts and was VERY sloppy with some parts of the install.
The new company did way more than they had too -- even going under the house and repairing the leaks where the hot air was heating the underside of our house. The snakes and bugs must have loved it. Then again, that was how we knew something was really wrong. At first we got huge savings by at least half of our heating bill per month -- but little by little it dropped off till we were pretty much right where we had been. Now we are back to what you should get from a nearly new high efficiency HVAC unit. We will never call anyone else again but the new company -- which is actually old and has been in business for a pretty fair amt. of time. Little changes ( or a correct install ) can make a whole lot of difference.
Also identify with needing coffee first. We were doing all decaf but find that we can get by with the half and half okay. Blood pressure improved while still getting the benefits of caffeine.
We should be locked down more, but I think we have ( poor county in poor Illinois ) officials that "don't" notice what is going on in some of the restaurants etc. Dh and I don't go -- but do sometimes do take-out of the ones we really like. Too many people still using Walmart's and not masking. We keep masks in our cars so that anywhere we go we can put them on. Of course, hospitals and Dr.'s offices require them and will not let you in without. I'm okay with that. If I could skip even having to go I would but that is not in the cards right now.
Much hope for the new vaccines even though it will be awhile as yet. But just to know that something is pretty definite now and only remains to be seen how it will get distributed to all -- that is all who will take it. I figure if Biden says it is okay and the V.A. is okay -- then I'm ready when my turn comes up.
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Heating - we used to have it programmed for 68 from 9 AM to 11 PM, then drop to 62 the rest of the time. It's radiators too, so when they get cold they REALLY get cold.
This year, remote learning with grand niece, we've just left it on 68. Upstairs are 3 bedrooms, accessed by a closed off stairwell, and it's always much cooler up there in winter (hot as haddies in summer; no ductwork for AC). So I think we get the 62 cooler temps to sleep. And I put an electric blanket on too!
We've got all newer windows throughout, bff owns a glass company and I get a family discount. They do make a difference, with noise too. We still have ancient windows on front porch (12) and back porch (8); not cost effective to replace as both are unheated spaces.
Raining here today, 39 and gloomy. I should be happy it's not snow! Slightly east of here will get snow, further into Massachusetts may get 6" of the white sruff. Tis the season.
Enjoy the weekend.
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Sunny but chilly today. Had Zoom rehearsal at 10 am--found out how many of my castmates have joined the "not a morning person" club of late. Gotta record my melody & harmony vocals and get them to the music director by dinnertime tomorrow.
My Tipsy Elves holiday sweaters (blue with sequined tree lights for Hanukkah, black light-up, with appliques of Santa emerging from the chimney, for Christmas) arrived today, and size M fits perfectly (my other "ugly sweaters" are 2X & XL and therefore consigned to the attic). Had been planning to wear them for the Bar Show "Holiday Mashup" number, but the director wants us all in black tops and standard Santa hats (dang--there goes my sequined elf hat, too). So the festive clothing will have to be for Zoom holiday toasts & virtual visits with friends & family.
We had a garage-door-opener glitch yesterday and this a.m.--our remotes could open but not close the door; only way to lower it was holding the button on the inside wall till the door was fully down. Got ahold of the repair guy (who replaced our springs in 2018--didn't seem that long ago), who find that one of the sensors had been knocked askew, likely over time from the repeated motion of the door's flanges as it traveled the track (or--ugh--a critter in the garage, a possibility since I saw one of the mousetraps had been sprung). He showed me how to realign the sensor should the problem recur. It was worth the service call fee for Bob not to have to park two blocks away at midnight after a full, exhausting, and scary day at his hospitals.
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"Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don't wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it's at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored."
-- Earl Nightingale0 -
Muted sun but lots of overcast too. Still, its a good day. Had a good breakfast -- one of the rare treats we don't do too much. Had eggs over med with hot biscuits and hamburger gravy. Blackberries afterwards. That made it an excellent day.
Nothing special planned. Baby kittens are doing fine. Took them a couple of days ago to get their first vaccinations/baby shots, flea meds, wormer, and some antibiotics. They slept for the next couple of days which is normal for getting "the works" for little ones. They are both male, orange and white and the one with white on his back is named Dilly -- the other is Dally. So named because their mother was a very sm. orange tiger-stripe and I saw their daddy who was orange and white -- and who mother Daisy was obviously dilly-dallying with.
Had no intentions at our age of having any kittens again in the household. But mother Daisy was just exhausted when the two were born ( third litter of the yr. and her first yr. ever to give birth ) and she wasn't keeping up with them well. They were flea-bitten, eye plastered shut with matter and the same around both of their noses. They were old enough so we brought them home. At our age it would be better to only have VERY adult cats, but sometimes things happen.
Glad your garage door upset sounds like it may not have to happen again for you, Sandy. Always something to keep us on our toes though. Sounds like you have it mastered, but I'm still trying to learn patience.
Hope you all have a great Sunday.
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IIlinoisLady - your cup runneth over with two kitties in the house. Their antics will keep you occupied for hours. You're a good person opening your home.
I see my allergist tomorrow. Last took an antihistamine before 8 AM on Thursday. I'm sniffing, blowing, feels like a faucet turned on with my runny nose. But in truth I'm not as bad as I expected. Hoping to get newest of new prescription med and an inhaler.
Those walks I take when it's real cold out cause the start of wheezing (cold exertion induced asthma) with a runny nose. My covid mask helps eliminate wheezing, ear muffs protect from an ear ache. Full testing and lung capacity test, they said to plan to be there 2.5-3 hours. I've got my list of meds ready, clothes out ready (appt is a 8 AM) and a book to bring with me.
Week looks sunny but cool. Today was windy. I had to go out back to retrieve the grill cover, blown off & wrapped around a rose bush.
Enjoy the rest of the evening.
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Vasomotor rhinitis is one of my pet peeves--every time I come indoors from colder or even cooler weather, my nose drips like a faucet. It's even worse at the beginning spring or end of fall allergy seasons. We've had a warmer Nov. (& thus far Dec.) than usual, and apparently there are still plenty of mold spores (especially from leaves that haven't fallen off the trees) out there, despite tree, grass & weed pollens being gone till spring. It took a neuro-ophthalmic exam to rule out a cerebrospinal fluid leak and rule in plain ol' postnasal drip--which calls to mind the old joke: "he's so stupid he thinks postnasal drip is a breakfast cereal...but we all know it's snot." Exercise in cold weather also makes my lungs "twitchy." Nevertheless, every time I have to wipe my nose or sneeze, I freak out--until I see my temp and O2 sats are normal (and I can still smell & taste)
Bob's donating blood Tues.--it comes with a free antibody test. If he does have antibodies, the deal is he'll have to agree to donate plasma. I can't ever donate again, unfortunately--even if enough time has passed after stopping Letrozole, there's still an infinitesimal but real chance that my blood could contain ocular melanoma micromets because ocular melanomas are highly vascular and when they spread, it's via the bloodstream, not the lymph system. I couldn't live with the possibility that I might have given someone a rare and ultimately aggressive cancer.
Got my Bar Show recordings for the "holiday mashup" parody done today. Words cannot express how stressful I find recording myself on an iPhone while listening to the scratch track on a separate device via earbuds (headphones "leak" the backing track into the recording). I have to do this in my closet with the door closed behind me so that the clothes muffle any echo (another thing that drives me nuts, as in the studio I like a little reverb in the headphone monitor mix of my vocal track). I have to sing loudly so I don't sound "tentative," since hearing myself via bone conduction makes me "under-sing." I sure hope the regular Bar Show will be back next year and I'll be in shape to do it.
The master choral track will be ready Tues. or Wed., and I will have to get my videos in by next Sat.
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Good morning, ladies. 54 degrees with a low of 36 tonight. We did get the well pump filter cleaned and put in correctly. Glad that's done. There has been an increase in cases in our county. DH has a couple of buddies that tested positive. He hasn't seen them for a while and hopefully he will be OK. My wonderful cleaning lady should be here today. She is baby sitting her grand baby and is waiting for her daughter to pick her up. So I am not sure what time.
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The essence of optimism is that it takes no account of the present, but it is a source of inspiration, of vitality and hope where others have resigned it enables a person to hold his or her head high, to claim the future for him or herself and not to abandon it to the enemy. -Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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Cloudy most of the day here. Also fairly cool -- high 40's only. I'm late again today. Just did a few extra things for the lady I'm helping with the hip replacement. It is slower than she likes, but better to go along with the flow ( what her med. team says ) so that she gets the best result possible. She is a bit younger then me. She is 72 and I'm 75. She has been a hard worker for a long time so I'm glad to help her as I too would like to see her be able to walk and not have to limp so badly as she was before her replacement.
Otherwise it has been a good day. I went into town to take care of the other lady as well, and a quick stop at the bank to make a deposit. Bill paying tomorrow. I think today ( bank visit ) was easy come, easy go tomorrow. Well, at least we have been fortunate and not had to put off paying any of the bills we owe and I feel fortunate indeed for that.
Hope you all had a wonderful day.
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Oh, s**t--Bob came home early, as his office is now closed because two staffers are quarantining. One tested negative, the other--who has a positive family member--is awaiting test results. He last saw the former five days ago and the latter a week ago. Still.....
And now he might not get the Pfizer vaccine at all: after IL's initial shipment of 109,000 doses (out of the Federal gov't's 110 million), Pfizer won't ship any more to the U.S. till at least June--because the "you-know-who-administration" declined to purchase more or even contract for an option to do so. So now, assuming he's not considered "front-line" enough as a health worker (despite multiple encounters with pre-symptomatic COVID+ patients), he will have to wait for the Moderna vaccine...or (if he can avoid getting sick till then) till June for Pfizer
I am seething.
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It would be interesting to know if any persons working for the "you-know-who-adminsitration" or cronies thereof will be among the 1st wave to receive vaccinations. No wonder you are seething, Sandy.
Re: Household Temps - We have it on 69 for most of the day, bump up to 70 if it begins to feel chilly in the early evening & then take it back down before going to bed. DH & I have widely varying personal "thermostats". He drinks copious amount of hot tea, wears a t-shirt, shirt, sweater vest & cardigan, yet still feels cold. I rarely wear any type of sweater and on occasion wear a tank top during the day!
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Don't know about who's in line for the vaccine but I did notice, after I read that hospitals are admitting "sicker" patients than they have in the past, that Rudy got a positive result and went to George Washington Hospital Center immediately. Arizona Legislature had to close down because some of them were in the hours long hearing that Guilliani had here last week. Some people certainly have their heads in the sand.
Sandy, I was under the impression that all medical personnel would be in the first wave. What a bummer! I certainly want my daughter, who works in the grocery industry, to get a shot before I do. I can just stay home.
Finished the last of my in-person Christmas shopping this afternoon. Was in and out of Safeway for gift cards and the library in minutes but Michael's was a zoo. Everyone was masked and sani-wipes were available for the carts but I was there longer than I had hoped to be. And the ailes aren't set up for distance shopping. Way too much stuff in there. People tried to be careful but I was glad to get home.
I haven't been able to be a blood donor since I had malaria in 1969 so haven't worried about passing cancer cells around.
Stay safe everyone!
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All the hospitals in the area will be limiting their "health workers" first round to those front-liners working in the ER, COVID unit and ICU. But since none of them will mandate that staff actually take the vaccine, there's an outside chance enough will be available that Bob may get a shot (pun intended) after all. But if he gets a positive antibody result after tomorrow's blood donation, he may wait till there's more vaccine available. If he tests antibody-positive, I will see if my PCP will order a test for me too (but If what I had last Dec. was an early mild case of COVID, I'm sure my antibodies are probably gone by now). He's been COVID-tested once (PCR) and I three times (2 pre-op rapid, 1 PCR), but those test only for active virus particles, not antibodies.
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Good morning, ladies. It is 36 and feels it. My finger joints are not working. The middle finger on the right and thumb on the left are locking up. I have hardly done any Christmas shopping. I have gotten a few gift cards and that is all. I am having trouble getting the spirit. I got out my Christmas mugs and that is all. My wonderful lady that helps me couldn't come, yesterday. Maybe when she does we can get the other stuff out. As far as the gifts, my mind is blank and I can't even come up with any ideas.
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DH finally got some feedback from the sleep clinic and he does have sleep apnea. Now he has to wait two weeks to go back and make some decisions about the apparatus he will need to use while sleeping. I hope once this is all done that he will get up in the morning feeling more rested.
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The trite saying that honesty is the best policy has met with the just criticism that honesty is not policy. The real honest person is honest from conviction of what is right, not from policy. -Robert E. Lee
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Sandy, I hope this all works out. Seems like you encounter lots of negatives on your way to the positive. I think it sounds like we are going to have some confusing times ahead with trying to get vaccines going in Illinois. Sad that so many wrong turns were taken by those at the top of all this. We would have had a cleaner, clearer path to move forward a lot easier at the right time.
C arole, sure glad you Dh has clarity now about the sleep apnea. Not having enough "good" sleep has some risks. My BIL had his, so far one and only, car accident a few yrs. back because he had apnea. He ( afterwards ) thought he had passed out -- but I think it was more that he zoned out to the point of losing all awareness of what he was doing. I only say this because one time ( I don't have apnea ) I was so tired driving that I suddenly became aware THAT I was not at all aware of what i was doing. I pulled over and made Dh take the wheel. So it is an important part of health issues to be able to HAVE a good night's sleep for many different reasons. Your body also helps heal during 'good' sleep.
I think their are newer devices for sleep apnea that are not as intrusive as older ones. I hope all works out well.
Cloudy day here and likely will be an all day event but we have to have a balance -- can't have sun all the time.
Hope you all have a really good day.
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Petite, hoping you feel the Christmas spirit. It is harder this year without the fun of shopping and festive holiday events. Maybe start decorating with Christmas music and the spirit will follow.
Sandy, I worry about my daughter in law, she is an ER nurse. My son is super paranoid, he thinks he has it and keeps getting tested. The test always comes back negative. (He is a bit of a hypochondriac)
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Petite, I feel the same way. I miss seeing shop windows decorated for the season and being among shoppers. All our GS are old enough to appreciate money more than gifts. I'm sure their parents will get them something to open.
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This year is the year of Amazon gift cards. We have not seen the grandchildren for so long, we have no idea about gifts (and they have not updated with lists!)
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To be in NYS and not go to NYC during the holidays, to see a play, walk the streets to see window displays, enjoy Bryant Park, just soak up the energy, saddens me. Petite, put up some lights, get some decorations out, it brightens the house and hopefully your spirits.
Allergy testing, besides tiny bruises from 104 tests, went well. I'm no longer allergic to the world. Cats, ragweed, dust mites and hickory were my only major reactions. Dr wants me to try nasal sprays over my Claritin-D, ween down. It was quite a pleasant surprise to me.
Sandy - I took some survey on the NY Times on when in the scheme of things I'd likely be able to get a COVID vaccine. In NYS I'm out a million plus (1.8 mil); my county, about 31,400 ahead of me. But it could be June. If available in FL, the gov there (a true idiot, he lies about covid deaths) said only residents would receive them.
I'm not real comfortable heading to our FL home. Rates are high, neighbors FB shots are out in bars with bands playing, all dancing, having fun - no masks.
It's 28 here now, below freezing all day.
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