Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?
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I keep my rollator folded up but at the ready--never know when my back will go out again and for the first couple of days it's the only way I can get around without screaming. And meanwhile, I need to slow down and not get overconfident trying to be Ms. Do-It-All lest I whirl around and lose my balance. (Managed to cook dinner from scratch--including changing the batteries in my grill light--set the table, open the wine and feed the cats all at the same time). I had two nasty falls in Feb. & June 2018, resulting in arm surgeries, and don't want an encore.
Not leaving the house again (other than to go out on to the deck or retrieve stuff from the porch) till Thursday.
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Hi ladies -
Just diagnosed in October. Over “60” caught my eye. I am 62. 2020 has been such crazy year. I’m still coming to grips that BC will be a long ride. Just had my second chemo. Wanted to say hi!
Moved to LA to be near kids from Evanston, IL 18 months ago. Turns out to be an even better idea than we knew.
Lis
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I have discovered that I can walk more with my AFO on my right ankle, and my hiking poles. PT gave me exercises to prevent rotator cuff injuries from overuse of the muscles that work the poles. I am now using the poles with arm action rather than wrist and hand action. Nerve damage from chemo interacts with CP limitations multiplicatively rather than additionally. My feet are numb, but there is a pattern to it, not altogether numb. Tippy is my coach. Nowadays, with his close haircut he is not all that eager to go on walks, even with a coat. I have a sweater for him arriving today, hopefully. His coat is a bit loose on him for now, so the sweater will help.
I am wearing long sari wrap skirts with fleece leggings. The combination is very warm, and the skirt hides most of the AFO. I am finding that with the AFO I no longer get calf cramps. My back cramps up when I wash the dishes, I am going to try flexoril with the daytime CBD after 11 AM. Classically my body has demanded a 12:30 nap.
My brother has been exposed to the virus (California). I ask for prayers/positive thoughts for him. He has several different lung conditions.
My to-do list is getting shorter and shorter. I talked with a fiber arts person about carding and spinning Tippy's hair, and we decided that felting would be a better option. First I will have to break up some of the biggest felts-- I mean, matts.
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It's possible to have too much in life. Too many clothes jade our appreciation for new ones; too much money can put us out of touch with life; too much free time can dull the edge of the soul. We need sometimes to come very near the bone so that we can taste the marrow of life rather than its superfluities.
Joan Chittister0 -
Welcome LISA1958. Sorry to have to be here at all, but we are here for those who have found themselves in the same boat we got into some time ago. Always un-wanted, but their is life to be lived and if we can help -- then all the better. It has been quite a yr. and we are all hoping that 2021 will present a new start in many ways for all of us.
I wish you much success with your treatments and I hope you will feel free to join in here. We talk about everything pretty much here save for politics and religion which are pretty personal. Mild references okay, but not much more than that. We just wish to support your journey in ways that help you, calm you, inspire you and help you thru any rough patches.
MC, you work hard at making things work out well. I'm glad to hear things are better with your walking. Very sorry to hear about your brother and I'll be sending lots of hope and prayers that he is able to get through his exposure free if possible and if not than with the most minimal effects. Hugs to you and him.
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Welcome Lisa1958, It sounds like your move was a good decision. Wishing you easy and effective chemo treatments.
MC, Sending positive and healing vibes to your brother. Hope he doesn't develop Covid. If he does, a mild case.
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I keyed a short shout out last night that when I hit submit, it disappeared!
Here is the gist: congrats to Petite1, for 1 year out. And to Taco for 4 years out, congrats. Sandy - great news Bob received the vaccine. IllinoisLady - I too tend to go fast. My trainer has said most cases of injury in elderly are due to balance problems. I try, but not as often as I should, balancing on one leg & tipping forward, back up & repeat. I use a chair or the wall to help with balance if I feel unstable.
Welcome Lisa1958. Your move closer to family was spot on.
We had a dusting of snow again today. I didn't go out at all, so no picture of my lawn snow mountain.
School is back in session tomorrow. Class for 3 days and vacation is here. Meaning the same as what we've been doing (much of nothing), but not getting up early.
Enjoy the rest of the day!
MCBAKER - your brother is in my prayers.
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Welcome, Lisa!
Great news for you over-75 ladies: you're next for the vax (probably Moderna). You are at the top of Group 1B (along with essential workers). I'm in Group 1C: 64-75 with risk factors. Hopefully, it'll be in time for my 70th birthday in a little over a month.
Bob says having been vaccinated has lightened his mood and buoyed his attitude, but will not change his behavior (nor mine). We'll keep mitigating till the city & state say we can ease up a bit. (IL and Chi. have, after CA & NYC, the strictest rules in the country).
"I'll be home for Christmas. Where else can I be? Watch it snow, got mistletoe--as fake as my indoor tree. I'll stay in for Christmas, we'll talk through closed windows. I'm right here for Christmas, 'cause COVID really blows."
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Is Moderna also 2 shots?
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Moderna is 2 shots, but 28 rather than 21 days apart. Astra-Zeneca will be a single shot, but its Phase III trials just started.
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Thanks for the warm welcome everyone
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Hi Lisa,
Welcome to the club we never wanted to join. If you post your diagnosis and make it public, it will be easier for us to respond to specific questions or issues. Stay safe and stay close.
I'm icing and icing and elevating but like everything else, I wanted to be able to be out and about today - or maybe yesterday. Of course I have nowhere that it's safe to go! We never travel for the holidays but will have Christmas dinner with out bubble buddies. It will be up to us to host New Year's Eve but what that will look like will depend on our mobility. Ken has done virtually all the cooking in retirement and it will be an interesting challenge if I need to be the chef that night.
I hope they get to the 65-75 group before I turn 75 in May but continue to want front-line personnel to be ahead of me. My pre-existing conditions are under control, I can stay home, and can afford to have help if I need it. That's not true for so many people.
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Taco - when is your birthday in May? I'm the 8th and my 2 oldest children are also May - one 5 days before and the other 4 days after. I'm hoping that 65-75 group will be in April if not sooner.
Welcome Lisa to the club no one wanted to join but glad we found.
Watching my favorite movie - Sound of Music. I can't tell you how many times, I've seen it - I try to watch it every year. A few years ago DD#2 and I saw it on the big screen when it was out for a week (or was it a day). When I was little, my uncle took me to the Trapp family lodge in Stowe, Vermont. I don't remember what connection my uncle had to get us invited. One of the daughters still lived there. The year before my now DH and I got married, we went to Stowe, VT and we have a great photo of a young me with the mountains in the background.
Back to the movie.
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Karen I heard the next generation (children/grands) of the Von Trappe family singers perform here near DC a few years back. Both the talent and physical resemblance was amazing! I too love everything about that movie.
A quiet day reading, napping and puttering. DH even made us a simple dinner.
Welcome Lisa. Wishing you gentle but effective chemo.
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Reader - I believe I saw that on TV -
Going to try grocery shopping for a week - I'm sure the grocery stores will be beyond crowed on the 24th and I refuse to shop on teh 25th Employees deserve to have the day off.
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Welcome, Lisa1958.
Taco, congrats.
Sandy, That's great about the vaccine.
Cindy, That was one heck of a snowball
MC, Sorry to hear about your brother
We had a surprise visit from our niece. We all sat outside and had a wonderful time. DH & I really appreciated it. We felt loved.
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Karen - May 9th. Our son's the 27th. I always appreciated that my mother "gave up" a Mother's Day celebration for herself to have all her family to our house for my birthday party. As the cousins got older we at least did the dishes but she and my aunts cooked.
Stay safe everyone.
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I'm hoping that by the time our 50th anniversary rolls around at the end of June, it'll be safe to hold a celebration (at least outdoors), and combine it with a belated 70th birthday party (Jan. 23). Maybe I can get vaccinated for my birthday?
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Hopefully my info is public now. It was weird I couldn’t find all my chemo drugs on the list but I’m new to this
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Faithfully faithful to every trust,
Honestly honest in every deed,
Righteously righteous and justly just:
This is the whole of the good man's creed.
unattributed0 -
Taco - both my son and my birthdays can fall on Mother's Day. I feel bad for my son when his birthday and Mother's Day over lap but he never complained. 3 birthdays and mother's day all within 11 days max. Now it's just DH and me.
The streets finally have mostly melted - late yesterday morning it was still quite icy - we cut our walk short - afternoon was fine, but after dinner it was starting to ice up again. Supposed to be 60 today so the remainder should melt.
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Lisa, you should also be getting Herceptin, right? Here is another place where you can share and get answers https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/80 Welcome to the older people section of the BCO universe. We need to use inclusive language, and I keep forgetting.
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Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people, and to remember what other people have done for you? To remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old? Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world, stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death? Then you can keep Christmas! But you can never keep it alone.
Henry Van Dyke0 -
Mary - thanks for the HER2 tip. I will check that out that forum.
Lis
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I have a cold, so I'm taking Zicam meltaways every three hours. It seems to be helping. Doing the remote learning with my grand niece, sitting next to each other, I caught her cold. Which I think she caught from her cousin, who had a rapid covid test and is negative. But boy, it goes to show without masks how fast a cold spreads, let alone if it were covid.
Our weather is calling for a lot of rain and high winds. Biggest worry now is flooding from the snow melt along with the rain. My home isn't at risk but a lot of surrounding areas are at risk. It's 33 now, 38 tomorrow so some more snow melt.
I've dropped off gifts to my girlfriends trunk. Not going to her home for Christmas, and with my current cold, we figured that was the best way to avoid contact. It's a strange year indeed.
Enjoy Wednesday, I hope your weather will be better than mine!
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I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. -Charles Dickens
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57 today, but super-windy and rainy. Still windy at 1:30am, but already down to 25, which is the high for Christmas Eve Day. By this time tomorrow night it'll be down into the single digits. At least I get to wear my mom's mink.
Here's the Great Conjunction from my deck (12/22):
The blob to the lower R of Jupiter is Saturn. (6X zoom on my iPhone 8+).
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I'm heartbroken. Another bco friend, who I spent time with on her travels across America several years ago passed away surrounded by her dear family in the early morning on the 23rd Australia time. Chrissy you will be missed, but you will live on in my heart forever.
I've met so many wonderful ladies here on bco and got to spend time with them in person, one who I spent several Shabbats with her at her house in Israel. And of course the friends who I only knew here on bco but were "friends". Many gone too soon. That's when it reminds me that the beast is a sneaky b******. Then again, some of the wonderful friends I met here, are still here 15+ years later and living life to the fullest.
Sandy - good shot. Mine wasn't quite as good.
Cindy - hope you are feeling better.
To those who celebrate, happy Christmas Eve
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Yesterday I was roaming around on a local board for people who are selling stuff, and came across an antique trunk. I was conversing with the seller, and admitted that I really shouldn't buy it with my budget. Started talking about what I would do with it if I were to buy it. He asked me to switch to message. He told me to bid. I called my sister, sent her his videos, and discussed it with her. I bid $75, and he accepted! The original wallpaper on the inside is still partially intact. Some of the metal sheets covering it are embossed. I haven't been able to see any rust.
This is it next to the one Mom bought for me when I was born. She painted it pink! I am dying over the deal I got. Will start restoring it next spring and summer, because my workshop is my porch.Have a blessed Christmas for those who celebrate, and all good things for the world in the New Year to come.
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Acquiring the trunk made you happy, Mary, and that's good!
This year we won't be going next door to our neighbors' open house. I had already said that I wouldn't go if we were invited. They are having their gathering for family only. The patriarch of the family, Bruce, died during the summer so this will be the family's first Christmas without him.
This will be the second Christmas without my mother and the first time there won't be a family meal and some exchange of presents. I have not bought any presents but will make some holiday donations to charities.
At first dh couldn't think of a Christmas gift for himself but yesterday he told me he had come up with some things for his workshop! He loves ordering things and we get deliveries most weeks. Yesterday we got a delivery with two jars of pickles. He wasn't able to find his spicy bread and butter pickles at local supermarkets so he ordered them from Amazon!
Happy Christmas Eve to everyone.
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