Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?
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I celebrated the Senate wins Tues. night with champagne and salmon roe. Then all day Wed. & Thurs., comfort food was necessary (whenever I did, however briefly, have an appetite). Still had my carb-debauch (pasta for dinner, a bran matzo with melted provolone snack, and chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate) yesterday. Getting perilously close to my pre-pandemic weight (I'd lost, rather than gained, a "quarantine 15" during the first lockdown but the weight on the scale's balance keeps getting shifted to the right), so I'd better get my act together: weigh-in (albeit by telehealth) in only 3 wks.
Bob got shot #2 yesterday. He woke up with slight achiness, but is better now. He is dismayed how many of his hospitals' nurses are refusing the vaccine, especially since the hospitals are holding the vials in reserve for their healthcare staff but surrounding minority-group neighborhoods are hard-hit with seniors & essential workers who've yet to even been offered a first shot.
Meanwhile, there was outrage on Wed. when the city of Chicago announced it would stick with the Federal 75+ minimum age guideline for Group 1B rather than follow the state's lowering it to 65. But when it was pointed out that lowering the age was due to the fact that the average age for COVID deaths in Blacks is 72 and Hispanics is 68, and that the vast majority of these senior POC (especially those working essential jobs, taking public transit & living in close quarters) live in Chicago, the city quickly reversed its decision. But seeing as how they're still doing Group 1A (healthcare workers, first-responders, congregate-care residents) we in Group 1B won't see a needle (barring a miracle) till at least early March.
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DH made a huge pot of soup yesterday with white beans and lentils and veggies. The recipe is Lidia's. The soup is very tasty and we have enough to open our own soup kitchen. The side was buttered slices of French bread heated in the oven.
I managed to make appointments for both of us for shots one and two of the Covid vaccine. A plus is that we don't have to drive far to the medical location.
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Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded.
It's a relationship between equals.
Only when we know our own darkness well
can we be present with the darkness of others.
Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.
- Pema Chodron0 -
It is cool, but the sun is out. Yesterday's grayness continued for my with a fall when trying to get out of the Jeep. I had smooth sole shoes on, went to get out and slipped on the garage floor. I landed on my elbow. The funny bone is not funny. Later on I decided to eat some leftovers. 20 minutes later I was very ill. I then went to bed with a Mary Kay Andrews book and I am better in all accounts today. As far as the vaccines go, the line at DOH is massive, but seems to move along. Publix is requiring appointments and there were so many, the website went down. I will try again, next week and see what happens.
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petite, I am so glad you are feeling better. Just wow !! Hoping you continue to improve. That sounds scary. I don't know why but it seems getting some age on us seems to make it easier to fall. Thinking of you, take care.
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My DH worries every time I fall. I have fell yesterday on a slick snow covered ice spot and I think I fell last week. I also fell in November when hiking. He worries that my luck will run out as I'm thin and have osteoporosis. Due for my DEXA scan in the fall. Over the past few years, I've taken some big falls, a couple banging my back of head - basically tripping over my own 2 feet! Petite, glad that you are okay. Carole - glad you were able to schedule the vaccines. It is very hard to do it on the computer websites. If you aren't fast enough, you loose your spot - as my DH said, like trying to buy concert tickets!!
It was cold and a little snow yesterday. maybe 2" by me and cold today but it is warming up and by Wednesday close to 60. And the sun is starting to peak out this afternoon.
Have a good Sunday.
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1B can sign up on line starting tomorrow. First responders only on Monday and over 75 on Tuesday. Not at all clear what "signing up" actually means. Can one get a real appointment or just get on another list??? I will work on Ken's Tuesday. Especially where we live, there are a lot of older adults. Arizona has been first or close to it in per capita infections for at least a week now. It will be a terrible year for the tourist industry here. I know a lot of Canadians aren't coming down. Not sure they should.
Ken is finally able to get a shot in his back tomorrow. He has been really miserable. Hope it does it. He's not excited about more back surgery.
Here's hoping for a peaceful week.
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Petite, glad you are not suffering lingering after effects from your fall. I am still working on completing the healing process from my fall last September!
Here in South central Texas, we have snow on the ground! Only the second time since we moved here fall of 2011. Not enough to build a snowman but still it is snow. Fell following a few hours of rain. Don't know how icy the roads are and don't plan on going out to find out!
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Oh Beaver - For me -I heard the snow was going to stay north of 105 in Conroe but might drop down South of I-10 in Houston. That's a ways South of me. How will my HUGE tomato plant make it? We started the morning at 42. Now it's 39, but still COLD rain, so no way I can cover that large plant. I agree - I'm not going anywhere.
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OOOOhhhh--- I just can't resist it~~~ EVERY TOMATO PLANT HAS TO DIE SOMETIME.
In other news, it is 21 deg here. we may get up to 38 on Wednesday. Then three days snow is predicted, only a dusting, about four inches. I guess winter has begun. A trifle late. I have been knitting, cutting blocks for a quilt, and taking the dog for walks. I guess he needs his nightly brushing-- he has been shaking his tags at me.
Looks like they want to look at my chest-- see if there are any "calcifications". What stupid euphemisms!! I know what that word means.
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Surprisingly, my thyme, rosemary, about 1/3 of my mint and even a stalk of parsley are hanging on outdoors. Live & learn. Meanwhile, the basil (from a supermarket package) I put in water and covered with a plastic bag as a "greenhouse" in front of a sunny window has put down roots and even needs pinching back. And the seedlings from a hydroponic kit need feeding again. Not big enough to need transplanting, of course. And finally, I have a vase of "pandemic scallions:" the low-carber's alternative to sourdough bread-baking.
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Unfortunately, I don't get enough light in my south-facing windows to grow anything. I do have an aloe, a peace lily, and I can't think of the name of the third one. Almost got a poinsettia from church today, but had no way of getting it home alive.
Headache was barely there an hour ago is growing....I guess I will have to go to bed with a hot rice bag.
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I hope all who have fallen are slowly healing. I have a bit of the remainder of my raccoon black eyes after my fall. The big bruise on my right forearm is a bit behind the eyes. I admit, I see how long it takes for the superficial aspects of a fall to heal then I think of how our diagnosis causes scars which take time to heal. I am trying to have more patience.
Today has been sunny & mild. We have a high pressure system building over the Northern California coast so that means the storms from the Pacific Ocean will head to Washington. I hope that does not mean we are starting a drought again.
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Mary - hope they get those calcifications looked at quickly and you can relax. It's so hard to look forward when the big C is hanging on our backs. But we have some pretty good role models here.
DH is getting first injection of this round of steroids for his back tomorrow. Hope it helps as he has been really miserable. He has to get in the 1B line this week too although I think it will be while. Our daughter in Maine who is a grocery store worker hasn't heard anything either. Sill hoping for a summer visit to Maine. Haven't seen her or my sister since Nov 2019.
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Good morning, ladies. It is warmer today and should go to 70. I am feeling pretty good. Other than a bruise on my elbow, I have no residuals from the fall. Thank you all for the kind words.
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COVID has me comfortable with fewer social interactions. This might help me make the move back home. Looked at average low temp here in January is 9 deg, average low back home is 15.
Just got back from our morning walk. My hiking poles saved me from one hard fall. I have new ones. and sold back my old ones to the previous owner.
I didn't use my atomizer last night, and woke up with a headache. Got the living-room one going, and set up the bedroom one for tonight. I get so tired at night my brain goes blink.
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The value of all service lies in the spirit in which you serve and not in the importance or magnitude of the service. Even the lowliest task or deed is made holy, joyous, and prosperous when it is filled with love. -Charles Fillmore
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It seems like I am always prone to be late on Mondays. I do go to two places and I think that will stay the same for awhile. It was a cold day, but not bad as there was almost no breeze. I notice it more when I am out at the farm as there are so many wide open spaces. We are going to zip all the way up to the 50's for a couple days -- then back to cooler. Hmm. It is early in the yr. as yet. We have had warm temps now and then in Feb. and a time or two freak snows the first of April. I have quit bothering -- it will be whatever comes. I'm hoping we get through the yr. w/o much for snow. So far we had the one snow ( almost not enough to bother shoving off the deck at an inch and a half -- just a slight amt. more than a dusting.
I hope you all had a good day. Stay well.
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I'm comfortable with the stay-home-unless-absolutely-necessary order too.This Fri. IL will be going back to Tier 2 mitigations (non-essential shops allowed to open for limited indoor shopping, more people allowed in gyms, facials & beard trims allowed again; but still no indoor dining or drinking). But since the city's numbers are still a bit higher, we're sticking with Tier 3 till the 22d. Bob is okay now with tent dining, but only for himself--he advises I wait till the earlier of a week after my second shot (still haven't been offered a first one, even though the state says those 65+ are now eligible) or it's warm enough for patio dining--tents with at least an entire wall open.
As to being mostly locked-down: any T.S. Eliot fans here? Remember "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock?" Specifically the part about the narrator's days being counted out in coffee spoons? My days are measured out by cat food cans. I am Heidi's cat-waitress and Happy's cat-mattress. He has an unerring instinct for when I am about to do something that would otherwise occupy my lap.
Still in shock over yesterday's shooting spree that went from the far South Side to just over the city line in Evanston. The shooter, after killing 3 others and critically wounding twice as many, took and killed a hostage at the IHOP on Howard & Western--which, BTW, has largely been ignoring COVID precautions, allowing customers to congregate in the vestibule awaiting their pickup orders--before being shot & killed by the Evanston P.D. in front of a dollar store in an adjacent strip mall. Had Bob decided to work at the Union Health facility up there instead of the main one down in the Medical District....I don't wanna think about it.
The only upside to the violent unrest (for me) is that I haven't had to take a stool softener since Wed. afternoon. TMI....
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Stress does make the digestive system move faster.
Sorry for the poor lighting. I got this in the mail today. It is some wrap pants.
There is talk today about opening shots up to over 70-- I will be 71 in 17 days.
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Prufrock. is my favorite poem, first read at 16 at the U of C in Humanities 2. We were in the Hutchins era and all entered at 15 or 16. I understand about coffee spoons and Michelangelo and “ I grow old. I grow old” and about eating a peach, far better now than then. Howard street is where I worked for the Council of Jewish Elderly and, even in the 80’s, it was sketchy. Was eating dinner in that shopping center the night Princess Diana was killed. The waitress did not charge us.
Here, finally, after so much misinformation, like that we had been downgraded to 1c on the idea thar those of us in Congregate Independent Living would be classified in the 65 and older group, Walgreens came through with dates for us, January 27 for the first Pfizer shot , February 17 for second. Three Crowns, another Congregate Living Place in Evanston is getting theirs tomorrow. I think, with the shots, it will be less scary walking around here, maybe the dining rooms will open, but we will go very slowly with stepping out into the big world once again.
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DC opened up vaccine appointments for 65+ today. Over 6,000 calls were made and the 800 appointments were snapped up quickly. None left for this week. Going to make sure I'm ready when the site opens up again.
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Happy early birthday, Mary--you're a year ahead of me (I turn 70 on the 23d). You look great--the orange top and those new wrap pants. Orange is definitely your color. (Remember the old "Color Me Beautiful" fad? I'd peg you as a "spring" or "autumn").
Congrats on the vax appointments, Judy! I, too, entered college at 16: got yanked out of kindergarten and put into 1st grade when they caught me reading to the other kids at recess, and then took NYC's "2-yr. S.P." program in jr. high--7th & 8th grade the first year, 9th grade the next. Back then, everyone except parochial school grads entered HS as sophomores.
If you were at the CJE in the '80s, did you know Alan Goldberg (who later moved to the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs)? He was the keyboard player in our cover band Lake Effect (and later, Lake Effect Lite, the acoustic no-drummer version). We played together for 6 years. He also played in the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless Blues Band. I'd have joined that, but they already had a bassist who could play rings around me.
Gov. Pritzker announced that vaccine phase 1B, including those 65+ will start tomorrow...but only for areas already finished with 1A. Chicago has administered 42% of its allocation (including second doses) to workers living outside the city--so doctors living on the N.Shore and in the wealthy DuPage suburbs basically get to prevent community spread in some of the state's already-least-impacted areas. Meanwhile, city neighborhoods of color--especially where essential workers >65 live in multi-generational apts. & small houses--are still heavily-impacted, with their residents who aren't front-line medical workers not having been offered their first doses. How is that "social equity?"
Speaking of Pritzker, he also announced that some mitigations will begin to be relaxed (Tier 2 of Phase 3) starting this Fri. the 15th, but Lightfoot is keeping Chicago at Tier 3 of Phase 3 till the 22nd. Both the city & state are moving in the right direction, and have met target metrics for a couple of weeks or more, but out of an abundance of caution (and 4 days remaining before we know for sure there hasn't been a post-New Year's Eve surge) and because the positivity rate in the city is a little higher than the state average, we're nearly locked down for an extra week. The city's positivity rate is at 10%, but the state's is down to 7.9%. By contrast, IN is at 27.9% and WI 29.7%. Not coincidentally, those states have been "wide-open" with their state gov'ts. mocking mask mandates. (WI has a Dem. Gov., but a GOP legislature and Supreme Ct.--and as soon as he was elected, the legislature passed measures to drastically cut his powers and make him a mere figurehead).
Because of that, I've laid down the law to Bob: we don't need cheaper gas. And we no longer have to go to IN or WI to buy PowerBall tickets.
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My school district has put special service providers in 1A or top of 1B - and we should expect an email in the next 2 weeks regarding process to sign up. Kaiser is also giving shots to members and nonmembers ages 70+ and first responders.
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My son got his first shot a week ago. He is looking forward to his second shot. He said something that indicated that he thought that the pandemic will be over. I reminded him that it is over for where he is, but not worldwide. Sigh. High functioning autism and its cognitive glitches.
Anyway, I am nearly dressed, but Tippy has not yet asked to go for a walk. So I guess I get to dress up.
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Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves,
Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.
- Marianne Williamson0 -
MC, I love the wrap pants. I have a pair with bright tropical prints.
It is cold and overcast, again. My adventure for today is getting my haircut. I am not going to the place that cuts every older lady's hair the same. I will let you know how it goes.
Sandy, I agree, I am counting cat food spoons. LOL
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MC - I like the wrap pants. They look great and look like they are very comfortable.
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MCBaker - I too like the pants, they look great.
Here in NY it was announced 65+ can sign up. I got online, months are booked out at our state university site. But as it goes my partner w be 65 on 3/1, I got his appt for 3/18. Feeling relieved.
For me, I'm guessing June. Unless they do something for cancer survivors. There were questions when I filled out the form for him - one was have you had cancer, another was have you had radiation. But by virtue of my age, excluded so far.
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Good morning, ladies. I am happy with my hair cut. It was a nice place, clean, everyone with masks and shields. The lady that cut my hair used to be at a place I went to over 5 years ago. It closed. I tried to follow her, but didn't like the first place she went to and I then lost track. I have a new place now.
On other news, my BFF has cold symptoms and is getting a COVID test today. She should have results in 2-3 days. We met for lunch about a week ago. We had on masks except when we ate.
Does anyone know, if you recover from COVID, do you need a vaccine? "Dr. Google" had mixed answers.
It is cloudy and cool.
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