Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?
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As predicted it has been snowing for the past 3.5 hours and it doesn't appear to be slowing any. Low temperatures predicted for this week means snow removal is paramount if we are going to be able to get out of the house. From the inside, it is truly beautiful outside and a "winter wonderland". The does have already visited the bird feeder but it hasn't been replenished yet so they trimmed the mountain laurel and a few azaleas.
Will most likely have to cancel PT for tomorrow. Last week I could only make 1 visit since I am unable to hoof it up and down our steep driveway with my dodgy knee. I could most likely make it down, but getting back up is a definite "no can do". Skies are what we used to refer to as "flophouse sheet color" so gray with no sun. It is 36 degrees but they predict below freezing for the next few days.
I am sorting and culling items in the basement areas and my sewing area is the focus now. I have made good progress clearing my sewing armoire and one storage cabinet as well as the top of my cutting table. I have some bins to sort through and then one more cabinet to go. I am reorganizing and labeling as I go through what I am keeping so it will be easier to find what I need when I get back to sewing. I have a very old Saucy Walker that was mine as a child. She needs to visit a doll hospital to get her wonky eyes fixed, her arms and legs restrung and her hair (what we used to do to doll's hair when we were amateur stylists) restyled. I bought some patterns to make her a replacement wardrobe and will gift her to my granddaughter at a later date. She still walks after all these years.
Contractors have not been here for over 7 weeks and now with the bad weather this means another delay. I have spoken to project manager and he has promised to get them in there to finish the project. I need to pick a flooring for the basement and am collecting samples to see what works best since what I currently have (and loved) is no longer available. So clearing of basement unneeded stuff now will assist in getting this area completed faster. It needs new flooring, wall repairs, ceiling tile replaced and painting. I am looking at paint chips as well since they use Sherwin Williams paint and we used Behr originally. Once the restoration is done, not only will I have my home back to its original state but I will also have less stuff and it will be more organized.
Have a good day and may the winner of the Super Bowl be the team you picked.
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Puffin - great letter! Here on Friday the gov announced on 2/15 those with underlying health conditions (such as BC) can receive the vaccine. I will try to get one. But only appointments I have seen are at Plattsburgh or Potsdam (2.5 hour drive), in winter, headed north. Never say never, but I don't want to drive that far north towards the Canadian border.
Mary - I wish we lived closer, I have a very basic sewing machine I've never used that I'd loan out to you. I just HAD to have it, then life got in the way. It's still a "some day" project.
Petite - my sister sounded like you, felt crappy, tested negative for covid. She was told she might have had the flu. Hope you start feeling better.
It was snowing out when I got up, still gray and 29. 29 is doable, but Mary those negative number with the ZERO high make me shiver.
Beaverntx - my bf has been staying up late at night when it's most quiet, doing research on Ancestry. I just gave him the familysearch.org site to broaden his searches. Thank you!
Betrayal - I know I'd have an ulcer by now if I were you. So hoping those guys get back on track with your home.
Superbowl gathering nonexistant, but my niece may come down. Might have to order out, something easy because I don't feel like any elaborate food buffet for 3. LOL I'd be eating left overs for some time. Enjoy the day, and super bowl if you watch.
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I use Family Tree Maker as a software program and Family Search comes up in the right hand corner. Just create an account. It started as a site that many Mormons used for their research. I haven't been back to the Salt Lake LDS Library for years but the staff and volunteers were SO helpful when I went. Much of the stacks have been digitized over the years. I agree, either of these web sites are starting and not ending points and often people pass and repass around undocumented items. But it's a good place to start. When I started researching 20 years ago, I knew my grandparents names. It's been a fascinating journey now going back centuries. Genealogy also really got me hooked on historical fiction too.
My team won. Several of the former Cardinals coaches have migrated there with Ariens.
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Good on ya, Puffin!
Petite, glad you don't have COVID (and probably not the flu either). These days, we tend to forget how miserable a cold or adenovirus (what our old-school family docs used to call "the grippe") can make us feel.
Mary, I find that if I take my CBD (Receptra Serious Rest softgels or tincture) about 90 min. before bedtime (along with 5mg melatonin and half a Xanax), I usually sleep like a baby and even have entertaining dreams. Receptra's Serious Rest gummies also have CBN in them, though because they have sugar they're a gram of carbs (should take them with a sugar-free fiber gummy to offset the carbs), and that might be having an adverse effect on my weight loss efforts. Sometimes if I can't get to sleep after taking just the CBD softgels (worry, and my pulsatile tinnitus kicking in), I will take half a dropper of Denver Night Serum (half CBD, half CBN). My dispensary used to carry Cresco's "Remedi" CBN (7mg) capsules--pricey, but sleep is precious-. However, because CBN is a product of degraded THC, and recreational THC is now legal & lucrative here in IL, they stopped making & selling those capsules--THC-rich weed is too much of a cash cow to allow to degrade into CBN. Most dispensary customers are looking for a high, not simply insomnia relief.
I have both 23 & Me and Ancestry, and as far as tracing my family tree they're pretty useless for us Ashkenazi Jews. I know little (almost nothing) about my mom's side. All the "second cousins" 23 & Me lists are dead ends--they mention relatives with the wrong surnames from the wrong places. The only reason I can trace my dad's side back to the 1870s is that a distant cousin in Paris (whom I had no idea I had) died and his estate needed to establish heirs to distribute his estate. My first cousin's widow & I got the family tree the French genealogist made, and it did fill in some rumor "holes" to which our parents and aunts had alluded when we were kids.
Pretty depressed right now--bleak polar vortex Chiberia (subzero) Snowmageddon weather forecast for at least the next couple of weeks. Running all my faucets to prevent frozen pipes, wearing layers even indoors (except upstairs, because heat rises). News of new COVID variants & mutations (and that Astra Zeneca stopped rolling out its vaccine in S. Africa because it's too weak against that variant) and reports from immunologists that we may never again see "normal" in our lifetimes, certainly not for at least the next couple of years. Crazy people running half of Congress, or at least people beholden to crazy conspiracy-theory-addled voters. And this ocular melanoma hanging over my head like (as Judy put it) the "under-toad" In John Irving's The World According to Garp.
I look forward to the occasional letrozole-caused hot flashes--they actually make me more comfortable.
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Ah,yes, the dreaded, no protection ever against the under toad.” It just comes at you out of the blue, like, after having ovaries removed at 35, and no family history, not that my family ever got mammograms, getting BC at 85, about the one thing in life I hadn’t worried about.My taking Tylenol, before first Pfizer, felt like the most minuscule of under-toads when I read of its hypothetical possibility of negating the shot by preventing an immune response, but Sandy, PCP, and hematologist say “No Worries.” Yet, I still do, just a little. Here’s a strange story. A friend, Susan, in Berkeley went for her first shot. Apparently, the nurse who administered it said she wasn't getting one, didn't beiieve in it, etc. Susan said she didn't feel a thing when she got the shot, had no sore arm, etc. and wound up not being sure she go the shot in the first place. Through doctor husband Richard, she was able to get an anti-body test because she was so worried, and it turned out she had zero antibodies. Anyway, at this point Susan doesn't think the woman actually gave her the shot, and Richard is reporting the situation to whomever. Susan, a calm rational person, sounds sort of like a wreck
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Living life as art requires a readiness to forgive. I do not mean that you should suffer fools gladly, but rather remember your own shortcomings, and when you encounter another with flaws, don't be eager to righteously seal yourself away from the offender forever. Take a few breaths and imagine yourself having just committed the action which has set you at odds. -Maya Angelou
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Wow -- Keywest. That is quite a story about your Berkeley friend, Susan. I'm so glad she had avenues to pursue to figure out that she was duped. Now it makes you wonder if the rest of the people that got shots that day from that particular 'nurse' got a 'fake'. I thought back to mine -- and I did have a sore arm starting the same day of the shot and the next day. Whew -- but the thing was that the nurse who gave it to me had to go somewhere and get the syringe once we were ready ( some paperwork necessary beforehand ) to actually get the shot.
Just meaning that if that happens many places you could get away with actually giving someone a water injection or something. Here's to sore arms while I continue to hope MOST people that day got the real vaccine shots. That is horrid. Then again -- at least Susan knows so things can be rectified hopefully for her.
Chicago weather does sound bad Sandy and two weeks -- yikes. We started getting snow this afternoon. We had very sm. pellet sleet first but soon enough it was snow. It was quite small so I'm thinking we won't have a great accumulation. Sort of hating it though. My friend at the farm needs to go into the city ( St. Louis, Mo ) tomorrow for a check-up and she doesn't like the 70 mile drive there and back. Her daughter usually drives her -- but no matter who drives it can be a mite nerve-wracking. Hoping all goes well.
Long day today, but tomorrow I will only have to go out and feed the feral kitties. Only saw adults today. Never quick know who will come. I'm up to about 6 or 7 adults now. It was only two and an occasional third one. I think some stay across the barranca and street in a yard there. The home owners had/have a restaurant and so a lot of the leftover food feeds ferals.
I hope you all had a nice day.
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Yes, the CBN does work. I got good deep sleep last night. I am wondering if the gabapentin is part of the problem. I am going to slowly cut back on that.
Gov. Evers is talking about legalizing mj. He figures if pushing for more, they will compromise with less, medical MJ. American Shaman sells hemp flowers for smoking. They are my source for the CBD, CBN, and CBGo.
I had my last four teeth pulled today. Tomorrow I have to go to the grocery store, my shopper already bought for herself and her mother for the whole week and more because of the weather. I need to get some ice cream and nutritional shakes, and a few other things.
I decided to get back to writing, I have a bunch of changes to make, and I am no longer struggling with the sleep thing. It takes a big bite out of intellectual power.
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Good morning, ladies. I am feeling much better and back to normal. I think I may have been dealing with a Lupus flare up, the worst ever with some IBS thrown in. What we do to protect ourselves from COVID also protects us from the flu and the common cold. I am glad and thankful to feel like my normal self.
keywestfan, that was an awful experience your friend went through. I hope she can go somewhere else to get a real shot.
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Getting ready to go feed the feral cats this morning. It started snowing yesterday around noon or 1 p.m. Still snowing when we went to bed. The good part was that it was small snow -- so we only have a couple inches. Errrg. It is what it is, but we are getting some delayed winter apparently. I hope it doesn't last too long, but since we haven't been able to rely on any one pattern for some time, what comes, comes.
I'm enjoying only working two days a week. It takes a lot though out of those days. I may work on tryting to devise a plan where I can get through a little sooner than I have been. Trouble is -- the lady at the farm likes to talk and while I'm naturally more quiet -- I can break out in chit-chat really well at times. I think I will just have to try out a couple of things and see how it goes.
So, today will be time for me to get my house in better order. When the weather is not great though it cuts down on some work. Like hauling things to Good Will. I usually prefer to hold out for nicer conditions. Who really wants to wade in snow to fill a car -- and then deal with the other end -- however that may go.
I hope as many of you as possible are having decent weather and if possible plenty of sun.
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Hi ladies. I'm off to get my vaccine shot this am. Do any of you remember what Sandy said about which pain reliever to take after your shot (2 to 3 hours after and not sooner). I can't remember if Tylenol was ok or was it ibuprofen. Thanks for your help!
I'm petsitting a cat today so I think I'll go over to feed her right after my shot so that way if I start feeling the effects I will be able to get home before it starts.
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Tylenol. Ibuprofen is an NSAID, no antiinflammatories wanted!. And her advice was to wait until you are miserable, unlike the usual pain medicine advice. That's because with the vaccine we want the inflammatory response while with pain meds we usually are trying to not have the pain.
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The mere thought of walking outdoors on a brilliant golden-blue day causes fire-works of delight to go off in most people's psyche. It gives one an instant feeling of happiness and that is meditation! We are not only in touch, at that moment, with the physical splendour of nature, but also with the beauty of merging our own spiritual nature with it. -Karen Zebroff
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Did fine this morning with the feral cats. Only two came out. The little tiger stripe came -- and she has fairly friendly for some rime. Today I took a chance and picked her up. She tensed up a lot -- but did not fight to get down. So I petted her for a bit and she didn't run when I put her down. I had brought a hard bristled broom with me to sweep a spot clean to put food down -- and she waited patiently for that. In fact, it is why I picked her up. She was bunched up a bit keeping herself warm while I swept -- so I wanted to hold her for awhile to get her feet up off the ground and the snow.
Will have to see how she behaves tomorrow. I hope we have no issues moving around tomorrow. Today was fine. Once I got backed up it was fairly smooth sailing and the highway was all but clean. I'm sure they came along in the wee hours to put something down on the road.
Hope you all are having a good day.
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Loved today's quote, Jackie.
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Petite so glad you are feeling better and on the mend. My joints have been bothering me. I'm not sure if it's what I've been doing (overdoing) or my autoimmune ailment complaining. Using Biofreeze roll-on at the moment.
Illinois I'm with you - no going to Goodwill when streets are slick. Bad weather gives me time to pile things up inside and ready things for either a truck pickup or a drop. Our next round of snow is on the way.
Stay safe and well. ❄🌨
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Reader - tell me about Biofreeze. I'm being using a topical pain cream, Voltaren but it is only okay. I don't want anything with menthol or other smell. I have tennis elbow and at times it is more painful than others. Debating if I want to get a cortisone shot. Turned it down in December when I saw the ortho.
Today is a virtual work day, so other than a walk or two, no need to go anywhere.
Stay safe and stay warm
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The best portion of a good man's life
is his little, nameless, unremembered
acts of kindness and of love.
- William Wordsworth
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I remember putting on ( I've not needed anything like that myself - knock on wood ) Salonpas pain patches ( and it does come in roll-on ) on people and there was not a smell to it that I recall. I also don't recall an odor to the roll-on which my Dh has used. Most of the 'patch people' seemed satisfied with their results. Dh sometimes wasn't thrilled but he kept buying the Salonpas roll-on so I think he may have been noticing as it worn off or something.
We had more snow overnight. Not a lot, but still some. I walked out on the deck this morning -- couldn't see any snow coming down but it seemed to me a lot of moisture was in the air. They have said we might have slick areas and I'm thinking it could be that 'moisture'. Well, I don't have much of anyting to do out of doors save for the feeding of the feral cats. I will see how the roads are. If they seem slick -- I will just have to leave it go for today. That will make my un-happy but truth is.....cats can go a few days w/o true harm to their systems. I just don't want to make them.
I have some bills I c ould pay while I'm out if the roads are okay ( usually the highway once you get to it is good as are the roads in town ) so I can get that done.
I hope you all stay safe, and cozy at home if you don't have to go out. Our temps. don't show much sign of a return to better for some time in advance. I get a weekly forecast and it is not good. I hope some of it is wrong, but it will be what it is and we will get through it. I don't have to really go anywhere til' Friday when do the ladies.
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Illinois - thanks for the info on Salon Pass - it is on sale at Costco but didn't buy it as it says there is menthol in it. Since chemo which has been many years I am very sensitive to smells.
Its getting colder and colder as the week goes on. DH and I just keep bundling up more and more to stay warm. Since his open heart surgery he is cold much more easily and I've become a wimp regarding the cold anymore. I told DH its because he doesn't have enough meat on his bones and he said the same for me!! But he also knows that I alternate between being cold and being hot.
Stay warm and those in the storm areas stay safe.
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My Dad wore long underwear all winter as he hit his 80's. I've noticed that DH gets colder than he used to. I seem to be getting warmer.
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Karen - cortisone shots in both wrists and knees delayed surgery significantly. Ken has had them in his back. I used an aloe based cream. Look for your store's generic.
Sandy - My ancestor search has certainly been helped by the fact that I'm a WASP (mainly English) from way back. Still have Irish folk I can't trace before 1820 however and as you might imagine "Clark", Ken's surname, gets hard to pin down. DNA tracing has helped some but for some reason, I have been reluctant to do it. Our adopted daughter did it to determine her ethnic background (which was pretty much what we had been lead to believe) but she didn't follow-up when a possible cousin contacted her on Ancestry. The family story is that Ken's mother wanted to join DAR but could only find a Loyalist, not a Patriot. Now she could find a lineage group for that too.
Ken just got his shot confirmation for Friday. Sure hope they will give me one too as I have been unsuccessful in getting an appointment now that they have lowed the age to 65. The computer system that AZ set up is dreadful!
Stay warm everyone.
Marge
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Marge, good luck with getting the vaccine on Friday. DH and I got calls today from our county with appointments for tomorrow afternoon. We've been feeling frustrated with being on three waiting lists and regularly checking several others; also, we were starting to develop vaccine envy!
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Karen the Salonpas patches I got at Costco had such a strong mentholish smell it made me nauseated. The Biofreeze rollon I use is called Perform. It is in a silver container. It says it has menthol but I don't find it hard to take like the Salonpas. Light, but helps as much as any of those type things do. I understand about the smell. We are all different. Good luck.
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Marge - I won't due surgery on my elbow. I've had 3 wrist surgeries. Carpel Tunnel, surgeon didn't do cortisone as she didn't believe it was beneficial for CTS. When I had deQuarvanes tendonitis in both wrists, I had 2 shots of cortisone in each wrist and still ended up needing surgery. When I told ortho that I had cortisone before and it didn't work, he said it probably wouldn't work now. The CTS was definitely from Arimidex and I'm certain the deQuarvanes was from Aromasin. When I went to the ortho in December I had. forgotten that I was on 2 rounds of antibiotics in September for UTI. It as one of the questions on the patient questionnaire. I know some antibiotics can cause tendonitis so wondering if that is the cause. Hope you can get your vaccine when Ken does. It's crazy that the rules are different state by state!
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I had to wash everything (sheets, etc.) after using a roll on with a strong smell. I found one at the drug store that said odorless and actually was. Sorry I can't tell you the brand. I haven't needed it for a long time. I got exercises from physical therapy for my tennis elbow and they helped.
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Reader, thanks for the info. My hands cause the biggest problem. I can deal with the middle finger, but the thumb is painful and locks up. MO appointment at the end of the month. On the Arimidex thread someone advised a glove, but didn't seem to help.
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The problem, often not discovered until late in life, is that when you look for things in life like love, meaning, motivation, it implies they are sitting behind a tree or under a rock. The most successful people in life recognize, that in life they create their own love, they manufacture their own meaning, they generate their own motivation. For me, I am driven by two main philosophies: know more today about the world than I knew yesterday, and lessen the suffering of others. You'd be surprised how far that gets you. -Neil deGrasse Tyson
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I guess I've beeen used to methol smells ( Vicks ) for so long that I didn't notice any while putting the Salonpas on other people. Dh never used them ( he used the roll on and cream Salonpas) and I never noticed any strong odors then either. For that reason Marge, I hope you will consider asking the pharmacy to perhaps help you choose something appropriate with way less or no smells associated. I have had good luck ( need so little though it is not often ) asking the pharmacists to direct me to things that seem to have the most success w/o effects I don't wish to deal with.
Cold, non-snowy we think, and cloudy today. Sadly, the cold and cloudy will be hanging around for some time. I think from what is indicated for the moment -- over a week. Yikes -- I need sun. At least though it is just cloudy and no rain or anything. I still could sure use some sun but it doesn't feel as bad as when the cloudy aspect is from rain.
I think I just read ( wish I could tell you where ) that all categories will be able to get the vaccine in April. I'm not sure that it is very comforting to a lot of people. I'm thinking that much of it has to do with the storage issues of it. If the shelf life were better -- but I do think it is due to be sent out to a lot of pharmacies now. You would just have to look for all sorts of lists and put yourself on. I had intended to do just that and then out of the blue it seemed the V.A. called. I think our PCP put us on the V.A. list and age and recent medical issues pushed us way up on the list. I was surprised but jumped on it. I was prepared to wait for some time if it worked out that way and really thought I would be waiting. I hope those who are READY now will have fortune smile on them.
Hope you all have a good day and good weather.
ETA: petite, I meant to say I hope you fingers get better. I'm so bad for forgetting ALL the points I want to cover. So, hope no one feels left out because I do think of you each individually all of the time.
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You all have likly been thru a lot of things like this -- but it is the first time I've seen it pop into my eamil -- so just in case:
Feb. 11, 2021
Everything you need to know about getting a Covid-19 vaccination
We've designed a tool that tells you everything you need to know about getting a Covid-19 shot, based on your unique situation.
Plan your own vaccine — or help a loved one — with comprehensive information on appointments, including how to get one, what to bring with you and what it will cost. And access content on local vaccination issues and latest rollout news.
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