Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?
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We have a crawl space that has way too much stuff - about half is kid stuff - old crib, high chair, toddler bed, toys etc, - every time my kids come visit I try to get them to go through stuff - I tell them to get rid of what they don't want but its okay to keep what they want or the "maybe'" but it is getting way too long to go through it. I also have luggage that belonged to my late parents and more stuff/. Slowly I've been clearing boxes - just shredded 7 boxes of old taxes and work reports through a local shredding event. The main problem with my kids taking stuff is the cost to get it to them so it remains here. I'm at the point that I just say to my husband - they can do what we had to do when is mother passed away after living in her house for close to 45 years - rent a dumpster for all the garbage or stuff that wasn't sellable then hired someone to do an estate sale. My late parents had downsized a few times but even when my dear mother passed away and living in a one bedroom apt it was amazing how much stuff she had that we had to get rid off. My kids can divide our house when the time comes -
DH and I say both our late mothers were a little horders, but that may be due to being the depression generation.
Cold, damp day today. And a little snow but not enough to accumulate.
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Good morning, ladies. Love this conversation. My biggest junk pile is the garage. I have started to purge it several times and took stuff to the Goodwill and the dump. I never get it finished and more accumulates. We still have room for a truck and a Jeep. It is an oversized 2 car garage, in Florida standards. DH says he would like to have a 3 car garage, but I know what would happen. The 3rd bay would become a junk room. I still remember trying to get my mother's house cleaned out when she died. It was a nightmare. The estate sale people saved us. I don't want my heirs to have to deal with the same mess. LOL
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I, too, enjoyed the conversation this morning. My sister Linda is married to a hoarder, but his tendencies are extreme. He can't throw away a magazine or a catalog. Their large old house is a nightmare. She has tried to throw away stuff but he brings it back inside.
DH is a hoarder but his territory is a large workshop in a separate building. He brought home stuff his father had hoarded and has it somewhere in the workshop. Old motors and things that might prove useful. When his father died, we filled two dumpsters cleaning out the house in Oak Forest, IL, that had, unfortunately, both an attic and a basement.
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My Mother had items in her home labeled with the name of who was to get it when she died. She used small pieces of masking tape to label and put it on the bottom of the item. It was understood that we were to honor the label. If we wanted to swap amongst ourselves that was permissible but no stealing from one another. I did swap for a cherry table with my one DB and later found she had kept the original bill of sale for the table in its drawer. Whatever was unlabeled was to be offered to the grandchildren. When she sold her home she moved in with my DB and we were encouraged to take the items then so she got to see us enjoy them. For anything we had gifted her over the years, we were offered first dibs on taking it back. If we declined, another could claim it. I just hung some small ornate Italian wood floral paintings I had bought her in Florence ages ago. Brought back memories of that trip and her pleasure in receiving them. They hung in her dining room for years. Now they are in my MBR.
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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.
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Joan Chittister
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So true that those who grew up during the depression tended to keep a lot of things. In my mother's defense, she didn't keep things endlessly, but they would at times ( old sheets or blankets and towels ) get recycled into dog beds or rags or cover sheet covers for something she wanted to keep the dust off. She also saved hand towels and other give-aways in boxes of purchased laundry soap.
Also in her favor, she kept her 'keepables' in excellent shape and anything of fabric was scrumptiously clean. So she had two or three sets of dishes ( one set coming from points she got from buying some product over and over.
She too though had some things that just needed to end up in fil 13. I remember one of her boxes labeled " to be sorted on a rainy day " but she passed away before the day came. That is one of the boxes I will go through now -- and I hate to admit Mom passed away in 1998. Funny, just like our family thyroid issues ( grandmother, mother sister and myself/thyroid ) we seem to inherit the wait for a rainy day and for me it has been a long time coming. I'm actually looking forward to that one box since it has waited so long. I think it will get easier and I will hold in my mind the picture of great satisfaction when I get through all of this. I am likely lucky my daughter ( she was so shocked when her brother died ) chose to return to live here ( not only in Ill. and the town where I was born ) in the house we have now. It is making it imperative that I get the sorting done once if not for all ( knowing it is never for all ) as even more so due to the fact that it is taking up every corner of my living room. Fortunately I have no kitties in my screen room anymore so a lot if there as well. It will all get its time -- but the screen room is not as urgent as the living room.
I hope you all have a fantastic bright, beautiful day. We are having sun here. Will be in the 80's next week but still coolish here now.
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My late MIL would re-use the wax paper bags that were in cereal boxes! And she used the boxes too. Both mothers were amazing women. My husband and I were lucky to have wonderful parents. They are missed. My late FIL passed away in 1983 - my DH has outlived his father by a few years age wise. My father 2013, mother 2018 and MIL 2019. Lots of fond memories!!! Before the estate sale after we finished cleaning out the house, I took photos of all the rooms - we had the house updated with new carpet and paint before it was put on the market. Luckily it sold quickly and my DH and niece closed on the house just before Covid shut the world down. Except for cleaning out the house, all was done long distance. Fed X made a good amount of $ on shipping boxes to CO, OR and ON.
Weather is warming up and sun is starting to peek out of the skies but its still pretty gray - low 40s and by Monday mid 70s.
Happy Earth Day!
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I had been to the gym every day this week and didn't feel like going to chair yoga yesterday. Instead I took my Prius to the dealer for an oil change and tire rotation. I'm signed up for golf this morning but an accident on I-12 has the route to the club clogged with traffic. So I may/will probably have to cancel. So I guess it's back to the gym for exercise class since the traffic should have cleared by 11:30.
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Good morning. It is a beautiful morning, though last night was bad for DH. He is still have the cluster headaches. They are not as bad thanks to the medication, but I will be so glad when they stop. I hate to see him in so much pain. Today is laundry day and I might paint my toe nails.
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When was the last time you stopped to listen to the wind blow through the trees? Or stopped to listen to a river as it flowed past you, or the crickets and frogs and other living things as they make their music? When was the last time you listened--truly listened--to a favorite song, paying attention to the lyrics, the drums, the rhythm, the guitars or strings? -Tom Walsh
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IllinoisLady - Your posting today really resonates with me! Many thanks. Every day I listen to nature as we have many birds chirping away. One was even singing the sweetest song on Wednesday morning when we had 2+ inches of snow! I usually listen to one or the other of my bookmarked song favorites on YouTube daily.
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Last time I listened to the wind blow through the trees it was while we barricaded ourselves, terrified, down in the basement till the tornado danger had passed (the twister came within 1/2 mile of us ladt summer).
My MO visit was reassuring yesterday--didn't have to get weighed. MO said I look terrific. All labs (except glucose, darn it) were great. She now has switched me to annual, rather than 6-month, visits (I see my melanoma MO every 6 months & my ocular onc every three, so I'm covered). She gave me the option to quit letrozole but would rather I do the full 7 years. She said that the decision point would be after next year's DEXAScan--if the osteopenia worsens (or my spine goes from normal to osteopenic), she'd recommend ending the A.I. Letrozole also raised my LDL a lot--and the statin I had to start taking raised my glucose. Before starting on a statin my glucose was around 90. Now it's 130. If I were to start on metformin, my LDL would ratchet up again--a vicious cycle. Quitting letrozole would let me ditch the statin, which would lower my glucose; my metabolism would also speed up a bit.
Tonight my benefit concert streamed--except for a severe L hand cramp during a guitar solo on the first song, my performance was better than I'd remembered (from when I recorded it last month). Eeerily, I got the same hand cramp at one point tonight while watching/listening to the show (I'd had it only twice before, pre-pandemic). It's not tenosynovitis (trigger finger), but instead my thumb & index finger spasmed into a "claw" that I had to forcefully pry apart with my R hand. Probably due to slight dehydration.
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I started to take a magnesium supplement when I was having leg cramps. Lots of people recommend it. Haven't had one since, even when getting down on my knees.
Busy right now, mostly sewing. Using my left foot to control the machine.
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One of my all time favorite authors:
Come from the heart, the true heart, not the head. When in doubt, choose the heart. This does not mean to deny your own experiences and that which you have empirically learned through the years. It means to trust your self to integrate intuition and experience. There is a balance, a harmony to be nurtured, between the head and the heart. When the intuition rings clear and true, loving impulses are favored. -Brian L. Weiss
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I've been taking 500 mg. magnesium for years now, but the leg & foot cramps (mostly R, more often a shin & foot dystonia than calf spasm) abated only slightly. I can walk off the calf & sole cramps, and massage away the shin and top-of-foot/ankle/toes dystonia (during which my ankle dorsiflexes upward and my toes splay apart) with a magnesium spray, but it takes several minutes for it to kick in. I can stop the L hand dystonia episodes (which have been much rarer) by forcing my fingers & thumb open with the R hand--but when it happened while playing a chord, I had to grit my teeth and will my finger back to normal mobility. My PCP says that the shin/foot dystonias are likely originating in a nerve bundle (containing the vagus nerve), for which there isn't any treatment (nor noninvasive diagnostic test). As to the sudden "claw thumb," that's most likely ulnar nerve entrapment. Chalk it all up to aging.
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Absolutely wonderful MO visit, Sandi. Who’s MO ever tells them they look wonderful!
I've apparently done my teeth in with my hard fall on a bad sidewalk join. Very complicated, more so than I knew. Dr. Tye- dentist- will try to bond and fuse 2 front teeth together next Tuesday..This is just a temporary measure. Endodontist sure one big front tooth will have to come out. Maybe other big front tooth too as well as side one.And then 3 root canals.Probably implants, or bridge.Ugh and horrors, but Dr Tye and endodontist says we can go away for a few days, so Key West, May 9-18. Then the real mouth work. Icky, as this is, it will get done and it is minor compared to what it could have been. Everyone here at Mather afraid of falling and buying Apple Watches. "I 'ill never smile again," as the song goes.
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My dentist office is still negotiating with my insurance company on my lower denture. I am waiting patiently, or maybe not. My problem with my teeth was long-term use of tricyclic antidepressants-- and when off of them, too depressed to care.
Sandy, I have heard of that magnesium spray, might be worthwhile. At this point, however, I can stop them or prevent them by not getting down on my knees, and by stretching the involved muscles in the opposite direction. It is mostly calf muscles. with occasionally the back of my upper leg. And, I must not forget the most regular of them, my upper back.
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Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile,
but sometimes your smile
can be the source of your joy.
- Thich Nhat Hanh
Inner Smile Exercise:
1. Close your eyes.
2. Breath slowly, deeply, and consciously.
3. Set the corners of your mouth in just the slightest smile.
4. Visualize your smile growing larger and larger, and your happiness increasing.0 -
During past years I took various supplements but at some point I stopped everything but Vitamin D, "prescribed" by one dr. and a low dose aspirin, prescribed by myself. I took zinc at the recommendation of my nurse SIL to prevent colds and viral illnesses, but when I got double pneumonia and had a 6 day hospital stay, I decided zinc had let me down and stopped it.
It would be good if there were some dependable test studies of supplements. It's a very lucrative business.
Keywestfan, fortunately you can afford all that expensive dentistry. Still, how unfortunate that you're having to go through the processes. I, too, was very impressed with your watch. I hope that you can fit in a trip to Key West and enjoy yourself.
Yesterday dh and I completed a job we had been discussing and I had been dreading. Organizing his wooden bowls and other items he produced during past months in his shop. And packing them in bins to transport to MN where we will set up on Saturdays at a Farmers' Market. Now that is done. In a week or so he will pull the cargo trailer up nearer the house and we will load it with other possessions we take with us for our four-month stay at Pinehollow Resort near Park Rapids, MN. I think this will be our 10th summer.
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I take very little in the way of supplements. My Vitamin C with added D3 comes from the V.A. Otherwise I take one multi recommended lightly by my Nutrition Class teacher. I have often read that the best ( if one feels the need ) supplements are those that are routinely checked through a lab process. It is the only way to know if what is said to be in the ( usually tablet or capsule ) really is. You can spend a lot of money and not really get what you think you are paying for and on the other hand -- now and then there can be too much in the pills. This is not good for the fat soluble vitamins that stay in the tissue and too much of the others just gives you expensive pee. I chose to take the multi as I'm not a big vegetable eater and feel I never quite get enough. It is more of giving myself a chance to be a little less deficient. On the other hand -- my labs are almost always really good -- but maybe that is due to making sure I have a multi to take. I guess if you feel good and your Dr. is happy with your numbers overall I wouldn't be too concerned.
Slow day working here. Make a roast for dinner. Boy, if they could just bottle the smells coming from the kitchen when certain food are cooking. Chocolate chip cookies make a pretty nice odor too.
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Illinoislady, I love the "wind in the trees" thought for the day. I love hearing a gentle wind in the trees. I feel fortunate to have the trees around the house (except in storms). I have empty lots on both sides of me, which maybe built upon, but the back will never be cleared or built.
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"Though I might travel afar, I will meet only what I carry with me, for every man is a mirror. We see only ourselves reflected in those around us. Their attitudes and actions are only a reflection of our own. The whole world, and its condition, has its counterparts within us all. Turn the gaze inward. Correct yourself and your world will change."
-- Kirsten Zambucka0 -
We arrived in FL a week ago Sunday. First night I woke up with calf cramps in both legs. Jumping up in the middle of the night, stomping my feet, I ran to the bathroom and hit my calves with Biofreeze. I'm guessing dehydration, I was able to get back to sleep.
Supplements - I took many for years, believing myself healthy. BC got me anyway, and osteopenia too. So for the past few years I'm only taking Vit D and Citracal calcium. Step son Dr. confirms, expensive urine otherwise.
It's been very warm down here. 89-91 so my bike rides are early then again late. Total different feel because I'm still doing the remote learning with my grand niece. So much odd ball stuff around here - shutter inspection to the electric, AC maintenance, add in I have to get the FL car registration renewed. Only 4 weeks more and we'll be back in NY.
Enjoy the week ladies!
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Good morning. It is bright and sunny. After posting, I will be going for a walk.
Supplements: I take Multi-vitamins for older women, Calcium +D, probiotics, and Turmeric. The only thing added after BC was the Turmeric.
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I take vitamin b3, glucosamine & chondroitin, melatonin, magnesium oxide, and b-complex with c. Dropped the turmeric because my otc benefit does not include it. And CBD formulation for night "CBN". Insurance does not cover that, but it is recommended by my PCP, and I got a cancer patient discount as well as a drop in my public housing rent because of it.
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Hello -
I am an older woman; diagnosed with Stage IIIB TNBC in 2019 when I just turned 65; I had surgery (mastectomy no reconstruction) chemo and radiation. I am now 67, it is back. I just got biopsy results, recurrent breast cancer, inflammatory. It is a nightmare. I posted about it under a recurrent BC post.
When I signed up, I entered my birthday which is November 12, 1953...somehow it came out November 12, 2005! I cannot change the year as much as I try to edit it. In any event, I am glad to see an older group. I live alone and this new second journey is extremely overwhelming to me.
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Nonni, all our prayers for you. I also live alone, and it was difficult. This website was so important for me. I more than live alone, I have no relatives in this area. I do belong to a good church community, but that has its limitations. I am seriously thinking of moving to be closer to family. Just stick close to that 2005 birthdate. We are only as young as we think we are.
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Nonni wishing the best for you as you navigate round 2 of the journey none of us choose to be on. You're in my prayers.
Supplements: 2 gummi multivites, B12 (long term PPI taker), D3 (Osteopenia) and CQ10 (per Cardio. Due to statin use.)
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Nonni, I'm so sorry that you're going through this nightmare. I hope you can find good support here at bc.com. I came here in 2009 and have never left.
Our governor here in Louisiana has stood up to the pressure from the Republican legislature and a population of conservatives and mandated masks throughout this Covid pandemic, but yesterday he caved and passed the responsibility along to businesses and individuals. Some of us will continue to wear masks in crowded shopping situations, like the supermarket, but I expect that most won't. I hope the US doesn't experience what is happening to India. I will be interested to see if the businesses take the signs down asking patrons to wear masks.
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Nonni, Welcome. I am sorry to hear what is going on with you. I find encouragement and support from the people here, not just for BC, but other issues as well.
Carole, Down here in "Free Florida" most all businesses have the mask signs up. The only places that don't are bars and restaurants. It has been that way since bars and restaurants opened back up. People are as they are, some wear masks and some do not.
DH had another bad headache spell at 3:05 this morning. We have been on the phone with the referring doctor to try and get things to move along.
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