Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?
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I have a canine alarm, and I can always attach an electronic alarm. I will have to check and see if my apparatus for doorbell and phone and alarm clock has an alarm for such things. Yes, they do. If they know it has a motor they will be more dedicated in their search for a way to get past stuff. For now, though, canine is sufficient. My mechanic says I have to ride it for a while without a motor, because adding anything to it will void the warrantee.
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Compassion is not religious business, it is human business; it is not luxury, it is essential for our own peace and mental stability; it is essential for human survival. The Dalai Lama
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What would we do w/o thieves to help make the insurance companies profitable along with those who sell locks, etc. We have been fortunate out here where we live. In fact, the fact that we don't have lake behind our house sometimes is a blessing. That said, there is the house next door which does. When the lake is low ( although its been awhile ) people can walk along the edges of the lake BEHIND everyone's house -- enabling them to either break in then or target the property for some other time. We have kept dogs for a long time now and that certainly helps. We have caught teens wandering around our ravines which start at the lake. We usually invite them to leave and so far, so good. A good/heavy-duty deadbolt is normally pretty much a Godsend. If there is ( so far everywhere there is one ) at any of the houses I have keys for I always use the deadbolt locks. Then I never worry.
I do hope you all have safe, easy travel this yr. As always Carole, the wood bowls sound just extraordinary. Then again, since our little town here so often demand of vendors that they have home-made wares for sale I have come to really appreciate the HAND-MADE, home-made items that people are quite willing and eager to invest their time and talents for presentation to the public at large. I think of people who may be eagerly awaiting, even now, your return to the area so they can partake of your hand-made items.
At out Balloon Fest ( while I was a bit more of a working person ) I eagerly awaited the pottery lady who used to have a booth. I generally bought one piece a yr. My mom got me my first ( a covered casserole dish ) one, when Dh and I still lived in California. She took vacation back here every yr. at Fest time and so I loved the pottery before I ever returned home. The last few yrs. the pottery lady hasn't been there -- but I don't work like I use to so maybe its okay.
It is starting to heat up already today. It will be a good day for capri's or pedal pushers for sure I think. I'm not ready but I never am. It is never quite gentle enough for me, but I will have to put on my big girl pedal pushers and get over it.
Hope you all have a wonderful day. Love hearing about the trykes too.
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Carol - I do wordle every morning. Like to do crosswords and card games to keep my mind sharp.
Busy morning so far. Did my morning exercises, making a spaghetti squash, and doing laundry. Right now I’m icing my hip and have a cat laying in top of the ice.
My DH setup cameras in the front and back of the house. It looks just like we have official security setup. Wecan view what’s going on though our iPads. So far we’ve had no major issues in our neighborhood. Mostly things taken from unlocked cars. We have used our back yard camera for issue resolution. One morning a tree crew chopped down one of our trees. We notified our HOA and sent them the footage. The HOA planted two new trees in our yard. We live next to the common area and the crew thought the tree was part of common area.
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cardplayer, Welcome. I am from Virginia and moved to Florida as a child. I have been here ever since. I do a visit back to the Blue Ridge once in a while.
DH has an appointment with the Cardiologist, today. His ejection fraction dropped 5 points.
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Love is a way of seeing and a way of being that honors God in everyone we meet. And it changes us in the most fundamental way. All we need to do is welcome the challenge of our relationships, training our eyes to look beyond human behavior to the Presence within. When we seek to live love, we discover through our interactions with others the divinity within ourselves. -Susan L. Taylor
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Going to be toasty here today, I think. Not much of a breeze going on. We do have our a/c on. That is a big help.
Petite -- hope your Dh's appt. goes well. Losing 5 pts. is scary.
I got word from my Cardiologist's office. My hematology numbers are up slightly -- so hoping that means that I will be able to get the clearance for having the Bladder lesion out. The more I can do the better.
I hope you all have a really good day.
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Petite - I hope all goes well at your husband’s cardiologist appointment today.
Looks like we can share pictures again, so I thought I share my azaleas from the side of our house.
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Gorgeous and count me smiling and happy that the picture/meme/avatars are back cardplayer. That pic above makes me want to go get azaleas for my yard. I won't though since Dh will still be getting on the yard tractors this yr. Once he has totally given up mowing I can trust my SIL to be aware of what NOT to mow down in the yard.
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Those azaleas are lovely. I think it is amazing how different shades bloom at different times. My purple one is going off bloom, the pink and red are in bloom as is the white, and the peach and lavender one are getting ready to bloom. My small flower purple lilac is getting ready to bloom, the small bloom white one is still in bud and the old fashioned purple ones are going off bloom. It's a veritable rainbow when they bloom in their order.
Today I spent nearly 2 hours trying to split the blue hydrangeas that line my front walkway. The largest by the driveway needs to be removed in preparation for the new walkway and I managed to get 2 new plants from it today without reducing much of its bulk. I replanted them into a new permanent home. There are probably 3-4 more plants in this driveway bush alone. The two that lean over the walkway need to have the "extra" plants removed and I got 3 off one plant today. It looks like I will be able to take 3 off the other one as well. There is an azalea near the front steps that needs to be moved in preparation for the new front steps, two by the driveway that will be planted elsewhere, and another hydrangea there that will be temporarily relocated. The Seal of Solomon I planted years ago has gotten quite prolific so I have tons of that to temporarily relocate (plan on new places for some of it as well). The Seal of Solomon look like orchids when they bloom. So after all the work we did do it hardly made a dent in what we need to do. Now that I know you can "split" hydrangeas, I will make sure to debulk them more often.
Jackie, at my former home I had a wedge shaped section of ground between the walkway and the driveway that I had planted with azaleas. I asked my DH to trim the grass around them and even had a pair of clippers you could use from a standing position which I gave him. He decided to weed whack it instead and when I witnessed the decimation of the azaleas, his reply was to shrug his shoulders and tell me they would "grow back". Of course, they never did so he is not allowed in or near the flower beds without supervision. I just caught him tearing out the tiny white bleeding hearts I had because some had grown in the pachysandra and he was "concerned about the pachysandra". He is a true PhD when it comes to plants...they are all weeds in his book. So we had the "do not invade my flower beds" talk again, LOL.
Gardening is my therapy including weeding which is not a true favorite but I really can disconnect when I am weeding. Beautiful day today and I hope we get a rerun tomorrow.
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Our hydrangeas haven’t started to bloom yet. My DH planted all of our deck plants today - petunias, marigolds, a hibiscus, and geraniums. It gets quite lush by the end of the summer. He likes to garden and handle yard work. We put the hummingbird feeder out yesterday, but haven’t seen any of the birds yet. Hopefully they’ll return soon.
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Cardplayer the flowers are lovely.
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Azaleas look beautiful! I have 2 small azalea plants at NY house that I can see bloomed on my Ring doorbell. There is a large spreading one in the back yard that my Blink camera hasn’t caught bloomed yet. Front is light pink, back is a dark pink. I’ve never paid much attention about different colors blooming at different times. At FL house we took out 2 dead shrubs and replaced them with azaleas in 2 different purple colors (I think). Theses are good size plants, bigger than front ones in NY. I love seeing them all bloom.
We drove 4.5 hours today and the weather was perfect for a drive. As we pulled out of our development we realized neither of us took the garbage out of the kitchen. So I made a U turn and back in we went. Our neighbors had a laugh seeing us again. They’re putting the bins curbside tonight for us. That was it, the rest uneventful.I’m showered and ready to look up my soap opera on my laptop to see who did what to who today. The shower here hadgreat pressure and lots of hot water. I did realize once I was in that I have no razor with me. I’m barely hairy so such is life, I’ll say hairy legs are “in.”
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Just looking out onto my backyard. Yellow Belles are way ahead of the orange Belles of Glory. The yellow and purple lantana bloom at different times too. Here the plants seem to be more "heat" than "light" sensitive. The sages don't bloom until it's consistently between 90-100 (and we're getting close). Ken's roses were gorgeous but are already gone.
Had a good birthday/Mother's Day weekend. Nine holes of golf on both Sat. and Sun., dinner at our country club on Sat. with our BFFs, lunch with a friend. Today we had our friends for pizza - they leave at 4:30 am to go to Michigan for the summer. Last year Ken was in the hospital for two weeks so this was SOOO much better.
Ken sees primary tomorrow. I definitely think his congestive heart failure is getting worse but he thinks if he could just get his medication "right" he would be good. I am definitely going with him to see if I can get a better handle on this.
Travel safely - all who are heading north. Welcome Cardplayer. The Shenendoahs were our escape when we lived in DC. My daughter drove out there almost every weekend to horseback ride when she lived with us in Arlington.
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My hydrangeas will not bloom for at least another 4-6 weeks. That is one reason I am trying to transplant them now. The walkway contractor has a Bachelors in landscaping so he was the one who told me I could split them so I am giving it a try. Once they bloom they are a lovely shade of blue but I do have one that is more purplish than blue and it has smaller flowers.
Cindyny: wish an uneventful trek to your summer retreat and the same for Carol when she departs. In the south and midwest. Lantana is more of a bush than an annual plant. My SIL has lantana bushes at her Fl home. Here I buy it to entice my hummingbird. I will put nectar out maybe next week for it and hope I get the 2 I had from last summer. One used to rest in the Japanese maple and I had never seen a hummingbird be still for 15 minutes ever.
Have dentist appointment tomorrow for cleaning. Tomorrow evening we are going to see ABBA film with DD and DSIL as our belated wedding anniversary present: 47 years together. It was yesterday so we just had a special meal from one of our favorite Italian restaurants to celebrate and a relaxing day.
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Happy Anniversary betrayal! Fourth-seven years is amazing.
Safe travels for those traveling north.
I see my BS today for my 6 month checkup. Otherwise a my day will consist of exercise, cleaning, and relaxing. I walked about .4 miles outside yesterday. Today is one month post-op for my hip replacement, so that’s not too bad. Figure I’ll try to increase it every day.
Have a lovely day
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In every adversity there lies the seed of an equivalent advantage. In every defeat is a lesson showing you how to win the victory next time.
Robert Collier0 -
Though mentioned before -- yes, safe travels for anyone doing so. Betrayal, wishing you a very happy anniversary as well. Dh and I will celebrate our 47th. in July towards end of the month. I will have actually been married for 57 yrs. at that time. Dh and I married just a week after my divorce from first husband was final. So it makes it feel like I've been married forever in a way but I have to say -- so much better the second time around. Blinders are gone and you know how many rocks may show up in your way and you will deal with them much more un-emotionally than the first time around when perfection was supposed to reign.
Nothing special planned today -- just seeing the Urology Dr., Dr. Barientos who will schedule a time for me to go in, be put way under and have the lesion removed from my bladder. It will be nice to have it gone. This time around it has had a lot of time to establish since this procedure should have taken place this past Dec. I'm now told that it can be a long process at times getting rid of pesky tumors growing in the bladder. Makes me feel less 'bothered' by having them continue to turn up even though the original problem was nearly three yrs. ago now. Fingers crossed -- it has always turned out to be papillary which while I wish I wasn't having tumors at all -- would be the best kind to have since they are so lazy about growing and changing.
Sunny out and will be fairly toasty for us this time of yr. The kids are going to St. Louis, Mo this Saturday to attend a Cardinals ballgame at the ballpark there. They likely won't be too anxious to do it again. They will be out in the hot sun -- in the afternoon, and refreshments are such you need to nearly take out a loan before you go. The tickets were given to them since my SIL is helping someone repair his car. An afternoon in the hot sun will be quite wearing.
I hope you all have a great day.
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We have a rare sight going on this afternoon. SIL noticed an owl on the ground -- a rather nice sized one. Anyway, once it tried climbing the tree it was near, I could see the fuzzy hair on the top of its head. So, I knew it was a baby and its parents are somewhere quite close themselves and they are training their offspring. Apparently, it is flying lessons. The little owl can only go a couple of feet or so -- getting about a foot and a half or maybe two feet off the ground each time. Then after a rest -- he climbs up a tree with nice sturdy branches to stand on until his parents urge him to take off flying again.
We had a "baby" before many yrs. ago and I called a bird specialist from our local university. Told him the baby owl would follow Dh and I from tree to tree when we had our baby puppies outside on leashes. It was amazing to us ( never seeing an owl that close up before ) but after a couple or three nights of the same behavior it was getting a mite spooky to us. That's when I called. The Bird Specialist told me to enjoy because soon the mom and dad would teach their baby to fear people and we would not be " followed " anymore. Turned out to be right on . I was though unaware that so much training would take place during the day ( like high noon ) but did remind the family not to get close. The baby owl probably would only be curious but we'd get the parents edgy for sure.
We did not hear the mother and father but Dh spotted one of the adult owls in a tree not far away from its baby.
In other news: My lesion removal is scheduled for next Wednesday. I think I'll be first or second on the list. Apparently, the surgery nurse is in charge of the order of the scheduled patients. I hope I'm not going to be too late. This time -- I will have an IV and be asleep before they even start wheeling me to the surgery room. My hope to be first is mainly because of the way I need to take medications -- which since I have to hold off with blood pressure which is at least 90 or above systolic means I may have to wait ( and I've done so up to three hrs. ) and I will be late taking some meds anyway since I routinely wait till I'm HOME to start dosing anyhow. It will be dicey getting everything down.0 -
I visited my orthopedic Dr yesterday. He approves of the tricycle and using the ankle brace. Given my weak right ankle and general poor coordination I would likely be approved for knee replacement earlier than others. It is difficult to balance oneself on a slippery joint. Given the slow progress of tightening up of the muscles and ligaments which were stretched with the dislocated knee, and the fact that there is not much to be done surgically other than along with knee replacement, I will eventually and probably end up yielding to the knife.
The pelvic floor specialist and I decided that surgery should happen soon.
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Before I respond to anyone here and update my own situation, here is an important article I just read in the NorthShore Foundation e-mail newsletter. NorthShore is my main health system, and the lead researcher of the study, Dr. Katharine Yao, was the surgeon who did my lumpectomy & sentinel node biopsy (a procedure she pioneered in lieu of full axial node dissection):
STUDY CHALLENGES NEED FOR SENTINEL NODE BIOPSY IN OLDER LOW-RISK BC PATIENTS:
https://journals.lww.com/oncology-times/Fulltext/2...
Dr. Yao and her team delivered a paper at the latest Society of Breast Surgeons conference which concluded that sentinel node status in patients >65 with ER/PR+/HER2- Stage I & II Grade 2 or lower Luminal A breast cancer is NOT predictive of the need for chemo, with an OncotypeDX score of 26 or higher the determinant of that need.
She and her team found that the factors that did predict an Oncotype DX of 26 or higher were Grade 3 and PR-receptor-negative status (i.e., Luminal B rather than A), being on Medicaid (poverty=longer waits till discovery & diagnosis), and tumor size >"T2." She co-authored an article in 2016 which postulated that SNLB is unnecessary to determine the advisability of chemo in patients over age 70; the study reported in this latest article.
Had we only known that back in 2015 when I had my lumpy and SNLB, I'd never have had that "exploding" axillary seroma...because there would have been only a tumor-cavity seroma that uneventfully disappeared over time. My large breast was what pulled open the SNLB incision (closed only with Steri-Strips over surgical glue) and necessitated her partner suturing it closed.
Forgoing SNLB would shorten surgery duration (and conserve OR time) and prevent lots of pain and grief in older bc patients.
Thought this would be of interest to almost everyone on this thread.
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OK, back to everyday life. Those blooms are indeed gorgeous! Jackie, hope your procedures go well and you are back in action soon. Mary, great that your trike was given the medical "green light" but bummer that you'll probably be getting a knee replacement and need pelvic floor surgery.
Weather here has been hot (>90) the past couple of days. No rain. A bit sticky here. The lake breeze today barely made it inland more than a block or two.
Had my mani-pedi today, and my pedicurist agreed that I will likely need to bite the bullet and visit my DPM for a consult to get bunion surgery to take the pressure from my big toe off my 2nd & 3rd ones. She was able to trim down the 2nd toenail enough to keep it from stabbing the skin of my big toe. (The bunion itself isn't the problem--it's the big toe misalignment it causes). She did warn me that most of her clients are having a devil of a time seeing their DPMs, because Medicare will reimburse for very, very few procedures on non-diabetics (and conventional insurance won't cover podiatry at all except for emergency injury & infection treatment).
Speaking of elective-procedure woes, Bob informs me that elective cardiac caths are being postponed left & right because a severe shortage of contrast dye, which is made in China (and production has been shut down due to its gov't shutting down everything over its zero-COVID policy). That means that my next abdominal MRI in 6 months will likely have to be non-contrast (unless Medicare is willing to pay through the nose for the dye). And the chip shortage has been exacerbated by the fact that the chip-making machines....need chips. Oy.
"What about Bob?" See my next post.
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Grrr--kernel panic just ate my post!
Bob is prepping right now for tomorrow's colonoscopy--hoping this time it's uneventful (all his prior polyps were in the 12" removed back in 2015 after the bowel-perf misadventure recounted here too many times).
Meanwhile, his 2011 Fusion Hybrid broke down (stalled out) on the freeway yesterday and we have yet to hear from the dealership (where it was towed) why. Online forums suggest either bad throttle body (cheap), which can also cause the opposite problem--wild spontaneous acceleration that claimed the life of my '02 Taurus in 2011; or (gulp) a dead hybrid battery, which runs $1-2K refurbished or $6K new. The car's pre-pandemic blue book value was $7K, but he's been offered more than twice that lately. Problem is, what would he replace it with? (Not another used car--we don't wan't someone else's headaches). He doesn't like to drive my Outback. New cars are in extremely short supply (as in "get on the waiting list") and as much as $17K over list price. Ideally, he'd want another hybrid, perhaps plug-in. A fully electric car would require us to get a 220V line run out to the garage; and down in the SW Side & "freedom-loving" 'burbs where he works, charging stations are few & far between because it's the land of gas-guzzling SUVs & pickup trucks. (They believe ecology is for snowflakes). Up here, every supermarket & Walgreen's parking lot has at least a charging station or two. He's terrified (and rightly so) of running out of power with all the driving he has to do (2 clinics, 3 hospitals, and an office).
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Sandy - interesting article. Last year at my annual physical, she told me that guidelines/insurance will no longer pay for A1C unless you are diabetic!!! I keep forgetting to schedule mine and I hope to be able to go in early June.
I've never seen an owl up close - what an awesome sight to be able to see.
Good luck to everyone having surgery. All the best for a speedy and full recovery
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We had an owl try to carry our dog away - fortunately he was too heavy. So enjoy them while they are cute and then beware if you have pets.
Those who are planning on "body parts replacements', i.e., knees, shoulders, etc., make certain your MO and orthopedist both know. I am convinced that my knee continues to bother me 3 years post-op because of the AI's. When I asked my ortho at 6 months, he said probably...Never caught it going in.
Ken saw primary today - just more medication. He sees cardiologist in two weeks. Sadly, I don't share his optimism that if he finds the right meds, he will be fine.
Sorry to be a downer tonight.
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((Taco))
Given that it was hormone negative, and I had a bone scan several years ago, I am good. In fact, I have to go pick up a prescription for some hormone cream to thicken up that area where they are going to cut and suture. Gotta limit this early morning session, PT appointment today at ten, and I am going to get over there via three wheels. 0 -
This website, still has issues. It takes forever to read everything to catch up, each day. I love the flower pictures.
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Sandy, Age, sometimes, does have its advantages. I did not have a SLNB, nor an Oncotype. I went to Dr. Kevin Bethke at Northwestern for a second opinion which I went to too early. Should have waited until pathology report was in. He stated there would be no SLNB nor radiation, that I would take the AI for 5 years, but that if it caused too uncomfortable side effects I should stop it. Said, in general, with breast cancer, the thought and practice is, less is more. Said he would did not expect pathology would yield any surprises. Thought Dr. W, BS and Dr. M, MO at NorthShore were top notch. Pathology, though, did have a surprise, LVI and, though the margins were clear, I had a second lumpectomy to widen them, which, unfortunately, revealed 3mm of residual cancer. Because of this, MO recommended radiation, even though he had earlier stated that women>70 did not need it. So I bit the bullet, though terrified of it, and had 16 partial. PCP could not believe I had neither SLNB nor oncotype.
On a happier note, ate again at Pomeroy in Winnetka. Quite a few servers are from Mon Ami Gabi where we are going tonite. We ate last night on the patio; fun seeing all the slim blond young women in their light, filmy summer dresses
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The best way I have found to follow my true desires is to pay attention to my intuitive sense. We all have great wisdom within us, a part of us that knows exactly what we need at every moment. We are born with this intuitive sense, but most of us are quickly taught to distrust and ignore it. We have to relearn something that should come naturally. Fortunately, it's not too difficult; it just takes some practice. -Shakti Gawain
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Taco, you are so right. Medication change was what I needed, but not all CHF is the same. Mine was repaired by getting a pig valve to replace the mitral valve. Or at least that should have been the end of it. No one knows for sure how much blood loss I had during surgery, but my red blood count was enormously slow to respond -- until after some needed medication changes. Then within a couple of weeks I could tell the difference. I hope I never implied in any of my entries here that everyone would benefit from med changes because they won't. It is a question for your Cardiac Dr. perhaps, but only he would know if there is any value to be had.
Pretty here today, but hot again. I think rain/thunderstorm possible tonight. SIL said he heard the owls in the trees ( not sure why they are using our yard ) but didn't see any on the ground anywhere.
Seeing the baby owl close up -- he/she is quite large actually. I wish I knew how to get pics off my camera and share them here. They are amazing birds. I think our cats have enough feral ability to be outdoors and not get 'snatched' by the big owls. We did accompany our puppies when little outdoors and kept them on leashes so they never got out of sight ever. I find it quite a picture to watch all the bigger birds -- like hawks and the lake birds who stand in the water near the shore, waiting for a fish to come along. If you startle them -- they sound like a dog barking. Just a treat to watch them.
I hope you all have a really good day.
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