Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?
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Taco, our trip has 3 phases. The first is we will be on a land tour of Switzerland for 8 days and will see the major cities. Then we will travel to Paris for a tour of it and the surrounds for another 8 days with an added on tour which means we will travel to London via the Chunnel. The tour ends there but we love London and have used it many times as a destination but also a layover. When we went to South Africa (winter in our summer) we spent a few days there, left our summer clothes in storage at our hotel and after our safari in South Africa and Zimbabwe, we returned to London for about a week. Then when we went to Kenya and Tanzania (winter in our summer) for our second safari we also used London as a pre-stop for a few days, left our summer clothes at the hotel and then returned to London for another stay. We like to go to the theater in London so we have about 5 days there after the Paris tour ends and this trip we will do repeats of my favorite musicals: Phantom and Les Miserables.
I am hoping my knee will cooperate on this trip since I will only be 3 months post-op on it. I am still having difficulty with steps; going up is less painful than going down due to load on the joint. So I won't be any activity that requires a lot of step use so I may have to skip churches/cathedrals that may be on the itinerary. PT will provide me with exercises that I can do while on the trip and I plan on keeping at it. My goal is to not walk with a limp after having done so for the past 2 years. Of course, the left knee has a slight limp and will until it gets done next April, but the right knee had a decidedly pronounced limp that was painful and noticeable.
Today is sunny, mid 70's and lower humidity, so pleasant. Done with PT for the week and feel like I am ready to be discharged next Friday. She has done her best to get my this far and still varies the exercises to promote maximal function.
Did not have time to brush Misty before I left for PT and she let us know she was unhappy by unwinding the roll of toilet paper in the powder room. The holder is mounted on the outer wall and there was a ribbon from there to the doorway to the laundry room which is next door. There was a big clump in the middle of the ribbon and then a single streamer to the laundry room. Not exactly HGTV but funny. She has destroyed the one side of my Queen Anne chair in the living room and I will need to see if Calico Corner can reorder this fabric to repair the chair or if I will need to cover this side panel, the back and the other side panel with another fabric. Of course, this is my favorite chair and the scratch pad (I have one in literally every room) next to it had been moved. For being so small her claws are really destructive. DD clips them for us but she hadn't done them recently. I will take care of this when I come home. Sorry if I offend someone, but I wish declawing had not been outlawed. Clipping at the vet has become cost prohibitive considering she needs it done monthly and it is not covered in her insurance. She can't jump our child (pet) gates but the entrance to the living room is too wide for the ones we have so I will be looking for a bigger gate to keep her out of the living room.
Hope everyone has a great day.
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I wrote last night but photos wouldn’t load, it was late and I gave up.
Sandy - I turned into an investigator on Tuesday. I went back and searched her out, figuring out her last name through her music. Keywest had said Sandy was active on FB, so I searched her out there. Sandy has her posts locked down so I couldn’t see much of anything. So then I looked up Gordy. Gordy’s site is open and had many recent posts, a lot on music and concerts. So I looked in his recent posts with “likes” and found that Sandy had “liked” the posts. So I have to assume (ass out of u and me - old Odd Couple reference) she is ok, and just too busy with the house & her health to post here on BCO. At least that’s what I hope it is.
Mind you I’m not on FB, so I was doing my mission undercover using my partners FB. It gave me some relief thinking she’s ok.
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Trying pictures again.
Penn Yan, NY
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I so love those pictures — thank you for trying again Cindy.
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Cindy - fantastic photos! I am really feeling the need to take a short trip or two prior to our cruise next February. We had hoped to take a few short trips over the summer but of course those did not happen, so DH and I are discussing our fall schedule and where we can fit in some fun.
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Cindyny, What a fine detective you are! I, too, have been worried about Sandy, but it never occurred to me to check out Gordy’s Facebook page and I see also that she has been commenting on his postings. I feel relieved for that and agree with your assumption that the busyness of life has taken her over.
I, at 90, it’s laughable really, started an anti-anxiety drug a few months ago. It had been recommended to me for years, but I always refused. That was a mistake! I am so mellow now I can just brush away all 3 am fears. Also, since my hip surgery, I became afraid of crossing the street at crosswalks or curbs and would obsess over doing it. Now I say to myself,” I am Simone Biles” and I walk, though still wary, across without worrying about it for hours before. Mellowness feels wonderful these days.
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Adversity is like the period of the rain. . . cold, comfortless, unfriendly to people and to animals; yet from that season have their birth the flower, the fruit, the date, the rose and the pomegranate. -Walter Scott
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Saying hi to Sandy, likely too busy right now. We are all thinking about you. Keywest, your re-birth after anti-anxiety meds is wonderful to hear. Freedom is hard to buy but it can be given with some medication. I am so glad for you. Life presents challenges and you have 'bested' one of yours. That is so what it is all about — learning how to live with ourselves.
Nothing special for today. Just grateful for another day. 73 degrees right now. Wasn't bad out yesterday although we could feel a bit of humidity. Hopefully, will be okay today as well.
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If we listened to our intellect, we'd never have a love affair. We'd never
have a friendship. We'd never go into business, because we'd be cynical.
Well, that's nonsense. You've got to jump off cliffs all the time
and build your wings on the way down.
Ray Bradbury2 -
Great Bradbury quote Jackie. Thanks for posting.
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Cindy - fantastic photos. Hope you went to the museums in Seneca Falls.
Betrayal - sounds like a wonderful trip. I'm sure you will find plenty to do that you are comfortable doing. We've been on several tours where they have events for "easy walkers" and those who want more challenging sightseeing.
Keywester - I call them my "happy pills." So glad you are feeling better about getting out.
Quiet weekend for us. Nice dinner out last night for a belated anniversary celebration. I really had a good day yesterday and was so glad we had postponed it by a week. Of course I got cocky and did too much and have paid for it today.
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Keywest, I’m happy for you and the anxiety med working for you. I’ve taken Xanax prior to major dental appointments, and that has worked for me.
I’m still running behind. Yesterday was our first full day home. My gf of 45 years, her brother passed while I was away. And today is grand nieces 15th birthday.
Taco we didn’t get to museums on this trip. We had group events pre planned and paid for. Such as this in Hammondsport:
This boat was built in 1924, relaunched in 2021. They rebuilt it with an electric engine. We had a blast touring the lake. Our captain was a wealth of information- even on who own which house on the lake. And boy oh boy are there some houses! One has a sea plane, another had a helicopter pad on the top of their boat house, and one “compound” has a 50’s Cadillac parked on it - I believe he’s a current Cadillac dealer. Too many pictures of the homes to post.
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Just a few. Lots of wealth and also handed down through generations. So these large monied places, next door to modest places - all lakeside.
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I know, I’m bombarding you with photos. Lastly we went into Syracuse for a baseball game, stayed overnight to meet niece & gn to go to the NYS Fair.
Baseball at NBT Bank stadium. They have a beautiful stadium! Terrific fireworks display after the game too.
State Fair, always fun. I left my partner and niece to wander the buildings, while grand niece and I immediately hit the midway. She loves the rides and I love seeing her happy. She met another solo girl on a ride and they partnered up to ride together. Her parents & I marveling at their ability to walk straight after spinning in circles.
And that’s it. Eye dr appointment today because that stye hasn’t disappeared. I still have a red spot and it should be back to normal by now. After that I’ve got to get the house set for the birthday party. High of 82 today so my screen house and pool are the draw.
Hoping everyone has a good Monday!1 -
"Keep in mind that the true measure of an individual is how he treats a person who can do him absolutely no good."
~ Ann Landers
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Good morning. Loved seeing ALL your pictures Cindy. Always up for any pics with water in them. That tour boat looked like great fun and even greater a captain who could tell you things you'd only possibly think as you sailed along. I don't feel bad in my monetary condition. I've spent so much of my life with people who were far better off monetarily, that I don't feel as though I've missed out. That said though — owing a sea plane and helicopter do seem pretty amazing. Loved that old Cadillac by the way.
Your anniversary sounds like it was really a delight Taco and you will rest up after exhausting yourself and have great memories of your special day/time and keep them long after the exhaustion is gone. Probably an okay trade-off.
Nothing special on today but taking Lil' Red for his second shot and mini-check-up. Also will decide likely on the long term (till he is old enough for the shots) flea/wormer eatable. If memory serves the shots are for 3 months duration but you have to be at least a yr. old before starting them.
Hope you all have a fantastic day.
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Only 2 more days at PT, Wednesday and Friday this week and I am officially discharged. MY PT told me she will miss me and that made me feel good. I have been seeing her since March, pre-op and then post-op plus she helped prepare me for last fall's trip. I am hoping with my increased mobility that this one will be more enjoyable. Last year I could not participate in many of the walks in Italy because it is 80% steep hills and my knees said a resounding "no". Hoping the left knee will not protest too much.
Had a free appetizer offer at Uno so we went there for lunch. I had a buttered lobster roll sandwich and DH had a cheddar burger. I brought the wings home and we will eat them later. Very pleasant waitress, too.
Did not sleep well last night but due to neck pain and not the knee. It's hard to find a comfortable position with the neck and I find looking down is the issue. Took Tylenol but did not touch it. May try the tizanidine I use for back spasms and see it that works. Need a good massage.
Sunny and in the low 80's but warm. Hoping rain holds off tomorrow long enough for me to work in the one bed on the hill. It is full of weeds again and DH needs to build another chicken wire enclosure to keep the deer out. DD had gotten me 2 oak leaf hydrangeas which I planted in this bed and I am hoping they did not kill them. I have a small hibiscus I need to plant and would like to add it to this bed as well. It's a large bed but has enough spacing between current plants for at least this plant.
Taco, it is easy to overdue and I am one who has done it as well. I feel healed, do one task too many and live to regret it for several days. Even now I am still pacing myself. Mentally I think I can do it all and then my body says unuh! Recovery is therefore harder, so I give myself permission to reduce my mental limit to accommodate my physical limits. I feel good but realize I am only half way to that 6 month point when I will feel more human and 9 months until I am truly healed. Take those "happy pills".
cindyny, loved the photos and your lake cruise. The baseball game looked like fun as well.
I love to be on the water, though not necessarily in it, and when we are in London one of my favorites is the Thames cruise to Greenwich. We will do one of the Seine while in Paris so I may not do the Thames one this time but we'll see. It's just so peaceful on the water. Another favorite was from Sorrento to Positano and back.
Hope everyone has a good day.
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Cindy - Loved all the photos. That old boat was awesome.
Betrayal - Leo is so handsome
Illinoislady - did you get the PET scan results?
taco, glad you are recovering
Keywest, I am glad the pills are working.
I have Cancer center on Thursday. August is my 5th year and hopefully there are no surprises. I have not been feeling too good. Sinus problems, GI problems and general blah.
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Update for today.
Lil' Red now weighs 7 pounds and a bit. He is such a happy little dog. He has taken on a bad habit of barking at other dogs — seems to be a hello I'm excited your around sort of bark. The other dogs look at him like he is not all there. Anyway, he saw Dr. Tom today (Dr. Britts' other half). Likely mentioned before but Dr. Tom usually does the big farm animals and is generally only in the ofc. if he has no outside appts.
Dr. Tom just enjoyed Red so much. When he got done with the exam he held him and talked to him and loved on him and I started to think there might be a dog napping in progress — but he finally let go of him. He is a delight that is for sure. We feel in some ways like we are brand new having him in our lives now. Didn't realize for a while that we would feel so forlorn without a dog in our house. Definitely that is no longer the case.
I have an appt. with Dr. Kunigal on Friday and will get my Pet Scan results then. I was going to find someone to "read" my test for me, but got so busy I didn't get around to it so Friday is the day. Got my fingers crossed that all will be okay.
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Eye stye - dr said it is not infected, it’s a blocked gland that needs heat. No more ointment in my eye, I’m to hot pack it 4x a day. And conveniently, I picked up a free palm sized heat or freeze pack from some NYS at agency at the fair. 20 seconds in the microwave and I’m good for 10 minutes of heat.
Grand nieces bday party- we all had a great time. We were giggling so much, having such a great time, that time flew. We were still outside at 9. It was a beautiful night weather wise too.
Petite, fingers crossed for an all clear on Thursday.
Jackie, good thing lil Red wasn’t dog napped. And fingers crossed for Friday.
Betrayal, your TKR seems to have gone quite well. Your PT has worked! You’ll enjoy your vacation I’m sure.
Taco, belated Happy Annversary wishes.
Harley, I to would like to get away again for some trip, just don’t know where.I’m closing my eyes, stye and all, it’s been a long day. Should be mid 80’s, again tomorrow. I’m hoping to get out and grab a new Roku TV and a new couch. TV is easy, couch I feel I’ll be looking at many stores, over many days. Wish me luck!
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Many of us cannot grasp the truth that the time allotted tous onthis earth is sufficient for all the Lord has planned for us todo. Wedon’t need one minute more or one minute less to get the job done:Our greatest fear is running out of time. So we hurry throughlife tryingdesperately to get everythingdoneworking overtime,eating fastfood in the car, and racing down the freeway. . . . Today,this veryday, why don’t you think of something that takes a bit ofextra timeto do and do it. . . . Maybe it will be an act ofgenerosity,ora momentof kindness directed towards a loved one or astranger. Perhapsit will be simply singing a hymn of praise andthanksgiving becauseyour heart is so full of gratitude. Don’t wait foranother time. Rejoice in this day and be glad.Luci Swindoll1 -
Illinois, love the quote for today. I've read some of Luci Swindoll books. Thanks for posting.
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Betrayal, wow, just two more sessions to go. You have come a long way and it sounds like in the end you can call it a major win. Hopefully, when you do the other knee things will go just as well. I do hope you will be able to do more walking up and down on your vacation. You have been so consistent and diligent in keeping up with as much 'exercise' with PT and on your own and giving yourself the best chance of a "fantastic" outcome. It is all about getting as much freedom as you can back.
Neck pain keeping you up is a definite bummer. I hope it is something temporary and will clear for you soon.
Cindy, sounds like the stye is going to be easy (hopefully not too time consuming) to deal with and sure glad there wasn't an infection. Hmm, about the FREE heat or cold pack. Someone up there put you in the place to do something good and get something exactly right for your needs. It always amazes me that so often things we have no idea we'll need just nearly fall into our hands.
Wow — it's 97 outside. I took Lil' Red out and had no idea then (happy about it now) that we were out there in that kind of heat. Don't have much going on for breezes either. So back in the house now and potty papers down. I don't think we will go out again until it's evening. Just yucky out there.
Reader, you are so welcome.
I hope everyone does well with whatever issues you are dealing with and I hope you have a wonderful day.
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A tree says: My strength is trust. I know nothing about my fathers, I know nothing about the thousand children that every year spring out of me. I live out the secret of my seed to the very end, and I care for nothing else. I trust that God is in me. I trust that my labor is holy. Out of this trust I live.
Hermann Hesse
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PT had a packet of exercises for me to do daily while on vacation. It is quite thick and I am to trial them tomorrow and provide feedback on Friday. Had the opportunity to talk to a woman who had her TKR surgery a week after me and is despairing that she is not back to 100%. Meanwhile her surgeon doesn't believe in PT for knees and made her wait until she was 7 weeks post-op to seek PT help. I think I know which group she used and I am so glad I decided not to go with them. I demanded home PT immediately post-op because my surgeon waits for 3 weeks post-op for PT and I did not want to lose ground. She thought she should be able to play tennis by now. Really? Failure to communicate that it will be 6 months before some activities will be able to be resumed and a year before you feel like you never had surgery. I will be 3 months post-op next week and think I have really progressed but realize I still must keep up the exercises even after a year so I have full joint mobility. Walking is my choice for exercise (and gardening) and I miss that I am unable to walk as well and as much I used to do but know I can get there once both knees are done.
There is so much road construction being done in this area, which needed to be done, that is creating driving nightmares. Could not get into the strip mall where the hair dresser is so we had to park at the next door bank and I walked over. I just got the ends trimmed 1.5 inches and she trimmed my bangs after making them symmetrical.
Made appointments for DH and I to get new Covid vaccine tomorrow afternoon. Glad we are able to get it before our trip. Have no idea if Europe is having issues now but know some countries did not shutdown during Covid. Will wait until October for flu shot to ensure it lasts for the flu season. Plus I do not want 2 shots in the same arm at the same time now.
It is only 88 degrees but feels like 100. Humid as well so not a work outside day. I will finish the living room and dining room today between loads of wash. I have to think about what I am packing clothing wise and start to pack. I do have some prepack items I can just check and then throw in the suitcase such as toiletries and hair care.
I am taking some genealogy materials that I can work on while on the plane. I want to write small bios on my ggf, ggm, gf, gm and some other family members using data I have collected so they become more 3 dimensional. I will also list areas of research that still need to be explored though so far they have drawn blanks or dead ends. There won't be any distractions on the plane so I should be able to get a few done.
Waving hello to Illinoislady, keywestfan, harley, minustwo, cindyny, petite1, reader25, carole and anyone else I have forgotten. Hope everyone ahs a great day.
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Have a great trip, Betrayal. I loved the view of Paris from the water. We haven't been to Switzerland for many years but I have especially happy memories of our time in Luzcerne.
Anyone heard from Chris?
Taco
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This we know. The Earth does not belong to people; people belong tothe Earth. This we know. All things are connected like blood which unitesone family. All things are connected. Whatever befalls the Earth befalls thesons anddaughters of the Earth. People did not weave the web of life; weare merelystrands in it. Whatever we do to the web, we do toourselves. Attributedto Chief Seattle0 -
I hope you have a wonderful trip, Betrayal.
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Betrayal - enjoy your trip! Hopefully the neck pain will not be an issue.
Taco - thinking of you as you move through recovery
Jackie - sounds like Lil Red is capturing hearts every where he goes.
Petite - sorry to hear you aren’t feeling well. Hope today’s appointment can help.
Chemo #6 did not happen yesterday as my platelets and neutrophils are too low. We’ll try again next Thursday. In the meantime, I’m enjoying feeling pretty good. We have several get togethers planned with family and friends in the next 3 weeks so I’d like to get this wrapped up. But it is what it is.
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It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a person stands up for an ideal or strikes out against injustice, he or she sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance. -Robert F. Kennedy
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