Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?
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Hi Everyone,
I just got home from the garden shop... hope my plants will be as lovely as Lisa's photos! I have my work cut out for me tomorrow planting. The weather here is perfect - warm, sunny, breezy.
Love Jackie's little guy. Is he yours?
Rittajean, seems like Arimidex just keeps sneaking up on us. Just when you think you know the worst of it, something else pops up. My PCP is concerned about how stiff I am but I think he does not know the effects of this drug. Also I am very pleased with my weight loss and he is worried about it! Can't make them happy. I see my onc next week and will see what she says. Does anyone else feel as if they walk more stiffly on Arimidex?
Off to the post office!
pam
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Yes, I find that I have stiffness when I get up from sitting if I have been down a while. I hobble for a little while and then my knees start working right again.
I have some of the other SE's from arimidex but not too badly.... eye dryness, hands that fall asleep. two numb finger tips, hot flashes and raised cholesteral. Thought I was doing pretty good until I started trigger thumbs a couple of weeks ago.
Went to my PCP today who started me on rx ibuprofen and wants me to go to hand therapy. Also told me to call my ONC Dr. to report the new SE but my Onc. doesn't see to be very concerned with any of the SE's I report. Last time I reported the stiffness and knee pain all he said was I needed to lose some weight. We all knew that and the fact that I haven't had the issue before at the same weight seemed to go right over his head. Oh well we do what we have to don't we.
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Hi everyone -- just taking a break here in between sweeping and mopping...my two most favorite things after dusting and picking up and making the beds.
The pic is just of an adorable kitty. They are all adorable to me. Never met an ugly cat -- nor a dog for that matter.
Got one ( dog that is ) going to the vet for neutering tomorrow and then I will help my friend Maggie take her dog Diva to the vet tomorrow afternoon. Just a check-up mainly...and to see why she limps. Ahem' u32374 I know it is in part because she weighs too much, but Diva has to be confined and there are no other dogs to play with...so no way to run it off. I was hoping to work with her and get her on lead...and bring her to my house to play with my dogs.....but I just don't have enough hours in the day to accomplish what needs doing.
Interesting about your thumbs u32374. There is another lady on another part of another forum here and she developed thumb issues as well. I have generally ignored everything -- putting it down to whatever. I am not much bothered -- in other words not much for pain and no intense stiffness -- just notice little things now and then when I let myself.
Well, back to work for me I think. Only 2 p..m. and I still have so many things to do. Hope you are all going to have a fantastic day.
And u32374 --- you are most assuredly correct. It is either -- your not as young as you used to be you know.....or you have started to carry some extra baggage. I like that saying and I'll probably get it wrong, but it goes ( extremely sarcastic ) something like this. " Your ugly, and I'm fat, but I can go on a diet". Sigh !!!!! In my case it might be both....now I'm really up a creek without a proverbial paddle. See you all later.
Hugs, Jackie
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Pam, it's so funny how different oncs think so differently. My onc wants me to lose another 4 pounds. I gained weight throughout this journey and he's a firm believer that I need to be back down to my pre-cancer weight. He thinks there is a correlation be weight gain and recurrences and your onc is concerned with your loss of weight! They really just don't know, do they?
u32374..........Yes, I've had lots of stiffness since I've been on the Arimidex. First I had problems with the joints in my feet. Then a friend got me taking magnesium and that pain went away. Besides the terrible stiffness, I went for over a year with very few major joint problems. I did have some lower back issues, but I've had lower back problems for years and couldn't really attribute them to the Arimidex. This past week I've had a bad left knee and the ball of my right foot is very sore. I can't remember doing anything to cause this and am thinking that it's probably a SE from that good ol' Arimidex. Many doctors just push these SE farther to the side but I know they are real! I'm just hoping that I will be able to continue the Arimidex routine for the entire 5 years as I do think it's a major player in keeping the cancer away.
I'm not going to let these aches and pains get me down. I am going to try to golf 9 holes today. Then I'll ice everything up again and see what happens.
It's supposed to be a lovely day here in Illinois. I hope that your weather is equally as nice and that everyone has a great day.
Rita
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By the way, where is everyone else's calendar picture?
pam
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Well, a light rain ran me back in the house before I was finished with planting. I was out there for three hours but things went slowly as there was more clean up than planting happening. I hadn't been outside two minutes when the noseeums found me. Are they anywhere else than coastal Florida? If you are lucky enough to not know about them... tiny, too small to see, biting midges that sting like crazy but don't leave a welt or sore. I went to the garage looking for insect repellant... all the non-toxic (for children) cans would not pump or spray so used the deadly, cancer causing, DEET containing, Deep Woods. Repels mosquitoes and ticks but barely slows down no-see-ums! The best repellant for them is Avon's Skin So Soft. When DD got married one of the favors was a bottle of bath oil specially brewed containing, among other things, Skin So Soft. So in the middle of the reception a cloud of noseeums descended on the outdoor reception! We broke open a couple bottles and rubbed it on bare skin and saved the night! It was a real initiation to Florida for many of the wedding guests from California and Denmark :-) Love Florida but it is BUGGY!
Ritajean, it was my PCP who thinks I am too thin... I see my onc next week - she will probably think I am too fat!! I think I looked healthier when I was heavier. between weight loss and Arimidex my skin is just crepey, creepy?, definitely crappy. I'm trying all the different lotions you all suggested with small results. I am hoping a little summer tan will help. I am having second thoughts of wearing a sleeveless dress to the wedding this weekend... might go conservative with a long sleeve suit.
What is it with Arimidex and fingers? I guess I am fortunate that it is only two fingers that hurt. But everything we do involves our hands so it is pretty hard to ignore. Is surgery a cure or a stopgap? What keeps the pain from coming back if you are still taking Arimidex? Just wondering.
Happy spring day to everyone!
pam
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Lost my whole post....twice so this is the short version. Pam, I can't remember what my calendar picture was to be. Par for my course.
Hope you all are going to have a stunning day. I think about each of you.....daily.
Still missing some.....Jeanette, and of course Melissa who is moving.
See you all later.
Hugs, Jackie
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In the middle of the big move - no Internet available until next Tuesday- just wanted to say Hi!
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Oh man, I just lost my whole post! Oh well.... here I go again! Thank you Jackie....I've missed you gals too...I HAD been talking about how expensive my Hospital bill was....with the Radiation and all! I can see why some women only go for the lumpectomy, & don't follow up with the radiation or chemo or anything else! SO EXPENSIVE!!! Even with our insurance, we still owe over $1600 !!
....Total bill was over $73 thousand! And I didn't even stay overnight in the hospital! It was the 5 day Radiation with the MammoSite device that cost so much! Oh well, at least it is behind me now..... hopefully. Pam, my friend had to go off of Arimidex after 3 months, her hands and feet hurt so bad she couldn't even go to work! So for now, her Doctor took her off of it.
I am taking Tamoxifen now, with just minor side effects....gotta get used to them, because it is for 5 years....
And wasn't it great that Phil Mickelson won the golf tournament! I read an article from this one sports announcer that was great....You know, his wife is still under-going treatment for her breast cancer...& the love Phil showed for his wife, after winning the tournament, just made you want to cry. ....
Okay gals....hope you all are doing good! xoxoxo Jeannette
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Gee... I am afraid I will lose my post like everyone else! That is so annoying.
More gardening, more no see ums, more clean up. Back to plan A for wedding guest attire. As my daughter pointed out, no one will notice what I am wearing. :-) Everyone needs a daughter to keep their ego in check.
So glad to hear from you Jeanette. Wow, $73,000! I thought my 38 days of radiation was expensive - $38,000. You win! When insurance pays so much the facility should write off any balance.
Off to fix dinner. Hugs to everyrone.
pam
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Hi, I am new to this forum and have greatly enjoyed reading all of the postings. I am 59 and am expecting my first grandchild at the end of May. I was diagnosed in June of 2009 after a 2X lumpectomy then back in for a partial mastectomy.
I'm on Tamoxifen and although I have some annoying side effects, can't really complain. Work full time, full time caregiver of my 86 year old mother, trying to carve time to help with the new almost here grandson. Boy! thought these would be my relaxing years. Not a chance I guess. I'm in a Mind/Body study at UCLA for studying the effects of treatment on mental accuity. anything to help the cause.
Keep up the chats - I really enjoy them.
Meau
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Morning all. Have been trying to get to the shower for the last hour. I often lose posts as well.
Pam wish I was too thin!
You lot really scare me with the cost of treatment - I have little idea what everything cost for my BC treatment. This morning I an having a 'thing' removed from my leg, it will cost about $200 US because I want it done before our trip - I could have waited and got it done at the hospital.
Jeanette, let me know your email etc and I will contact you, will be in Denver on May 7 & 8. I am taking a little notebook computer with me and will have a cell phone which may not work in the US.
Must get moving
Alyson
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Oh no... I just wrote a monster post and its gone.....I must have been typing over an hour, as I see there's a post from Alyson ( Hi ) and new lady Meau ( welcome)
I am NOT sitting here another hour tonight !! Its nearly 1am here.
Isabella.
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How is it I don't lose short posts, and a long one vanishes....could it be a time thing. I know I'm not a very quick typist, but 3 posts in a week vanishing ?
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Hi Meau,
Sounds like you have your hands full! It is a tremendous job to help out with an aging parent... such a tight rope to walk when you have to parent a parent. But a new grandchild.... now there is nothing but pure joy in that! Congratulations on the upcoming happy event.
Nice to have you join us!
pam
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Welcome Meau. You do really have your hands full and soon getting fuller. Pam is right -- there can be some difficult times when you become the caretaker of your parent --- yet, it can be in-insightful and loving --- bonding all over in the reverse roll. I so enjoyed ( most of the time ) helping my Mom thru her last months. We thought it would be years, but it became months instead. Had I know that I probably would have done a few things different, but only a few. Overall, though there was some pain for me watching some of the harsh times she had in those last few months.....I treasure every second that I had.
Anyway, this is a great group of women -- the majority of us are "seasoned" as we like to say. Many quite young ladies get this dreaded disease, and though it is a sad thing, once in awhile we find our extra years sort of have us on a slightly different level.....so it is nice to share on that level. Hope you will come and enjoy a spot of tea, or Ginger ale or whatever strikes your fancy if you need someone to lean on for a bit. Someone is pretty much here all the time and we try to be good hand holders and always have a shoulder to lean on if you need it.
Be seeing you all tomorrow -- don't know if I'll have the computer at work or not, but I'll be home late --- feed ferals right after work, then on to Maggie's to clean, then home to my group.
Lots of hugs, Jackie
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Well I spoke to the Onco Dr and his nurse who both said my trigger thumbs aren't a SE of arimidex but to stop it for one month to see what happens. Didn't tell them I have a copy of the medical sheets that are provided with arimidex from the UK. Belgium. Australia amd the RX website in America that list both trigger fingers and carpel tunnel as known SE's for arimidex.
I intend to take them to him at my next appt. Someone at work said I might piss him off and my reply was that if that happened I needed to find a better well informed Dr anyway.
I have really worried about not taking the arimidex for a month but I really need to see if my hand issues get resolved. I am working on a computer all day at my job and need to worrk three more years before I retire. My hope is that if I lay off the arimidex maybe when I start back up it'll take awhile for the problem to come back. I was on almost a year before it appeared.0 -
u32374, I have an appt on Friday with my onc to discuss taking Armidex and possible effects . I'm going to mention the thumbs to her if she doesn't bring it up. I have two years to go bfore I retire and I am supposed to go back to work sometime in June. Can I ak you a question? Did you go to a back to work session before you started work again? And how was it when you first went back?
Thanks
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SheriOK,
I don't know why our doctors deny known side effects when we report them. What is the rational? My radiologist spent a long time pre-treatment outlining possible SEs but then when I had a couple he said "not from radiation." All he accomplished was making me doubt anything he said after that.
Good luck!
pam
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Morning Girls....I'll see if I can scroll "up" & answer these posts, before I go "back" & lose it completely!
Yes, u32374, I read that about Trigger fingers also...but mostly, the Arimidex just cost so much more than the Tamoxifen, that I just asked for that one! I had to have the one Trigger finger I got, for whatever reason, operated on....He just cut the "band" so it would straighten, but it really hurt....just fine now though.And the reason my Hospital bill was so high, I think, is that MammoSite Radiation! The Insurance paid a lot of it, but not all! Before each treatment, they took a "picture" then the actual procedure with 3 Docs/techs in the room....They connected the device to a machine while I laid there...then they left & went to the observation room...& started sending the "seeds" of radiation through the little tubes into the "catheter" (balloon) in my breast. I couldn't feel a thing...just little "clicks" .....And it only took about 8 minutes. So twice a day, for only 5 days. Then the Radiologist "removes" (yanks) the device out
It only hurts for a few seconds. And I was done!But the cost of that was much more than the typical type of radiation....probably due to the fact that the "planning" and "positioning" for each patient takes a few days, & all the PET & CAT scans, plus the "filling" & etc, made it cost more. But it was worth it! No pain, or burning, & just 5 days worth! It is a "newer" procedure, & should help a lot of women, & that's what it's all about! So I'll shut up about the cost....
Meau...let us know, if you can, if treatments DO have anything to do with us! I just notice that on the Tamoxifen, I have days where I just lose my Mojo. I get just "down" & just have to wait it out. I thought maybe it is that our bodies still think we are young women, & our usual monthly "programming" kicks in sometimes...even though we have "grown up"....
Okay gals, have fun today! Jeannette
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The trigger finger discussion is interesting. I have developed a sore joint on my right thumb and a trigger thumb on the left. Some of my right fingers are showing signs of becoming trigger fingers as well. I'm on Femara - which apparently has similar side effects. It seems much more bothersome in the morning but I can still use the computer, play bridge, garden and (with a lymphdedma sleeve) pick up the baby - what else do I need?!
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Good morning everyone....I'm at work and may have to get off computer quickly when the Realtor gets back. Good to see U and Meau on here. Hi to Jeanette as well. Those darn se's....and yes...the Dr's who'd like to pretend that all these things don't happen --- but Jo had a great Dr. who would actually acknowledge her and not destroy her personal sense of credibility. Sure would be nice if some of the rest would follow suit.
Going to get quite warm today before the "rain" they say is coming tomorrow. Oh well --- so far the Spring season has been fantastic...so I'll just have to buck up and go with it if it does rain.
See you all later.
Big Hugs, Jackie
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Tarry1... I actually worked two jobs while going through my surgery,radiation treatments and part of my chemo. I was off the two jobs only two days for my lumpectomy, two days when they put 27 tubes in my chest for the brachetherapy radition treatment and then worked through the whole first chemo treatment. Got smart after that and took off the week of chemo from the jobs but by the time the third chemo came around stopped the second job. Continued working the main job and my boss was out for three months and did both my job and hers through the rest of the chemo.
Have been on arimidex since the surgery and took it through radiation and chemo. The SE's have come on slowly and been manageable until the trigger thumbs started. They seem to really affect my job more than even the chemo did. Hopefully the month off will help me make some decisions. I am going to go to hand therapy which may really be helpful. My PCP also gave me a script for ibuprofen for swelling that I can take every day as long as I need which will help the swelling.
I really feel whiney but I guess this just was the straw that broke my camels back. I have just made myself go full steam ahead through all of this and just hit the brick wall with this SE. My daughter moved to Austin Tx with her new husband and my only granchild a couple of weeks ago and my oldest cat has been sick and today I had her put to sleep. It just hasn't been the best of times the last couple of weeks and I know the depression is really impacting the way that I am coping with this new SE.
Okay someone quick I need happy thoughts or a light shinned down into the hole I have dug for myself.
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U.....all I can say is your some kind of lady. Several people have said that going thru all of what a cancer patient does is pretty much equivalent to having PTSSD. I think some have been treated for just that. It is hard for anyone, young, old, or in-between to continue to receive blow after blow and keep up each time. Those ( and you obviously are one of them ) that are used to being flexible and rolling with the punches can still do that....but there really is a limit.
I think at your cancer center there should hopefully be a liaison/counselor type person who might help you sort out where you are and have some suggestions. This is a hard road and probably harder yet for people like yourself ---- who just cope through it all. Sometimes --- we lose our hair and our strength.....and maybe it has some good points. If only that it makes us take the rest we need to actually re-coup.
I don't have a laugh or a light unless you want to picture a nearly 65 yr. old lady trying to balance three dogs and two or three cats with her on the recliner nightly. I thought I'd so enjoy the rest to be found there --- pipe dream lately.
Thinking of all of you and wishing you well.
Many hugs, Jackie
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OKSheri,
I think you have been too busy to know you had breast cancer until now! I don't know how you have done it all! And it is terrible that your DD moved away just now. The emotional let down is natural, you deserve a good whine! And this is the place for it :-) We all know how you feel.
Cyber hugs.
pam
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Hi Lassie...as long as you can pick up the baby...you don't have to worry about anything else, Ha! Oh, and Garden....Yes!
And hello all you sweet gals.... And Jackie....that was a funny picture you painted, about you & your pets.... You should have seen ME yesterday....Me, 72, working in garden......stepped over tulips, my foot caught on little wire fence... & SPLAT right in a plastic pot of Hyacinths' & made a 3 point landing on my face...Ha! Glad no-one saw that one....I couldn't help but laugh..! I just rolled over, & got up as fast as I could before any neighbors wondered what I was doing THIS time!
OKSheri....well, I can remember your name, because that's what we named our first Daughter!
It's like, when we get over thinking about ONE thing, something else comes up & hits us in the face, & we have to deal with yet, something else! You can whine all you want here....doesn't matter to us.....maybe it will help you! Lord only knows, the family usually doesn't want to hear.....The Hospital just called yesterday & left a message....I had forgotten all about a scheduled Mammogram for May 5th....& they called to get my insurance card again. A MAMMOGRAM? AGAIN? THAT JUST GOT ME IN TROUBLE THE LAST TIME! It made my boob hurt to even think about it....but it's only for my "worked on" boob.
One day at a time............ xoxoxoxoxo
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Morning all as I make a really quick drive-by. Should be out feeding the doggies outside -- I have two that are out all the time. Anyway it is due to finally rain today and I am so tired of waiting for it to happen that I don't mind. Just will be glad when it's done.
Another long day at work will happen. Dh had to be to work by 6 a.m. He works at Sears and it is "cash for clunkers" day and will be going on tomorrow if they sell the quota today. I bet they do sell it. All the discounts make it about 45% off --- so if anyone was close to "needing" an appliance...well, I'd have gone ahead....even if what I had was still working. That kind of a sale just does not come along too often. Anyway.....the government or whatever has only allocated a certain fund limit so once the store is there....the sale is canceled. If two appliances needed at once.....the second one gets 30 % off so that is not too bad either.
Anyway....I feed my feral cat colonies after work and then go clean Maggie's house and feed her apt. cats. My Thurs. and Fri's get yucky sometimes....specially if I have to tromp around the colonies in the wet. See you all late tonight.
Hugs, Jackie
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Jackie,
You are too good a person! I hope all your animals appreciate you! DH included :-)
Chevyboy,
I have been amazed at how generous my insurance company has been in paying for mammograms. Since March 09 Ihave had four and they are still paying, even though I have not yet met my 2010 deductible. Bless them ... but I don't want anymore!
pam
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Hi Jo-5,
So sorry you are having to go through this again. It is so anxiety creating. Does anyone ever get used to it? And the core biopsy!!! Ugh. Wishing you well. Thank goodness your doctor seems to be on top of things and proactive. The 29th is not too far off. Peace and comfort until then.
pam
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Big Hugs Jo and my prayers. I think we all are worriers once we have had BC. I know I am.
Had a pleasant day yesterday sitting with my leg up - I had a skin cancer removed from my knee on Thursday and this time decided to do as I was told. I want it better for our trip. Do hope the volcanic ash goes away.
Must get dressed as I have to take my small ginger cat to the vet as he is in pain which always upsets me - I cry more over my cats than I do over things like BC.
ALyson
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