Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?
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Jo, Will pray all goes well on the 29th. Alyson, Hope nothing too serious with the cat...they are like our children, aren't they?
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Jo, best wishes for a clear result.
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Yes Jo -- I really was talking about you and did not think you would mind in the context of what was being discussed. I do recall your Dr. "retired" and I know it is easy to feel nervous about having a good rapport with the next one. We have been fortunate I think in that the good Lord tends to provide what we need -- and most of the time exactly when we need it. So far, sounds like things are going ok in that department.
I was reading on another thread about all the times we are told to be positive and hold onto a wonderful attitude. That would get us through. That may be so to a degree, but I wonder how you are supposed to have a good attitude and be positive about some of these things that are so devastating. I think there are times through the journey when you certainly will feel positive about many things.....and as well many times when your attitude will be ok as well. I just happen to think ....you need more than that. I think you need to mourn to a degree for the life you had and the innocence lost --- and that a little frustration and upset is not going to "keep" you ill. We hear it all the time about positive attitude....well, I have to say....I think mine was anything but when I was hanging over the sink emptying my stomach contents for the umpteenth time. But I am here despite my attitude or despite when it was sort of AWOL ( absent with out leave ).
This is all to say Jo, that I think you have a great attitude and I also feel in my heart that you are going to do just fine and this really will turn out ok after all. Still, I think you are very much entitled to have a couple of spasms about it. This road, once you get on it never really ends -- we just hopefully find a time when we relax a lot more in-between the tests, mammo's biopsies or whatever else shows up.
Need to go get some dinner. Hope you all had a wonderful day.
Jo --- many prayers....starting now.
Big hugs, Jackie
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Just saying hi this morning:
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Jo...From one worrier to another.............my prayers will be with you! These pitfalls along the road can nag at us until we really know what's causing the problem. I imagine that your doctor is just being extra cautious (as we want them to be) but that doesn't erase the concern that comes with the biopsy. We'll all help you celebrate when it's over and good results are in! Hugs!
Carole, I had a great day on the golf course yesterday and am headed back out later this afternoon! I imagine that you've been playing alot lately. Isn't it great???
Rita
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Gus the cat just let me tickle his tummy so he must be feeling a little better. Vet thinks its a bite to his back, right on the spine so he has been very grumpy and doesn't like being picked up. He is on antibiotics and the cat equivalent of morphine!!!
We are meant to be out at a picnic lunch but decided to go later as its such a rush after church and we are not great on picnics.
The weather has suddenly got much cooler here.
Hope you are all having a restful weekend.
Alyson
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Alyson,
Is there really a pain med for cats? I was told by my Vet some time ago that there are no pain meds for cats. Please share the name and dosage of the medication.
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I just lost my post.
Noself. It is Temgesic Oral 1.00ml and Gus is having 0.2ml twice a day for three days. Morphine is not good for cats as it makes then sick.My other cat has had pain med before but I cannot remember what it was. Thankfully gus seems to be much happier tonight and he even made the funny chirriping noise he makes when he wants food.
We did go out for a while and took MiL and had a pleasant afternoon. Now must think of something light for tea.
Alyson
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OOOOHHHH, "something light for tea" sounds so much classier than "a bite of dinner." I guess April is your equivalent of our October so your summer is waning, sounds like. Hard concept for us northern hermispherians to grasp. :-)
Well, ladies... panty hose are absolutely declasse' Huge wedding and three of us were wearing hose! Lots of young bare legs, but old bare legs too! My feet are so tender I am not sure I can wear shoes without some form of skin protection. Every time I try to go sockless I end up with a blister here or there. And I always have a bandaid wrapped around some toe for some reason. Do only women with good legs and tough toes go to fancy parties? I may have to stay home :-(
Cyber hugs to everyone.
pam
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pj, I have used Liquid Bandage (liquid in a bottle, you paint on the skin) for areas on my feet that tend to blister. It is not a perfect fix, but helps get through some events where shoes are needed. I understand and sympathize on the sore feet situation. Is this a sign of old age or another of the "gifts" that cancer gives us? In fact, I donated 18 pairs of shoes to a shoe drive here. most of you will know that 18 pairs is not a lot !!!!!!!
JO, I cant' understand why we (you, me, any of us) have to keep on worrying and seeking answers to nagging medical issues. I have said it over and over - Enough, Uncle, stop, let me have a few weeks, months without some form of medical intervention, visit, or test. Best of wishes and prayers for good news.
Hugs and Blessings for all, Nancy
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Pam, you are way too funny sometimes. I don't envision myself going anywhere w/o something on unless I am wearing thong type sandals. I often wear my Buster Brown socks/anklet type under jeans and some slacks. Just don't feel completely dressed -- or maybe it really is that my feet just don't feel right in shoes while they are bare. Whatever. I think I will not be succumbing to this bit of fashion -- too much for me.
I don't do a lot of things that others seem to find so delightful. Like going to the tanning salon. Of course, if ever I did, I would have given it up when I got cancer, but while people look great many times....there is also a sense of un-reality -- almost like these are fake people to have that kind of tan in the middle of winter. Like a bell that is cracked and lost its tone....it just grates on a part of me -- in fact, long before, I shunned doing things like that because of getting that out of tune sensation.
Alyson, I too was thinking you would be getting ready to have your winter and hope I can say this....it was such an un-pleasant thought as we are just barely over ours. I do love the seasons and missed them when I lived for 25 years in southern California, but I am ready for Spring at last. Our temps dipped last night,,,brrrr, but should get up to 70 or so today which is probably standard for this time of yr. People have started mowing their lawns. I laugh with my husband about how we moved out here to the country for the peace and quiet....but everyone has a ten acre yard around us so we hear riding lawn mowers for long hours at a stretch. I thought...should ask them all to mow on the same day.....but, it is still beautiful out here and I don't really mind.
Onward for the day. I try to actually let Sunday be a day of rest....I do get a slower start out of reverence, but there are things that just have to be done. The cats still have to eat and Maggie needs assistance....so. Still feel just getting to live out in the woods and enjoy the wildlife and birds is my own personal chapel and I have said many prayers here feeling and knowing every word was heard.
Hope you all have a wonderful, happy and healing day.
Hugs, Jackie
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Happy Sunday.
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Alyson,
Thank you for the name of the pain med. Most people euthanized their cats because they don't want them to be in pain. My cat is getting older and I want him to die a natural death but pain free.
Dear all,
This is a long string of happy posts. I am so glad that things are in a quiet time for those on this thread. Just to add to the happy, my radiologist told me last week that with one more mammogram the area that was the site of the cancer will be classed as benign and I will be able to go to once a year mammograms instead of every six months.
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Well we made it back from LV and of course didn't win big! Our suite was fantabulous at THE Hotel! The weather was glorious...80's. Met up with my sister and her DH and made memories together...that is what it is all about, isn't it?
Jo, my thots and prayers are with you as you wait out the days before the biopsy. Me I am one to deny my anxiety about upcoming procedures and that takes a toll as well...it comes out in other more negative ways.
Welcome new ladies...this is the place to be if you have to be.
My new kitty, Jack, was given a pain patch after his previous owner had him neutered and declawed...that was in February and he is still growing his fir back in that area! It gives him character!!
We had frost again last night but it doesn't seem to have killed our beautiful dafodils. Even with the lake michigan wind we are at 50 degrees.
gentle hugs.....
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Hi all
Pam, we often use the term 'tea' for a meal at night. When we visit relations in Ireland, no doubt we will have 'High Tea' a couple of times, now that is something again. It's about 4.00pm, in the dining room, best everything, and great food. Later you have supper which is a light snack and all this after you have had midday dinner. It is interesting the difference in terms that we who speak English use.
Jo, like you I often wear sheer hose for special occassions, even wore them at my daughters wedding on a very hot summer's day. Have included you in my special prayer list and on Sunday added another candle for you. We have a lovely part in our service that follows Celtic tradition and we can light candles. This is quite different in a Presbyterian Church but I have come to love this special part of the service.
Jackie, it is cooler today but one of the days when you put on a cardigan then take it off. then put it on again. I think we have always had the idea that seasons are different.You have to explain to little ones why there is no snow at Christmas and its not spring at Easter so we learn early that the southern hemishere is opposite to the north.
Have had a lovely morning. Took Bea to Mainly Music which was great fun DD had to run an errand as her DH was unwell and needed something from the chemist. Males are all the same when they are mildly unwell. This afternoon have to go with MiLto the doctor, she is getting a little confused and with bad knees is not sure what the doctor told her was happening.0 -
Notself............The once a year mammo sounds good to me! I still go every 6 months and haven't asked yet when that will change.
It was a lovely weekend here in Illinois....a bit cooler than it was last week, but warm enough to get out on the golf course and hit some balls! I also worked in a few flower beds and have them looking pretty good for early spring. Many of the plants that I planted last year have made it through the winter. I'll probably plant a few more.........just because I love doing it and watching them grow.
Today's a "stay at home" day for me and I can work around here at my own pace. I enjoy these days every so often. I'll be back later. I hope everyone had a great weekend.
Rita
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Good morning everyone:
Glad you had such a good time in LV, Susie. It is wonderful to enjoy something together as a family. It does make memories special and probably makes where we are seem so much better than it might otherwise --- partly it is two sets of eyes and someone else's viewpoints. I always had fun discovering what others noticed that I did not. Double the appreciation that way.
Also found it interesting about the pain patch for the cat. I only found out a couple years ago that they have those for people. I guess I really have not had all that much pain in my life --- and was so surprised when I ran into a person with bad arthritis that used them all the time. I was sort of blown away. Now I'm praying I never have to have anything like that for myself.
Guess I will stop being lazy and get my day going. Funny, I got up thinking it was Sunday. I think I am still trying to recover from getting up at 5:30 on both Sat. and Sun. Sears where Dh works had to be in the store early as they were having the "cash for clunkers" on appliances. Sat. and Sun. are my days to sleep in just a wee bit....so now I am turned around. I'm sure I'll get it right by Wednesday.
Hugs, Jackie
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Hi, everyone. DH and I spent last week in neighbor state, MS, playing golf in a MS Seniors Golf Assoc. tournament. Lots of lunches and dinners. Very social group. We had fun. Instead of staying in a motel, we towed our "travelling bedroom," which is what we call our 38 ft. 5th wheel camper. It has 3 slide-outs and is quite a comfortable little home when we get set up. Our camp site was on a large pretty lake.
Oksheri, you might want to check out the Arimidex discussion forum. I began to read it before I started taking Arimidex because I wanted to know what might be in store for me. Fortunately, I've done better than many of the women on that forum. However, there are frequent mentions of trigger fingers and carpel tunnel as SEs that women have experienced. My main SE after 7 mos. on the drug is joint stiffness after sitting in one position. It remains to be seen what the effects will be as I continue taking the little white pill.
RitaJean, I have been playing quite a bit of golf and enjoying the nice spring weather.
Like many of you, I'm also doing some yard work and gardening. I ordered 20 more bales of pine straw for mulching flowerbeds. I've already used 20 bales and had run out. We also put pine straw around the bases of trees. It looks pretty and discourages weeds so that DH can mow the grass and not have a lot of weedeating to do.
Guess I'd better get some chores done. Hope everyone has a good Monday.
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Ok Carole. you can tell what a city slicker I really am......despite living in the country I had to go look up what Pine Straw mulch was and you can tell not too much gets mulch on it around here. I think a lot of ours is allowed to go natural for the most part.
I love learning new things....and reading this on the Internet was very interesting. Please don't ask me tomorrow though, what I read today. I'm sure I'd say something clever. Like its mulch....even though it is true. Just not very technical.
Hugs, Jackie
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Hi All,
I remember the first time I ever saw baled pine straw. I thought someone was brilliant! Up until then you went out and raked your own. Why do the weeds do so much better than the flowers? We use a lot of oak leaves as mulch and pine straw... it's amazing how much two or three pine trees produce! I don't like the new "red" mulch, looks so artificial. And I heard it "can" make dogs sick.
There is a house in Orlando, near where the old Navy Base used to be. I always imagined a retired sailor lived there since the homeowner obviously did not have a green thumb. First, they replaced ALL the grass with a layer of white rock, the whole yard. Then they replaced ALL shrubbery with artificial Christmas trees... mid size along the house like a hedge, smaller ones lining the driveway, a few large ones for accents, HONESTLY! If you squint your eyes tightly, it does not look as bad as it sounds. :-)
Gosh, Carole, the idea of having your own traveling bedroom is getting more and more desirable. With Disney and the beaches making this area such a destination, the local TV stations are always running pieces about bed bugs. Now the first thing I do when we check in to a room is rip down the sheets and inspect the mattress. One of our kids brought home bed bugs from a hotel in NYC! What a problem!
Overcast and muggy here today. The shuttle had to go around again... don't know if they will try again tomorrow.
Cyber hugs to everyone.
pam
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Jo, I had multiple core biopsys and never felt a thing. Really worked myself up and then discovered that lidocaine is a wonder drug. As long as they used it I felt absolutely nothing. They did one biopsy on the machine and took out 18 core samples and then moved me to another room to do one by hand with an ultra sound machine and all I said was " don't forget my lidocaine bottle' and traipsed right after them.
They even used lidocaine to put the 26 catheters in my chest and I felt nothing during that procedure but tugging and it lasted quite a while. The only thing you will have to look out for is nausea if they use to much but I only had it after the brachetherapy procedure, never from a biopsy.
Just keep telling yourself they will give you good drugs.
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Hi everyone, I hope everyone is doing okay, the weather is nice here today. I have a question about Tamoxofen. My oncologist just prescribed it for me. Has anyone had any side effects from it? I was told that blood clots are one side effect. Now I'm scared to take it.
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Tarry1, I take Arimidex since I'm post-menopause. Have you checked out the Tamoxofen discussion threads? I think one is called Bottle of Tamoxofen.
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Thanks I will check those threads.
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Hi Tarry! just click on this thread! I have been taking Tamoxifen since February, & so far so good....a few minor side effects....but nothing to keep me from keeping up with it! A lot of good information on there! Jeannette
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Dear Everyone,
Thank you so much for making me feel welcome - I love the posts about cats and jobs and juggling everything we do - yes, the study I am in at UCLA is to measure over a span of a year the possible "chemo brain" connected with various treatment programs. We do a three hour mental accuity/ability test before treatment begins, then test again 6 months after, then again one year later. They draw 9 vials of blood for all sorts of tests each time. When I described the mental tests I had to take ,my friend - a BC survivor - said Oh my gosh I couldn't have done those tests BEFORE I had chemo let alone after! But I feel as if I'm contributing at least a bit. Some days I'm very "fuddled" - but is it the Tamoxifen or just life - don't know.
I do know that I have "promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep" so I look forward to the next 30 years or so!
Meau
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Jo -- I think one explanation for the Tamoxifen was that itwas the "standard" before Arimidex and many Dr's just have not changed. Sometimes that can be good or bad. I do feel that many of our older medications are better --- if only that they have been used long enough that all se's have been known for years and few if any surprises. Not sure that Tamoxifen is really one of those, but I have been switched by the V.A. to less expensive older drugs and in almost all cases....I have gotten more consistent, stable results with those then when I had the newer ones.
Meau -- The study you are in sounds very interesting. Not complaining, but I had a thyroid blow-out and had some transitory amnesia, then a stroke and more memory problems with that, then cancer and chemo. I really think most of my memory problems stem from the thyroid blow-out and periods of amnesia from that and the stroke. I don't feel my chemo had any real effect or I guess you could say -- any damage had already occurred. Knowing I was up against it.....I try to work several puzzles a week...play Mahjong as you have to think and move quick to get your score up. I did not do much of this during active tx as I often felt un-well and didn't expend the effort to concentrate.....but once I got through I went back to it. I still have times --- but I've learned to roll with it.....if I get frustrated it just makes it worse....so I try to relax till I can "fetch" the info I'm looking for.. You have a marvelous attitude and I hope we all do our next thirty years well.
See all of you tomorrow when we let the sunshine in.
Hugs, Jackie
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Jo-5 Hi, it's been a while since I posted here too, but I have been reading on and off, I don't have alot of time to spend on this site since I am taking care of an elderly aunt for 5 weeks, and it's pretty much a 24/7 "job", however she is really a sweetie, and 99 years old.
May I throw in my 2 cents worth ?
Ask the doctor if an MRI or ultrasound or anything else would give them the same info needed for monitoring you as they get from a mammogram and/or biopsy.
I remember when I was diagnosed: first I had a mammo, then ultrasound, then had biopsy, then the surgeon ordered a MRI - then bonescan, then finally surgery (oh the wait was a killer). It sure sounds to me that each mammo and biopsy you have injure your breast anew, maybe because of the LE, scar tissue or radiation damage, whatever all the side effects we get after surgery and rads, I have the breast LE myself and on and off inflammation.
By the way I admire you for sticking with the Arimidex from 5 years, yes you are not a whimp. I stuck with Femara for only 2 1/2 months, and it beat me down so bad I had to have help getting out of bed in the morning, although I really didn't even want to get up and try to live with the femara side effects for another day. I decided I'd rather have my good years now while I still can use my mind and body, and if I have a recurrence I will fight it then.
All my best wishes for you
dsgirl
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Good AM,
I am already thinking about 4+ years from now when I might be stopping Arimidex. Some women are now staying on it for another five years. Is anyone doing five years of Tamoxifen following a full 5 on Arimidex? I'm thinking that might be better tolerated while keeping one on a treatment regimen. Has anyone inquired about doing that? I know some younger women do Tamox for a couple years, then switch over to Arimidex after going in to menopause or having an ooph.
Anyone?
pam
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My bc dr. said she would switch me to Femara after 5 yrs. on Arimidex. But who knows what the medical wisdom will be then. A friend on another thread who is 60 is taking Femara as recommended by her onc. Medical opinions must vary as to what is the best pill to take.
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