Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?
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It's gong to be another pretty day -- probably a little cooler than I really like,but I will stay warm. We have to rake leaves out of the dog pen. It is a very large pen -- 60 X 12, so will keep us busy for awhile.
Marcha...isn't that the berries -- when you are getting close to the end. You have a lot of look forward too.....then you finally do your last one and sometimes feel a little confused and scared. You have been physically doing something for sometime and all of a sudden you are not doing anything. That feeling passes and then the phase of being thankful -- you have a life back that is not tied to regulated txs.
I too have heard that lots of Dr.'s don't like to do the tumor marker tests. It is a sound theory because for many.....ANYTHING, any little strange ache or pain might set off the high alarm bell that maybe its the un-thinkable. If I were a Dr. I'd probably do the test anyway and just not say I was. There are many things that can make the test read positive -- but I think most Dr's would want other indicators before they put a lot of stock in it. At least, that is what my Dr. says. He does do the test and I admit...there is a little queasy feeling when my numbers bounce around. I just sort of hang on and wait for the next test......I'm tested every three months. I'm sure most Dr.s that don't routinely do marker tests have other indicators they watch.
I tend to think....whatever happens is going to happen no matter what tests are done or not done. I'm here to get through it all and the less I worry and feel concern the better my days will be. As my dad said....you will live until you die and he is right. I have to handle each day be it rain or shine and not "suffer" about what has been or may be. My job is only to take care of the present as intelligently and fully as I can.
Klick....the benefits of sharing....Clear Aloe Jel. And Chevy's MammoSite....it what is so nice about having BCO. Org to come to. We get to talk about what we have all done and present ideas, feelings, and share concerns....many about txs and many not....and in most ways it is so reassuring. It gives us the sense of normalcy that we lose when we gt diagnosed.
I'm doing fine with my tooth extractions....I look like the dickens.....definitely like I lost. It has gotten as most bruises do, a little worse -- now extending from the corner of my mouth to just into my neck area. It is easy to walk around though.....it, I think is probably worse for Dh who people may feel is the culprit. I just think it is funny. Did not need the pain medication at all. I did take ( that first night ) one Tylenol. The Dr. felt it would help with any inflammation. So, I am good. Taking my regular ( blood thinning meds ) which I re-instituted that night. It's nice not to have to agonize that the tooth with the rather large cavity would start aching before I could get into the surgeon.
I hope you are all going to have a wonderful Saturday.....hope we all stay warm too. See you all later on today.
Hugs, Jackie
I'm editing this to add....yes. I did get very tired after those teeth were pulled. I know I tend to hold myself rigid and also that I am on high alert for the chance that we did not get enough of the numbing agent somewhere and I will have to "feel" the removal completely......yrs. ago I had a tooth pulled without anything -- and my paranoia is always front and center. I'm so relieved when it is all over I feel like a rag doll.
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Good morning, this morning. We have a beautiful sun this morning, but I'm not sure its staying. Hope the weather-person was wrong this time. At least they didn't say rain.
We did a huge amt. of leaf cleaning yesterday as well at going to the Fall Craft Fair. So many pretty things....and many practical ones too. There are many more things to do today....in addition to those same pesky leaves. Drat !!!
May as well get started.....after a little breakfast. See you all later.
Hugs, Jackie
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I'm having a lumpy night. It rained all day and the sky is the color of Edgar Allen Poe's pajamas (Tom Robbins quote). I'm worrying about everything…I have my third zap tomorrow (ONLY the third). I want to be finished and not thinking about what the holidays will be like in December when I finally finish. My cancer is not the worst and you'd think I'd stop sniveling. I'm sure I'll feel better tomorrow. Rest well tonight. You're all such wonderful inspiration.
PS: here's a chart I made to hang on my bulletin board.
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Drats klick! I'm sorry you've lost your mo-jo! I KNOW...! This happens to me sometimes too, but I think it is because we still have those funky days, like when we were "girls" when we used to have our "monthlies." Ha!
You are going through a lot right now, so you SHOULD have crummy days, but it only lasts a little while, and it's still just one day at a time....
I know your cancer isn't the worst, neither was mine, but it's still cancer! Or I like to think "was."
Now go draw us some more little charts....I loved that one.... And the weather doesn't help either! xoxo
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Good Morning Ladies: Rain, rain and more rain here in Florida...if it was snow we'd be buried! Too bad we can't send some of this stuff to Texas and places that really need it.
I woke up in the middle of the night with a terrible case of vertigo..ugh. Fortunately I had some patches left over from my cruise so I cut one in quarters and put it on. Feel better this morning...at least not sick to my stomach and no room spinning. Don't think I'll drive today though.
I'm waiting for my bs to call and tell me when he's scheduling my biopsy. If he doesn't call today, I will be on the phone with him tomorrow.
Have a great day everyone!
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There are two irrepressible urges that we all share: first, to solve problems, and second to help each other.
Barbara Sher0 -
Good morning friends.....
klick....now you know exactly why we hang around here. There is this little dark cloud that tends ( though cheer up as it does lighten a lot later ) to hang around and **what if** us so often after a cancer diagnosis. It seems to happen no matter what your diagnosis may be.....how mild or strong the degree etc. My cloud has become fairly light.....but it is there as is Chevy's. We never really stop worrying, but we can get to a better place. A little worry ( enough to keep you aware ) is ok, really beneficial. You do have a sense of humor working hard to peek out which is going to be an invaluable friend.
Kaara.....yes, yes, yes. If you don't hear do call. Who knows why you turned up your vertigo. Maybe those silent 'worry" nerves kicking up on you too. The sooner you know -- the quicker you can get on with life....no matter where it is going to take you. We will be here supporting you and hoping for the best outcome.
It's a sunny Monday here in the woods. So many leaves gone now --- the majority of them making it so much easier to see the houses over on the street that gives us access to the woods. We are no longer ( at least until Spring comes back ) going to be hidden from the world at large.
I hope you all will have a fantastic day. I'll be checking in later.
Hugs, Jackie
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Hope this comes out:
Happy Halloween
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Happy Halloween everybody
Chevyboy & IllinoisLady—Thanks for the encouragement and having patience with my bad mood. I feel a lot better today. I had my 3rd zap now that the machine is fixed. I spent some time with my grandkids and saw their costumes…wish I could go trick or treating! We live in a condo and don't get many kids anymore. I miss the little ones, not to mention finishing up any left over Baby Ruths or Butterfingers. I entertained myself by drawing pumpkins
IllinoisLady, Chevyboy & Kaara—I like hearing about your season changing. I can hear rain right now, or maybe I'd better go check the dishwasher.
Kaara—sorry about the vertigo. Have you had that before? Maybe tonight will be a good rest for you.
Mommarch—I'm with you about the cancer marker tests. I had a scary one, but the doc finally said not to worry. And I can certainly relate to driving in a blizzard. It takes a while to recover your nerve.
Hope you all have fun tonight...
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Hey gals!
This reminded me of your little faces Klick! xoxo
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Happy Halloween! I'm just hoping we get the trick or treat kiddos tonight with all of the rain still going on. If they don't come then guess who gets stuck with the candy:) I'll eat myself into a hypoglocemic stupor! NO...can't do that now...no more sugar on this anti cancer diet.
klick: to answer you question about the vertigo, I've had it before, but not for a long time, so I thought it was gone for good. This was so sudden and surprising. I'm ok today, took a nice nap, but leaving that little quarter seasick patch on through tonight.
The doctor called and now he wants me back in the office to try and do another US. Remember, the first one in NC showed nothing, so why is his going to work? He explained that it would be easier to do the biopsy in the office if he could get it on US; otherwise, it will need to be sterotactic and a more difficult procedure. In the meantime, we're repeating all the same tests..cha ching! Sorry, I hate to go there, but sometimes it is so obvious.
Have fun everyone...my first group of goblins just arrived!
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Morning gals....Kaara, I just had a post ready to "post" & with a blink, it was GONE!!! Dang, I hate when that happens. So I'm going to type this, & then copy & paste it to the thread & see if it works, without the "goblins" grabbing this one too!It sounds like, they won't do a biopsy, until they are pretty certain there is some sort of suspicious spot there. If an ultra-sound can't pick anything up, then they can't do a needle-core biopsy, in a "certain" area.I had my annual Mammogram, & they called back to say it looked sort of suspicious, & I needed to go back to check it out, with another one, and a possible ultra-sound.This was all within 2 weeks. And yes, the ultra-sound saw the little area, they "measured & marked" the dimensions, and I watched the screen as they did all of this.... I just had that feeling that "okay, this is something that shouldn't be there." But I asked the Radiologist right then, what it looked like, and he said, "Well it looks like a small cancer, but we will biopsy it, and if it is, you will have a Lumpectomy, then Radiation, and that will take care of it." So in a way, it was bad news, but re-assuring because he gave me a plan....And I don't think they will order an MRI, unless all of these tests, and a biopsy show something that is definitely there. The biopsy results for me were pretty quick, and appointments were made for a surgeon, an MRI, a Radiologist, and then the surgery.So don't worry....If they feel you don't need further testing, then maybe you can just sort of relax.But usually, the first Mammogram will show something "suspicious".... I never could "feel" anything....So take good care, and try not to worry.0
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chevyboy: Thanks for the reassuring words. I called the doctor's office this morning to make an appointment for the US, and the nurse told me I couldn't get in until Nov 22! I pushed and said I needed to have this resolved sooner than that because it had been almost 2 months. She said the doctor was going away and she would have to talk to him, so I told her to please do that.
I have already had one US in North Carolina that didn't show anything, but the spot still persists on the mammogram that was done last Friday. I first visited this doctor two weeks ago. He had all my films then so I don't understand why he didn't just do the US right there in the office at that time instead of saying he wanted to run everything by his radiologist, particularly if he knew he was going away! I'm starting to lose confidence in him already, and that is not good so early in the game. This is the first time since this whole thing started that I've started to sort of get panicky, because I don't have a lot of other options. There just aren't any surgeons in my area that specialize in bc alone.
I know part of this problem was self imposed because I wanted to wait until I returned to Florida, but I didn't expect these kind of delays once I got here. I just want to get this over with and move on with my life. Sorry....thanks for listening!
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Have patience. All things are difficult before they become easy. -Sadi
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Good morning everyone. Wish it were warmer, but it is early and the sun is out.....so good things could happen.
Kaara.....gosh, I guess I'd be wanting to get on with things as well. Still, it was it reasonable to wait a couple of months as things were --- then. Who'd have thought of this outcome now. Can't second-guess ourselves too much but I'm sure it is starting to be nerve-wracking now that you are "home" where you can do whatever is needed. Hopefully, you will be able to get in sooner and get something done where you are contributing to your own end result.
I hate to say it, but Nov 22 is two days before Thanksgiving.....and would you have the results before the holiday. I think that is cutting things close. Hope you are able to get a better time.
I'll be checking back later. See you all then.
Hugs, Jackie
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I guess my persistence worked, because the doctor's office called back, and now they are able to get me in on November 7, which is next Monday. Not sure what he is going to find on an US that already showed nothing the last time it was done, but at least another step in the right direction is being taken.
Finally, the rain has stopped, so maybe I'll try and plant my flowers while the ground is still nice and soft. I know you guys up in the cold country think that is funny...flowers in the winter, but that's what we do here in S. Florida...plant impatiens in the winter, and they stay beautiful until about May. Usually no annual grows here in the summer, but I've recntly discovered vinca which does nicely in really hot weather. I plant them even though I'm not around to enjoy, so the neighbors will have something nice to look at while I'm gone.
Have a nice day everyone and thanks for listenting to my rants.
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Hi gals....I get emails from Discovery.com.... And did you know that the earliest found cancer was about 2,000 years ago, in a mummy? It was Prostate cancer that had mets to the bones.... they used some new sort of technology to discover & analyze this.
I just thought it was amazing.... knowing that in the early 1900's, when people died, they usually called it "consumption" or something.... So cancer has been around a lot longer than I ever imagined!
We had an overnight snow, about 10 inches here, but now the sun is shining, & it is beautiful out! But the snow in the Colorado Blue Spruce looks just magical!
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Nice! I just love it when the snow stays on the trees like that. All we had was rain...not as pretty!
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There are more things to alarm us than to harm us, and we suffer more
often in apprehension than reality.
Seneca -0 -
Love the snow....we are waiting for Kaara's rain. That is why the rest of my wording is bluer than it should be.
I missed the seasons so much when we lived in California. We have been back home long enough now ( 14 1/2 yrs. ) for me to be getting picky....want the snow but not the rain.....the heat but not the humidity. That is sort of like saying the money but not the bills. It all goes together so maybe I'll have to just remember when it was good weather always almost.
Late day today so I'll see you all tomorrow.
Hugs, Jackie
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If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul. - Rabbi Harold Kushner
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Jackie: Love your inspiring quote today...so true...I always look forward to reading them.
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Hi Chevyboy,
I thought I would continue our hard of hearing discussion here instead of hijacking the other thread about choosing to forego chemo.
About DH's hearing aids, we have a ritual which our neighbors must find mysterior and/or amusing. We get in the car back out of the garage, down the driveway, onto the street. Go to the first corner, turn right. About that moment I say something to DH and he says "you'll have to go back, I forgot my hearing aids." So around the block we go, into the driveway, open the garage door and he runs into the house, gets his hearing aids and we start all over again.
I would say we do this about 33% of our outings.I wonder what I do that drives him crazy?
Honestly, hearing loss is terrible. We are all so afraid of losing our sight but I think losing one's hearing is actually more isolating. Think about have the TV on and you can hear it but can't see it... you pretty much know what is going on. But if you can see it and cannot hear it you haven't a clue. And missing out on the conversation in a restaurant setting is so frustrating. The chatter is half the fun of dining out. DH can hear the people at other tables better than our own group.
Fortunately when the house is quiet and there is just the two of us (which is the norm) he manages very well. And thank God for closed captions! It is rare now for there to be a TV program that does not have them. They are even getting better and faster. Used to be quite amusing some of the words that got substituted for what was actually said. That happens less and less now.
My walking and talking partner and I were discussing all the physical limitations that accumilate between, say, 55 and 70. If someone told you at 55 what they would be you would absolute declare that was unacceptable and life would not be worth living. But like chinese water torture, they wear us down bit by bit and we don't even notice that we can no longer sling a heavy carryon bag up into the bin above the seats on the plane or come down the stairs with both hands full of laundry and waste baskets with a couple magazine tucked under one elbow or carry the 15 lb frozen turkey, the gallon of milk and the suitcase of beer in from the car in one trip.
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Pj -- I'll be back for this discussion. I'm on my way to work.....but so many things you said are soooooootrue.
Hugs, Jackie
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Hey pj....Thanks for coming on here! I usually just read most of the other threads, instead of posting, but I was interested in the other gals Onco tests! I was afraid not to take Chemo, like the first Onco suggested, because it was 19...And afraid at MY age to try it! I only hope I have made the right decision. And I wanted Tamoxifen, because my friend, who is also older is 10 years out from BC, after being on Tamoxifen for 5, and she did great....You just never know!
So after researching the SE's of Tamoxifen & found NOTHING abut hearing loss, I changed my searches to Deafness from Tamoxifen....and found a lot.... Oh well, it could have been worse!
You know, I don't notice it so much anymore..... And it IS funny, that I can hear people talking across the room in restaurants, but it's hard to hear my Husband right across from me, Ha! It's like "bionic" hearing! I'm almost surprised your Husband WEARS them...! Most men I know, won't wear them! I think they would rather we yell at them, than put them in! What IS that?
What kind does your Husband have? Mine are Bernafon Veras 9....Very good ones...from Costco!
I HATE to leave the house, forgetting them! And YES, I will go back after them...
. I just feel bad at night, when I take them out....because I say to myself...."oh wow, I can't hear".. I have 100% loss in my Left ear, but that is "word recognition"....So I can hear sounds, but I can't "understand" the words.Yes, there ARE a lot of things I can't do now that I am older....but I am really so lucky that I can do as much as I do....I just hate getting down on my knees, Ha! Because it's like I have to hold onto something to pull myself up...
And I'm afraid of falling down our stairs! So I hold onto at least one side.... And the turkeys? I have my DH carry them... I tried to put cat-litter...39 #s I think, in our buggy at Costco, and nearly tumbled in the buggy WITH it, ha! Oh well.... that's just minor stuff.
Well thanks pj....I don't know many people with hearing loss....so thanks! xoxo
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Back from work....and ready to chat. I've always felt concern over how I might handle losing any of my senses. I've a friend that can "taste" very little, so she loses wt. and has to force herself to eat. When I find something new at the store I usually get it and take some over to her --- and I never remember that she "doesn't taste" so will not be an accurate judge.
I love to eat so I never want to lose my sense of taste. I think I'm with PJ on hearing. My Aunt and Uncle were both blind, yet seem to know exactly what the stories were about on t.v. while I "needed" the visual stimulation that the actors produced.
My ex husband was a baseball referee and I'll never forget the time he was doing games where all the players were deaf. You can't inagine how strange to be watching what is usually an exciting and often noisy event in almost dead silence. Makes you think you may need a tranquilizer soon so you can escape from the Twilight Zone.
I have had very limited sight in one eye for many years so I could get used to not seeing though I very much enjoy seeing.
So far, I'm doing ok with heavy things.....though I do struggle much more than I used too. I actually have started to avoid some of it.....not because I can't , but because I need to practise not always doing all of what I can.....so that I learn how to let others handle it. I always feel a little bad when others are doing for me --- and I hope that I'll learn how to ask for help ( long enough before I actually need much of it ) so that I won't spend the rest of my life feeling guilty for no longer being able to "do it all".
Kaara.....I think I have been a quote lover most of my life. I find in them much peace, and contentment, along with the fact that they often say so well the things I wish I could. I think there is a quote as an answer to almost anything and everything. I'm glad if you can find good things in them to smooth your way and maybe inspire a bit. Hope they continue to make your steps a little lighter.
Hugs, Jackie
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Jackie: Yes, I feel the same way..quotes speak to me and help guide me. I read a great one on my facebook the other day. "Follow your heart...but take your brain along with you" Funny, but so true! I've failed to do that a few times in my life!
Happy Friday everyone!
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Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.
Samuel Smiles
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We're having beautiful fall weather here in south Louisiana. At night it gets cool, down as low as 40 degrees, then warms up during the day. I played golf today in long pants and a long-sleeved shirt. I love cool weather because the arimidex gives me warm flushes.
Tomorrow I plan to plant pansies in my pots on the patio.
My thoughts go out to those of you in treatment. I had a BMX to avoid future mammograms and radiation. I do not regret the decision. My reconstructed breasts are far from perfect but they provide some shape under my clothing, and that's good enough for me.
I joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) that runs for 6 weeks. It has been so much fun going each week and collecting fresh veggies. This week one of the veggies was napa cabbage. I had to look it up online to get some ideas for preparing it. Most of the recipes were for stir fry or salads. Tonight we had a side dish of mustard greens and radish greens.
Wishing everyone a happy weekend.
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