Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?
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Please add my vote to keeping the photos up! I am not posting so often, but read this thread every day and enjoy the banter. Here I am one week after first chemo treatment feeling (I shouldn't even type this in case I jinx the world) - feeling quite well. Hair is still to fall out and when it does, I have a wig ready to be styled by the nice wig lady and some caps knitted by my ever so clever daughter (in between knitting pink things for her September baby). This week my regular bridge partner is back from some wandering and I'll start bridge again. Do you think this will help or hurt my game?!
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Leslie, I played bridge thru most of my chemo treatments and it neither helped or hurt. One week I got high score, next week I got the booby prize. You know, just the luck of the draw. I do not play sanctioned games and would never consider going for Master points - just fun games.
Hugs, Blessings and sweet dreams. Nancy
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I've already posted before that I am a horrible bridge player. My dear departed MIL was a wonderful player (what a disappointment I must have been to her). She played up until 6 months before her death. This isn't particularly amazing except she was in the throes of Alzheimers for the last 5 years! Not only did she attend her bridge clubs, she regularly got high score! For her safety she had round the clock sitters and they would drop her off at bridge club, take a few hours break, and pick her up. If you asked 2 hours later she couldn't even remember where she had been. So the answer is that if you feel like going I don't think a "little" thing like chemo will affect your game. LOL Leslie, so happy that your first treatment has gone smoothly. Except for fatigue, I also tolerated it quite well, and felt very very blessed to have so few SE's.0
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I am thrilled to hear some of you are being treated to mild se's when you have them. Mine were not too kind to me.....so when I hear someone else does well with them it is up-lifting to me. Lassie....do you have any idea when in Sept. the baby comes. My birthday is on the 13th. so if your daughter wants to have this event on the 13th. I'd be all for it.
Allison - that is an incredible story bout your MIL. I think it's painful for everyone to watch their loved ones "lose it" through Alzheimer's.The thought always comes to my mind.....robbed without a gun when I think of these people. I "sat" for families with their loved ones so they could rest and do things for awhile with friends and other family members. Despite having to answer many questions ad infinitum I enjoyed the time I spent with them otherwise. I was fortunate that they did not get into the angry stage with me so were mainly easy to be around. I felt rewarded by being able to give the familly a big break.....care sometimes is relentless and takes a lot of effort especially while the one with problems has to go everywhere you go. I quit doing it after my stroke....I no longer trusted myself with these precious people....in fact, did not feel I would be much value if they fell. I had trouble some days keeping myself up-right.
Hope you all have had a great day. Will see you all in the morning.
Hugs,
Jackie
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Hi Friends, Thanks for the support and caring, It is not fun to be in the middle of unpaid
bills from 2 years ago, I trying to fine so one that doesnt yell when the ER sends you to
him and is in a very big hurry, Some of the nurses went to work other places case they have
to be serious( not like they were caring hugging nurses) It is very sad. Patoo, sending you a smile, Alpal, Hang in there we are going to make it. Pam, you are very lucky to have such
wonderful drs. ritajean Thanks for caring, I am tired of being a number. Jo, Thanks too, and all
the others I forgot, Thanks and God bless you, Debbie
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Alpal - I love the story of your mother in law! She must have played bridge for a long time to have it so well ingrained. I just started bridge less than two years ago - it takes a LOT longer to get good at it. When things go well (like this week) I play twice - once duplicate bridge and occasionally do earn some parts of masterpoints and once a week at a friend's home. And I play on the computer in between times. Still lots of fun.
Jackie - the baby is due about a week after your birthday - we will see what happens!
It's a sunny day here today and I am off to buy pink material to get started on a quilt for the baby.
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Mornin' Ladies,
Another rainy day in Sunny Southwest Florida. It would be nice if it would go back to monsooning as then we have sunny mornings. Sigh.
Debbie, Tired!! I understand what you are saying. Now I have become a number also. My Onco records my number before he even does his report. I wanted to say "HEY" I am a person with a name, if one more nurse calls me honey or sweety I think I will bop them, ;-O. But there are so many cancer patients. Whew. Before I got health ins. and went to the doctor about my BC I became tired, weary also, I got to the point where I didn't much care about anything, other then getting from day to day. Maybe that is why - when he put me on the Arimidex it was a happy event, I felt better then I had in years. Things change day to day.
Right now I am having some SE's from the Zometa, nothing bad or that I can't handle but --- a bit worrisome. They are transient right now. I hope they stay tansient for the next infusion also. I'd hate to have any of them take up permanent residence in my body.
Bridge. Something about it evades my thinking. My mother and father played but my father was a lot like me. He was a scientist and very intelligent but there was something that evaded his thinking about Bridge. My mom? She was a pretty decent player. She belonged to a bridge club (non professional) and people would ask her to fill in with bridge groups other then hers as she was good enough. I play single games, solitare, sudoku, puzzles, crossword puzzles, I play cribbage and backgammon with Bob. I think I am just not a good team player.
I got my bedroom curtains hung yesterday. They look good, the living room is today. Rob is home so I will get some help with the screws and such. Lawdy it is difficult to hold my arms up in the air for that long. Especially my right arm, the BC arm.
Well, Ladies, I shall endeavor to make this day a sunny one whether the sun comes out or not.
OH, we did put up a bird feeder, it sat in the backyard for about a week, no takers, finally a Cardinal showed up and ate. Now he has brought his mate to eat also. Nature is such a comforting process to watch, it remainds me that life goes on.
Have a good one Ladies.
Hugs,Pam
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Jo, I am on Armidex since 2007 and I do have some bone pain, But I have
athritis too, I am so happy it has help my cancer, I almost ask not to go off
of it. I took my dog in and it cost me 276.00 Pets are like people I guess.
Well Its been a long day. God bless you all. Cancer Doctor tomorrow.
Hugs, Debbie
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HI
Very tired today- watch my granddaughters last nite till my son-in-law came home from Kansas- stayed up way past my bed time-my daughter left yesterday before dinner with some co workers for a conference Traverse city.
I had an gastroscopy done 2 1/2 weeks ago- and I always like to keep a copy for my records- I have faxed over to gastronologist office- 4 times the release form and mailed a copy and still have not yet rec'd the copy. I am so frustrated with this doctor- I was going to switch doctors and use him- but after the way I have been treated- very impersonal and just a number- going to back to my old doctor- at least he will spend time with me and explain the test results and not use an automated system to get biopsy results- Enjoy the long weekend- time for me to get back to work
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Jo - Glad the **pain** cleared. Was hoping that more people would respond but you are I guess the leader of the Arimidex pack here on the seasoned thread. Easy to have things gnaw at you though.
Debbie - hope it's better news than you expect tomorrow. Always a little nerve wracking going to "see" how things are.
franssvin -we really do need ( after cancer ) Dr.'s you can respond because they have **well run ** offices. Seems so often people are "too" busy to do it right the first time......I know it's a busy world and there are lots of sick people who need paperwork.....but so many of the offices I have been in do it right -- right now, and it sure helps with the hair-pulling that everyone has to deal with in some way afterward.
Hope you all are otherwise having a beautiful sunny day like we are here in southern Illinois. Hi to everyone too.
Hugs,
Jackie
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Hi Friends, I am drained today, I saw the Asst today, she understood more, I got a b 12 shot
She told me my thyroids acting up, I told her about the tumors and my dad, I showed her were
there was a new lump were my stage 3 BC was. I ask to see her next time in three weeks.
My dog has to have an operation tomorrow, I pray things slow down. God bless you, Debbie
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Fransavin....Doctors who provide a bit of the personal touch are so special. Like you, I'm tired of the automated "bedside techniques." Give me a real person so I can express my concerns and get my questions answered. I have been lucky with my doctors. I changed surgeons after the first surgeon didn't get clean margins and didn't mark the tumor bed properly. I am so glad that I changed! I hope you get good results.
Debbie....Did you have radiation? I had a lump appear next to my scar also and found out that it was tissue damage caused by radiation. I had never noticed it before because there was so much fluid in the breast tissue. Once the fluid went away, I felt the lump. It shows up every time on the mammo and they are watching it closely, but it doesn't seem to change. I am hoping that your lump is just some benign mass that was caused by the treatments. Hugs to you! I wish you didn't have to wait three weeks.
Jo...sorry that I didn't respond to your Arimidex question. I have only been on it for about 2 years now and don't know if I'll have to make the same decision as you or not. Perhaps they will have a better understanding of the drug by then. In the meantime, I keep plodding along and do pretty well on it. I have the usual aches, pains, and occassional hot flash but I'm tolerating it as well as possible, I guess. I understand how hard this decision is and am sure you'll make the right one for you!
Well, I have lots to do today so I need to get moving. I'll check back later during one of my "work breaks!"
Enjoy this nice Illinois weather, Jackie!
Rita
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Hi Ladies,
It's an intermittent sunny/rainy day here in Sunny Southwest Florida.
Hmmm, Debbie, now I am having some of your same concerns. My lung cancer nurse friend says all the docs at Florida Cancer Specialist do their reports in front of their paitents. I guess it is to make the patient understand that they are not hiding anything from them. I am worried as I will have to go back to the original surgeon that recommended me to my Onco and I wasn't that impressed with his manner, BUT he has a partner that has taken care of me in the hospital before as a stand in for another doc. Am I allowed to ask for him? I sure would like to. Sigh. I am now worried about the Arimidex also, lawdy, what if it stops working? I guess there are other Aromasins (sp) that I can take. I think, I am borrowing trouble. Does it always come about this way? I am so new to this, I was on a "high" in the beginning when I found out I wasn't about to die. Now I am hearing nothing but bad possiblities. I want to stay positive, I think that is essential to recovery, it is not always easy, life has a way of creeping in, especially knowledge about things I don't want to know.
Debbie, I pray that things start working out for you. Your dog goes through surgery with a snap. Things just start falling in place for you etc., etc. What ever the "Powers That Be" (GOD?) believe is the very best for you.
Rita and Jackie, sure am happy the sun is shining someplace. Odd that I have moved out of the area it is shining in, (where it never shines), to the area it is always shining in only to have it NOT shine. LOL.
I have eaten all the fresh veggies that Roberts customer brought him. There is absolutely nothing as good as a fresh summer tomato off of the vine is there? A little salt and --- wow!! Our Cardinals are still eating out of our new bird feeder, when it doesn't blow down in a rain storm, lol. A male all bright red and a female, brown and red, they must have babies someplace close. Hope I am helping her feed her babies.
I hope worry finds a way out of all of our lives.
Have a good one ladies.
Hugs, Pam
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Pathology results from the stereo biopsy are B 9........ Wooo Hoooooo. I asked for and got the full report, but surgeon says don't go looking up all the words or I will go nuts. Repeat bi lat mammogram in 6 months and the area biopsied WILL feel hard and lumpy for at least 3 months. And there will be tingling and even some pain, but that is normal for the healing process.
Hugs, smilies, good wishes, blessings and LOVE, Nancy
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That's GREAT news Nancy. S/E's are easier to handle with a B9 dx. YAY!!!!!
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I second Patoo.....good for you Nancy. I'd be on cloud 9 for sure with that. Hope it continues to be smooth sailing.
Pam ---- hmmm. It is hard to read too much and then feel nerves twitching and tingling again, and a little apprehension and fear sneaking in when you thought you were going to be free of it. I do think AI's or even other combo's of medicines could be given you which would keep you right about where you are now. I do not say this from deep knowledge but just what I have heard from others. Our days always had a certain number.....we just think more about **how many ** after a disease process like this one. I hope you can relax a bit.....and try not to read too much ----especially if it only tends to upset you. Just have faith sweet lady.....we all have a season or a few sanctioned by our creator......and we will be here until we are needed there. It's not the end of our life....going there is the rest of our beginning. Our life is eternal....we are just changing addresses.
Lots of work before I hit my recliner. I'll see ;you all later.
Hugs,
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Yea, Nancy! The day just got a little brighter! B-9 is music to our ears!
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Great news, Nancy! B-9 is a wonderful thing!
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Hi everyone..can hardly get online...we are now somewhere in Kansas..
Yesterday we were at 11,500 feet high..
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As usual, your pics are breathtaking. Have you seen Toto?
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Hurray, Nancy...such a great word B-9.
Hoping you all have a good weekend. Maire
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Wow Lisa how beautiful...what a country. Enjoy
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Lisa your photos are breath-taking! Kansas looks waaaaay better than Oz, lol!
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Hurray Nancy B-9, Sending you a special hug, I went in to the Cancer Dr to get info
and ok to start my breathing class, I saw the new Dr had I am very depressed, No I am not I
am in pain and hurt all over, Then I read stage II, Nothing with it, I was told at diagnosis
stage 3 IDC, I would love it to be that other, But since they changed Clinics they have changed
my diagnosis, I am going to talk to the nurse tomorrow and if it keeps this way, I need to change.
Thanks for the support, My dog made it threw surgery today.
Hug to all that need one, Debbie
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Sorry I can't post. I'm on my way to Kansas to catch up with SoCalLisa Actually I'll be back after work. Hope all of you are having a fabulous day.
Hugs,
Jackie
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Afternoon Ladies,
B-9 ROFLMAO I spent a whole night trying to figure out what B-9 was. I thought OMGosh, another disease or cure for this disease that I don't know and will have to learn about and learn whether it will effect me or not.
THEN --- last night I was watching TV and -- you know how idea's come when your brain isn't really working? LOL B-9 Benign OH Heavens I thought how slow can I be? LOL. I burst out laughing.
NANCY --- How marvelously wonderful for you. Awesome!!!
DEBBIE --- They changed clinics so they changed your diagnosis? Wow, I have worked in the medical billing and coding field and that is scary. It means it's not a very well run office. Yes, ask them about it, please. Someone has goofed up or you really need a new Dr..
LISA -- once again, thank you. :-) Very nice. Peaceful, calming.
JACKIE -- are you going to get there in a Tornado or just the regular way, by bicycle? :-)
Fairly pretty day here in Sunny Southwest, some rain clouds but that is OK, we can afford the rain, it is dry. The Cardinals were out feeding this morning, what a joy. My flowers are growing beautifully. They are yellow zinnias at each end of the planter, purple firebrand in the back and pink Inca (?, they look like impatiences) up front with Dusty Miller on each side of the Inca. I am afraid I don't have a nice camera so I can show you all but I think Lisa's pics make up for my lack. :-)
Have a great one ladies.
Pam
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had my annual mammo today, was called back in twice for better views, sure enough even I could see the spots, then went to hubbys 58 year old cousins funeral, onco called while I was there, I am thinking just forget about this crap and go on like it didn't happen
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Susan_CNY, sorry you have to continue on this journey. You have been strong and come through for 25 years. Please don't give in to this beast - you probably have another 25! I pray for your strength and encouragement to continue this fight.
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Thank you everyone for doing the HAPPY dance with me. B-9... funny that I sent a text message to my son and dil and did not know how to put numbers, so I put Be Nine...
Funny also is that I was playing bridge and one lady had a water bottle with POM on it. One asked what is POM? I had a flash of inspiration and said " prisoner of menopause ", which cracked up everyone, including the men. (it is pomagranite infused water)...
Have a super duper, relaxing, stress free, pain free, WONDERFUL day and weekend. HUGS, Nancy
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IHas anyone heard of the movie "Living Proof"? It will be on the Women's Network here tonight at 8 pm - about the development of Herceptin. Since I will be on that eventually, I think I will watch it.
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