Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?
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Good to hear from you Sandra. Prayers for you and Mike & your daughter who is doing so much. Yes, it certainly does sound like he is suffering from depression and there is no need. There are good medications out there. He may have to try several if the first one doesn't work, and it takes patience because they don't work instantly. May take 3 weeks or so. Someone who is truly depressed may be hesitant to see a doctor, but I encourage you to encourage him! It would make a world of difference in both of your daily lives. I admire you. You are such a strong, strong person.Paula
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Sandra, I second all the responses lending support. My days of recuperation from surgery and dependency make me sympathetic toward those dealing with much more serious health situations. I hope Mike can recover his personality that caused you to love him
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Oh, sweet friends. Your words are a healing balm.
Chevy I loved the link. There were a couple I didn't remember or maybe didn't understand (4 leaf clover or the paper behind it?) My mother used to give me Tonette perms for girls. In later years I had Spoolies instead of pincurls. I think they still make them. What fun to scroll through all the pictures. Thanks for the welcome distraction. To answer your question, Mike's only chance at life is a bone marrow transplant. His disease is 100% fatal. In January they gave him 1.4 years to live. The docs are watching him closely so at the first sign he is getting worse, he will go to into the hospital. The prep takes a week. He will be given heavy duty full body radiation and chemo drugs so strong that he will be taken to the brink of death. These two things are necessary to kill his damaged and cancerous bone marrow and immune system. None of it can be left behind. Some patients die at this point. He will be given a simple IV with his sister's stem cells. Then we wait. They will be giving him extraordinary medical supportive care until those stem cells create bone marrow and establish a fragile immune system, beginning to produce platelets, red, and white blood cells. It's an amazing process. Even the blood type changes to the donors blood type. For the rest of his life, a DNA test will show that he is a woman - his sister. The only thing that doesn't change is his fingerprints. We told his sister that as long as he wears gloves, he can get away with murder and SHE will be arrested. After about 2 weeks we should see the first signs of a healthy immune system.
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Sandra (((((( ####))))))) to you --
Jackie
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Sandra, thinking and praying for both you and Mike to get thru this journey.
Mommarch, thinking and praying for you that all goes well
Carole, hope you are feeling better soon.
Cammi, Happy Belated Birthday
I started taking crocheting classes and cake decorating classes. They are fun and gets me out of the house besides for work.
Went shopping for yarn today and was going to look at another store when the lights went dim in the store and the wind really picked up so I came home instead. So far the storm has not hit here yet. It is hot and humid but a great breeze. DH went to his doctor this week he has picked up allergies and his hip has degenerative arthritis. Needs to see an orthopedic dr. next week, We have started to go through everything and get rid of what we have not worn or used in the last few years. Looking at different places to retire to if we ever get too.
I do not get to post everyday but I do check in and read often during the week. So Hi to everyone and hope you are enjoying a beautiful weekend.
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My pain ball is finally empty. We've closed the clamp on the tube, as the paper instructed. Once feeling returns to my foot, dh and I will remove the needle, put a Band-Aid on the puncture site and throw the whole gizmo away. I will be SO glad not to have to carry this bag around. But the numbing will be gone. I'm hoping that Tylenol for Arthritis will be enough for any pain.
My appointment with my dr.'s partner is tomorrow morning at 8:45. I'll get to see what the incision looks like. I'm hoping we start the next stage when I can at least limp around with a protective boot on my foot. My rear end must be flat as a pancake from all this sitting with my feet propped high.
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Sandra: Thinking of you always. I do hope you're trying to do some things just for you. Even an hour here or there. You'll no doubt feel guilty, but hey, the care giver has to be in shape to do the care. MomMom and everyone else is right about the meds for depression, but you're dealing with a "m-a-n", and who knows what they'll accept. So maybe something for you?
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Ah geez.... you guys are going through so much.... Sandra, thanks for explaining.... It's no wonder you both are at "wits end".... I know this is all "miracle stuff" that Mike is going through....
We all just hope for the best possible out-come... Sounds so scary... I won't complain about stupid little stuff anymore.... except this....
I finally think I have it figured out WHY, just WHY my left ankle and foot have started swelling up like a balloon for the last year! Just gets worse..... ONE foot, one side, and one ankle! I have worn compression stockings for over 2 years... but I could never figure out WHY.... NOW, it is so much worse, and I have researched Lymphedema compared to Edema...
Found this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lymphedema
And now I'm pretty sure it IS Lymphedema... not necessarily from the 3 nodes they took out, when I had BC... but then I took Tamoxifen, and THAT didn't work out well... THEN, I fell and broke my femur... on the same side, and there are nodes around THERE too! Not to mention all the needles and cutting and them frolicking around in there putting in rods and screws and the kitchen sink! So THAT article mentions compromised lymphatic system, AND taking Tamoxifen....
Must do something... who knows! So THEN I put on TIGHTER compression stockings, and it went away! 2 days ago, and it is still almost normal looking! So now I think I know what it is and what CAUSED it! The compression stockings I WAS wearing were not tight enough!
My skin just blows up down there, when I wake up! So it's like a tourniquet, when I put on these NEW stockings... Now I keep it on.... only when I take a shower, do I change it....
Okay, so what can I "fix" for you guys?
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Carole -- hope you are doing ok today. I think ?? by now you have had your Dr.'s appt. Hope it all went well and that pain - wise you are doing all right.
Chevy -- lymphedema. Well, I do know that if you get it can come at "odd" times. Right away or never and anything or everything in-between. I've got my fingers crossed since it has been almost a full eight yrs. for me. Guess "real" compression stockings only last so long and then need replacement. Sounds reasonable when you think about it. Still, they are normally so tight and hard to get on --- it likely wouldn't have occurred to me that they had lost elasticity. Glad you found the reason and the FIX.
Humid here today cooler tomorrow when Denny will get back home. He is having a good time. I've talked to him once ( this morning in fact ) and likely won't hear from him again until they are on the road tomorrow. He will be back just in time to sort of take some of the pressure off from me as I will be feeding my friend's cats for three or four days while she is gone to Fla. Will be nice to not have such a huge amt. of work then. I also will be going to work taking care of my lady on Tues. and Thurs.
Hope you are all doing fine. Talk to you later.
Blessings
Jackie
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Sandra-thanks for the explanation. You are strong!
Carole-soon you will be up and at 'em again. I hated being restricted and house bound but love walking pain free now
I still don't have the results of the ct scan but don't care today because it's sunny. We have had rain and gray skies for weeks. I'm going to take my sweet Charli for a walk. Two miles wears the pup out.
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The trip to the dr. this morning went well. My foot was unwrapped and looks almost normal size. Still a little swelling. I have a compression sock on the foot and a new better-fitting sandal. I am now able to put a little weight on the foot and hobble around but must still do a lot of sitting with the foot elevated.
I have another dr. appointment in two weeks. At that time I should be able to begin wearing shoes.
Thanks so much for the moral support.
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Carole, your feet & ankles look great! I wish I had your pretty toe-nails....
Jackie, I think whether it is or isn't, the same cure works.... I just needed tighter stockings.... I ordered 3 pair from Amazon, and they just felt too tight, but I tried them again, and it feels just right.... Right now I have only one on....
Then to see in that article, what it said about Tamoxifen, plus me breaking my leg, just all attributed to the problem I think....
My Doc just kept dismissing my complaining about my leg every time I went for a physical.... And I wear them 24 hours a day.... doesn't seem to hurt anything.... Put lots of cream on them after showering, then the stockings.
Teacher.... glad someone has sun.... Ha! Got my tomatoes covered again.... cold rain, and low temps....
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Termite, we get 6 ply yarn from a site called esty. The lady takes cotton mop yarn and six plys it and then she hand dies it. The colors are great. We use it on our handcrafted brooms. If we need less we just pull it apart and use 2 or 3 strands. Thanks for thinking of me.
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Chevy, I had a pedicure several weeks ago. I thought the foot dr. Would want the polish off but he didn't seem to care. I have trouble applying polish on my toe nails now so I have a pedicure. Lasts a couple of months if you don't wash your feet. LOL
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I used to have pretty little feet and toes, but one time my Brother and I were up on Inspiration point sledding, when it was 10 degress...I was about 9, and my Brother was 8..... and the people that drove us up there, forgot who was going to pick us up...
Well about 4 hours later, our folks finally showed up....! I was frozen.... There was a car parked up there, and people were in it, but I was afraid to knock on their window, and ask if I could sit with them.... So I was too cold to keep on sledding, and just cried like a baby.... My Brother kept sledding, so it wasn't as bad for him...
We got home, and they put us both in a tub with cool water, to thaw us out.... Then my 3 toes on each foot lost their nails, and never grew back right... Now they grow up, instead of out.... Ha!
I used to file them "down" and then glue on fake nails.... HONEST! Just like ones for your fingers.... Then I could wear open toed shoes...... That was the only time they were "pretty".... But you are right.... too hard to reach now, so although I still buff them "down".... I don't polish them, so then I don't wear open toe shoes....
I admire pretty feet and nails.... Ha!
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Chevy and Carole, I always say the older you get , the farther away your feet are! I get a pedi too, too hard to reach myself. I now have nail fungus that hasn't grown out in 10 years, on my big toe, 2 crooked toe nails and a bunion, but I do enjoy nail polish on those little stinkers ans still wear sandals. Had a small bunion, since my tripping/fall it has grown bigger too! Knee is worse than before the fall. Ortho says it's all arthritis.
Have you trued the compression hose that zip, might be easier to put on. I rarely struggle into pantihose anymore. I tried compression hose since I had the PE in dec, but can't find them for short heavy bodies! end up having a tourniquet below my knees, figure that's not good for me, so gave up. They didn't find anything in my leg, My ankes swell when we travel. Dr gave me a diuretic to take when they do. Don't know why they swell either.
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Bonnets, You're doing a lot of sitting while traveling and very little walking. At my DH's age he stops frequently to use the bathroom. The extra walking seems to help. We used to go twice as far without stopping.
Chevy, I think woman with lymphadema wear compression to bed, so it makes sense. You can get it anywhere on your body, especially after surgery.
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Chevy: Lots of good LE info on several BCO threads. Let me know if you want links. Below is the link that the gals here usually recommend. http://www.stepup-speakout.org/ Unfortunately most docs don't believe or don't understand or don't have any idea about the problem and they don't even like to give references for licensed PT for treatment or so you can learn how to do self-massage. The 'manual lymph drainage' techniques do help so push your doc for a referral. They seem more receptive if the cause of LE is diabetes and not surgery - I guess because everybody's figured out you can lose your legs. Glad you found some "socks" that work. I'm told that sleeves (so I guess stocking too) need to be replaced every 3-6 months depending on how much you wear them. Yes Wren is right, many of us have to wear compression 24 hours.
Carole - gorgeous toes. Hope the two weeks go quickly.
Saw my GYN for the last time today. Bittersweet visit since I'm happy for her that she's retiring to spend more time w/her 92 year old mother and her two grands, but I will sure miss her. She has been pretty much my only regular doc for 25 years. We always talked about the necessary med stuff, but also books & recipes & family. Since my MO retired last fall, I'm feeling deserted. It's hard to relate to new people at my age.
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Here's what lymphedema can do.
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Carole....so glad your foot is doing well! Count me among those that love your pretty toe nails. I had not had a pedicure until last year. I never liked anyone touching my feet but my friends talked me into going as a group and having one done. Then I was hooked. However, I got a nail fungus from there....and it was a pretty nice pedicure place and I've just recently lost the nail on my big toe. This could only happen to me. Now I'm attempting to get rid of the fungus and it appears that is not an easy task. Continue to rest that foot and before you know it, you'll be swinging that golf club again! :-)
Thinking of you mommarch and hoping you're doing o.k.
Hi termite...so good to see a post from you. I've missed you. So what crochetting project are you doing?
Sandra...Hugs to you! Thanks for explaining Mike's situation. This would test the patience and emotional fortitude of anyone. Be sure to take some time for yourself because you need to stay healthy and strong.
Jackie....we had sunshine today!!!!! YAY! I did get my flowers planted but still have one big area that needs to be weeded. The rain has kept me out of there but if I don't get in there this week and get out those weeds, the weeds will be taller than the plants!!!
I hope everyone is having a good week!
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Morning gals! Minus, I went to that link, and saw a lot of good information.... My Doc seems to be stuck on the idea, that Lymphedema only affect your arms... and that my leg/ankle swelling is Edema...
Sandra, yes... the picture of the arm, looked like my foot, and ankle... It had just gotten worse, and no matter how much I walked, or elevated it, the compression was the only thing that worked.
But bottom line is, the treatment is the same... Just the compression sleeves for arms, and stockings for legs... And Jackie, yes, I never paid attention to maybe some were stretched out.... I wash them by hand, but still, maybe they did stretch....
They DO make different degrees of compression.... But the one I have on now, is still holding things in place... My foot looked like it just went into my leg... no ankle... just a swollen blob of puff! But I couldn't believe how putting on that one stocking just squeezed it all back into place! I'm afraid to take it off now!
Someone said they can't get them on? I KNOW!!! But I bought a "Donner".... that is the only way I can do them myself!
This is like the one I have... And once you get the hang of it,
.... It is very easy! I think there even instructions on YouTube.Sometimes we just gotta figure out things for ourselves.... Doctors only know so much... that's why they send us to specialists.... I guess.
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Oh my goodness, Sandra, that photo scares me. I hope I don't develop that. When we made the long flight to Australia in 2014, dh and I bought compression socks online. And during the flight, I was up and down to the toilet and exercised my ankles and feet. Still I got some swelling in the ankles. But on the return flight, when we (four of us) reached Los Angeles, we elected to walk quite a long distance to a connecting airline in the airport instead of catching a ride. The walking must have helped because I didn't get the swelling. But wearing those compression socks was tiring! It felt so good to strip them off! I haven't worn them since but dh wears them when playing golf in the cold weather. He has more problems at this point with ankle and foot swelling than I do.
It's so humorous to have my tiny little toenails complimented! My first pedicure was 7 or 8 years ago when dh gave me a gift certificate to a salon for Christmas. This was a pricey place. I go to the economy salons that are staffed by Vietnamese employees. But Rita's toe fungus story has me concerned. I always apologize for my teensy toenails and joke that the salon worker needs a magnifying glass. When I do attempt to paint my own toe nails, I paint the whole end of the toe. I inherited my skinny feet from my dad. My mother has short wide feet. Needless to say, in this world of medium width shoes, I had a lot of trouble finding shoes that were narrow enough back in the days when I wore panty hose.
I pick a pretty coral color polish because it's bright and cheerful. For my fingernails, I go with a natural polish. It never lasts long but the polish on the toe nails lasts a couple of months before getting chipped. It's fun to have colorful toe nails and we have to grab fun wherever we can find it.
No complaints but here I sit while dh is off at the gym. The breast surgery in 2009 was much more of a challenge and I got through that.
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Oh? So now you not only have cute little toes and nails, you also have SKINNY feet? While the rest of us have goose feet? Hah? I mean I have wide feet! Short toes, but they hold me up.... more or sometimes less...
AND, if that's not bad enough, I have a hammer-toe on my left foot! ALONG with everything else that is going on down there!
I was going to post a picture of what THAT looks like, but never mind..... Now I'll go sulk.... and ponder all of my um..... foibles....
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That's OK, Chevy. You and I can have ugly feet together! :-) Can you believe that I was told to put Vick's Vapor Rub on my toe fungus and on all the skin around it? I have been doing that faithfully twice a day but haven't seen much change in it. Today I went to the vein specialist for a consultation on my vericose veins. My left leg is much worse than my right. The main valve on the vein is not working properly and I got to see that in the ultrasound. I know that I'll feel so much better if I just go ahead and have the surgery, but the laser procedure sounds pretty ugly. I have to make my decision and then get right back in for a measuring session so that it can be submitted to insurance. Then I am suppose to wait 12 weeks and try the stockings during that time before insurance will cover the procedure. I can understand where they try to go the less invasive route first but I did try the stockings several year ago and they didn't do too much for me. Anyway, the actual procedure wouldn't happen until September. Decisions.....anyone had the laser procedure where they thread the wire and laser up the outer vein in the leg?
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I just know years ago, my Aunt had terrible veins.... She finally had surgery, but they came back....! I don't know much about that.... I don't have any veins showing, or problems, or even pain in my legs.... just the one ankle/foot/leg swell up beyond recognition.... Ha!
But when I broke my hip/femur over a year ago, and they had all that "stuff" in there.... The titanium utensils, screws, etc, and the drains and needles that were attached, it's no wonder that my leg didn't fall off.... Ha! I finally just quit telling them to please not use that side for the blood-pressure, IV's and what-ever else I don't remember..... But that's when I started really having a LOT of trouble.... Same side as my BC.... but it was only a Lumpectomy....
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DH and I signed a contract for installation of solar panels on our roof. He was more in favor of it than I was but I went along since the out-of-pocket expense is greatly reduced by a state rebate and federal tax writeoffs. When you're our age and it takes 4 or 5 years to start seeing any benefit, you have to wonder whether it's a good gamble. I always figure money in my pocket is best left there! DH used to tell people that my version of banking was deposits only.
Otherwise, not much happening around here. That's a good thing. I'm icing my foot and putting in time in my reclining chair.
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Face your deficiencies and acknowledge them; but do not let them master you. Let them teach you patience, sweetness, insight. When we do the best we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another. -Helen Keller
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Carole - I like the "deposits only" mentality. My ex-DH believed if there was any money left at the end of the month, WHEE it was "free" and he could spend it. I believed it was a miracle that we could save for a new fridge or maybe carpet or a new roof. Needless to say it made for in-harmonius month end discussions until I learned to keep $1000 in the bank that was not listed in the check register. Of course there was no such thing as banking on line so it worked like a charm.
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Minus, I had a tricky thing with the check book register that made it look like we had less money than what was actually in the bank. Worked pretty well, but now there's online.
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