Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?
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Happy Birthday Elizabeth......I hope it was fantastic as all get out.
I wish you many, many more, always satisfying surrounded by those you love.
Blessings,
Jackie
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Yes, Happy Birthday Elizabeth. From my point of view you're a young thing. After 65 you can celebrate for a week. Then each year after celebrate however long you can manage.
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Happy birthday, Elizabeth! My big six-six is a little over a month away…and will enable me to collect full Soc. Sec. benefits if I don’t wait till 70. The difference between claiming at 66 and at 70 is roughly $400/mo. I know that by not waiting I am potentially leaving $24K on the table…but to make up the difference by waiting, it’d take five years, i.e., when I’m 75. That doesn’t sound too long, but that’d be 11 years out from my lumpectomy…and though I had a low Oncotype, there’s no guarantee against a new primary tumor, mets, or (with my family history) a heart attack or stroke. And that’s assuming Social Security as we know it hasn’t been butchered or even repealed by then.
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She's BAAaaaaaaaaaaaaK! Hey little Ducky! Good to see you! I don't post very often, in fact, hardly ever, but this is still one of the best threads there is!
We're all just getting ready for the big freeze here.... We go out fooling around most of the time, but stay in if the streets are bad! I'll be back later.... Hey, how are your Grandkids? How is little Grayson? Or is it Greyson? Or is it either one of those.... You KNOW who I mean...xoxo
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Good morning everyone! The cold is here too, was 9 degrees when I got up, now it says 23, supposed to snow tonight, then, as usual, turning to ice, then rain. Yuk! I just turned 74 at Thanksgiving and you "young" one won't believe how fast you will catch up to us older gals!
Got the last of my gift cards sent. All the packages I sent arrived OK, for the grands, who still prefer a present to money! Finally got the tree decorated. I keep asking why I decorate, since so many of our friends have moved or gone south and my kids all live far away! When I was young we visited our grandparents, now it seems it's the opposite. We quit driving, as DH and his sleep apnea make driving risky.
Still dealing with what I hope are allergies, I got tested, most is dustmites, also kitty, but we haven't had one for 2 years now! Go see the lung dr. Monday, had a chest xray, cuz of my cough, praying it's negative.
Hope you all are keeping warm , and not shoveling too much snow.
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Oh my goodnes - first Ducky and now Chevy too!!!! What a treat.
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A mind at peace, a mind centered and not focused on harming others,
is stronger than any physical force in the universe.
- Wayne Dyer0 -
Hope you gals pals decide to stick around. Hope Ducky got us back in her favorites. It has happened seldom for me, but I have had once or twice a strange quirk of a favorite getting lost out of my list. I likely got too anxious to get done and move on and hit a wrong button. We get so used to what we do, I don't know if we always recognize the "oops" when it happens. Sometimes I catch it --- but maybe it is much later when it dawns on us that there is an un-expected change.
I notice it right away because I am pretty standard about the number of forums I use and go too, but it does take time sometimes.
A bit windy ( that will make it feel worse ) and cold here. Not sure of the actual temp -- just a whole lot more colder than I like. Not sure if there is enough moisture in the atmosphere above us to snow, but probably. I'd rather it didn't but who knows. I don't pay that much attention to the weather man anymore. They are wrong so often. If I want to know what it is REALLY doing, I look outside.
Anyway, glad you Chevy are showing up again --- you know you and others are the heat index for this place. You cause the sparks and excitement. You notice I didn't say chaos --- never that. So hope you keep on coming.
See you all later.
Jackie
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See, the reason I love Ducky, is because she is the only one in the world older than I am! And she is the rowdiest! She used to have this "thing" for Pilots, as soon as she got over her fear of flying! Now she tries to catch a plan to go to Walmart!
I think you, Jackie and Ducky were here when I started.... 2009??? I'm over 7 years now NED! But we still hang around with friends, right?
It is so cold here! It was about 41 when I got up, and now it is 20! Supposed to get a VERY cold front coming in tonight... They said they are spreading that salt mixture on the highways, to prevent such an icy buildup! We will let the faucets drip in the kitchen and bathroom, to keep the pipes from freezing.... They usually don't unless it gets around 10 below..... I remember THOSE Winters! A person tends to get cranky when it stays cold for too long!
Bonnets.... I used to have so much trouble with allergies! I finally gave up, and just got desensitized ... Shots twice a week, then once a week, then monthly, and this went on for a long time... But then for like the last 20 years, no allergies! At least not "inhalants".... Yeah, they told me that too... no cats, dogs or carpeting.... Well I don't have that now, but I did at the time.
We are staying in today.... probably tomorrow, and maybe even Sunday! So stay warm girls!
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Bonnets, Cat dander is sticky, so 2 years might not have removed it all. When DIL visits we wash the walls and carpets to get as much dander as possible out of the house.
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Dear Ducky.....you gave me my giggle for the day. My body says it feels older but then again some of that may be the Tamoxifen. Who knows....no one.
For all of you stuck in the midwest mayhem I am so sorry. Being a Hoosier & living in Fort Wayne until I was almost 50 y/o I know what you are going through. If my house was bigger & you could get out, I would tell you to come on down. It was 71 here today but we are also going to have a drop in temps in a day or two but nothing like you are dealing with. This is one of the few times I like Texas other than your cars don't rust out & there is no state income tax. 20 yrs here hasn't changed my feeling at all.
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Wow !!! Just got home from a trip to Wally World --- all the way the opposite side of town. That is after we drive the two miles on back roads to get to town. Going was fine, but coming home --- so rain had fallen and turned to ice. Oh, not fun at all. First it was a slow walk thru the parking lot to the car. Then 15 or so miles per hr. all the way thru town. Able to get up to 22 mph's for a short while, but then we left town and it became quite difficult again.
Got inside and Dh got the salt container to salt down our deck and the stairs and long wooden walkway out to the parking area. My car ( new to me ) did fine but wow --- I was not liking it at all. I do know Dh would have driven faster than I did, but that is the biggest reason I didn't let him take the wheel. I am not as flamboyant as he, and others around us were driving just as slow as we were --- so that says something to me. I hope the city gets their salt trucks out soon. I feel for people who sort of got caught out like we did.
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Three years ago, after two weeks of unrelenting snow & deep freeze in January, we got a couple of 40F+ days, with rain on the second day. I was scheduled to play a concert in Madison, WI with my singing partner. I decided to give myself plenty of time to get there. First omen was when my Fusion Hybrid (hadn’t bought the Outback yet) got stuck in the melting ice partway out of my garage and needed a push to get to get on my way. Second omen was traffic crawling along Peterson Ave. en route to I-90. Third omen was the WBBM traffic report, warning of flash flooding in McHenry, Boone and Winnebago Counties….all of which I had to pass through before the state line. Made it on to the tollway, only to find a single lane open due to construction, moving at a snail’s pace. Continually updated my partner about my progress. At about 1/3 of the way there, just s. of Huntley, my phone rang. It was my partner.
“Turn around and go home,” he said. “The Beltline is a solid sheet of ice and there are trucks jackknifed all over the place. I’m here at the venue already, so I’ll go ahead and do the show solo.” (Turns out he and the sound guy were the only ones who showed up). Only then did I realize how urgently Nature was calling, and that the trip home would be torture unless I answered it. “I know,” I thought, “there’s the Huntley exit and I can go to the bathroom at the Outlet Mall.” It was about 6 pm when I entered the outdoor mall’s parking lot, which was strangely nearly empty. Approaching the mall itself, I saw the reason why: the entire place was swathed with yellow “CAUTION” tape, with sandwich-signs reading “DANGER—FALLING ICE.” I took tiny little mincing steps (wearing UGGS and using my cane) and entered the Ann Taylor outlet. I apologized, “There’s nothing here that could possibly fit me, so I can’t buy anything; but would it be possible to use your restroom?” They nodded, I did my business, and headed out the door on to the sidewalk, which was strewn with rock salt. Then on to the asphalt of the parking lot…and no more than 6 ft. from my car, I felt my foot start to skid. I was able to straighten up and try again. Same result. From that spot to my car was a solid sheet of ice, and the ice was beginning to spread toward the sidewalk.
I screamed for help, for someone to walk me to my car, and for five minutes I had no luck. Finally, a woman across the lot yelled that she was going for help. Soon, along came an EMS ambulance, followed by a police car. I explained that I’d had knee replacement surgery only a few months earlier and was terrified of falling. One policeman took my right arm and the other the left, and made sure I got safely into my car. Then the EMT insisted on taking my vitals. I assured him I was fine, hadn’t fallen and was not going to have a heart attack. He asked where I was going, and I explained I had to turn around from a trip to Madison and was heading home to Chicago. “We’ll follow you out of the parking lot and to the tollway—that way you won’t be able to change your mind, and if anything happens, we’ll be right there.”
So I made it on to the eastbound lanes, doing only 40 mph. SUVs kept passing me, honking and flipping me off. The blind spot monitoring system was disabled because of all the slop. It was so icy that I could have sworn the snowplows & salt trucks I saw were really Zambonis. I phoned home. Gordy answered that there was no way I’d be able to get through the alley to the garage. So I vowed to find the closest hotel to the Chicago city limits that appeared to have a clear parking lot. Ended up at the Holiday Inn O’Hare. Got some very strange looks checking in with just my purse and a guitar. I had no emergency overnight bag, so I had to ask for a toothbrush & deodorant. I’d have bought a T-shirt in the gift shop to sleep in, but I wasn’t about to pay thirty bucks for a souvenir T-shirt I’d never wear in public. Used my iPad Mini to go online, went to sleep, and in the morning for breakfast nuked the leftovers from my Bar Louie dinner the night before. Made it safely home.
First thing I did was to grab a gym bag and pack a change of underwear, nightgown, tee, granola bars, water, tooth stuff, deodorant and at least one day’s worth of meds. Never leave home—at least in my car—without it.
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Sure miss Lew on days like today, not enough snow for the paid service to come clear it, but enough that it needed to be shoveled, and too sticky to be able to use my leaf blower. So in -7 with -21 windchill I spent 45" clearing the driveway and sidewalk this morning at 7:30. Tonight it's supposed to drop to -24 with a -40 to -50 windchill.
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I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning.
J.B. Priestley 0 -
Oh my gosh I feel for you ladies in the cold and snow. I live in Southern Calif, so we get rain and some snow flurries in the higher elevation. I can't imagine driving in those conditions, you are strong ladies for sure.
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Not going to be nice our here later. More freezing rain with maybe a bit of snow on top later. This is not how I actually wanted our winter Christmas weather to start all at. Unfortunately, like Puffin and everyone else, no one asked me my preference. Well, good chance I wouldn't have gotten it anyway. Otherwise -- I don't have much to do out today so it should be okay. We will do what we have too this morning and stay in the rest of the time. I have some mail ( Christmas cards ) to get out and a purchase ( of course I forgot something at Walmart ) to make at the store. Ladies --- I'm in complete denial that I can remember everything without writing it all down --- like I used to be able too. SIGH !!!! I've tried so hard to achieve this feat --- but it is time for me to get real and keep a pencil and notepad at the ready. Another big SIGH !!!!
I hope all of you have a safe but productive day. Hope you don't have to spend too much time out of doors Puffin --- at least not cleaning icy/snowy areas that aren't enough for you service. Stay safe.
Hey Ducky -- we are waiting for you.
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Jackie - I've always been a list maker - but you're right, remembering every little thing gets more challenging. I have pads of small sticky notes everywhere - night table, kitchen, in the car - so I can jot notes & put them on the back door or on the dashboard of my car or on my computer monitor.
79 degrees this morning. Supposed to be 34 tonight!!
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Thanks for the birthday wishes... I have also finished Chemo and I'm in the process to start Rads.
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Good to hear you have finished chemo Liz. That is usually what tends to give the most issues. Rads in general are easy and depending on how long you do them rather boring. It takes longer to get ready ( table positioning etc. ) than to actually have the rads. Also, once a day for five days -- week-end off then back at it again. I did have extreme fatigue a couple of times which I solved by taking a walk once in awhile. Otherwise -- it was a ho-hum time for me. I had my done by the V.A. who contracted with an in-hospital facility especially for cancer pts. needing rads. As well, they also put me up in a motel for each of the 7 weeks I did my rads as it otherwise would have been a 150 mile round trip for me so that actually added to a lot of my boredom. Wishing you well for your rads.
Jackie
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Puffin, Shoveling snow in those temps is just plain grim.
Sandy, Glad your home again. That was the trip from hell for sure.
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I thought I was such a smarty, getting out in all that snow, to help DH with the shoveling! I wanted to shovel a path to the squirrel-feeder on our fence...So I was almost THERE, and I tripped on something, lost my shoe and fell up against the fence and down on my knee! But I got turned around, like 1/2 laying down, and I could NOT get up! I was yelling for DH, but HE couldn't hear...finally he looked out, and saw me floundering out there like some frozen fish!
He helped pull me up, so I was kind of sitting, and I moved over, kind of on my knees, and pulled myself up by holding on to the shovel and a plastic box. Man I was FROZE! That movie FROZEN was about ME! I only hurt my knee... was covered with snow... like the 12 to 16 inches we got, and he tried to sweep some of it off, and me laughing all the time! My hands were numb! My pants are still wet.... but I don't care.... Man, I lucked out on THAT one! So much snow, it would be hard to break anything!
It's still only 2 degrees out, but the sun is shining.....!!!
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How many times I gotta tell you Chevy. Golly, isn't there some little neighborhood guy who might like to make a couple bucks by doing a bit of shoveling. Well, I think maybe there was actually enough snow to help you with your landing but my oh my --- you got to take better care of yourself so you can take care of the sir you lives with you. I'm glad he finally saw you -- out there turning into an ice crystal sparkling in the sun.
You know --- I usually have to crawl over to something --- no matter how I end up on the ground or floor and use it to help hoist myself up. It is partly age and partly that stroke yrs. ago. In some instances I can get up but it is not at all a great sight -- so I'm resigned to just being a bit of a spectacle which I hope is soon forgotten by all. I'm sure glad you only ended up with a sore knee, some wet clothing and very cold hands. From now on -- please for me ( and you and dh too ) stay upright when you are supposed to be, okay.
Jackie
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Bob just left for our friends' party—no way am I going to risk it. Earlier today en route to church he stopped off at CVS & picked up a script he wrote me for Baclofen, which isn't as sedating as Flexeril, doesn't produce any kind of high (because it's not a benzodiazepine) and might work better for me. I had a setback this morning, just sitting on the same “comfort height" (yeah, right) toilet in our upstairs bathroom. Turned my head to reach for the T.P., and…uh-oh. Pain and stiffness is back to, if not “square one," where it was the first couple of days after the first awful spasm. Because I've been unable to do the prescribed exercises (can't get down on to or up from the floor, the beds & sofas are too soft, and the leather storage bench is too short), my glutes have weakened and are spontaneously “mini-spasming." I have become resigned to the fact that I may always have back pain—after a certain age, when something goes haywire you can't completely fix it. Bob says it's ok to take a couple of Aleve so long as I don't make a habit of NSAIDs, and to start the Baclofen tonight—he gave me 2 wks worth, enough to get me to Jan. 1. If I still need it after that, my problem is probably worse than just a muscle spasm. Until today, standing and walking (after the first 20 or so steps) felt better—now, walking aggravates the pain, unless I am pressing hard on that glute or the piriformis (on my upper R butt). And the pain is sharper too, like one of those traveling gas bubbles. Not canceling our trip to NY/DC—I can always use the Rollator & cane, and would be much more miserable sitting at home during Christmas (not to mention being unable to see my sister & niece). No wheelchairs in the airports, as all that sitting is much worse than walking.
Will see what my LE doc/physiatrist (rehab-medicine doc) says Mon. about the back pain—I have a feeling he'll send me to either the PT or ortho clinic.
Heidi is doing better after her surgery—peeing like crazy (unfortunately, partly on Gordy’s bed), nibbling her kibble a bit (we had to elevate her food & water dish so she could get her face close enough w/o that conical E-collar getting in the way). She isn’t crying, panting, “pain-purring” or whomping her tail, so she’s probably not in much pain. (Could be the few drops of loopy-juice, aka buprenorphine, Gordy has to give her twice a day). The big chore is going to be keeping her incision closed, so she has to be supervised at all times. Gordy is so dedicated to her, as he was to his late feline BFFs Misha and Matthew before her. We’d thought our housekeeper Carrie might pitch in (as did she) but her adult son down in Birmingham has been getting panic attacks that are worsening to the point he’s had to leave work early and even miss days. Cardiologists at UAB Med. Ctr. (one of the best in the nation) ran the full battery of heart tests and haven’t found anything wrong, and the Paxil the shrink has given him doesn’t seem to be working either. His wife is an LPN and she’s stumped too. He pleaded with Carrie to come down (she was just down there for a week at Thanksgiving), so how could I say no?
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Hope you get relief soon Sandy. I'd opt for going on the trip too.
Jackie
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Hi Gals,
I just wanted to take a minute to tell you all Merry Christmas before I fly out to TN to spend a week with my son and his family. With all the Christmas activities that will be going on, I am not even going to take my computer this year. It's one less thing to worry about on the flight.
I have been reading your posts but just haven't taken the time to participate. My family was home for this Thanksgiving so I did all the cooking and then I totaled my convertible when a lady decided to turn right in front of me at an intersection when I had the green light. I slammed on my brakes and somehow I missed her but just as I took a deep breath of relief, I was struck from behind. The insurance company decided to total the car so I had 10 days left on my rental car in which to buy a new car without having to pay for the rental. What a fiasco! Naturally I couldn't find another convertible except for the Mustang that had a trunk big enough to carry my golf clubs and the Mustang had no leg room at all in the back seat so no more convertible for me. I'm sure I will miss it in the summer as I drove with the top down most of the time. At least I was not hurt. If I would have hit the lady who turned in front of me, I would have been sandwiched between the two vehicles and I probably would have been injured.
Anyway, Merry Christmas to all of you! May 2017 bring you health and happiness!
Rita
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Sandy, We use buprenorphine at the shelter and it really does help the pain. We fostered a cat who managed to reach her incision with the cone on. Eventually she ended up with a large cone which solved the problem. One of our volunteers discovered that the small paper plates fit right into some cat bowls to make elevated dining. She uses it on old or arthritic cats as well, just to make them more comfortable.
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Wren, thanks for the idea! Thus far, Heidi hasn’t figured out how to “game” the cone. She’s peeing okay (and it’s getting paler) and is mellow enough for us to pet her. Happy, of course has gotten even clingier and lovier now—so much so that I’ve put lint rollers in every room.
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Morning girls.... It's always fun reading what you talk about Sandy! Boy, you do a lot more than WE do! Is it because we are older that we really don't go traveling as much as we used to? And we don't drive all the way across town to go shopping in some snazzy shopping center? Or maybe we really don't NEED anything.... Ha!
Jackie, there aren't any kids around here! Just little Ivy & Ellie next door! We are the oldest ones in the whole neighborhood! All these new "kids" are in their 30's buying all these expensive newer homes, that were built off of scraped land. So we can't put the 5 & 7 year old girls to work.... Hah! The younger guys in the neighborhood, DO help with the front walk.... And we watch their homes, feed the cat, take in mail, when THEY are gone!
And the snow on the walks is pretty easy to handle, because it USUALLY isn't that big of a deal.... but we shovel paths like out to the squirrel feeder, and in back of our gate, and places that could easily melt, if we let it... like about June! But we don't mind shoveling a little at a time....
I SHOULD have had my boots on.... Not my slippers... I know, I know.... I can hear you all now.... Hah! But the squirrels came right over, when the temp got up to 7 degrees, and the sun was shining.
I must have done a 12 point landing in that snow! Nothing hurts today! Like Tim Conway rolling down those steps! I fell forward, on my knee, my hands, my other knee, then my head on the fence, and plopped on my butt! So I was 1/2 laying back against the fence like "up-hill"... I think if I wasn't getting so frost-bitten, I could have maneuvered myself up alone.... but just that extra hand, to pull me up to sitting position, so I could turn over on both knees, then hang onto "stuff" to get up, really helped. The whole thing just made me laugh! Probably because I was so thankful I didn't really hurt something!
Rita! I saw you driving your convertible!
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So here's a better idea of what I was doing.... there in the snow....
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