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MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN 40-60ish

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Comments

  • Dianarose
    Dianarose Member Posts: 1,951

    A phone call rained on my parade yesterday. Got the call that the scan showed my kidney was backed up and dilated even though I had no symptoms and to connect the bag. I was so upset and depressed I didn't want to be around anyone. This so sucks. Then to add some salt to my wound the bag came disconnected at 3 am and I woke up soaked.

    El- I am going to have to get a clear purse so I match

  • nativemainer
    nativemainer Member Posts: 7,907

    {{{Diana}}}


  • loral
    loral Member Posts: 818

    Image result for bummer face

  • elimar
    elimar Member Posts: 5,885

    Aaaawww, Dianarose, sorry that freedom from the bag was so short-lived. Hope they have some good news for you tomorrow regarding your TM number. That is an awesome idea to put out your own cookbook.

    mac, Feeling any better?

  • Lita57
    Lita57 Member Posts: 2,338

    Diana...😥😣😝.

  • Chemokaze
    Chemokaze Member Posts: 177

    I like this thread...you just have to laugh...

    Hug Send your good vibes to me tomorrow. I finished radiation 2 weeks ago and getting new bone scan and CT scans of chest/jelly belly/pelvis.

    Take care and cheers to all of you...

  • elimar
    elimar Member Posts: 5,885

    Hello and welcome, Chemokaze! Besides wishing you luck on your scans tomorrow, I have one question to ask: You are a second-timer, so how is it you did not realize you had a lump of pure evil lurking in your right breast until it got to the 6cm size? Was it deep on the chest wall? Did you skip a mammogram or two along the way? I am just curious that it was not "caught" sooner, not trying to be judge-y, I just have an inquiring mind (ask anyone!)

  • Dianarose
    Dianarose Member Posts: 1,951

    Well had a long visit with MO today. No more Taxol. It has helped stabilize my mets but still have the same amount of cancer. Bone scan picked up mets in bones in my chest, multiple spots on spine and two on my skull. She is trying to get me in a clinical trial that has Ibrance along with a new drug. Taking a two week break then onwards to a new treatment plan. On a positive note which ever plan we decide on my hair will grow back 👍. I have been so cold without it. I am trying to stay positive and if this new plan doesn't work she said we have options. Drove home in a dam blizzard.

    Natvive Mainer- stay safe and warm

  • eph3_12
    eph3_12 Member Posts: 2,704

    {{{{{{Dianarose}}}}}}}

    Chemokaze, love your name! Hope your scans come out on the right side of good!

  • nativemainer
    nativemainer Member Posts: 7,907

    Diana, hope you don't have to go back out in this mess, it's pretty wild! It's all very light snow up this way, not getting the heavy wet stuff you are. Hope you don't lose power.

  • macatacmv
    macatacmv Member Posts: 1,200

    oh d-rose, sorry about that bag. It sucks big time!!!! That's the attitude: clear purse to match! Watch next you'll come out with a line of accessories to go along with treatment issues.

    chemokaze, love the name too and the scan of your jelly belly. let us know, ok?

    We gotta keep our sense of humor, sometimes it feels like it's all we got!

  • Dianarose
    Dianarose Member Posts: 1,951

    Got the call today that my tumor marker went up 34 points so I guess Taxol stopped working and the timing to try something else was good. Won't deny that with all the news of new mets and then this I am scared 😢.

  • nativemainer
    nativemainer Member Posts: 7,907

    Diana--praying for you.


  • Dianarose
    Dianarose Member Posts: 1,951

    native Maine- hope you have a generator and a good bottle of wine. Down my way saying two feet plus Sunday into Monday.

  • elimar
    elimar Member Posts: 5,885

    People, it's Winter. It's going to snow. Then, it's Spring, so rain. Then Summer, some heatwaves. Then Fall, somebody gets a hurricane. Rinse, repeat. Consider this my annual plea to find something other than weather to chat about on this thread. Other threads are just chock full of weather (and they are welcome to it!) but I consider it a real taint.

    You all know BC and cancer get priority here, but in our downtime almost every other subject can come into play. I'm going to check back soon and I hope to see some lively Mid-Age discussion going on.

    I am sorry I am so boring right now, but this whole year I am trying to stay out of doctor's offices. Unfortunately, I'm making it my "dental year" and I'm getting an implant tooth next week. Always fun to take the ol' Versed nap and wake up with a bloody pulp of a mouth, but I am looking forward to making some headway. It is very hard for me to move forward with dental work because I am constrained every single year by the cap on my dental benefits. Mine can only cover about one crown a year. That is pretty slow going, and if I ever get any crown breakage then I have to stay on the plateau until the following year.

    Yeah, we never had much dental talk on here, but that type of maintenance can hit hard in the Mid-Age years. I always thought I had the crappiest teeth imaginable (still think it, actually) but in the past decade all my friends IRL have been peppering their talks with "my crown," "my bridge," "my root canal," and lately "yeah, I got an implant too." I had bad teeth at a young age, but I don't feel like such an aberration anymore.

    Plus, when you add BC to the mix, and you have to do chemo, it can mean a whole dental hiatus during that time. If you are dentally challenged to begin with, it is so easy to fall behind when BC takes the priority. A lot of things fall behind (fall apart!) when BC looms up in our faces!

  • elimar
    elimar Member Posts: 5,885

    And for those of you that only skim the posts:

    NO WEATHER TALK --- PLEASE!

    image



  • minustwo
    minustwo Member Posts: 13,306

    Hmmm - you're right Eli, I don't recall any dental talk. I'm on Prolia (thank you chemo), so I sure hope I don't have to have an extraction or another implant for the next few years. ONJ is scary.

    I'm trying to limit my "health releases" to my grown son since he is clearly not interested in "all that s$$t". He has reminded me that when I was his age I complained about how my MIL never talked about anything except health issues, and her friend's health issues, and her cousin's health issues. Who were these people and WTH was so interesting about their ailments? I DO understand and now I'm getting paid back in spades.

    I walked to a garage sale around the corner today. This is the 2nd garage sale the grown daughters have had since their Mother died a month ago. Whew. Makes me even more determined to purge some of this stuff in my house. I really believe that papers mate in the drawers at night. Sort of like coffee cups in the cupboards. And what about those darn pens?

    OK Eli, new topics? More? I could tell you what I'm reading or cooking, but those are other threads. I know we are all aging, and I do appreciate you putting up with me since I've technically aged out of this thread.

    DianaRose - you are in my thoughts.

  • Dianarose
    Dianarose Member Posts: 1,951

    sometimes talking about the weather or anything that is not cancer related isn't a bad thing but I won't mention it in conversation agai

  • macatacmv
    macatacmv Member Posts: 1,200

    d-rose, do you get a short break between the old and new treatment? I'm sorry you are feeling scared. I don't blame you one bit! I'm praying the new will be the tumor buster! Let's see, how's the cookbook coming?

    I'm hanging out on my sunporch while my grown DS has a friend over for some beers. He has come down for the weekend to help his ol' mom out. He took me out to run errands and do some grocery shopping. Then he took the dog for their favorite walk. Anyway, it is fun to listen to them talk and laugh like they used to in high school. They are in the living room, it's kinda like when I used to drive them around and get to listen to them talk in the back seat. I sure miss having kids around. His friend is a husband, father and police officer now, but they are chatting and laughing about all sorts of stuff. I don't miss doing his laundry and all the cooking, though, they were always hungry.

    Did anyone else take the survey on the welcome page for BC.org? I did and then it sent me to some monkey survey site. I hope I'm not going to regret giving out my email address.


  • elimar
    elimar Member Posts: 5,885

    MinusTwo, I want so badly to get motivated to de-clutter, but I have real trouble knowing where to begin. I can throw out stuff, but it's the momentos that are so hard to part with. I will really dread, yet welcome, when it is time to make the retirement move. That will really force the issue. I know there used to be/still is a whole thread just on the topic of decluttering, made by Suzwes.

  • VelvetPoppy
    VelvetPoppy Member Posts: 644

    I am so glad to find a group like this. I am on the 60ish end of the spectrum. I am a year out of my surgery and 9 months out of radiation. I have been taking letrozole for 7 months. I was working when I was diagnosed and had to take 14 weeks off for surgery, treatment and recovery. I went back to work a week after finishing radiation, but I was so tired and sore I could barely function. I ended up taking retirement 14 weeks after going back to work. I have been retired for 3 months and still have episodes of exhaustion where I have to lay down for at least an hour and breast pain everyday!

  • elimar
    elimar Member Posts: 5,885

    Welcome, VelvetPoppy! Radiation can make you feel tired during and shortly after treatment, but with you this far out I am thinking that the tiredness you describe might be one of the side effects from letrozole. Check out some of the letrozole/Femara threads on BCO. I bet you will find quite a few others with the same complaint. As for the pain, it should get better over time; but I still get a random nerve zinger on my treatment side every now and then and I am 7 years out. Sounds typical after what you have been thru', but do run all that stuff by the doc. Hope you can get to the point where you enjoy the retirement.

  • minustwo
    minustwo Member Posts: 13,306

    Eli - yes the de-cluttering thread is sputtering along. I finished tossing 40 years of business cards & moved along to the kitchen "junk" drawer and now I have the counter tops covered with tons of of little things (like a few polished rocks from Colorado in 1978). So I moved to my desk drawers, and now have the desk top covered too. And all of this started just because the address book by my land line old style kitchen wall phone has overflowed & is no longer legible. I bought a new book two years ago, and finally settled down to transfer addresses. Whew.


  • minustwo
    minustwo Member Posts: 13,306

    Mac - yes, isn't it fun to listen to our sons rehash the world - past, present & future.

  • stellamaris
    stellamaris Member Posts: 313

    velvet, I am 66 (67 in May), and still working. I am 9 months out from mx and DIEP. I started letrozole 12/15/2015, and I am so tired all the time. It is all I can do to drag myself through the day. I still work cause I had to start over with nothing at age 52 due to a very bad choice in relationship. I figure if I can make it to 68, I will retire with a decent pension. Not sure I am going to make it, but giving it my best shot. The fatigue is awful. I feel like I could sleep all day, every at. Hugs

  • Redcoke6
    Redcoke6 Member Posts: 3

    hello, I'm 66 and 12 years out. Where should I post a question about tumor marker

  • moderators
    moderators Posts: 8,560

    Hi Redcoke6-

    You might try our Waiting for Results forum: https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/62

    The Mods

  • elimar
    elimar Member Posts: 5,885

    Redcoke6, Have you checked out this BCO page...it may answer your question:

    http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/testing/types/blood_marker

    But what is the question? Perhaps we can answer you here.

    (Must be a slow night at the Moderation Station.)

  • Dianarose
    Dianarose Member Posts: 1,951

    Stellamaris-when I took Letrozole I took it a bedtime and it seemed to help.

  • eph3_12
    eph3_12 Member Posts: 2,704

    I agree with taking Letrozole at bedtime. When I took it in the AM by noon I was racing home from work to nap for 25 minutes and then race back. Tired all the time. Night time helped!