thread for middle age to older Christian women.
Comments
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I love all these posts - and you ladies!
One comment to what Gardengal said about BC. I agree, it's a big challenge but I'm so thankful for all the advances from years ago. Twenty years ago, my secretary (at that time 31 years old with two girls under 5 years old) had BC and I remember her telling us about chemo and the SE. She said the first day after chemo, she was so nauseous, all she could do was lay flat in bed. One time her husband came to sit on the bed to talk to her and just that much movement was enough to get her throwing up violently. She's doing just fine now - yay - but I keep remembering that when we have problems with joint pain, not being able to sleep from the steroids, etc. It could be worse - so thanks to all the folks who have walked, run and raced for the cure.
Well, off to Bible study this morning. I'll probably have some stuff that I can't resist sharing later on. Thanks so much for the prayers and caring - Lord willing, the blood counts and doctor visit today will go wonderfully!0 -
Wow, everyone has so much going on. This thread has grown so much since I came a few weeks ago...isn't it wonderful! I woke up at 4:30a.m and decided it would be a good time to pray for you all, so that's what I did. Afterwards, I was able to go back to sleep for two more hours.
I am with you Char; I am absolutely amazed at what everyone is coping with, as if every day life isn't challenging enough, sometimes. We are all so lucky to have the treatment options we have, the technology to deliver them and the knowledge of the medical staff on our sides.
God is so good!
Blessings and hugs to you all! I think about you all every day and feel so blessed to be here.0 -
Thinking of and praying for you for, SaltyJack and KateW, that your treatment will go well tomorrow. Cynthia, hope rads are going smoothly....lots of ointment and lots of water!!
Praying for strength, peace and abundant faith for us all!!0 -
Beautiful JO-5! Thanks for sharing again.
Blessings~0 -
My husband had chemo 27 years ago and he hurled and hurled for days while getting it. All they could do then was give him meds that made him forget most of it. I'm so glad they've at least found better ways to deal with it. He's feeling a bit better today with his crud, so I'm hoping he will be better tomorrow. If not, I have a good friend that will go with me. God must be giving me a spirit of peace because I'm not nervous at all. Very unusual for me.
I've heard about the onion. Someone said you're supposed to put it at the bottom of the bed under the covers by your feet. I don't think I'll go that far, but the dresser, maybe. Hey it can't hurt. I have to scrub myself silly tonight and tomorrow morning with some special soap. I have sensitive skin so I'm praying I don't get itchy and/or splotchy. I'm washing my linens now and will have to keep the bedroom doors shut so the cat and dog can't get in. The cat won't be pleased. He doesn't like his routine upset. :-)
Blessings0 -
Dear Jo-5!! Thank you so much for this beautiful song!! I am on my way to the onc, routine check-up ! I felt peace reading it!! How are you feeling???0 -
Dear Min1, I am lifting you up in prayer right now, that all goes well with your reconstruction!!! May Our Lord place His healing Hands on your husband as well !! Blessings, Kathy0 -
Hi everyone,
I am like you Fridaygirl, this board has grown in such a way that I can't keep up as I would like. I'm so thankful for the freedom we have to come online and share what a wonderful glorious God we serve. I know so many of our brothers and sisters around the world can't experience such freedom.
Right now I am working toward activating my real estate license and getting our house ready to put on the market. We hope to be able to move closer to our church. We are in the south so there are churches on every corner but sadly it is difficult to find one that teaches scripture in it's context. It took me almost 50 years to see this but I am so thankful God showed me just before my diagnosis. It made a huge difference for me to understand that God is in complete control and though I have a responsibility to be obedient He controls my destiny and it is for my good and His glory.
So that's why we want to move and I am trying to handle all this with my husband away on top of a request from our accountant for more tax info. My husband always brings home a stack of receipts and some not even in English so that's been a chore.
That's what I'm doing these days which has made it challenging for me to keep everyone straight here because I come generally with a mind that's already in overload. As for you on chemo, I hope you find encouraging that chemo brain does improve because I certainly couldn't attempt all this about 18 months ago.
Please know that I do pray for you ladies here and I so thankful for each of you!
Love you all!0 -
I've been on the couch all day. I just don't have any energy. My mouth is doing something strange, but I'm using the soda rinse. At least, I have only had a tiny bit of pain. I haven't had to take anything for it. I thank God that I didn't have this years ago when nausea was such a horrible side effect. I am not nauseous, just not up to par.0 -
This is my first time posting....starting TCH tomorrow. I am at peace with it and I pray that all goes well. Y'all have been a great help to me.
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Deborahanne- Hope I got your name right. My short term memory is terrible now. Anyway just want to prompt you to either wear a paper mask or have your visitor wear one when she visits. It is critical that you do not get infection. My WBC dropped after each chemo and I ended up in the hospital one time because of a fever of 101. NO fun sitting in the packed ER over Easter Sunday holiday then waiting 8 hours to get admitted. 4 days with absolutely nothing showing up on all the blood tests for infection and lots of antibiotics. After that my MO would give me an Rx for Cipro at the drop of a hat.
SewMore- that Neulasta ( this shot is stronger than Neupogen and last longer they say ) did such a number on me back when. It was worse than the chemo drugs. I ended up taking 2 Hydrocodone/Tylenol -3 4 times a day and this let me sleep a little but never got rid of the leg pains. I ended up being allergic to Percocet. Soon as chemo totally finished it went away. My good news is that my community fall bazaar lady called to me today to see if I wanted to reserve a table agan for mid Nov. I said yes ( not sure what I was thinking but I get excited just thinking of sewing ..ha..) Hope I can get it together.
Cynthia ) and others going thru RADS. I am praying that those days fly by. For me very little side effects except EXTREME fatigue. I was blessed that I did not have to consider work hours and could come home and rest. Even daily chores are exhausting. I only have one daughter in law ( no daughters) but she has been super.
I am hopeful that I may make it to church this Sunday. Have missed quite a few d/t lack of energy. I feel that my prayers reach the Lord faster in church - silly really because I know he hears us at all times. Still it is so uplifting.
Prayers going to everyone w/treatment this week. Hugs also.
Should add that I ended up in the ER because it was a holiday weekend and my MO was closed. How come we always seem to get the sickest on a weekend... blessings all.0 -
Thanks, JO-5, that song is great. No matter what the enemy does along the way, we know the end of the story!
Mini, you're on the prayer list for tomorrow. You're way ahead of many of us so we've got to pray you through so you can be our shining example of smooth reconstruction surgery! Same for you, Cynthia - prayers for smooth radiation - we'll be cheering you through.
Welcome, flowergirl - prayers for you and Kate tomorrow for chemo. The first one is the big unknown but you'll be covered with lots of prayer so you'll do just fine. Praying you'll both feel God right there beside you the whole time.
Fondak - hope all goes well with selling the house and it will be wonderful for you to be closer to your church. You all are an incredible blessing and support and my church family has been absolutely beyond belief through this journey. Can't have too many prayers on our side!
Sewstrong - praying that tomorrow will be better, not worse than today....and that Saturday for your reunion will be wonderful!
Thanks Jlow (and all) for the prayers. Now for my good news/bad news report (not really bad because it's all part of God's plan, I know....and my whole goal is for Him to be glorified through this so I'm sure He will be!). I had my bloodwork and saw the MO today (prior to third A/C chemo on Friday). Good news is the tumor (started at 2.9 cm, was 2.0 last time) is now 1.5 cm and lymph node (started at 4 cm, was 3 cm last time) is now 1.5 (1.0 is normal so MO was very pleased at that). Bad news.....neutrophil count should be at least 1.5 for chemo and mine is .6. Yikes! She gave me a choice - delay chemo a week (NO!) or neutropen shots today and yesterday, then if the count is up enough on Friday, go ahead with the chemo. The whole situation is a blessing, though - originally the bloodwork and MO appointment were scheduled Friday morning then chemo in the afternoon. I asked to change the appointment so my husband and I didn't have to sit around for 3 hours waiting for chemo. The first two chemo days everything ran right together. If that had happened this time, there wouldn't have been the two days for the neutropen shots. God worked it out so hopefully everything will come together on Friday!
So - I'm now 3 hours post-shot and my lower back is aching but not horribly. Please pray that the aching won't be too bad but more importantly, the counts will be high enough to go ahead on Friday. I'm not planning to worry about it - God's got it, right? I sure am going to be praying about it, though!
Love you ladies - thanks so much for being such a blessing!0 -
Praying, SaltyJack and praising God for the good news!!0 -
Thank you all for praying for me and for your suggestions! I woke up this morning with no fever or achiness and for most of the day I felt well, but this evening I've started feeling a little achy and I've been monitoring my temperature. After several hours of it staying steady at 99.5, I decided to take ibuprofen. I should start to feel better once it kicks in. MO has actually talked about keeping me on an antibiotic the entire time but I'd really rather not be on an antibiotic unless it's really necessary. If my temp goes to 100.4 or if I start to have other signs of illness, he'll put me on an antibiotic.
GrammyR - thank you for your advice. I would hate to go to the ER like you did. MO probably would not send me to the hospital unless I had other symptoms he was concerned about. Thankfully, I don't have any symptoms of my daughter's cold. We are taking extra precautions.
SaltyJack - I love how God works out things for us! I see Him doing this almost daily. I'm praying you don't have too much pain/discomfort from the neutropen shots. I hope your MO gave you a strong pain med just in case.
Sharon - I'm praying these days post chemo don't get any worst for you and that you'll feel great on Saturday! I'm on the same chemo drugs as you but I've never had neulasta. So far my WBC count has recovered by the time chemo was due.
I'm praying for all of you who are having surgery and chemo this week. I appreciate all the different ways that have been suggested to pray for each other. I think it was Rocket who said she had a prayer journal she kept updated through reading the posts. I think I'm going to try that, but I still appreciate reading through the posts, praying and being reminded of who needs prayer.
I'm also praising God for how He's working in all our lives and for His provision through this forum so we can pray and encourage each other!
Here's one of my favorite passages:
"Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Psalm 73:25-26
Has anyone seen this video about Janelle Hail? She's the founder of the National Breast Cancer Foundation. She was diagnosed at age 34 with BC and she's now around 60 years old. I wasn't even looking for this video and God lead me one place and then another and I saw it. It's a powerful testimony!0 -
saltyjack...that is great news. I pray that you do not have pain from the shots.0 -
Hi Sisters,
It has taken me two days to update my prayer book. It's so awesome to see all the new folks that have joined this thread! Welcome to all of you. I will be praying for your various requests. For those of you that live near Pittsburgh, I wanted to share that I used to live in Indiana, PA where my DH taught at Indiana University of PA. We drove through Altoona many times and shopped in Monroeville. Small world isn't it?
I haven't been posting much because my sister is here visiting from Eastern NC until mid next week. There are some excellent videos on YouTube by Louie Giglio. If you go to YouTube and type in his name in the search box you will see the videos come up. My favorites are the Stars and Whales as well as video on Laminin. The videos aren't long and reveal more of our magnificent God. I think they would really encourage you, especially if you are struggling. Our church showed them before our Bible study began, and I was blown away.
When I was first diagnosed with BC, I didn't know what stage I had at that point, but I was fearing the worst because I had three very large tumors. I told a former pastor and dear friend of mine that I was not afraid of where I would go when I die, but I was afraid of the process. He gently said to me, "Rocky, it will be like exhaling on Earth and inhaling in Heaven." I wrote it down and many other things that people said to me in those early days of my dx. Looking back over those things, including some of the weird things that people said, has shown me how The Lord was working, even though I wasn't feeling it at the time. I was so comforted by his comment.
I strongly believe that The Lord is working here too, on this thread. He blesses each of us with the presence of one another and His work and testimony through us. I pray that as each of you experiences this day that you find moments of pure joy, peace and His strength to carry you through.
Keeping your requests before the Throne of Grace,0 -
rocket, how awesome for me to read your post this morning in my 4th day after my chemotherapy and see that you updated your notebook to include the new people. I am one of those and when I thought of my name written in your notebook, I thought of the Book of Life, in which God has written the names of all those who follow Him. Your name is in my book, too, here in northern Kentucky, and I'm praying for you. I'm just in awe this morning. I awoke not feeling really well, and your post just lifted my spirits immediately. God bless you today and in the days to come. I haven't read the others yet, but just wanted to write what was filling my heart so abundantly this morning. God is right here where two or more gather. He promised that and I felt his presence ..0 -
Deborahanne, Zycam is just zinc and a tablet melted on your tongue helps keep viruses from growing. There is a noses pray, too. My MO said I could use it when I go to my 50th class reunion on Saturday. Zinc depletes copper from the body so check with your MO. I'm praying you won't get the virus. It might be that my mO put me on the shot because ill be 69 (OUCH) next month.
SaltyJack, I'll be praying for your WBC to come up. Your handling of it shows you've placed it in the care of The Lord and you're accepting whatever he leads you through. That's a great testimony, SJ. God is using it in the rest of us.
I'm not having as much pain this time. I haven't even had to take anything for it. God is leading us all through this journey and is teaching us more and more how to rely on his strength rather than our own. His strength is sufficient.
GrammyR, you'll get it together. Well help you by praying you into strength. Excitement releases adrenalin, so count on that. I can tell it excites you. My M o lowered the dosage this time and its better. Last time, I had to take Percocet, too, but its not that severe now. We'll get through this.
Flower girl, come back and report your experience. God will use it in all of us. I'll pray that all goes well. ( I dont know where moot holy came from) It's not as bad as our fears ( straight from satan himself) make it out to be. God has you covered in prayer from those who know you and from us , here on the Web. What a tangled web life weaves, but God tables it all out and sets us on a better path.
I'm on my I-phone and its harder to check. I will be praying for everyone, not just those I mentioned.0 -
I don't know if any of you are familiar with the Emmaus Walk, but it is a four day retreat where people gather to strengthen their faith. My dear brother and sister-in-law are dedicated participants, and there was a walk this past weekend that my brother attended and worked.
Yesterday I received a package and letter from him (he lives in Ocracoke, NC and I'm in Richmond, VA), and it was the best present I've ever received. He explained that God put me on his heart, and he went to the Directors and told them about my cancer. They told him of other people who had been healed through prayer. They annointed him and laid hands on him in my stead and prayed for healing. This is just a small synopsis of what the letter said, and the flowers they had used when praying were in the box. What a wonderful gift, and at a time when I was feeling low. Our Lord always knows what we need.
I also saw my oncologist yesterday after my bone scan, and the results were positive. What an uplifting day! I don't post very often, but I do pray for each of you. Everyone please have a blessed day.
Granna0 -
Thank you SewStrong...I will post later.
Crystal0 -
Today's the big day. Recon at 2:00. Please pray that there are no complication and no aggravating the LE.
Blessings All0 -
Praying and sending positive thoughts to you Mini. You've got this!!!
HUGS and Blessings to you all~0 -
Dear Granna,
It sounds like you have had a wonderful day, I am so pleased for you. Prayer has a way of lifting us and giving us such hope for the future, it is lovely when it happens.0 -
Praying Mini! God's got your back!0 -
Praying for you Mini...
Hello Ladies...I do read all the posts but it is so hard to keep up.
Sewstrong glad you are not having as much pain this time...that is so awesome Praise God!
Rocket...God bless you and thank you for being such a prayer warrior.
Deboranne...I hope you are feeling all better now and your fever is down.
God bless and keep you all close...M0 -
Home from 1st treatment. It went really well and no nausea yet. I am a little tired but not too bad at all. I hope they all go that great! One down and five more to go!0 -
Yay, flowergirl! Isn't it grand to have one behind you.....to know that you won't be having any allergic reactions or nausea right off the bat? You can do this - not in your strength, but God's (with lots of prayers and caring, of course!)
Kate, hope your chemo today went well - also Mini's reconstruction. How exciting to be that close to the end of the journey.
Hope I don't get into too much of a ramble here - but I've been doing alot of thinking and praying about my low blood counts yesterday. Of course, I don't know God's thinking but I have a theory.....I was sooooo scared about the neutrogen (or neulasta) shots - worrying about aches and pain and being miserable. Turned out I had a bit of lower back pain last night - took 2 ibuprophen last night, again this morning and tonight when I had a few twinges in my back. I had the second shot this afternoon and same thing - just a couple of twinges. I think maybe God put me in a position to need the shots so He could kind of hit me over the head and I'd realize.....the God who protected Daniel in the lions' den, who was with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace, who calmed the stormy sea for the disciples when their boat was about to capsize.....did I really think He couldn't help me handle a SHOT????? Sheeeesh! Hopefully reading how silly I was will help one of you...
Anyway - I'm really hoping the blood counts will be high enough tomorrow to go ahead with chemo....but if not, God's got a reason, right? All things work together for good....
Fridaygirl, tell us about your support group - will you be meeting regularly? When is your next treatment?0 -
Thanks SaltyJack! It is grand to have one behind me. There have been lots of prayers and I have definitely felt them. I will be praying for you!0 -
SaltyJack...I m praying your counts come up. I too was scared to get the shot but luckily I think the Claritin helped. I will never know because I took it from the first one and continue to do so. I admire you faith and the strength God has blessed you with. Thank you for being such an encourager.
Praise God and thank You Jesus for bring us all together....M0 -
Hello Ladies,
I survived camp with my kids. Long days and long nights with supervising 120 kids. Sometimes I think I am crazy for putting myself through all of this but I do enjoy it.
I hope that you felt my prayers this week as I stopped and prayed many times when I had a few minutes alone waiting for kids to show up. It was awesome being outdoors in all of God's glory. I hope that Mini's reconstruction surgery went well and that the third round chemo goes well with you that are having it.
It is so good to hear that others are having less issues then initially expected.
Salty Jack: God sure does know what is best and He will do it in HIs perfect timing. Not in yours, mine or the doctors. I am praying for your numbers to improve but so glad to hear about your new measurements. Praise God!
In just a few weeks, so many have joined the group. Welcome FlowerGirl. You have come to a great place. You will find these women to have some great information and reassurance because they have walked where we have not. Hey, just like our Savior. He walked it first so that we should not be afraid.
Thank you for allowing me to be here as I wait. I sometimes feel like I should not be here when I see what all of you are going through but I want to be a prayer warrior for all of you. I feel God has touched my heart about this. For whatever reason, He wants me to know that He is still on the throne and in control. I just keep thinking that He worked so hard at restoring my body to good health the past couple years. I also realize how quickly that can be taken away.
Blessings to all of you. I am going to call it a night and try to recover some sleep so I do not compromise my immune system from lack of sleep.
In Christ,
Char0
