thread for middle age to older Christian women.
Comments
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Sue, up until the day before Bev was to visit, July 9, my hair was a frizzy fuzz ball. My DIL gave me a flat iron that I used with a hair spray for frizz. IT WORKED! Spray on the spray and work on a small section just like you were using a curling iron. I was amazed because before that, I couldn't do anything but wear my wig. I hope you can find one. It's only about an inch wide.
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Bandwoman - I had terrible SE's from Anastrazole. They were so bad that they list them under my allergies. I was scared to try the Tamoxifen, even though my MO told me they are two different classes of drugs. I went a year w/o taking either, but when I had to stop taking the DIM because of it's affect on my liver, I thought I should at least try. I have a few SE's, but nothing like the Anastrazole. I'm not thrilled about taking anything, but so far it's been OK.
Blessings
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Hi Mini,
What is DIM? So which drug are you taking now? Sorry to hear you had such a time on Anastrozole. I am hearing both sides of it all and I know everyone responds differently so I just need to wait and see. I don't start taking it for another two weeks yet. The Lord has brought us all through to this point so we need to trust him for the rest of the journey.
Take care.
Bandwoman
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Sharon, good idea except my hair is a straight fuzz if that makes sense. It's not frizzy. Also too short for a straight iron. I need about another inch to do anything with it. I'll get there eventually.
Lucy, I'm on Taxol/Carboplatin indefinitely, the latter is for the endometrial cancer that returned in the form of my leg tumor. I'll be on this combo until it stops working and then move on to something else.
Hope everyone had a good weekend! Sue
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PS: Happy birthday Lucy....mine's in two weeks!
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Hi Sue,
Are the taxol and carboplatin both infusion drugs? I am on mine indefinitely as well. Had a CT couple of weeks ago and everything's looks dormant and no progression of disease. Been off chemo for 2 months now and just doing the Avastin and the pill.
A little disheartening to know we have to do this for the duration we do knowing what other things could be going on with these drugs. My drugs are part of the study so I am trusting The Lord.
How long have you been doing the chemo drugs now? Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the bday wishes. I had another nice day today with my DD, GD, SIL, and DH. We went to the farmers market, the hands on museum and the. Picked up some Italian pizza and a place that only uses local and organic foods. It was very good.
So since I started this journey in August I have been meeting with a nutritionist and I have basically changed my eating 100%. I Don't eat a lot of meat now and focus on veggies, fruits, beans, lentils, quinoa, nuts, eggs and I do a lot of juicing. Mostly 95% organic. I don't have any sugars if I can help it. I do use agave nectar in my coffee once a day. For the most part have eliminated sugar and flour from my diet. And I never ate much dairy but cheese so done eat that at all. I have drank unsweetened almond milk for years already. So do you all have the same program with how you eat? It makes it difficult to go out to eat so I don't go out much and when I do I am very picky a out what I order. I have found that most places have the fake liquid eggs when they make up omelets or other egg dishes so now I ask for them to use real eggs. I still don't know everything they do in preparation but I am not so immune challenged so it's not as critical. But when you do this for 8 months it's hard to change.
Hope you had a great weekend. Love and blessings...Lucy
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Happy Birthday Lucy! So glad you had a wonderful day. I bet it had more importance this time. I know that I wanted to celebrate my 60th this year because I realized that it was not a curse but a reminder that I am blessed to see another year when there so many that I know who are no longer here on earth.
Today, I was looking up names of people that my dad had worked with and most have left this world. My dad looked at me and told me that he is really blessed to be here and I told him that old age is a gift from God. In reality I am the one that is so blessed.
Mini: I am so drug sensitive and my dad is too. I had to stop the Meloxicam my ortho doctor prescribed for a month to get some inflammation out of my knee. He told me last Friday that it should be kept in my health records because my side effect is representative of its impact on my kidneys.
Nancy: I felt pretty happy BS but not seeing anyone for a year has been a bit unnerving. So now I go back this month. We shall see. I stepped out in faith that everything was taken care of and now I have to keep claiming that.
Blessings to all. Hugs and prayers.
Char
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Hi Lucy,
Yes these are infusion drugs. Last fall I was on a chemo pill and it was working (I forget the name of it....started with an X....chemo brain). The pill did a good job on the breast cancer but it was stopped when I went on a trial. Then while on the trial, my scans showed that a leg tumor had appeared and was responsible for my leg pain. They figured it was the endometrial cancer returning. So, I was off the trial and back to the taxol/carbo combination. I'd love to go back to the pill. I didn't have too many side effects and did a week on and a week off and it really attacked the breast cancer. We'll see what my next scans show. My last ones were stable except for that darn leg tumor which was looking "iffy".
Sounds like you're doing well Lucy. Diet is everything in this battle. I want to juice more but it's so labor intensive. I'm able to tolerate fruits but I have a hard time with the greens. They just don't taste too good to me because of the chemo so I end up throwing a lot of produce away. Keep it up though. Every cure I've read about talks about diet!
Blessings all. Sue
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Sue...so you have had breast cancer and endometrial cancer, which did you have first? How long has your journey been? You are inspiring me...
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Lucy, I was diagnosed with both at the same time. Although I do believe there was something going on with the BC first. I have inflammatory BC so it shows itself differently initially. I just didn't know what it was. And, the endometrial cancer was slow in coming. I just thought I was going through menopause. After I went through chemo the first time in 2009, I had a hysterectomy and that was the end of the endometrial cancer....for the next five years. So, I am about 5 1/2 years out from dx. My first round battle wasn't bad at all and I had good results. It's this blasted second round that's been the pits. But, I firmly believe that for every day we hang in there, we're one day closer to being cured. I'm getting treatments now that didn't exist even five years ago so all of us are so blessed to be living at the time we are. We WILL make it!
Sue
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sue, I just prayed for God to use your experience for his Glory. You have been through a lot more than I have and possibly more than others on this thread. Your attitude is uplifting to me. When I get down and have a pity party, God reminds me of just who is in charge of all of our health issues, and I again give it back to Him. He never gets tired of reminding me.
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Amen to that Sue. I has one of my dear friends die from BC around 1993 and she was fighting to be accepted for trials for some of the traditional drugs that women are using today. Drugs were pretty scarce back then. It was pretty brutal. I can say the same for heart surgeries back then and today. We truly live in better times where knowledge has increased tremendously in the medical field. I do believe that the defeat of TN is just around the corner. So keep fighting because you give so many encouragement. I also believe that we go through this so others can see who we give praise and glory to for our healing.
Char
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Hi ladies,
You all are an inspiration to me. Everyone of you has a story and their unique situations but not only do we have the dreaded disease in common but we share the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings in common. We are a force to be reckoned with when we have the love of Jesus bonding us together.
I have a praise today. I was able to get back to one of my retiree groups today for the first time in months. My former principal came and picked me up and it was so good to feel like a little piece of my former life is returning. Today was the first Monday in two months that I didn't have a doctor's apt. PTL I have my last shoulder therapy session tomorrow and I am no way near ready to be released. I am praying for a miracle as I keep up my exercises at home. They suggested me taking a few weeks off and getting another script from my doctor. They said insurance will be more receptive taking that approach. After tomorrow it will only be a total of 15 treatments.
Happy Birthday Lucy. Sue, it sounds like our birthdays are close. Mine is on Aug. 3. I would like to think I am middle aged but that is if I live to be 106! lol
Have a good week everyone.
Love,
Nancy (Bandwoman)
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Amen is right Sue.
I am pretty sure I will be scheduling a hysterectomy soon due to my aunt having ovation cancer.
Did anyone see my post regarding the genetic testing? I would like some input on this if you don't mind.
Well off to Seattle to have my two week infusion of Avastin. I am going to hand off some bracelets I made to sell at the relay for life so I had some extra and going to give them to my team of docs today. I posted a pic to share with you all. They are all glass beads and I make jewelry as a hobby. I believe I was anointed when I went shopping for beads for my bracelets as they are perfect for the cause.
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Love your bracelets Lucy. You do beautiful work.
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Lucy, I love your bracelet!
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Awww...thank you ladies. I have been blessed as I never ever imagined I could do this. I give lots of my pieces away to the ladies at our church. It gives me great joy to see them wearing the things I have made. I had one lady do all her Christmas shopping with me, it was fun.
I just love having the email notifications it helps stay in touch more quickly.
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OK ladies, I'm halfway there. I received half of my SSI approval in today's mail. They have sent it on for the non-medical portion. I am holding on to hope that that one will be approved as well. If not, I will have to appeal that portion. Please pray that I am approved and don't have to appeal. I haven't worked in 2 years and we really need the money. I know most people are denied on the first go-round, but I also know that God can prevail, even with SSI. :-)
Thank you for your prayers. i appreciate them more than you know.
Blessings
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That is wonderful Mini. Do you think that since the first part was approved the first go around that the other will be also. I have no knowledge of it but I do know another forum I used to be on this was discussed a lot and I know that some have to apply many times and it is unusual to be approved the first time so I take this as a GREAT sign. PTL Will keep praying that the non medical portion is approved soon as well.
Nancy BW
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Lucy I love the bracelet, too. Still praying.
We put our house on the market today. I have mixed emotions since this house had been in my husbands family since he was in 4th grade, but I'm ready to stop cleaning so many rooms and walk on the beach. It takes far more of my time than it should.
Kate, if you're stopping by, I'm praying for you, too. You have touched my heart. I'm TNBC as you are so your story stands out to me.
God bless everyone in your individual requests. He is an awesome God and hears our prayers. Sharon.
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Sharon, I know what you mean. My his bans and I have been battling SSA for his medical issue and it has taken over a year. We have been considering all our options and selling our house is one of them too. It's so hard as our retirement plan did not have us both going throwing these medical issues. We like to camp and we have a nice trailer so we will have that as part of our plan. Are you just downsizing to a smaller house?
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Hi All, Love this thread. I am newly diagnosed as of 6/9/14 with BC that is considered primary occult, meaning no tumor. I just had a ALND on Friday 7/11/14 and recovering. Today I had a lot of time just to review the site and happened upon this thread. I am not yet 60 but I love the Lord and hope I can post to this forum every once in a while. The post are encouraging and inspirational and hope to join this online family. I continue to give God all the praise and glory before and after my dx. At times it gets rough but I know to mediate in His Word and pray and worship my Lord of Lords through it all.
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Welcome ladyb. You are welcome here no matter your age. You'll find this to be a warm and loving thread. Glad to have you on board and our prayers will begin for you today! You're barely a month out from your dx so I can imagine you're still in a state of shock. Know that you have lots of company to walk with you through this chapter in your life and that God will use it to His glory. You're going to do very, very well.
Lucy, the bracelets are awesome. I think you found your retirement income! You are wonderfully talented. A few years ago I decided I needed a new hobby and bought up a ton of jewelry fixins. Needless to say, I ended up taking everything back. What was I thinking! ha ha.
Mini, that's great news about the SSI. It sounds like the most important part of it has been approved. I don't know what non-medical portion would be or what it would cover but we'll pray that it sails through. It's already a miracle that this has gone through on the first go round. Way to go God!
Sharon, I know how hard it is to leave the homestead. I did it six years ago. However, it now takes me about 20-minutes to clean my little condo so I've never looked back.
Nancy, good news from you as well and so glad you were able to get out. It does wonders for our disposition.
As for me, I had what I had hoped was the last follow up with the lung surgeon. The good news is that the x-ray showed the surgery was successful and they were able to take the stitches out (for the second time now). So far, so good. Nothing seems to be bleeding or draining.
The bad news is that the x-ray showed that my other lung is now filling up with fluid. The surgeon wants me to have a thorocentesis done in that lung and then we'll wait to see if it refills. If so, then I'm looking at having surgery in that lung (pleuradesis). It goes without saying that it kind of took the wind out of me (no pun intended, ha ha). I was a good girl though - no tears. The surgeon kept saying how well I looked since I saw him last month. Boy, I must not have gotten the makeup on very well the last time lol.
Yeah, we're getting a little rain......water those flowers God!
Blessings all. Sue
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Welcome ladyb. I imagine that you probably feel like you are in the twilight zone. Actually I sort of still feel that way. I am fairly new on the board too. I was just dx in March. I just finished rads on July 3 and looking back it still seems somewhat surreal. I don't think I have met anyone here that only had lymph node involvement. Have you developed a plan of treatment with your doctors yet? I pray that the Lord will guide you to the right decisions for you.
Sue- I will sure pray that the other lung will not need surgery. You have certainly had your share of trials. I am glad the doc thought you looked better. I came home from my breakfast totally wiped out. All of my treatments and apts have been in the afternoon times so getting up early about did me in. LOL If you were in Illinois now you wouldn't believe our temps. They are taking a big dive the next couple of days.
Sharon- I imagine that would be hard to leave your house but I certainly get not wanting to spend all of your energy on cleaning. When I was teaching I had a very serious neck surgery and my schools went together and hired me a cleaning lady for a few times. I ended up from that point having a cleaning lady. With my fibro I was so exhausted all the time that I had no life and I certainly didn't want to spend the few days off cleaning. I am now trying to clean my own house and it is hard so I can really relate. My physical therapist didn't want me to clean at all so that has been a challenge. I tried to get someone and long story short a couple of my friends did some cleaning for me recently.
Where are you planning on moving too?
Well it is late and I need to be in bed. My last PT is tomorrow. Take care.
Love,
Nancy BW
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I thought the medical part would be the hardest part of getting my SSI. It sounded like it shouldn't be too awfully long before I hear about the second part. I'm holding out for my miracle. :-)
Blessings
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Hi ladies,
Couldn't sleep last night and was on computer trying to upload a pic to my Avatar. Finally realized all my pics are way too big in number of pixels. I am going to try one here. When I am praying for all of you it helps me to have an image of you in my mind. Nevermind, it isn't working either. Not sure how I uploaded my cat and that worked. Oh well.
Mini- Praying that the other part will be approved for you SSI.
Love,
Nancy BW
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Thanks all for the warm welcome and adding me to your prayer list. Milehighgirl and bandwoman, yes I am still new to this journey but as each of you know we have the best comforter, physician, counselor, and therapist on my side :-). I am also so happy and honored that God has allowed me to find this wonderful thread to interact with others that are on this journey and ones that love the Lord.
bandwoman -- I have my first onc appoint next Tuesday to get the results of my pathology report and recommended treatment. It is a forgone conclusion that I will have to do chemo. I have always been a strong praying woman and going into that secret place over the last month has given me a peace and comfort. Not saying I don't struggle but my faith grounds me. Yes please keep me in your prayers that my decisions are guided by God not only in my treatments but how I inform the rest of my family.
Hope it is Ok to use first names :-)
Sue - praying for you.
Lucy - I also make jewelry as my hobby. Your bracelets are so beautiful.
My prayer is that I will be the testimony that God wants me to be and that God will use it to His Glory. I look forward to joining this group.
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Hey ladies,I just "graduated from PT" today. It is not a forgone conclusion that I am really done but I am taking a few weeks off at the therapists suggestion and see how it goes with just my home exercises. Strangely I have sort of a sad feeling like at did at the end of rads. Crazy talk I know! I won't have to go to that clinic for two weeks. I think my car is probably on auto pilot at this point going there.
Ladyb- I hope there are no surprises when you get the pathology results. If you have already wrapped your head around chemo in my mind that would be the most difficult. I didn't have to have chemo but when I was waiting for my oncotype DX test to come back there was a period of time where I had to consider it as a possibility. You sound very grounded in your faith and that is so important. I now have a platform with my retiree groups which I have not had before. Just today out walking one of my former coworkers was driving by and parked and got out of the car and we talked for quite a while. I had a chance to give credit to God being in control of my life. I gave my retiree groups and my former schools that I taught at updates periodically and it was a great chance to witness without beating them over the head with it if you know what I mean. My principal wrote to me and said your "voice" comes through loud and clear in your updates. I am assuming she meant my Christian "voice." My prayer from the beginning was I wanted good to come from my dx and I can see that happening over and over again. Take care and we'll be praying for your journey to come.
Love,
Nancy BW
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Hi sweet ladies -
welcome, Ladyb! You said you read back through the thread - not sure if you came across any of the posts where I mentioned the book a friend gave me while I was waiting for my diagnosis, "The Red Sea Rules" by John Morgan. What a blessing! The basis for it, of course, is the situation where the Israelites were "stuck" at the edge of the Red Sea after leaving Egypt, with Pharoah and his army chasing behind them. The author makes the point that the whole reason for the Israelites being where they were was so that God should be glorified after delivering them from a humanly impossible mess. He then reminds us that when something bad happens, we shouldn't be asking "why me?" but "how can God be glorified?" Wow! What a change in perspective! I've tried to keep that in my mind and heart throughout the BC journey. I know many, many friends have encouraged me by saying they've been blessed by my testimony - it's absolutely all God and I am so grateful to Him for all He's done in my life. I know we're supposed to thank God for everything but I'm not quite ready to thank Him for giving me BC. However, I can absolutely, positively thank Him for everything that's happened since my diagnosis!!!
Sue, I sure will be praying for you through this next step of your journey. As many others have said, you are such an inspiration and example for us all - may God give you strength, calm and wisdom as to how to proceed next.
Nancy/mini - what wonderful news about the SSI progress! We'll be praying that the rest of your miracle is right around the corner.
Nancy/BW - I can remember dreading rads, thinking 30 trips in 30 days would be absolutely exhausting and draining. I couldn't believe how quickly it all was over with. I just hope you're much better at getting back to your normal life than I was.....I'd used rads as an excuse for letting so many things go, then still found I was as much a procrastinator as ever, even without the daily rads trips.
Lucy, I'll be praying for you as you and your husband battle through the bureaucracy, too. I'm so glad the intense part of your treatment is over - hopefully you'll continue to have great results with the new treatment.
I've been on arimidex for 6 weeks now and like Deborah, have pretty much no SE. Once in a while, I notice that my lower back aches a bit or my elbows or ankles give me a quick twinge of pain but hardly worth mentioning. I still get a little, momentary shooting pain on the sole of my left foot once in a while and two of the finger tips on my right hand are a little numb - both were worse during chemo and I think they're getting less noticeable.
There was just an article in our newspaper (probably in many of yours, too) - 90% of BC patients are alive after 5 years. That's pretty good odds - especially when they cited the stats for pancreatic cancer - if I remember correctly, it was 6%.....and only 1 in 4 are alive a year after diagnosis. Whew! Thank you, God, for all those pink ribbons and "Run for the Cure" races. It sure means alot more now than it did a couple of years ago!
God bless you all, my dear friends - Bev
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Good evening all. I hope this finds everyone well.
I'm asking for prayer tonight as I have yet another thorocentesis (lung drain) early tomorrow morning. This time it's on the other lung that has been clear. I'm praying that the fluid doesn't return and I won't need another surgery and another week in the hospital. Even though the Lord has been carrying my through all of this, I'm getting weary.
Anita and Friday Girl (Debbie), we haven't heard from you in awhile. Are you okay?
Blessings one and all. Sue
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