thread for middle age to older Christian women.
Comments
-
Chris, it is good to hear from you. I will pray for the house hunting. I have been praying for you to find the very best oncology team for you and that they will know just what you need for chemo. I pray for the time when you can rest and have all of these things finished. I wish I could speed up that calendar so you were covered with insurance today but God knows what He is doing and it will all happen in His plan for you. TRUST Keep your word close to your heart.
GB, I'm glad you are participating in the bird count. I really do think you have found YOUR hobby which can last a lifetime. God gave me photography as a silver lining to my breast cancer and I believe God is giving you bird watching as your silver lining. BTW Birds and Blooms magazine is offering a $750 prize to the best bird video. In their promo they had a bluebird in theirs. Just sayin'.
Have a good day dear sisters.
Love,
Nancy
0 -
Hello sisters! 🥰 My name is Leslie. I am 58. I have 4 grown sons. Diagnosed right before my 58th birthday last year. Right now I have asked 5e Lord to direct my heart about quantity and quality of life. On Letrozole. Some very life disruptive side effects. I just want to do what the Lord would have me do. Trying not to let the enemy get in with fear for I have not been given a spirit of fear.
Others’ stories humble me greatly. And I am still adjusting to being a member of te BC club, something I,of course never anticipated. I am a doer. Radically changed my diet to mostly raw vegan after back surgery 19 years ago to reduce pain and inflammation; and feeling as if there is not something I can DO now to keep this from coming back, except with the man made option of hormone therapy with side effects, is frustrating. Learning the meaning of true surrender. 🙏
God has had me through so many trials and worked all kinds of amazing provision through this diagnosis while hubby had been outsourced and was jobless. I can trust Him still. He never changes. Our God is good. Thankful for a group like this who understands an eternal perspective walking as aliens on this earth.
Love to all in Christ. Anyone found a great way around severe, debilitating, sleep depriving,numerous hot flashes with adrenaline surges while on hormone therapy, I would love to hear them! 🤗
0 -
Welcome to this thread Luvmy4sons. No one ever wants to be in this bc club but the upside is that you will meet many wonderful people here that either are currently or have gone through your struggles and certainly understand. I would suggest doing a search on BCO and use words like metabolic treatments or alternative treatments. I know there was a lady very knowledgeable on the metabolic approach to breast cancer that started a thread within the last year or so. This is probably a question that you will say I have already done that but have you discussed your side effects to your cancer drug with your oncologist. There are other drugs but I think if they have anything to do with blocking estrogen you may find similar issues but not necessarily. There are some ladies that have been on this thread who just flat out said I can't take this drug anymore and just stopped. I know people from my church that couldn't tolerate the cancer drug and stopped and now many years later are doing fine. I chose to tough it out for five years on Anastrozole. I was a few years older than you at my diagnosis and I had already been in menopause. I had terrible issues with insomnia and when the data started coming out about extending the five years to possibly ten I thought NO WAY. I could have gone for two more years but my oncologist at that time said the two years extra will not benefit you considering your side effects. I had GI issues as well. I was told that exercise could help with the side effects and I was a swimmer during the time I was on Anastrozole.
This is one of those things you will need to pray about, do your own research and then make a hopefully mutual decision with your husband and your oncologist how you will move forward. I am sorry you are having such a difficult time. I wish I had more answers for you.
You said God has seen you through many trials and I have no doubt that He will see you through this one too.
Love,
Nancy
0 -
luvmy4sons, welcome. I'm glad you found us. As Nancy said, you will find many wonderful and helpful people here. I've not had the disrupting SEs, but rather just the "ordinary stuff" that is now just part of my life.
I pray that God will provide you wisdom, comfort and courage today and in the days to come.
Carol
0 -
Hi Leslie! I don't have advice on letrozole, but welcome to the group!
Nancy, I might try to take some photos today. My husband is going to fill the feeders today, so we need to get ready for "chickadee highway."
I agree it may be the new hobby. I love how my daughter is learning to recognize the birds along with me. I love how when I got out of the car after work yesterday the bird songs hit me right away (noisy wrens and tufties), and I saw a tufty flying around. They were there all along but I didn't notice them. Now it's impossible to ignore them!
0 -
Hi Leslie, and welcome to the group. I'm thankful that you found us. Concerning bothersome AI side effects, I take gabapentin at night. There is evidence that it reduces hot flashes (among other things). https://www.goodrx.com/gabapentin/surprising-uses-...
Nancy, your perseverance is inspiring. Detox and elimination diets can be very difficult, and you are doing so well with your program. Yay to you!
Chris, I'm so very sorry that your back pain is increasing. I pray that come March 1, an appointment with a new provider is quickly available.
Birdwatching...I'm a raptor kind of gal. We live next to protected marshland and see falcons and hawks every day. Last month, we had a young golden eagle visiting our yard. Oh my, what an immense and impressive wingspan!
Wishing everyone a peaceful weekend.
0 -
Leslie, I am glad to see some of our sisters reaching out to you. You are not alone in this.
GB, enjoy your birding and maybe you will turn into a bird photographer too!!!!! May I suggest adding a hummingbird feeder to the mix in the warm seasons. They are the cheapest form of entertainment you can get.
Hershey, thank you. The first two weeks of the Detox I had really bad ear pain and I know it was from clenching my teeth. I can laugh now but it wasn't fun at the time. I knew my stress level was off the charts initially. Because of all the foods I couldn't eat it also meant a complete sleep schedule change because mixing my prescription meds with the detox products was a no no. I am now shopping at three different grocery stores which has been the most difficult and costly as grocery shopping is my least favorite thing to do. But......I have to say there are days when I have felt terrific and I have probably never said that in the last many years. So I am encouraged. I have been walking 2.5 miles and more inside my house six days a week as it has been so cold. That definitely helps. I am drinking a ton of electrolyte water as I have had a history of low sodium and one of the health coaches suggested that. Definitely a good thing.
I will have to post some of my raptor photos for you. I love seeing them and the opportunity to photograph them is very rewarding.
How is your Mom doing? I continue to pray for her and for you.
Have a great weekend dear sisters. It is bright and sunny here in IL today but bone chilling cold. I heard last night that it was 30 days till spring. That was a wonderful reality!!!
Love,
Nancy
0 -
Nancy, my mom is doing well. Thank you for asking about her. She attended all the Valentine's festivities, and one of her art projects from last week was featured on the assisted living facility's website. She looks and feels good and seems to be back in the swing of things.
I forgot to mention in my last post about our Great Horned owls. At least three of them live in the marshland and make regular visits to our rooftop and a large willow tree in my neighbor's backyard. I love listening to them hoot to one another at night. Fun fact...Great Horned owls can live for over 20 years!?
Nancy, keep up the great work with your diet and exercise program. I'm so very glad that you are feeling better. Your discipline is paying off!
0 -
Hershey, that makes me smile knowing your Mom is back and feeling good. Congrats to her on having her art project featured on the facility website. That's awesome!!!!! I bet she was beaming finding out about that. I bet you are so proud of her.
That is on my bucket list to finally get a photo of an owl in the wild. I have several pics of owls at a wildlife rehab facility but that is not the same thing even though it was interesting watching the different kinds they had there. You must live in just the right habitat for them. That is really neat. I remember growing up we had a Great Horned Owl on our roof one day. That was pretty exciting. I hear them outside my house occasionally but I can never see them. You are fortunate to hear and see them regularly.
Thank you for your encouragement. I hope my motivation will stay in high gear now that the food reintroduction starts on Monday. I don't want to fall back into my same rut of eating the same things over and over again. I have discovered that I love Bison burgers. Beef was not allowed on this program but Bison was. I am gluten intolerant so I haven't had a real hamburger on a bun for years but just having the plain Bison burger was very good and quite expensive but worth it. The one thing that might be surprising if you saw all of the foods to avoid list when I started this is that I have never felt deprived or hungry except the veggie week was a challenge and optional. There was no fasting involved even though those who were into intermittent fasting could do so in a 12 hr window.
Have a great rest of your weekend.
Love,
Nancy
0 -
For the raptor lovers here is a pic from my backyard. Taken in the fall a few years ago.
It felt almost spring like today minus all the wind we have had. That is not going to last long though.
I got to eat scrambled eggs for the first time in five weeks. So far no adverse reaction in my beginning of a long reintroduction of one food at a time on the list we have avoided for the last five weeks.
0 -
I got dental clearance to start the Zometa. The dentist doesn't know why I have some pain on chewing. He said that everything looks good on xray and exam. But if I need to get a filling or crown done in the future, he said not to worry. I grind a ton (even with the nightguard), plus I suspect I have some neuropathy up in my mouth...so that could be why the tooth is funny. I do feel better after talking with him. He also prescribed a high fluoride toothpaste, so I can start that.
Sigh. Now dermatologist tomorrow. It's the week of appointments. The dermatologist really likes taking biopsies, so I will probably get something removed.
0 -
Nancy, your photo is beautiful! Nice shot!!! How were the scrambled eggs?
gb, I'm glad you got clearance to start your Zometa. I had a cavity way back on tooth #1. That's the top right wisdom tooth. My periodontist doesn't do fillings, so I went to a new dentist. He wanted to pull the tooth, and then crown several other teeth with the 25-year (OK, not quite) guarantee crown. I explained to him that I was getting Zometa and even brought him the printout about the drug. He didn't listen. I walked out of there and never went back.
Then I found another dentist. Her CV is impressive. She looked at the tooth and the X-rays, and said she wanted to consult a couple of dentists about ways we could handle it. She ended up referring me to an endodontist for a root canal. They sort of ground the tooth down and put a kind of cap/sealer thing on it. It's all good now.
I loved the endo-guy and I love my new dentist. I need cleanings every three months, unlike my DH who can get his teeth cleaned EVERY FIVE YEARS and not have a bit of plaque on his teeth. It's just not fair! I joke that it's because his dad was a dentist and mine was only an orthopedic surgeon.
Remind me if I gave you my tips for Zometa. The first one was pretty rough, the second one was a little better. After that, it was pretty much a non-event. I'd be glad to share my tips, if I haven't already.
Hope everyone is having a peaceful week.
Carol
0 -
GB, getting a filling, crown, bridge or root canal is not problematic for patients having Zometa infusions. Did your dentist happen to check your bite? If your bite is off, you may be hitting that tooth too hard.
0 -
Hi Carol,
I don't think you did. I would love to hear tips. So far I've seen that taking prophylactic Tylenol might be wise, as well as drinking lots of water. I wonder if I could use the phenergan I already have as prophylaxis...like take on that night before bed just in case. I'm easily nauseated and that first AC chemo was a nightmare with that. I was so sick. After that, they drugged me up pretty well for the rest of the treatments.
0 -
gb, I was super nauseated after my first Zometa infusion. I never vomited, but I woke up in the middle of the night after my infusion feeling really horrible. I got up and took a Compazine. It didn't really help the nausea, but I was eventually able to fall back asleep.
The next time I took a Compazine before I went to bed the evening after the infusion. I still had some nausea, but it wasn't as bad.
After that, I really didn't have any nausea after the infusion. I did run a slight fever several times, but Tylenol seemed to help with that. I read, somewhere here on this forum, that taking a Claritin before and after the infusion helps. My temp is usually around 97.7, so when it gets to 99 or above, I start feeling achy.
Sorry for the ramble. Here's my summary:
- 1.Ask your MO for Compazine. Take one before you go to bed the night after your infusion.
- 2.Take a Claritin the day before, of, and after your infusion
- 3.Try to drink lots of water. I've recently found that I like ginger tea (who knew?) so that might help, too. I drink the Lemon-Ginger tea with a little honey.
I hope this helps. You can also let the infusion nurse that you are prone to nausea. Personally, I'll take pain over nausea any day!
(((hugs)))
Carol(Sorry for the dots before the numbers. I copied and pasted from Word, and it added the dots before the numbers. Sigh...)
0 -
This is helpful---thank you!
I hope the first infusion goes well. It's on March 7th. I also get a Zoladex that day, and start my exemestane. Whew. I hope they can easily get the IV in. I've had bad experiences with IV placement. I kind of wish I still had my port, but getting it flushed every month would have gotten pretty old I suppose. And it's otherwise nice not having the port in. I've been putting off going to get a mastectomy bra because the strap would have been intolerable. I can go do that now. :-)
0 -
Hi ladies,
I am glad that you can share in your experiences with each other as I have no experience with of some of the transfusions you have been talking about.
GB I do pray that you will be able to tolerate your first transfusion in March. I'm glad your dentist gave you clearance.
Carol, thanks for your nice comment on my hawk and asking about how my eggs were. Well, things have gotten a little complicated. I had an apt on Monday afternoon and I had eaten my eggs in the morning. I saw my allergy doctor that afternoon. I was telling her about my five week detox and I mentioned that the first two weeks I had really bad ear pain in one ear. I thought it was from my TMJ and clenching my teeth as this beginning process was difficult and making me nervous. I asked her to look at my ear. I was quite surprised when she said it is red and inflamed. I told her I had no pain then. Yesterday, I felt fine in the morning and then as the day wore on I started getting a terrific headache, was chilling and just felt sick and had ear pain. So could any of this be a reaction to eating eggs for the first time????? Today I still had the earache and I just decided to send a message to this allergy doctor and asked if she would consider giving me some antibiotics since I had just seen her on Monday and if not I would have to go to urgent care. I was so pleased when I got a message back and I do now have antibiotics. It is a bummer that I did all the detoxing and the gut health just to have it undone by antibiotics but I felt like I had no choice. Unfortunately this will mean that my food reintroduction has been somewhat derailed right now. I have no idea if I reacted to the eggs or not. I may email my health coach even though the program is over as far as her part is concerned? I may ask her what do I do now??? I am still continuing the detox products but eating more food and will still be avoiding all the foods I couldn't eat from the beginning. The only thing I need besides healing is patience as I am frustrated with this turn of events as my ability to eat eggs would mean I could start eating breakfast again instead of drinking the smoothie but may have to wait for 2-3 months.
The pharmacist suggested I wait and start the antibiotics this evening so this is a lesson in patience for sure.
I know these issues are not big issues compared with what many of you are going through.
Take care dear sisters.
Love,
Nancy
0 -
Wow, Nancy, I'm sorry for whatever caused the headache, chills and ear pain! Just when you think you're doing fine, you get hit with something. I'll be interested to hear what your health coach has to say. You'd think they'd still be available to you after you've finished the detox program, because adding stuff in could cause some real issues for you.
I hope you're starting to feel better. I've been drinking a lot of ginger tea. I never really liked it before, but for some reason I do now.
Love and hugs,
Carol
0 -
Hi all,
Sorry I have been MIA. I have been sick for several days with no energy. I am on antibiotics for an ear infection but it has knocked me out. This week's weather give's me hope of spring. I hope I will get to experience it first hand soon.
Take care and have a wonderful week.
Love,
Nancy
0 -
I hope you feel better soon Nancy!
0 -
I'm sorry that you're feeling under the weather, Nancy. I hope you feel better very soon.
0 -
Thanks Carol and GB and Hershey.
Hershey, your tea hit the spot and the flowers perked me up.
Thank you.I feel better tonight. Now if I can feel that way during the day I will know I am finally getting better.
Have a good night dear sisters.
Love
Nancy
0 -
Nancy, just checking in on you to see how you're feeling.
Carol
0 -
Hi Carol. I appreciate you checking in on me.
I knew I had to get to the grocery store as I am still following my detox diet and in the past in would be very easy for me to order carry out if I was sick but that can't happen now. I did make it to Whole Foods and didn't feel like going to my second grocery store but I am okay for now for food. I am so weak from just basically laying around for a good part of the day. I couldn't wait to get home and rest. It is a big step forward and for that I am thankful. I just hope nothing else is going on because I didn't think an ear infection could put me down for this many days. Thanks for checking on me. Living alone and being sick is not fun and I always have in the back of my mind if something happened to me how long would it take for my neighbors to realize something is wrong. Now that I don't take my newspaper anymore there is no obvious sign that something might be wrong. I suppose I should get one of those life alert things but I probably take after my Mom. When she went into assisted living when she was in her 90's she would say there is just a lot of old people here. LOL I don't feel old but I guess I have the same attitude about the life alerts.
Hopefully I will get back to my walking 2.7 miles a day very soon and back into my routine.
I hope you are doing well.
Love,
Nancy
0 -
Hi Nancy, I trust that you are on the road to recovery and feeling much better! We are praying for you! Chris, I'm praying that Colorado isn't so cold and you have a great team of doctors there. Also a special welcome to Leslie, and Hershey so glad to hear your Mom is doing better. Praying for each you.
Love, Wheatfields
0 -
Hi Wheatfields.
Thanks for asking about me. Unfortunately I am not doing as well as I think I should be. I only have until Sat. to finish my antibiotics and I still have ear pain and I have had a terrific headache the last two days so I am not sure what is going on. I may have to end up seeing an ENT. I do thank you for your prayers. How are you doing? I think you opening up about your hearing challenges has made me realize how difficult that must be for you.
Chris, I don't know where you are in your house hunting but I have prayed for you a lot. I know your new insurance just kicked in at the beginning of March and I have been praying hard regarding finding a good oncology team and getting you on a new chemo that will work. I have been praying against your back pain as well. I hope we will hear some good news from you when you have a chance to give us an update.
The whole format of BCO today seems really off. I hope this post will go through.
I hope you all are doing well.
Love,
Nancy
0 -
Thank you for the update, Nancy. I've been frustrated with the BCO site today. Super slow, and my posts disappear. I hope it gets fixed, and I hope your ear pain gets resolved. No fun!
0 -
Wheatfields, it's so good to hear from you. I hope you are doing well, and thank you for thinking about my mom. You are in my prayers.
Nancy, I hope the antibiotics do their job and you feel better very soon. Ear pain is no joke.
BCO's new design is hard on my old eyes. Here's hoping for some site improvements soon.
0 -
Thank you all for your love and support. My headache tonight has finally lessened and I feel better.
I wanted to share a prayer request from Faith. As many of you know she has been suffering from a lot of anxiety and depression. I was worried about her as she hadn't posted in a very long time. I sent her an email and asked how she was doing. A few weeks before Christmas she fell and has a small compression fracture in her back which has been painful. If that were not enough she was experiencing shortness of breath so a chest x-ray showed possible pneumonia and she has a heart issue of a leaking mitral valve prolapse. She is really battling depression. She really needs us to come along side her with much prayer and encouragement during this challenging and difficult time. Her DH is having some issues as well so I know they would appreciate your prayers. She mentioned she will be having another wedding in her family in Dec. so I hope that will be a very bright spot for her when that comes.
Enjoy your weekend.
Love,
Nancy
0 -
The whole page has changed and it is hard to find the end of this thread
0
