Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?

Anne ... Thinking of you and your family.

Anne, so very sorry, prayers for you and your family.

Anne - thoughts and prayers for your family

Anne so sorry, glad u just visited with u r brother. 

I love when people come 2 visit, it tells me that i might.

GROUP HUG

Anne, So very sorry.  Prayers for strength for you and your family.  

Mimi, such a sweet story.  I do believe our loved ones  reach out to us.

Hi everyone, 

Once again, thank you so much for your kinds words of comfort and support. 

My brother definitely has a tumor, no stroke. They have been telling him since Tues they would be taking him to surgery shortly to release the blood surrounding the tumor and biopsy the tumor. But he has been on Coumidin since his knee replacements years ago. I know from my husband's situation, they do everything possible to delay any surgical procedure until your blood thickens to an acceptable level- usually 3-5 days. Once when Bob couldn't wait that long, the transfused several bags of fresh frozen platelets to speed up the process. Bill is stable at the moment, so they were able to wait. He is supposed to have the surgery at noon today, to remove as much of the blood around the tumor as possible, and to biopsy the tumor itself. The Dr's have said that he has the best case scenario for a bad situation. The tumor is right in the front of the brain, not behind or under anything which makes the removal of it much simpler. I have asked my cousin to keep me updated, because I am not sure if my sister is not understanding what she is told or if she is trying to censor it so as not to upset me. I was very confused after talking not her yesterday afternoon. She said they were draining  the blood from the tumor. I had never heard of that being done, plus she said they were "testing" the blood and it would take up to 5 days to get the results. She never used the word biopsy. 

As you can imagine, I did not sleep well last night even with my Ativan and Ambien. I ended up taking an extra Ambien at 5:30am and slept till 10.  It all seems so unreal because I was with him less than two weeks ago and other than being a little quieter than usual, he was fine.

Anne

Anne, sending very positive vibes to your brother.  How wonderful that you just enjoyed good times with him before this happened.

We're having a beautiful fall day, though it was a little breezy for golf when I played this morning.  It's sunny and in the 60's now.  I'm about to go to Sam's Club to see about a prescription re-fill and will go to the supermarket, too.  DH and I finished up the potato/leek soup for lunch and he suggested we have some lentil soup next.  So, Jackie, I'll google "lentil soup"!  I'm sure I have recipes in my collection of cookbooks and looseleaf notebooks of recipes.

Nova and Logan, my niece's two older children (10 and 8, or 11 and 9--I forget which) will be spending the night with us tomorrow night.  Their father is bringing them to this area to attend a Renaissance festival.  He's supposed to drop them off about 5pm.  I think we will probably go out for pizza tomorrow night for dinner, to a restaurant where we can each order our own small individual pizza.  I like vegetarian pizzas like spinach and feta cheese.  DH always wants Italian sausage on his, and the kids like salty meat like pepperoni. 

The kids' mother is at her mobile home but she doesn't want them to come there and stay with her.  The place is a horrible mess and she has been smoking inside, since her foot is broken.  Cigarettes and marijuana.  Since she can't drink (her liver has already been damaged by alcohol), she smokes weed to relax.  Or escape reality.  My sister has been keeping the 5-yr-old girl, who has a different father.  She is making it clear to my niece and to the child's father that she cannot commit the rest of her life to raising a small child.  If one of them can't take their daughter by the new year, she will have to go to a foster home, where she will be fine if the foster family is a good family.  This little girl has been shifted around enough that she is very adaptable.  She's an adorable child and still very adoptable, in my opinion.  She's extremely bright, too.  She knows her mother is there, half a mile from her grandmother's house, but she is perfectly content being with her grandma.  A very sad situation. 

Sorry to blabber on.  Hope everyone is doing well today.

Carole, I'd imagine that it bothers you a bit to think of the little one with her Grandma.  She has weathered so many storms  in her young life and will have to face another right after the new yr. possibly. 

The fact that she is really bright helps.  In fact, her young age would likely be a good thing too.  Makes me wish I "knew" someone who would be more than thrilled to have a little one around, but I'm afraid I don't. 

I hope things will work out for her. 

Blessings,

Jackie

Sandra -- what a supper idea.  Thinking of the Styrofoam cooler inside the tote.  Also, I get hay for the little dog houses that I have for a couple of the feral cats I care for.  I wish I could put houses out for all, but I know at the one area I'm not allowed ( they are already not thrilled the cats are there at all )  to put anything out to help the animals in the rough weather we have so often. 

I hope back beyond the tall fence they come through that something is there that offers some shelter to them.  The people who owned the store before were very amiable about little cat houses and other little things to make life a bit better.  There are new owners although the building is still owned by the original people and leased to the people who now run the store.  They asked me to remove these cats and I told them I would see but the cats had been there for a long, long time because the "former" store owners totally encouraged the presence of the felines.  I told him if I couldn't find another option maybe I would get a hold of the former owners.  I haven't had any removal discussions since then and knock on wood, I won't.  I intended this new person to 'understand' that this area has been home to this cat group for some time and it could be seen in a negative light if big changes were made. 

Jackie

p.s. I'm certainly going to remember this way to make cat shelters.  Not only is it great, its very economical too.

Happy Saturday to everyone!

We are starting out with no sun, but it will be ok.  We don't as yet have our Artic blast -- I think that is actually a few days ahead, but it won't be too warm anyway.  Well, knew it was coming but a couple of yrs. we made it into December with really very moderately coolish days -- I think not this time.

Not a lot planned for the day.  I helped my friend out yesterday -- and will have to do double-duty around the house today as well as get my bills written out.  Oh, what fun for me.  Bur it is all in a day's work.  My friend was such a support for me during my initial txs. and was so great in cheering me on -- there is no question for me -- if I'm home I will drop everything to help her out if I can.

Hope you all have a great Saturday and saying hi to those who aren't posting much.  Hugs, to Chevy, Cammie, Sally, Blondie, Wren, GG, and anyone I may have missed. 

Blessings

Jackie

Adorable, Teka. Speaking of cats, I thought I'd give you all an update on my daughter Stephanie's new kitten, Franklin. You may recall that she lost one (Maxwell) of her beloved pair of one year old brother kitties after a long, protracted effort over months to keep him alive. The remaining black beauty, Kelvin, was mourning for his brother and Stephanie decided to get him a new brother. She didn't want to get very attached and claimed the new kitten would not have found his way into her house in the first place if Kelvin hadn't been spending hours a day looking all over the house while he called for his brother. Well, of course, who can resist a baby cat? Stephanie has had him a month now and is hopelessly in love. Franklin is 3 months old now and he and Kelvin are best pals.

P.S. Apparently I knew Franklin was coming into our lives...look at my avatar.
 

So happy that things seem to be going well in your brother's favor.  Such a frightening event in total.  I think you are right about the diagnosis, but I think the Dr.'s are hoping for some sort of certainty.  Also, I thought melanoma was "usually" cancer often found on the outside first.  Now where I got the idea -- who knows, but thinking that would be part of the basis for wanting to test the tumor to be totally certain.

All's well that ends well and with your brother -- it does seem so far, so good.  He will stay in my prayers just for an extra boost.

Sandra -- Franklin is quite photogenic and I am so, so thrilled that things for your daughter and her feline family members are working out so well too.  Kelvin needed your daughter but someone of his own kind too -- I think the perfect match for all concerned has been accomplished. 

I hope you will tell your daughter how happy this old car rescuer is to hear that news.

Speaking of which -- there won't be a rescue, but I have wondered why their was only one batch of kittens born this season.  Well apparently there was at least one more.  Today where I feed, two very small black kitties and one black and white ( I think the Dad of that one was not far away ) came out to eat where I leave food.  They were quite skittish as they always are when they first become "brave" enough to venture out to the food pile.   They usually run back into cover four to six times as I busy myself placing the food.  Some of the older cats can be a little testy ( especially a couple of the un-neutered males ) and so I have to make separate piles. 

The little guys/gals are really, really cute.  Soon, like the other two slightly bigger ( definitely from the first litter of the yr. ) kitties, they will not run and hide at the slightest movement I make -- but it will be likely the first week of Dec. at least.  I love seeing them, but I also worry about what will eventually happen to them.  It is hard for male kittens to survive as the alpha's already there seek the babies out and do away with them -- but if that does not happen -- in spring when they are likely old enough to be full of hormones -- they could go for miles seeking females and never find their way back.  Sigh !!!  Just have to wait and see. 

Jackie

I, too, couldn't read for so long after each surgery the past year. I kept adding to my book list and am now getting to them. It's perfect timing because it's getting cooler and I will be able to snuggle with the dog and a good book.

Don't choose. Accept life as it is in its totality.
- Osho