Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?
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Jackie, for me browsing through any kitchen ware department is risky. I can easily buy things I'll never use! I'm attracted to serving dishes and gadgets. There are great buys at a Good Will store, especially in a neighborhood with well-to-do people who can't be bothered with garage sales. We have a store across from the entrance to a gated subdivision. I have bought children's clothes there with the tags still on when I was shopping for a great niece. I know a couple who live in the gated subdivision who keep an eye on the merchandise in the Good Will store. They buy name-brand new items.
It's another gloomy day here. I need to call my mother and check on her. She wasn't feeling well yesterday because of the dreaded D ailment. I don't know whether it was some kind of virus making its way in the nursing home. She warned me to stay away and I did.
I also need to brave clearing my desk in our little office. I have been piling papers on the desk since before Christmas.
Happy Sunday to all.
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Here's my latest puzzle, the birds and flowers match the afghan on my couch, I'm going to frame it and hang it in the living room
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Puffin, That will look great hanging on the wall. Looks like it was fun to do as well.
We did a puzzle over Christmas with the whole family there. My 14yo grandson is an absolute whiz at finding big chunks that fit. I have one I haven't opened yet because it looks pretty hard. I think I'll need his help.
There's a Salvation Army Family Store here that makes everything 50% off on the final Fri/Sat of each month. I talked DH into going and we scored a sofa! Called a friend with a truck and he was working in our neighborhood, so brought it home yesterday. I've wanted a new sofa forever and have looked and looked. It's an OK design, OK color, and the right size for our small living room. I'm considering using 2 sofas and a recliner. I have cut outs for all our furniture and rooms, so will try out various arrangements before moving anything. DH laughed at me when I measured everything, but if it fits on my diagram, it fits in real life. He found a tripod (not sure what he wants it for) and we picked up a knife to use for mayo and peanut butter (so we don't have to pull a heavy drawer most of the way out to get a knife) and a spaghetti claw spoon to grab things out of the back of the washer.
Maybe our find will make up for the future week of rain, rain, rain.
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OOOOH, I like that! I love birds, especially Gold Finches!
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We only have a Salvation Army here, and they send everything to a central distribution center, don't do it locally!
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Hi All,
I’m 65, diagnosed right before my birthday. My Oncotype DX score is 26. My question to all of you is did any of you have CMF chemo? I’m having 8 infusions 2weeks apart then 16 radiation treatments. I’m getting the nuelasta on pro placed after each chemo. I’m not sure which drug, treatment or what is causing the jumpy gurgling stomach I’ve had. I’m getting chemo # 4 on 2/6/18. Did any of you have a weird jumpy feeling in your stomach? I wish I had a better way to explain it.
I am on another thread with people that started chemo in November 2017 but none of them are receiving CMF and sadly most are very young.
Any comments will be appreciated. Thanks, Kate
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Kate, I'm not sure about anyone here right now having had CMF, but I think I do know someone and I will pm her to find out and see if she will tell you about her experiences. She/we had chemo back around 2007 soooo don't know what may or may not have changed since then. Sunday nights here could be slow so that is why I wanted to offer you something.
I don't know that much of chemo ( whatever the kind ) is related very much to age. It may be more due to just how your body reacts to things ( chemo for instance ) since all of us -- even those getting almost the exact same chemo tended to have differences in how we reacted. I had two different kinds of chemo and both caused nausea, but only one had it as a side effect -- so sometimes we just get something because for a variety of likely minor differences our bodies react differently. Still, my friend may know EXACTLY what you are talking about so it is always good to ask a question.
Kate is my daughter's nickname. Her name is actually Kathleen, but back when we named her she would have gotten the nickname of Kathy and we didn't care for that so we made her a "Kate" immediately. Often called her Katie. She told her kindergarten teacher her name was Katie Kathleen Michelle -- uh, well, not really but that is what she what she thought.
Hang in there and hopefully you will get some answers soon.
Jackie
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Thank you for responding Jackie. I’m a Kathleen too, and my mother called me Kathy, and I began calling my self Kate in college. My mom said if she had wanted to call me Kate she would have called me Kate! Her mother in law was named Kate!
All of the comments on hair coloring have been interesting. I asked my oncologist about coloring my hair and she said I could use something vegetable based. My hair has thinned a bit and she said it could very likely fall out with a chemical based product. I think I’ll hold off on the color.
Thanks again for responding
Kate
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Kate, good luck with your treatment. I can't offer any information but I'm sure there are others on bc.org who can. You can start your own discussion thread with an inquiry. We welcome you on this forum.
The sun is shining and the temperature is mild here on this Monday. Hope everyone has a good day.
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Hi, it’s Kate again. Did any of you have abnormal liver enzymes? I got a call that I need to get new blood work. My ALT/SGPT IS 70. Last week it was 32 before 3 rd infusion and 2nd nuelasta.
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Sorry Kate, I can't help with that. Hopefully it was just the sample that was off somehow.
I'm off in a few minutes for my yearly breast exam with the onc. I need to schedule a mammo in Feb. My PCP could have done the exam, but her office would be full of flu victims. I decided oncology would be a safer bet.
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Life is a refining processor response to it determines whether we'll be ground down or polished up. On a piano, one person sits down and plays sonatas, while another merely bangs away at "Chopsticks. "The piano is not responsible. It's how you touch the keys that makes the difference. It's how you play what life gives you that determines your joy and shine. -Barbara Johnson
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Hopefully Kate someone can get you an answer on the liver enzymes. Mine ( far as I know, as no one said otherwise ) were mainly normal. Once I did have to have some retesting done as numbers were 'odd' when they had never been. Then again -- our liver processes a lot and I think depending on meals and other things an 'odd' number could appear.
Good that you asked on the hair coloring. CMF usually leaves a fair amt. of hair in place I'm told though it might thin --- but harsh ( hair colorings ) chemicals could have a negative effect. I had the kind of chemo where head hair as well as ALL bodily hair disappears for a few months so it was never a question for me. Keeping my bald head warm in a VERY told winter was my issue.
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Thanks, IllinoisLady, Hopefully my blood work tomorrow will give me some information. Maybe my 8 senekots will work out my constipation today too. I walked on the treadmill and down our road so I’m thinking that might help. Along with prunes, water, miralax and a suppository. I let the nurse know what I tried so far today and she said take the senakot. Kate.
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19501952
I don't know if I can be of any help, but my liver enzymes went up after I finished radiation (I never had chemo). I was supposed to start hormone therapy, but the liver numbers were way over 70 and my MO said no. He waited 6 weeks and ordered another blood test, but they were still up. It was about 10 weeks before the enzymes went down on their own to around the 27-32 level. I haven't had any problems since.
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Thanks VelvetPoppy, I’ll let you all know what my blood work reveals tomorrow. I appreciate all of the support, reassurances and responses. Knowing there is an Army of experts out there really helps. When you read things like 10% have this response, and this side effect is rare, and this problem means you should jump off a bridge it’s good to know there are real people that have had real experiences and that their story has a beginning and an end and maybe some of this stuff can be managed and has been managed and experienced by other people. Thanks, Kate
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If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant:
if we did not sometimes taste of adversity,
prosperity would not be so welcome.
Anne Bradstreet0 -
19501952 -- Kate, glad you are feeling some assurances. I think we could say we are all of us unique people with some unique responses to what happens to us. We just tend to see things in straight lines when with a cancer Dx. some of the straight lines aren't truly there. We get there but I think to a person we all had frightening and confused times. You have to learn a whole new language and no matter how self assured learn to cope with not knowing many things and to often feel you have lost control. It all works out but I've said so often -- at a certain time in life you are thinking about retirement or only working part time and starting to do some of the things that are much closer in reach when you age a bit. You don't expect to put your life on hold in a way to recover from a disease that you were never even thinking would happen to you. It's scary and hard to find a comfortable spot.
Good for taking one day at a time on the way to getting there and a return to being in charge.
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Passion doesn't come from business or books or even a connection with another person. It is a connection with your own life force, the world around you and the spirit that connects us all. YOU are the source. Books, work, music, people, sunsets all provide sparks, but only you can light the fire.
Jennifer Jones
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One touch of a key and a post disappears! I hate that!
I started painting the master bedroom today. The first stage, applying a primer, is done. Tomorrow I plan to paint on the new color. It will be nice to have a new look. And nice to get the bathroom put back together with towel bars etc. It's a mess. We'll have to shower in the guest bathroom.
Hope everybody had/is having a good day.
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Just call me tired. Or pooped. I spent the day painting and I think I'm finished. Tomorrow I may see some "holidays" or places not completely covered. If so, I will have to do some touch up. I think I am going to like the color even though it turned out brighter than I expected. It's a green/blue with probably more green than blue. DH picked it out. We will be living with it as long as we live in this house.
My body is so-o-o NOT as supple as it used to be but I managed to squat and kneel and get to those not easy to reach places like around the toilet, which happens to sit in a corner.
Everybody must be busy painting their bathrooms or, preferably, doing something fun since it's very quiet on here.
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Just got home from my PCP appt. Drew not just an a1c but also CBC, ferritin, iron-binding capacity, & reticulocytes. Asked him what a1c score would be worrisome, and he said "we really don't do anything for anything below 7 for someone never diagnosed," but went on to say that because I've "been on the fence" for awhile and I'm obese, he might recommend Jardiance anyway--more for its weight loss and cardiprotective effect. Has none of metformin's GI side effects and is more cardioprotective than metformin (which is, admittedly, far cheaper). He also thinks it doesn't raise LDL as high as do metformin and the other anti-diabetes drugs like Invokana.
But he's concerned about the red patch on my arm, below the actual injection site, that appeared after my Shingrix shot a couple of days ago (which I got at a supermarket pharmacy). He says it feels a bit warm and had the nurse outline the perimeter with a few Sharpie dots. I am to keep an eye on it, and if it's spread beyond the dots by tomorrow I should come in for observation and an antibiotic. Should also have my labs back by Sat. morning at the latest.
All in all, he's satisfied that my weight is down a bit since June and I've had no other real problems. My wrist healed; my old stress fracture in my L foot & ankle will always bother me somewhat so I should just support it; and my groin pain is indeed only a recurrence of my old iliopsoas muscle strain. He wants me to resume exercise once the arm thing is past, but "low & slow" at first.
But here's what he's found. Remember Zostavax (the original shingles shot) and all those TV commercials that suddenly stopped? It's because, while it was thought to be 40-60% effective, after one year no zoster antibodies could be found in a large test cohort. Yup--it's worthless. (At least Merck sent me a full rebate when I got it back in 2012). As to Shingrix, he's truly surprised at how fast the FDA cleared it and the CDC began recommending it. It's so new that there isn't even a body of evidence concerning the type of reaction I'm having. He said to keep an eye out for flu-ish symptoms, and warned that because the virus in it isn't as attenuated as in Zostavax, it could give me shingles...but a much milder case that would then confer immunity. I did receive it because it popped up in my "health reminders" section of my Presence patient portal, along with my "asthma action plan" and "Medicare wellness visit."
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If you can accept the flow of life and give in to it,
you will be accepting what is real. Only when you accept
what is real can you live with it in peace and happiness.
The alternative is a struggle that will never end because
it is a struggle with the unreal, with a mirage of life
instead of life itself.
Deepak Chopra0 -
Brrr, but a beauty of a sun outside. The moon lately has been very pretty -- so bluish white and very bright. With the cold I haven't spend all that much time outside and I sure didn't go outside in the wee hours to look at it while it was a blood-red moon. Feel a little bad about that, but I'm in the midst of my beauty sleep then. So far, my beauty sleep hasn't produced some of the effects I wish it could, but life goes on. Dh has the day off which usually means I don't get all that much done -- so I've learned now to count on a lot of personal actions taking place. Got my morning chores done....that may be the gist of all that takes place.
Hope the sun stays ( look quite promising ) and warms us a bit. Just wow on those shingles shots Sandy. I never bothered to get one ( the shot ) and likely won't. When I was really young ( had rheumatic fever then ) around age of 8 my sister brought home the chicken pox. My mom asked the Dr. what to do and he said that since I being treated ( quite heavily since they weren't sure what the most direct surest tx. even was at the time ) for the rheumatic fever that I might as well get the chicken pox out of the way. Despite the contact --- I got one ( it was a bit of a maybe ) pox at the side of my nose. It could have been that but who knows for sure since there was only one bump. So --- I live dangerously and don't bother with the shot. So far, so good.
Hope you all have a fantastic day today and that you too have lots of sun.
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I got all the childhood diseases except mumps & rubella--both of which my sis had. I still bear a pit in my forehead (where I'd place the red dot were I a Brahmin) from chicken pox. Finally got the mumps & rubella shots at age 27, at my first physical after arriving in Chicago.
My ferritin & reticulocytes are back up just across the "low normal" line--iron-binding capacity & saturation are down. Dunno if I'm supposed to do anything about it other than keep taking iron. The red patch on my arm has spread "south" about 1.5" from the border dots drawn yesterday, but not above. It's still warm but no longer swollen, and it feels slightly bruised on the skin and itchy below it. I described it to the PCP via portal message, and he replied that from everything he's read about similar reactions to other shots (this one's too new to have had anything reported--on the market less than a month) it sounds more like a reaction than a cellulitis, especially since there's absolutely nothing at the injection point itself. But he says to keep an eye on it and report twice a day until it recedes.
The big news though, is my a1c. Last summer it was 6.1, and I have fallen very, very far and hard off the low-carb wagon since then, especially around the holidays and thereafter. I expected it to creep up to 6.5. But my new score is...5.9! So unless my PCP wants me on Jardiance for weight loss, it's just gonna be "stop eating sugar & starch." (Bob says he wouldn't give me any meds at all for that--just "do as I say, not as I do").
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Only when life is difficult, are we challenged to become our greatest selves.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie0 -
Sandy, you are proof that life is good when your A 1 numbers are as well. I do hope the injection site clears up quickly and with NO adverse effects of any kind. Sugars and starches are a big downfall for me. I am not addicted to sugar as I once was, but I'm often not as careful as I once was. I was able by using South beach Diet ( diet is the dirty word here ) to curb/cure my addictions to sugar and salt -- but those two items are in most of the food we eat one way or the other. I just have to remind myself to stay mindful of what I'm eating and when and to add in extra exercise when I fall of the wagon. It is nice to get news with a comfort factor from the Dr.
Cold ( no sun ) today. We keep sort of going back and forth, but this time of yr. usually comes with a lot of that. Just have to hang in there and keep dreaming of Spring.
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Hello ladies! Have only read a few posts in this thread so far, but I can tell it is where I belong. Love your posts IllinoisLady. I am from Carbondale, IL but moved to S TX a few years ago to avoid the cold.
I was diagnosed late last year and have Round#2 on Monday. ILLady, we have the same genotype. Did you also have TC chemo?
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lmurphy welcome to our playhouse and welcome to a fellow Illinoisan. Lived here all my life save for a few yrs. So glad you found us. We are a small group which I often think makes it much easier to keep up. Also I'm pretty sure you noticed that we talk about a lot of different things --- even cancer now and then.
I had two chemo's. Adriamycin and Cytoxan ( the Cytoxan is also known as the red devil ) and Taxotere. Had three rounds of each -- 3 weeks in-between each one. That was back in 2007. As far as Carbondale -- My surgeon was from So. Ill University/Carbondale. Dr. Marsha Ryan. She saved my life. I was due to have a very slow growing papillary cancer removed and Dr. Ryan thought I might only need a week of radiation after. Well, when she got the papillary tumor out, she lifted out a bruise ( the reason why I first started checking as it wouldn't heal ) which had become only dead tissue at that point. Not satisfied to move on and close up the first incision she kept checking around where the bruise had been and found another tumor -- this one aggressive and a lot larger than the first. So --- that got me a totally different dx. So 6 mos. of chemo and 7 very full weeks of radiation later -- I am as fine as frog hair split down the middle.
I have this vision ( I could be wrong ) that many Dr.'s would have just taken that old bruise and gone on with nary a thought. My Dh and I both felt Dr. Ryan had a healer's aura. We were instantly assured the minute she walked into the room that we were in the best of hands. I'm not knocking any other Dr.'s with this but only that who I needed the most back then ( after I had lost my insurance by the way ) was in the most round-about way led to me and I to her. So, while she refused to take credit -- I gave it to her anyway because I'm a BIG believer that the Universe OFTEN puts you on a certain path to get what you need. Having those beliefs has driven my life for quite a good length of time now. I got all of my dx. and treatment through the Marion V.A. so they were the ones who farmed me out to Dr. Ryan's clinic.
I hope you will come often. Sometimes we get a bit quiet here, but I'm usually here every day as I leave a quote for people to enjoy/think about/or use in any way they might like.
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