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

canarycat · December 6

Cindy I love the photos and especially thr giant Xmas trees. Loved the one with the deer.
Marti glad your talk with your 7 yr old went well. I didn’t have chemo just radiation and am on meds for just over 4 more years.
mom still waiting for my CT and mammogram. Lordy. Apparently my MO has gone elsewhere and I have a new one. Hopefully these tests happen before I meet him in February.
We are having mild weather for December. Sunshine and light showers today.

I’ve tackled my powder room. Got the old cabinet out and off to the dump Monday. Here’s how it sits now ( cat proof) until the new one arrives.

carolehalston · December 6

Betrayal and Chris, thanks for inquiring about dh's recovery. He is doing well and taking only Tylenol and ibuprofen for pain now. He's back to his wood turning hobby, making some lovely items.

Betrayal, you're making me wish I had some deer out in the back yard and some pumpkins to feed them. LOL. It's such a nice imaginary scene. We once had deer in the neighborhood but all their habitat has been replaced by subdivisions and houses. Thankfully, the houses are all more upscale than ours, so that doesn't hurt our home value.

Marti, good news that your daughter accepted your bad health status. How interesting that you have a rock star son. I'll have to look him up on online. My dh and I go to MN for four months in the summer. We stay at a little campground/resort on Island Lake a little north of Park Rapids. We're about 3 hours from Minn/St. Paul. 1 1/2 hours from Fargo. We're managers of the campground, Pinehollow Resort, which has only 14 sites occupied by rvs. We enjoy MN summers and like the down-to-earth people.

Canarycat, you and Cindy have a lot of common with your fixer upper skills.

Harley, I would love to have taken that cooking class with you. Also loved to sample that paella! We had one very similar to that at a restaurant in Spain many years ago. We spent time in Barcelona and found it a fascinating city.

petite1 · December 7

Hi. Love the pictures. I am back in Florida. I couldn't handle the problems with my little cabin. It breaks my heart. I asked my NC friend to help me. I have much going on in Florida. I have a Christmas luncheon with the ladies from my church on Tuesday and was invited to a play on Friday, along with all my activities, Zumba, Yoga, Grief Support group and my Friends. Next week a concert and a luncheon with my social group. So I will be busy.

harley07 · December 7

petite - I think it’s wise to take a break from home repairs as it can be overwhelming. Enjoy the time with your friends and your support group.

Carole - glad to hear DH is feeling better and back to his hobbies.

I agree that Canarycat and Cindy could team up on their fix-it skills. Perhaps a show on HGTV?

Back home it is cold and snowy - same as what Chris is experiencing. Here in southern Spain it is high 60’s and sunny. Wishing all a good Sunday

mcbaker · December 7

Yes, by all means, wait until spring or summer to work on the cabin. Save up your money so that you will have enough for a professional to do the things only a professional can do.

betrayal · December 7

Unlike a drop of water which loses its identity when it joins the ocean, man does not lose his being in the society in which he lives. Man's life is independent. He is born not for the development of the society alone, but for the development of his self.

B. R. Ambedkar

betrayal · December 8

My DB let me know his FIL died this morning. DSIL was in the process of readying to go to the hospital when they got the call. How fitting that an ex-Navy man decided Pearl Harbor Day was the day for his final salute. They picked up his wife and went to the hospice to say their good-byes. DB was hoping he'd hold on until tomorrow since it will be the 16th anniversary of my DF's death and then we could have a "Dad's day". I'm hoping they have connected in heaven and are busy exchanging "Dad" jokes because both loved them. I'll have to let my neighbor know because they worked together for many years. It will be a military funeral so I am not sure when it will be scheduled.

We went to DGS's basketball game. He is on a new team this year and they actually function more as a team. They won! It was a really good game, too. We missed DGD's game yesterday, but she has a dance recital this coming Sunday and we bought tickets for that. We went back to DS's house and had a really good pizza with his family. It was a new one at this place and was a thin crust with red sauce, cheese and chunks of Italian sausage. It had lots of meat and was delicious.

canarycat, I agree with carole that you and cindyny should start a business together. You both seem to have DIY skills and are good at it.

petite1, house repairs can be overwhelming and sometimes you have to walk away to catch your breath. As much as you are in despair about the needs to make your cabin comfy, just remember, once they are done, you will have an escape that protects you from the elements and an escape from the heat of FL.

Tomorrow the HVAC people are to return and hopefully have a solution for the A/C duct problem in the attic. Once that is fixed then we can have to guy come back to finish his repairs in the guest room closet. Once he's done the closet needs to be painted and I need to order the closet organizer I had seen on Walmart that seems it will work in this shallow closet. I am tired of looking at 4 rooms in total disarray: guest room DD's old bedroom, living room and dining room. I still have been unable to locate a dry cleaners that cleans custom drapes. I may have to take the drapes down myself, give them a good vacuuming and then rehang them once the room is painted. I was hoping to have this done before Christmas, but it's not looking good.

I have a pain management appointment tomorrow to see what the next step is for addressing my unrelenting back pain. When they measured my height for the PFT's I have lost another inch and she was generous because I had my shoes on and she only deducted 1/2 inch for them. So my BMI will shoot up with this height loss and negate the recent weight I have lost.

I put the Christmas tree up, which is a big step after nearly 10 years of none, and have yet to hang any ornaments. It needs to be straightened because it has a slight lean. I have a collection of handmade ornaments I made when I was in my BSN program and would work on them when I needed a short break from studying. I also have many from my childhood, those made by my children and then those we have collected over the years. I probably have enough for several trees. My DS's house was fully decorated and looks lovely.

Hope everyone had a great day and waving "hi" to everyone.

betrayal · December 8

We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.

Abraham Lincoln

carolehalston · 2:21AM

I now have a cardiologist. One of my doctors recently suggested that I establish myself as a patient of a cardiologist. I did so today and the meeting was pleasant. I had an EKG and will have an ultrasound of my neck arteries at a later date. Other than that, I'll return for an appointment in a year. My appointment was for 11 am. I was out by 11:20 and made it to the gym in time for the Monday exercise class.

Tomorrow I may get out the carpet cleaner and clean the living room carpet. I would like to get the living room done before the Sunday after Christmas when my siblings will be gathering here at my house. There are six of us. The traffic areas in the bedroom also need cleaning. I'll see if it seems like a good idea tomorrow morning.

1946taco · 4:12AM

Marti - I seem to remember wearing zip down sweat shirts so they could get to my port. I second the suggestion about joining the "starting chemo" group. Mine still touches base periodically on our private Facebook account. Hope today wasn't too bad. You may have trouble sleeping tonight because of the steroids that are usually given with the chemo.

Loved the pictures of the Basilica. It was closed for construction when we there 9 years ago. We really enjoyed Barcelona.

Chris - what is happening to health care is just a crime! I hope you can figure something out. My daughter expects hers to go up over $500 a month and she is only in her '50's and healthy. Thank goodness we are able to help her pay for it. She doesn't qualify for MaineCare but is told she's too poor for Obamacare and of course her job doesn't offer any help.

I love seeing the snow pictures but don't want to be there. I'm playing golf in short sleeves instead of shoveling.

Bella is back with us. Her dad had a stroke Friday night. Jie has health issues too so who knows whether we'll become a 2 dog family

Computer is about to die on me so I'll say good night.

marticcrn · 12:11PM

hi friends! You’ll get a kick out of this. I DID join the starting chemo in December group. I am the ONLY ONE THERE.

so can y’all sub in for a while on my questions?

carole - I am SO IMPRESSED by your ambition! Cleaning carpets is so far from my mind right now… enjoy your golf! It looks like a beautiful picture postcard here we’re getting an inch or two every day here right now, crisp and crunchy under your feet, darkly in the light, makes the world so sweetly silent. Our snow here is teeny flakes that you could sweep with a sidewalk broom. It’s like powdered sugar. Almost like the beach at siesta key - only way colder and no waves.

Petite - welp, I’m right there with you I live in a 120 year old home and one of the cabinet doors came unjoined at a trim connection and just fell off the other day, so we are paying a guy to fix in and rip the shag carpet out of the master bedroom (previous owner’s cat pee inspired my cat - not safe for chemo even with carpet shampooing my home will also be a chaos nightmare for a very short while.

Canary - would you like to come visit and fix up my house? I am terribly short of the skills to DIY it, but I am an excellent gardener, I do some watercolor, and I’m a great cook! Labor swap? You’d be really well fed!!

first chemo yesterday - keytruda, carbo, taxol. In at 7am, out at 11:30. Not bad, with labs and all. And the outpatient pharmacy delivers to your chemo suite, which is super nice. Well staffed, efficient, very clean. (I’m a nurse - this is the stuff that tells you a LOT about how care is).

I’m getting my port Thursday. Since I’m at a university cancer center, I keep expecting to be treated by fellows and residents, but so far it’s all clinical professors. My IR doc who’s putting in the port, finished up two fellowships in the 2010s.

No side effects so far. I was burpy last night and took a Zofran before bed just in case.

so far, things are kinda sorta well in hand.
Love to you all.
marti