thread for middle age to older Christian women.

Hi ladies,

Nancy, I am so sorry to hear of your lung infection, as soon as I read that I thought about the fumes too. I'll be praying that you make a rapid and full recovery. Chris, I'm so happy that you are having a wonderful time with your sister and praying that you continue feeling well. Praising the Lord that everything is stable and you can continue on the same meds. Praying that the side effects lessen. I was thinking too that everything seemed very quiet and then I discovered my notifications were not on. Hershey and Teka I hope you are doing well!

I think I'm on my last month of PT and seem to be getting better if I just stick with the exercise program. My nurse friend's sister is here from TN and is actually going to move here and live with my nurse friend (her sister), so this is a real change of events. My sister still recognizes me when I call each day, but her memory is getting shorter. I plan on going back to AZ for a week in July. Thank you for your prayers.

Continuing in prayer for each of you.

Love, Wheatfields

Dear sisters, I too was not getting email notifications from BCO eiither. It is very late and I need to get to bed. I have felt just horrible today with fits of coughing I have never ever heard from me before. I am going to try to get into my pcp and see what he thinks. I think it could be whooping cough. Chris, I am glad your sister was with you for your infusion and could see just what all you go through. I have my hip injection which is an out patient procedure on Thursay, May 28. If I can't get this cough under control I will have to postponse.

I'll write more tomorrow. I need to get to bed. Wheatfields it is good to hear from you. Your nurse friend will have her sister living with her now. I hope that is a good thing for all of you.

Take care.

Love,

Nancy

Nancy, how are you feeling? Has someone from Urgent Care been able to see you? I pray that you are on the mend and no longer in distress. Please let us know how you are doing when you have a chance.

Nancy, praying that you are feeling better and soon on the mend. It is hard being alone and not knowing what to do.

Chris, praying for you also, for the side effects to dissipate soon. I'm also not receiving notifications and cannot figure out why.

Hershey and Teka - Praying that you are both doing well.

Love, Wheatfields

Nancy, how are you feeling? It does sound like Covid. I pray you can get the help you need. I am concerned about you. I have a couple of home tests still but I am sure they are long past their use-by date. I wonder whether they would work anyways? Our world has changed…

It took longer to recover from my chemo this time. I am suspicious that I am getting a UTI as I had symptoms a couple of days ago, but they seem to be gone today. I am scheduled for chemo tomorrow so I am unsure what to do. I was also supposed to get a teeth cleaning tomorrow but I cancelled it. I decided I don't want that and chemo on the same day especially since I am extra weak. I don't want to change my chemo schedule if I skip it as my son and his family are due here June 5th and I have my chemo schedule worked out so I feel optimal while they are here. If I move it a week I will not feel well during their stay. I do have an infusion scheduled on the 9th while they are here but I usually feel good for two days afterwards, so although I will be gone that day, I should feel good while they are here. That also happens to be my 54th wedding anniversary.

It is hard to believe Memorial Day is here already. I haven't begun to think of planting flowers yet as we had a hard frost still last week. The weather looks to be good now but I have no energy. Hopefully I can manage some pots soon. My DIL loves to help me plant them so perhaps that is an activity we can do while she is here.

Take care.

Nancy, I have been concerned about you so am relieved to read your post. I'm glad that your sister is keeping tabs on you. Your loss of smell does sound like a COVID symptom. It may be too late to start Paxlovid, but Amazon can quickly deliver a COVID or COVID-FLU combination test to you through their same-day service. I pray that you're able to schedule an appointment with Urgent Care tomorrow and receive the necessary medical care.

Nancy, I'm praying that you are feeling better each day and have found some answers from urgent care. It does sound like COVID or RSV. Praying also for strength and energy plus encouragement!

Chris, Praying that you are feeling good while your son is here and that everything goes according to how you have planned. Praying that the side effects become more minimal. Also, a very happy anniversary to you and your DH.

I have PT this morning and am doing better, but I know the key is to keep up with the exercises.

Praying for all of you!

Love, Wheatfields

Hi dear sisters.

I did reach out to the the BCO technical team about our issues of not being notified. I haven't checked my email today but when I got on through the website there was a notification that new posts were here so maybe they fixed the problem.

I went to urgent care on Tuesday and I had a different PA. I think it was fortunate that when she was checking my lungs it produced an automatic coughing spell. If that had not happened I am not sure what would have been the end result but she said I heard some wheezing with that cough. Long story short I had a chest x-ray and I waited and waited and waited for a result as I was supposed to go back to the examining room to wait for the doctor again. She finally came in and said they were having a glitch in the radiology dept and she would call me. She called as I was stuck in rush hour traffic trying to get back home. I have acute bronchitis and I started a predisone six day pack yesterday. I feel somewhat better today but my cough is starting to get worse and I am out of the pills for that. I was trying to not have to use the inhaler but I used it for the first time a few minutes ago. I thought I could go get groceries but my get up and go left me a couple of weeks ago. Maybe tomorrow. I opted out of the Covid test because it seemed pointless after discussing with the doctor. She said more than likely you would test negative even if you had it last week. My sense of smell is a little better.

Wheatfields, I sure understand when PT is prolonged it feels like a big responsiblity to do the home exercises. I am so out of my routine mine has really slipped as many of my exercises I would do while taking a bath. I haven't had too many baths the last couple of weeks. I hope you can see the positive result of your therapy and your exercises at home.

Chris, I hope you are still in the feeling prety good stage after your infusion. I am praying that these side effects will not be as bad as the last one.

Hershey, are your outdoor house projects finished now. Getting your house painted is a big deal and a huge job. I hope you are happy with the result.

Teka, I hope you are getting some of our very warm weather after having cold nights. I finally had to turn my AC on for a short time last night.

I am getting ready to take a bath and I have to get my garbage to the curb. I had to skip last week when I had pretty high fever for me so I desperatly need to get out two weeks of garbage tonight.

I am discouraged but God has better plans for me than mine so I have to adjust my expectations and plans to His plans for me. On the plus side is even though I have not felt like doing much neck exercises my Botox injections are clearly working now even though it took almost 4wks. I am very grateful for that.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend coming up. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement.

Love,

Nancy

Hershey,

Oh my!!!! That is a shame that your contractor was not up to the task of painting properly. I am sure glad your husband was able to do the work. I bet it looks very nice.

I am still sick so my yard looks horrible. I have been dealing with these Canade thistle weeds for several years and they are over taking one side of my house and I can't do much about it right now which is pretty much making me crazy. I imagine people who regularly walk by my house are wondeing why doesn't that lady do some weeding!!!!

I am still doing a lot of coughing and I only have one more day of my Predisone pack so I am not sure what will happen now. I have a lot of congestion in my head and will probably try to get into my pcp if this doesn't turn around soon. I still have my inhaler which I have been using.

Chris, how are you feeling? I hope your side effects have been managable and that when your son comes you will feel well to enjoy their visit.

I hope everyone has a good rest of your weekend.

Love,

Nancy

Teka, thanks for the prayer. Please save some takeout for me!!!! Enjoy.

Nancy, beautiful rose picture! Are you doing any better today or did you have to contact your PCP? I have been praying for healing for you.

Even though today is my anniversary and since I had a chemo infusion today, yesterday my kids bought me some lovely flowers for my table, and then they went to the nursery and bought all my plants for my deck and front yard and my DDIL and one of the grandsons planted them for me. With my DHs credit card they also bought and coordinated with the nursery the replacement of our two dead trees. This was a lovely anniversary present!

I don't have any finished pictures, but when I feel better I will try to take some.

Thank you Chris and Wheatfields. My roses are blooming now but that is not one of them.

Chris, how nice that on your anniversary your family is helping to beautify your deck with newly potted flowers and the flowers you have inside. Getting plans in place to replace your trees is also amazing. How are you feeling. I know this is probably one of the better days after your infusion yesterday. Happy Anniversary!!!!!

Wheatfields, your nurse's friend's sister sounds like she has her hands full. Bless her for helping out her sister and her son, Of course bless you for being such a good friend. That is a shame that this new doctor was not particularly helpful for you with your hearing loss. I know I have put up with more than a lot of people would in situations where I had a doctor I didin't partcularly care for. Unfortunately it was a very important doctor at the time and I did end up getting a PA who I really liked until she moved. I know it is time and effort and let's be honest………. a real pain to have to get a new doctor when your previous one has retired but if you have any reservations now with your special situation I believe I would try another one and trust your gut feeling. I realize in my area we have a good number of choices within driving distance but your case may be much different. You are searching for you and your friend so that makes it even more challenging. Ask the Lord for wisdom and go with what you feel He is telling you.

I have not been to church for many weeks but I did resume my Zoom Bible Study last night. I am still not feeling well. I started with a headache a couple of days ago and I have been debating about urgent care again. A few days ago I checked my pcp schedule and I could have gotten in but I waited too late. When I checked yesterday his only openings were next week. I think I might have a sinus infection which would explain my lightheadedness and just a general feeling something is off. My cough is better. I think I only used my inhaler once yesterday. I am walking in my house to gain strength.

My neighbors rung my doorbell on Sunday (the house attached to me) and since we had rain on our landscaping day our bushes and hedges are looking like a jungle now, They trimmed their side of our shared hedge in our driveways and asked if I wanted them to do my side too. Well that was an easy answer………….. of course. They also trimmed my hedge next to my garage. They did not realize I had been sick for so long. The guy is going to trim my roses in back and she offered to help me plant some pots. I told her I would get back to her on that. I have so much other stuff like weeding to do I may skip all those pots this year and just get my little fountains up. We have such a short growing season anyway to plant pots this late may be too late.

Their daughter who I have seen grow up from a baby and has finished her freshman year in high school had been away for 9 wks at a facility in Wisconsin. I had no idea. She is home now. I haven't seen her out yet. She has some anxiety issues. As a 5 yr old she would come over in the summer almost every day and asked if she could help me water my flowers. I feel very bad for her and what she is going through now. They already having a very sweet dog and are going to get her a Persian cat for her. I think that will be great for her and I will be anxious to see the cat as well. I love their dog. She is so sweet.

I am glad that someone near me knows I may need some help. My flight to Utah istwo months exactly from yesterday so I am very aware of that coming and praying I will be able to handle the trip. Manuevering O'Hare Airport in Chicago who has now reclaimed being the busiest airport in the world (I think or maybe the US) is still very frightening to me. I have watched quite a few YouTube videos knowing I am going to have to have stamina to walk through the long halls.

Have a great day dear sisters.

Love,

Nancy

Teka,

No my double knockout roses are not fragrant. Even if they were I may not be able to smell them. My sense of smell is gradually coming back. I debated whether to go back to urgent care and then when severe storms blew in that answered my question. Maybe tomorrow if I am no better. I bet your fragrant roses smell good. My roses are at the back of my lot where there is sun. They are probably feeling like the lonely step children at this point. My neighbor is going to prune them for me. They never did take off like I had hoped but I do see roses on them now.

Keeping up with exercises is always a challenge. I have had PT on so many parts of my body that I think I will continue with these for a long time and then some other part of the body needs attention. I have to pick and choose at this point in my life. I am very thankful that my botox neck injections do give me relief but it may take more session to extend the effectiveness. I am do my neck exercises daily unless I am too sick to do anything.

Well I am bracing for another round of storms.

Take care.

Love,

Nancy

I'm hoping this is the forum for my question. There are so many things to consider before you start chemotherapy. I'm struggling with whether to bother with Cold caps and cooling system to save my hair, or some of it. I will be taking the Adriamycin for four cycles and then Taxol four cycles. From what I've read so far, looks like it won't work well with the Adriamycin. Has anyone had experience using these cold caps and cooling system that has had the Adriamycin chemo?

@mphayescpa I am sorry you find yourself here, but I hope you realize we are here for you and any questions you may have. I am currently on Taxol but I chose not to do the cold capping. My decision had to do with age and not wanting to spend the extra time at the infusion center. My hair has thinned but is not completely gone, and I have been on Taxol since the beginning of January. I do not go in to work anymore and am content to let it go. One thing I do is ice my hands and feet during the chemo infusion part to help minimize the neuropathy. It has worked well for me as I have minimal neuropathy. I would suggest that if you can. I will be praying you can make an informed decision and that God will help you through your treatments.