thread for middle age to older Christian women.

Chris, what a long and frustrating experience for you with the lab and hospital. Pastor John has recounted similar experiences at his cancer center: various delays in treatments, miscommunications between providers, appointment cancellations, etc. Not sure if these situations are results of lack of training, staffing shortages, or something else, but small annoyances can quickly add up to stressful situations for patients. I'm praying that your subsequent infusions proceed without any glitches.

Nancy,

Pleased you were able to have an adventure of a lifetime.

I'll be looking forward to seeing many pics.

_____________________________________________

August has been a blur for tick magnet me. The deer finally got me! ☹️

I was admitted to the hospital because I had a serious infection from tick-borne illnesses (septic shock from babesiosis and Lyme disease). While I were in the hospital, I needed fluids and medicine to help my blood pressure. I got antibiotics to treat the infections. My blood counts are still low, but they are now stable.

I returned home with the following new medicines.

Doxycycline: for babesiosis and Lyme disease

Azithromycin: for babesiosis and Lyme disease

Atovaquone: for babesiosis

I had a follow-up appointment with my PCP. Receiving excellent care.

Daily, gaining strength and balance. Weaning off a walker.

Appetite has been 🤪. Tomorrow, husband serving-up Dungeness crab for dinner. 😋

I pray one and all are blessed with less stress and suffering. 🙏

Hi Teka,

I am so sorry to hear what all you have gone through. You are on enough meds to hopefully knock out the parasites. I had to look up babesiosis as I had never heard of that. My niece several years ago was diagnosed with Lyme Disease. She noticed the classic bullseye rash and got in immediately to her pcp. She has done well all these years later. In fact she is on a 3 week vacation through New Mexico and now tent camping in Colorado on her way home to Iowa. Because they caught hers so early she has faired very well and has always been pretty high energy. She is 57 yrs old. I pray that you will be able to gain strength and that your meds will knock out the sickness you have had. I didn't have my laptop with me my whole vacation so I am just now catching up on things. I thought maybe you were just taking a break but you usually tell me when you are doing that so I was getting concerned about you. I am glad you have posted but I sure am sorry to hear of your hosptial stay and knowing how sick you have been. I will pray that you will not suffer any longterm affects and that your appetite will come back. I know the ladies here will pray for you and your recovery as will I.

Hershey, I have already been thinking about a trip to Florida during the winter as I really don't like the darkness and cold of winter. I am not sure if I would venture driving all the way down or not. My car which still looks like new is now 11 yrs old but not many miles. My experience with the wheelchair assistance when flying was less than stellar overall. Chicago was okay but still I had to reach out for help when someone was supposed to be coming to help me preboard and never came. In Salt Lake City airport it was pretty much a nightmare. My car rental which was off site had a shuttle which dropped me off with all of my luggage on an outside bench in the heat. I was dressed for the cold air on the plane and had on long pants and a long sleeved top. He told me to call the number on the sign for wheelchair assistance. I was very early as I had to check out of my hotel at 11 am and my flight was not until 4:15. I emptied my water bottle after driving from my hotel to the rental place. My Google Maps lost connection and I was in a slight panic as I didn't know what to do and it looked like if I kept going I would end up on a highway for miles. I finally got my connection back and dropped off my rental. At this point I was getting thirsty. So when the shuttle dropped me off I couldn't go anyplace because I had three heavy rolling bags plus my heavy backpack. Plus I didn't dare just leave them unattended. I called two different times and the young lady I talked to had no idea where I was and neither did I to help explain. Finally I snagged a worker her made a call for me and at this point I was so thirsty I didn't know what was going to happen next. The worker left. I waited for 45 min before someone came for me. Finally a 17 yr old kid came who was the coordinator of the wheelchair assistance. He profusely apologized but that didn't help the fact I still needed water and a restroom. So with all of that said I would not have been able to manage all of my luggage through very long stretches inside the terminals but am not too confident in the system either. I think because I was so early getting to the airport that threw them off. They kept asking me to spell my name which didn't give me a lot of confidence. I sat in this very uncomfortable wheelchair for at least four hours. I am still having back pain and I think that is part of the reason plus the flight home. So as a very long answer to your question I would love to shoot some Florida wildlife in the winter. So time will tell. I bet you will be glad to see the autumn come. I can see why now.

Cheryl, I wish you all could see these hoodoos in person. They really do seem like people. The folklore is that the Native Indians living in the area believed in a Coyote God which they believed was not happy with the outsiders who carelessly depleted the resources of the land. As a punishment this God turned all of these outsider people into stone. They really do seem like groups of people when I would just take time to scour the whole panoramic view. Most of the people I encountered were from other countries and it was interesting watching them see the hoodoos for the first time. So your WOW was exactly what I was thinking when I would see these amazing views. The weather was not as cooperative as I would like to get either early or late pictures where the red rocks color would pop but I was still glad to get what I did in between all the rain.

Chris, I hope you are feeling better.

Wheatfields, I just saw an interview with Katy Couric and a doctor who has possibly made a legendary breakthrough in treating dementia. His experiment with mice was amazing. Actually the natural meds he talked about is something I took for years with my alternative doctor called Lithium Oratate. Not the same as the drug for bipolar. What I took was a mineral of sorts. If you can find it on YouTube I found it fascinating.

Have a good night dear sisters.

Love,

Nancy

Chris, I am glad your leg is healing very well. I was also glad that your tests did not show anything wrong with your bones. Apparently you fell really hard. I hope you will be able to get that brace off soon.

My friends my age who have done extensive traveling don't have any interest in traveling now. For me the window of opportunity is closing quickly and I do feel like I have missed out but I am so thankful I was able to make this dream trip a reality. I am not officially planning my next trip. I am still exhausted from this one. On my flight back to Chicago a lady was wheeled in her wheelchair directy across from me. She was not very friendly at all but her daughter was very helpful for me. She checked on preboarding for both her mom and me. I think at SLC they were understaffed. I could tell by the conversations of one of my assistants with other workers . He also told me he was sick.

On a whole other subject I had signed up for economy plus and before I could pick my seating I had to pay through Expedia. When I got back to the airline page there was no place to pick my seat. The airlines picked window seats for me in both flight so I was pleased with that not understanding that it was basic economy. I didn't find out until the last few minutes of a very claustrophobic flight that I was placed in basic economy even though I had paid for the upgrade. I also didn't know until the last few minutes how the seats can go back a little. It was a very uncomfortable flight for my first time in 55 yrs. Coming back home I was able to get my seat back a little bit and enough to not feel like I was going into a claustrophobia panic. Also there was no one seated right next to me which helped.

I don't blame you for not wanting to fly anymore since you have already done a lot of traveling. My first trip was so very complicated for my first time in years. I realized that early on but I really wanted to go to Bryce Canyon. If I do decide to go to Florida I think it would be a much easier trip but one never knows.

I will be praying for you as your SE's kick in.

Love,

Nancy

Hi dear sisters,

I have been so wiped out most of the week that yesterday I finally got my bags unpacked and laundry washed. On Thursday I decided to drop everything and go to the Butterfly House which I hadn't been to all year. The weather has to be just right or it is like a sauna to me. On my way home I stopped at this famous dairy in these parts. I used to live near one many years ago. I went in and asked if they still had the turtle sundae. Oh my. It was so good. I don't think I had one of those in over 35 yrs. Now my vacation is officially over and back to the eating healthy again.

I bought three different flavors of chapstick and do you think I can find them? Obviously they never made it into my suitcase but I had some mini vaseline jars which helped my dry lips. I will find them some day🙄

I hope to get to my pictures this weekend. In the mean time it is that time of year for the sunflower fields to open around here. I thought I would post this pic as a reminder that sunny days are ahead….in more ways that one.

Have a great weekend.

Love,

Nancy

Hi everyone,

I hope you had a good weekend. I have still been pretty wiped out so after returning to church I came home a slept most of the afternoon.

Some of you might remember Teri who actually doesn't live too far from me in Naperville but I have never met her in person. She has had many health problems. I sent her an animated birthday card a few days and she sent me a thank you note which I will share with you as some of you may remember her. She has been in stage 4 cancer for many, many years. I copied her thank you note to me as she has mentioned our group.

I am still in touch with some of the ladies from our forum. It is amazing how fast time flies. Teri is one of those ladies.

Her response is in bold type.

HI Chris,

I'm sorry you had a a rough week. I hope you have some good days to come soon. Did you happen to see my post from Teri. I can't remember her username but she was a stage 4 breast cancer survivor and is now 86. She lives in my same city but we never met in person. She was on our forum quite a few years ago so I think some of you would know her.

I am doing okay. I still have had quite a bit of back pain and am very slowly getting things unpacked and washed. I am going to tackle some cleaning today. I spent over the course of three days doing a get rid of weed fest in my yard. Oh my goodness. I was terribly embarassed how things in 10 days grew so high and we had so much rain too. I got rid of most of them.

My landscaper that I reached out to at the beginning of the season kept asking are you still needing my help. I would say yes and then not hear from her. One day last week she said she had openings in Sept. if I was interested. That is what prompted me to get outside and get rid of the weeds which is what I wanted her to do besides mulching. Then two nights ago she said she had openings in Sept and Oct. I finally pushed back and said I had spent a lot of time weeding knowing she had just said she had openings in Sept. I said honestly Oct is a bit late for me. That got a quick response. She said tell me when you want me to come. We decided on Sept. 12 but no mention of what time, where I live (even though I think I already gave her that info). So I really hope she follows through. She is supposed to be very good with rave reviews. Our neighborhood landscapers don't deal with weed inside our garden beds. They only mulch our parkway and entrance trees.

We have a landscaping company and it has been a very tough year for me since that is my job as liason for our HOA. I sent a scathing email to the branch administrator yesterday. They had not mowed in a very long time. The crew is here today after we thought they were coming yesterday. That has been really stressful. I am looking already for new companies as their three year contract is up We have had them for 5 yrs and the last few have been a struggle. So much for getting back from vacation!!! It was great while it lasted. No thought of politics, HOA duties or any of that stuff. Just soaking in the beauty of nature that I had never seen before. I got my pictures in my computer and transfered some software that I will use to edit so I am barely to the point of sharing anymore pics but will hopefully have some soon. My initial run through on them I was very pleased how they looked on the computer. You never know until you see then on a bigger screen.

I am praying for you.

Teka, I have been praying for a full recovery for you. I hope we hear from you soon.

Love,

Nancy

Hi Chris, I thought too, it had been very quiet here. I'm sorry to hear you had not been feeling well at all. Praying that you will find relief from the side effects and feel better this week.

Nancy, I'm praying that all your HOA duties start to straighten out and are less cumbersome. Also praying that you continue to rest up after your travels! Looking forward to seeing some of your pictures.

Teka, continued prayers for your healing and recovery.

Cheryl, praying that you continue to have minimal side effects or even none at all.

Hershey, praying that you are keeping cool and safe.

My nurse friend still has issues with trying to get some sleep. We did go to the new primary care with a specialty in geriatrics. She seemed very pleasant but was talking about setting up an app on your phone that could guide you in getting a good night sleep and keeping a log of what you eat and how your body seems to respond to certain foods. All of that sounded like too much for my friend who isn't into iPhones and computer stuff, or even keeping a log. My sister sounds more content in memory care but is sleeping a lot more, and is quite confused at times. My leg is doing pretty well and I'm done with PT but have to admit I haven't been doing the exercises that I should be. I'll do my back exercises that I've always done and walk about 3 miles a day but should be also doing balance exercises and the core and quad strengthening ones. I've been having some trouble with my stomach which was diagnosed years ago as dyspepsia. Although it usually seems like fall and spring are the times it crops up more so. Thank you all for your prayers.

Praying for all of you.

Love, Wheatfields

Nancy,

Lovely pics!! Thank You for sharing.

I still only feel up to skimming the prior posts.

________________________________

I had last dose of medicine on August 30th.

I lost 22LBS. during August.

My appetite is slowly coming back.

H & I going to local diner for lunch. Probably will bring a doggie bag home for dinner. ;o)

Wish one and all a fun Labor Day Weekend.

Nancy, what beautiful pictures as always. You are so talented! I have never been to Bryce Canyon so I am enjoying them even more. I am sorry you are still dealing with fatigue but having HOA issues when you just got home must keep you from truly resting. Scary position near the edge of the canyon, but thankfully all was safe.

Wheatfields, you and I are both dealing with stomach issues. Mine are improving as I have decided I feel better with going a little more on the diarrhea side rather than the constipation side so I have increased my Colace as per my PAs suggestion. I am sure having your sister issues is probably also affecting your stomach…at least that is what stress does to me.

Teka, I am praying you feel better soon.

Yes, my DGD has been back to school since August 3rd. When I ask her about her day she just responds it is tiring. I guess elementary school was so easy for her she didn't expect all the rules and harder work in Middle school. I think it is interesting that her favorite class is home ec although it is a mix of different things. They call it FACTS class. She does a little sewing and we are teaching her how to use a sewing machine at home. Since that was always my thing it makes me happy. She has already made a little purse at home she has given to her FACTS teacher. That shows her giving heart. She doesn't cook until 7th grade. I think since she is in advanced math which is hard, she likes the easier class to provide a break of sorts. She is also now on a competitive gymnastics team which meets three times a week in the evenings for 2 1/2 hours so she has a really full plate. In some ways it is really good for her to have a full schedule. It gives her more structure and keeps her phone use down. Her mom is so good about also providing extra fun activities on the weekends. They are really close although my DD is starting to date a little. This makes me happy but of course adds more stress. She has never shared her boyfriend info with me even as a teenager. When I ask she responds he is just a guy…

I am doing okay although my fatigue has increased and I fought stomach pain all last week so it wasn't really a week off. I used the walker only at the hospital yesterday and walked a lot, but I did well and have no broken leg pain today so I feel like I really am healing well. I had another stressful lab situation where I waited 1 1/2 hours in the lab waiting room. It was crazy! I learned making an appointment was useless as they took people in order of arrival, and it was around noon so we also dealt with lunch breaks for the staff. The lady next to me had been waiting for 3 hours when I arrived! I think next time I may go to a different lab or go in extra early and my DD and I can go out to lunch during the extra time before my chemo. They have changed the scheduling procedure again so I am able to get back to scheduling the use of my port for labs in a few weeks which will get me back to the infusion center and out of the hospitla general lab. Yay! I was late for my chemo appointment. My DH walked down to the center to let them know and they told him it was a common occurance and have me just wait at the lab. They knew I was there. The good news was they took me immediately and were prepared so there was no down time that I usually have waiting for meds to arrive. Still, it took us six hours from the time we left the house until we got back home.

This is long… sorry. Praying everyone has a good day today. Chris

Chris, thank you. I was so tickled to see one FIFA world cup tourist posted pics of Bryce Canyon on YouTube and he said he had been to many national parks and this one was the best. Since I have not been to many I don't really know but I would be surprised if any looked like Bryce.

I am so sorry that the health care system seems to be working against you instead of for you. I had some blood work done and this week and instead of checking in with a receptionist which usually was very quick I had to register on a kiosk. Maybe easier for the receptionist but would be difficult for the elderly. It took me a few minutes and then I wasn't exactly sure if I was really signed in. I pray that you have a much better week this week. I think this may be one of your good days. I hope it is. Your DGD sounds like quite a young women. Your DD dating? Good for her.

Teka, I am glad you got to eat something that tasted good. I will try to keep the pics coming. One of my friends took the liberty of inviting a couple of other collegues I knew from teaching and basically it looks like I am supposed to share my pics with them. I had no idea this vacation would turn into a travelogue. OH MY!!!!! I have a feeling it may be at my house because I don't think my friend has a TV on her first floor. OH NO!!

I will have to admit home economics was NOT my favorite. Much of it had to do with the old and crabby teacher for one and then the cooking teacher never forgave me for burning their brand new pan when cooking stewed apples. Ooops. I will say after teaching at the middle school level the home ec teachers were much more fun and positive which would make a world of difference, Oh well. Music was always my thing growing up. I guess it is a good thing I am single!!!! LOL I hope each day for you is getting your strength and appetite back.

Have a great weekend everyone. I will probably be gone again for a few days to Iowa next week visiting my niece and my sister and her DH will be there so it will be like a midyear reunion for us.

Love,

Nancy

Thank you Hershey, The hoodoos have a magical aura about them. I would get a kick out of someone coming up to a look out point for the first time and hear their reaction. Not only did the Grand Canyon have great flooding but Bryce Canyon also had flash flooding exactly the week after I left to return home. Since I was not hiking the trails like most were I did not have any idea that if you are deep in the canyon how quickly a rainfall can become a deadly situation. I was disappointed that it rained almost every day but I am so thankful I didn't get caught in any flash flooding situation like some did. I saw this rather long video that invovled some adults and two elementary age kids that got caught in a slot canyon at Zion NP. It was so scary. I was wondering if those two young boys had any clue how dangerous this could have become. They all got out in time but it was so frightening to watch in real time. I had studied up on Bryce for so long but I had never heard of the dangers of flash flooding.

I hope you are doing okay. You sound like you have quite a bit on your plate with dental issues and you mentioned an oncologist, I hope everything is okay.

I went out this morning for breakfast with some of our current and past HOA board members. Two of them had the same birthday and one lady was in Florida for mine so they celebrated mine again. I had my usual healhy smoothie breakfast at home knowing I would probably not be eating very healthy food. Then after basically having two breakfasts then the waitress gave the three of us birthday people some ice cream. I haven't been this full for a very long time. On the way home I started to feel very nauseated so I ended up laying down for a good part of the day. I sure hope this is not a bug. I am supposed to be driving to Iowa on Monday and I really don't want to be sick. There is a small chance that I might be able to get a picture of the Milky Way at my nieces as she is in the country on a 100 acrea farm with not a lot of light polution. That would be exciting as she has a nice big pond they made and it would be so neat to get some reflectons of the the stars and the Milky Way in the water, Time will tell.

I have been brainstormiing a trip to Sanibel island in Flordia in the winter. They have some of the best shelling on their beaches plus there is a wildlife refuge center there as well. I was not aware that they are still cleaning up from the hurrican that totally destroyed them about four years ago. That might change things. I definitely want to photograph some of the birds that we don't see here. The alligators ………………………. a whole other situation!!!!

It is late and I have to get to bed. Have a great holiday weekend.

Love

Nancy