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

@l1ttlec I received your pictures both ways. Your dogs are lovely. My favorite dog was a shepherd mix. I love that your surgeon believes on focusing on the patient. I know God will be by your side whatever your decision.

@mcbaker You can see Tippy has an attitude in this picture. Love it!

@jaspercat I need to add my welcome. We are here for you!

We spent the morning, and part of the afternoon, at my cousins wake, funeral service and burial. He was a captain in the Navy, serving for 38 years. Amazing service, with an amazing group of fellow Navy men showing up at his service. Very emotional day.

We got home and SO went out to grab some items at the grocery store. Well he called me from the car dealership, his drivers side window dropped down into the door; a part broke, window intact. I picked him up at the dealers, and we left the car. Turns out they wanted $1,004 to replace the window regulator. He questioned them but the parts guy had left for the day. We went back down and took the car home. It’s got a clear plastic garbage bag covering the window now. The part should be less than $100, and my god son can put it in. Or we can try, YouTube video is available.

Weather today was perfect. I was out deadheading roses and my butterfly bush before 8 AM, 62 & sunny. Tomorrow seems to be similar but includes afternoon rains. I’ll be heading to a gf house early to dig up some lilies. Then back home to plant them before the rain hits.

Petite, I’ve never heard of the new injection drug they put you on. Someone in here might have. Hope it works the same with no SE.

My neighbors had a beautiful pink rose of Shannon in their front yard. The dh trimmed it drastically and I feared destroyed it. But when it bloomed it was beautiful. Then last week I saw it was leaning, or my mind went to him trimming it too much on one side. But then with a few days it had toppled over! I even checked my Ring camera to see if anyone knocked it over: 7:20 pm I could see it, but by 9:40 it was flat on the ground. I think it rotted. Today they sawed off the base, threw on a bag of mulch, and put a pot of flowers on top. 🤷‍♀️ I’m thinking if any of it survived, it can send up shoots, and they’ll get something back.

@cindyny Wow, what a run-around! My HMO uses a call center now too and it is new and riddled with problems. I really preferred direct scheduling. You might try Salonpas cream which has some lidocaine in it for a severe itch. Works great on bites but I use it for other itches. Your scenario mimics the type of things my RN DD hears from her patients in the ER. They go there because they can't get in to see a doc. Last night she said there was a four-hour wait which is typical. It is also why I went to the local Urgent Care instead of the ER when I fell and broke my leg. I figured if it was more than just a sprain at least I would know the wait would be worth it and if I went straight to the ER they would want to do all sorts of additional tests given my dx. Arghh!!! Turns out the lower fibula was broken and they put me in a boot, and then I got a specialist appt on Monday (it was a Friday of course.) I ended up with just a boot anyways although it was nice to hear it from an orthopedist. It is healing nicely BTW.

Cindy, I'm with Intolight and quite often I go to urgent care for things like you are experiencing. I've generally had real good luck that way. Do you have an urgent care that you can go to? My PCP's office is only via call center now too and I really, really don't like that I can't call the office. Thankfully, I still can reach the oncologist's office directly by phone or MyChart. Good luck!

cindyny, sorry to hear about your mysterious rash and hope it disappears soon. Have you found anything that offers relief yet? I hear you about getting in touch with your PCP or getting an emergent appointment. Non-existent these days.

I hate talking to the office appointment call centers most of the time, but did have one who went the extra mile to get me an earlier appointment and called me back when she had one available. It was a first and I was so pleased that she cared.

I did have an experience with my pain management office where they make appointments as you leave. However, they schedule my next appointment at a distant office and never told me this. when I showed up at this office, they said I needed to be at this other one and I was really annoyed. I told them to cancel it since I was never going to be able to make it and asked why they would do this knowing I always come to this office to be seen? No reply. Haven't been back. I saw the PA and really liked her. Sent a message via portal explaining what had happened and heard nothing.

I've been trying to catch-up with housework indoors, so floors were mopped and vacuumed. I will finish dusting today. I worked on the counted cross stitch for several hours over the past 2 days and have to say progress has been slow. I can finally see the outline of one flower and there are many more after this. This is going to be a herculean effort to finish, but I will keep in mind it is for DD and DSIL and keep on plugging.

DGS got splashed on his nose and eyebrow area with hot grease while cooking. He was taken to CHOP and referred to a burn specialist for follow-up. He saw someone yesterday and was given Silver Silvadene cream to put on it. When I worked with pediatric burn patients we used a cream that lead to this development. It was messy, stained our uniforms if we weren't careful and had to be slathered on under copious dressings. They healed well with minimal scarring then and now. He says it is not painful.

Very warm today and rain was expected for this afternoon. There was a sprinkle this morning , but it was really brief. Tree service was to come to today to remove a dying walnut and to trim a crab apple. In the interim we found a dying tree in the woods. We notified the one neighbor they were having to use the driveway briefly for the walnut tree for both the bucket truck and the chipper. We forgot to tell the neighbor up the hill and of course, she sends me an email telling me she needs the driveway and when will they be there specifically. With most contractors the time span they give you is morning or afternoon with no specifics. They were to call, but didn't and showed up around 3:30. They trimmed the crabapple by just shaping it rather than doing a major cutback. He said it doesn't need it now and I trust him. He took down the walnut and then scoped out the dying tree in the woods which was an oak. He asked if I wanted it removed or if he could just drop it. I told him to just drop it and he didn't need to take it all the way down, he could leave a few feet of trunk. He climbed it himself and took it down in sections which they dropped. They did cut up the top branches and then he leveled it using his men to pull it over in the woods. Sorry to lose an oak, but had concerns it would take out ham radio tower or our shed it if went down. It wasn't a large tree girthwise, but beyond what we could handle. He had given me a quote for the original work and I had told him to add the oak to that. When they finished, he gave me a new quote which was several hundred dollars less than his original quote. when I questioned why since they did more than I had originally gotten a quote for, he said it took less time than they anticipated. He said the tree business doesn't pay anymore due to equipment costs, repairs, getting qualified workers or even ones he can train are scarce now, and this is a business his Dad owned. He only has daughters and said even if he had a son, he wouldn't encourage him to follow in his footsteps. I'm hoping he stays in business so we can continue to use his services since he does good work, they clean up after themselves and don't gouge us.

DSIL made closing on her DF's house yesterday so she has rid herself of all the major issues for his estate. She is still wrangling with Vanguard and a few other annuities. Having been the executrix for both parents estates, I know what a nightmare this can be. Endless phone calls to annuity companies that keep asking for more documentation, you submit it and they reject it. So you have to start practically all over again. Getting in contact with a responsible, caring person is luck of the draw and you are at their mercy. They celebrated last night with sparkling wine and a meal at our favorite Italian restaurant. She has been on a merry go round trying to settle this estate since January. It takes a toll.

Want to finish dusting after dinner and then taking it easy because my neck has been bothering me. I think it is from leaning over the cross-stitch stand and I am finding that some of the light colors of embroidery thread are impossible to see at night, so I work on it when there is better light.

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

My itch - I didn’t haven’t a rash, it just itched. The skin looks like any other part of my skin, normal.

I did get in to my dermatologist yesterday at 9 AM. He examined me, using his eye scope up close and saw nothing.

I have darier’s disease - a rash resembling prickly heat that runs a nerve across my left rib cage. It hasn’t acted up in years - knock on wood! He checked it, it’s a mild case to begin with, but all looked good. It’s a rare genetic disease. Shoulders don’t have anything on them.

He recommended I use the same steroid cream I use for darier’s - a .1% steroid cream that I mix in a container with Aveeno, to apply 2x a day; I store it in the refrigerator. And he doubled up on my antihistamine meds, wanting me to take a Zyrtec at night, in addition to my Claritin D 24 hr daily morning pill.

Last night was my first dose with Zyrtec and cream on my shoulders after showering. No itch overnight, and it didn’t wake me up. So far so good.

I’ve been digging up plants & replanting them, and yesterday I cleaned out everything I could from our bedroom in anticipation of it getting painted. Well, that and it rained all day, making it perfect to consider indoor chores.

This morning, with no itching lol, I noticed my back was killing me. I found a tube of Biofreeze gel and used a plastic bag to protect my fingers as I rubbed that all over my sorest spot. I have a roll on but it’s upstairs somewhere in a travel toiletry bag. Boy, that felt good. Then I made an appointment with my chiropractor muscle therapist for Friday at 10AM, her first available.

I did get out for a walk, slower and shorter but it was perfect 68 degrees & overcast weather. Loosen up my back.

I just saw a trainer from my gym, the gym forced to close during Covid, has passed away. Total shock, she was 6 years younger than me. She was a lovely person, funny and kind.

It’s another overcast cooler day with rain north & south of us. We’re hoping to stay dry.

Teka - how awful. Glad you're on the mend.