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

ChiSandy

“Does your shoe have a boy inside, a funny place for a boy to hide? Does your shoe have a dog there too…?” The dog was an Am-Staff terrier named “Tige.” Amazing what useless drek the aging mind can dredge up from a distant childhood. We had the foot fluoroscopes in Brooklyn too. Who knew? Our FP, though, told us not to use the machines, and to buy Stride-Rites instead. Also, when everyone else was getting their tonsils burned out via radiation, he said he wasn’t convinced it was safe so he referred us to surgical ENT who kicked it old-school with scalpels. Decades later, all these baby boomers are developing thyroid cancer...

Wren44

I remember the fluoroscopes and the Buster Brown shoes. It was fun to see my foot bones. I escaped the other because I still have my tonsils. They've never caused any problems.

MinusTwo

Yup - I had a tonsillectomy too. And the darn pediatrician promised me all the ice cream I could eat as we rode up in the elevator to surgery Sure didn't want ice cream later.

duckyb1

I'M BUSTER BROWN...I LIVE IN A SHOE....HE'S MY DOG TIGE, YOU'LL FIND HIM IN THERE TOO.".............LOL, its a wonder any of us have feet....LOL.....only reason I managed to survive it was because my mother couldn't ;afford to buy me shoes that often........so I wasn't exposed that many times....hahahahhah

MinusTwo

Ducky - oh we didn't always buy shoes. Anytime we were walking down the street the sales people encouraged us to come in & jump on the machine. My Mother was indulgent - at least until her 3rd child came along when I was age 10.

Kicks

It was very common back in the '40's (and before) until into the '60's for radiation to be done to the throat area after a tonsillectomy to prevent tonsils from growing back. (Mine grew back and still have the 'second set). Unfortunately, many who had radiation done 'back then' do not know that it was done to them. I've always known I had the rads and that it was a potential area of 'worry'. Not all have that info and as thyroid issues increase, it's sad that so many don't know what they were possibly exposed to an should be checking on potential issues before an issue gets 'nasty'.

I never had a pair of BB shoes - didn't suit Mom. The shoes I had to have were not what any other kids wore. They had to be 'designer' (for lack of a better word). I hated them - not what anybody else wore. There were times she would buy the same shoe in different colors to go with certain 'outfits'. I still had to have the fluoroshopes done for the 'right' fit though.

IllinoisLady

The truth is, your attitude and mine are always our choice. No matter how bad things are, no one can force you to have a bad attitude if you don't want to, and no matter how good things are, no one can force you to have a good attitude if you don't want to. Now that should come as really good news because it says our attitudes don't have to be the victims of our circumstances or of other people. We choose our responses. Mary Whelchel

IllinoisLady

Seems cloudy today --- hope for a bit cooler then. Anne -- hugs. Lots of hope and positive energies.

I don't think we had the fluoroscope thingy here for the Buster Brown shoes, though I wore them for a while. Still have my tonsils -- but do have a bad thyroid. It runs in the family --- my mother ( now deceased ) my sister ( now deceased ) and I all had it. Mime was bad for 7 yrs. before discovering what was going on. For years I had a heartbeat that was often erratic, a pulse to high to count, finally started losing wt. to the tune of going down to 112 lb.'s. This is REALLY slim for someone 5'8". Then I started filling up with water --- over 40 #'s worth upon discovery. Just by chance ran into a Dr. who had just found thyroid issues in his own daughter and he knew immediately what he was seeing.

You'd think this was cave man era -- it was the mid-80's. So, though things could have easily gotten extremely desperate for me, I was given a thyroid specialist ( a young Russian Dr. ) and though it took a while and three different episodes of drinking radiated iodine mixed in sterile water in a lead lined container ( with a straw ) I at last broke free and got well. I have taken thyroid meds ever since. I had a bad case of Graves disease and to this day have an enlarged area underneath my chin where the goiter resided for several months. Thyroids can be big deals sometimes.

Hope everyone is going to have a fantastic day.

duckyb1

My daughter has the Thyroid Hasimoto' s Disease.....and also has Poly Myalgia.....has really taken her down ...they put her on Prednisone, and she gained 40lbs. and then gave her methotrexate too...lots of pain, and possibllity of getting diabetes from the damn weight gain...ruining her bones, and always in pain.........she finally got down to 1gm of Prednisone, and could not longer deal with theother BS so she took ehrself off oc the Meth....and now has stopped the Pred....said quality of life is worth more.......I feel so bad for her...I know the weight gain has got her so depressed it is a shame.....but again..the meds were giving her SE;s too......like i siad they give you a pill to cure one thing and the cure causes another problem......Ugh

Chevyboy

I thought his name was "Tide".... Hah! Our girls loved those machines they stuck their feet in...

http://melbirnkrant.com/collection/page8.html

bonnets

I always thought that too! Live and learn!

carolehalston

Anne, sorry to hear about all the pain you're having. Hope you get relief and a cure.

I'm having some achy pain in my upper back muscles that I used this morning for about an hour when I was mowing grass in camp sites with a push mower. Then I spent another hour or hour and a half helping my neighbor Mary clear a thicket of wild lilac bushes. Lots of bending over and clipping and gathering up branches. Despite the mild weather I got soaking wet with perspiration. The exertion is my substitute for going to the gym. Dh drove the truck to Kansas City for his wood turners' convention so I have no transportation to the gym.

This afternoon I will either make some whole wheat buns or start a crochet project. Hm.... I guess another option would be to fritter away the afternoon. LOL.

Happy Thursday.

duckyb1

Hi......I knew it was Tige, ..but I thought it was spelled Tie.........goes to show you how much I know.....well here's a little bit of news....went to the Opthomologist today....my favorite 2 h;our visit........NOT . .....I have macular degeneration......but anyway....she told me she thoght I had dry eye.......so she asked me if I have sore, burning, itchy, eyes all the time.....said yea...pretty much but I use Systane which helps some..........anyway....she said I want you to try Ristasis............."I will give you samples".....if it works I wi ll give you a script...

So could not find samples, so I got a script ......ready for this......co-pay is $141.00........I told the pharmacist........I'll continue rubbing, and using Systene....LOL...the hell with that......between the "inhaler".....rescue inhaler.....(which I never use so it just expires...had no need)...so we are not adding another one to the mix.......I'll just rub a dub dub.....

IllinoisLady

As we let our light shine,
we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence actually liberates others.
- Marianne Williamson

IllinoisLady

Cool day here, maybe more rain. I think I won't mind so much. There is humidity --- but if cool enough it can be a bit more tolerable. Love, hugs, ( careful ones ) being sent to Anne. I know you are busy trying to find positive solutions and we are with you Anne.

I think Carole is staying fairly cool where she is right now. Not sure is our current weather will extend itself to Minn. but fingers crossed. I thin we will stay in the 80's more or less the next few days with later on more rain it sounds like right now. I've stopped counting on what the weather reports say since I think wind currents in this part of the country can delay, speed up, or completely change what happens in our little pocket of our edge of southern Illinois. We often ( in our little area of maybe a 25 mile radius or so ) miss lots of what is very close to us in temps and effects.

Just enough rain to keep my car from needing a bath, but not sure how long that will hold. From a distance ( due to the somewhat dusty blue color I'm pretty sure ) it does look great. A close-up shows more than I like --- but that is okay for now.

I hope you are all going to have a fantastic day.

bonnets

Ducky, You shud see what hey charge for ONE Viagra!!!!!

duckyb1

Bonnets....My husband died at 57.....up to that point...the Viagra manufacturer would have gone out of business if they had to depend on him for sales .....LOL...

bonnets

Us too, since my DH had his prostate cancer!

Warrior2016

I am so happy to find this forum! I had my children at 32 and 34 - a little bit behind the norm and I always felt different than my friends. It was harder to stay up all night or to get up every 4 hours and then work a full day. (In my 20's I had no trouble staying up all night partying...) Then I get cancer at 65 and I feel like my very young (and knowledgeable) oncologist keeps reminding me that people work on this chemo, that I shouldn't be so tired, that I need to exercise more, that other people don't get this nauseous. This cancer hit me like a rock and in the last 9 months I have aged at least 5 years. I am on chemo again and I am trying not to get so sick. It's an easier chemo this time but I am nauseous already. I shared Shamanic Reiki earlier this week, I took a restorative yoga class last night, I am back on the treadmill but I'm not even up to a mile yet, I'm eating right. I'm thinking I am doing pretty damn good right now - we'll see if it lasts.

BTW, my DH has had prostate cancer and now has no prostate. Between the need for Cialis and my rectal prolapse there is no sex anyway, but last year (oh, I remember it well) when we did have sex it was about $100 each time. Our doctor said it was medically necessary for the health of the penis to keep a good blood flow but insurance still wouldn't pay.

I'm on my third round of chemo - Xeloda at home. Since it is at home it is not major medical but pharmacy and when I am done I will have put out over $4,000 because I am going to fall into the coverage gap but then I will be on the catastrophic level. I can afford this but it makes me mad that Medicare will pay for me to buy 3 prosthetic bras every 3 months but they can't pay for all my chemo. If I die from this I want a sign at my viewing that says, "She may not have had enough money for chemo but she sure has nice bras." I have no idea what I would do with 12 new bras a year as I don't wear my foobs except for dressy occasions...well, let's be honest, so far I wore them once.

Buster Brown Saddle Shoes - what a wonderful memory!!!!

Blessings to all. I'm hoping that wherever you are on your journey you are finding peace and happiness.

duckyb1

Warrior.....you said it so well.....in the same respect...I have right arm lymphedema.....Medicare will pay for a compression pump, which I tried and now own, (and it does shit)....you sit an hour in the morning and another in the evening with this big thing on your arm, and when you done you put your compression sleeve back on which is the reason for this "vent".......

Aetna paid almost $2,000 for this thing that is sitting in a corner of my house in a bag, ...."YET"....they do not pay for compression sleeves that cost about $50.00, and you get about 1 year use out of it........now some might say "well I got mine paid for"......and in some cases you might....but that is after you spend hours on the phone jumping through hoops with the people who know "shit" about why you need the sleeve, and its another 10 calls to you Dr's for them to contact Aetna to tell them "why you need the compression sleeve"......so I think I have made my point....I know its not Chemo, but I am so sick and tired of no one taking "Cancer" seriously......and thinking our problems are all in our heads......

So Warrior.....I'm with you.....and how do ;you like a Dr. who has gotten all his knowledge about cancer from a book, telling you that what is happening to you is not "real" because the "book" says it isn't......or the SE you get from a "med" is not real because the manufacturer says "that should not happen", when in reality. .....the Dr. never read the insert that came with inside the "box"....

Ok, I'm done.....good luck Warrior.....will be praying for you....

Warrior2016

Oh, duckyb1, I forgot about the compression sleeve. I'll be picking mine up Tuesday at a cost of $140. I also wear compression on the torso but I'm just using a spanx sleeveless top or a sports compression bra. I am in PT so that is paid for by my insurance but not the compression that will help keep the problem down!

Cancer is expensive - I'm also in counseling to help deal with this. Proactive on my part as I also feel that counseling helps enrich your life. I started after I retired as I just felt lost. I managed to get involved in lots of things and was reinventing myself when this damn cancer came along and took away many, but not all, of my new adventures in life. Anyway, I digress...my point is that counseling is another expense. So is a housecleaner. On my first round of chemo I was nauseous, constantly tired, and I had fevers on and off. My husband did clean but let's just say we have two entirely different concepts of what cleaning a house is.

Thanks for the prayers. We all need them. Blessings to you.

BTW, I grew up somewhat close to you in Willow Grove.

IllinoisLady

Be sure that it is not you that is mortal, but only your body.
For that person whom your outward form reveals is not
yourself; the spirit is the true self, not that physical figure
which can be pointed out by your finger.

Cicero

IllinoisLady

If I missed it along the way welcome Warrior. We are glad you are here. You are so right --- many of us were on our way to retirement ( a big adjustment to be sure ) and just when settling in -- found something else going on that took over our whole existence. Like you, even though yrs. ago now, I didn't adjust well to chemo. I had 6 mos. of it and was either nauseous big time or throwing up for several days at a stretch. At the 3 month mark I started my second chemo ( one that didn't have the se of nausea and vomiting ) and kept on with the same reaction. Perhaps this has a little bit to do with why Dr.'s sometimes play down certain items. There are a lot of people using chemo and a lot of 'different' reactions -- because we are ALL different in response.

I trusted my Dr. ( if not completely the way the information on effects came across ) and I decided early on to choose a side of the fence to be on where the whole project was concerned. I don't often say it, but it was a pretty negative time of my life --- but on my side of the fence I had decided how badly I wanted to live and so I decided that I would do what I had to do to help this Dr. and his staff do what needed to be done to effect that goal that was uppermost in my mind. It was my good fortune ( thanking the Universe here ) that despite being what felt like constantly ill, I advanced to NED and still there.

Having this dx. does cost a lot of money. I'm not working at 71 right now but Dh is at 78. Why !!! Well the cancer dx. is one of the biggest reasons. I'm doing some after yearly physical tests -- so may find another patient afterwards. I don't have some of the problems now that others have. There again, I do look on it as the fact that we all have different ( sometimes very unpredictable responses ) to treatments. I can shout, scream, call names, and blame anything and everything for it or I can adjust my attitude to accept it, change or do what I can, and move on to finding great ways to enjoy having 'gotten' well and do things that enhance my gratitude that I am still here.

Since we all respond so differently, you can likely easily see that I tend to do what I can to accentuate the positive. Negatives seldom help anyone and now and then sometimes get some into a huge quagmire. I've extricated myself from several of those -- so in this later stage of my life, I'm taking a different route. I changed around the time I was dx'ed and pretty much haven't looked back. My way is not for everyone. I'm fully aware that I might seem like I'm ignoring issues -- but rather then ignore them -- I try to fully admit their existence and then dismiss the power they might claim to disrupt my life and how I wish to live.

I wish you well on this journey no one wishes to take but gets forced into and know we will support you -- no matter whether up or down, sad, angry -- whatever is going on. We share so much here and do our level best to help everyone get on and hopefully stay on a fairly even keel.

pink_is_my_colour

Ah! Saddle shoes when I was growing up. But alas mom wouldn't approve. I think in the end I wore her down and got them anyway

IllinoisLady

Needed to come back in and say --- thinking of you Anne, Sandra and Mike and Sandy. Hoping for all good to come to each of you. While I'm at it --- where in the world is Chevy???? Out in the hot sun doing something, eh !!!! See you later.

bonnets

Pink, I went to Catholic school and Saddle shoes were part of our uniform!

duckyb1

LOL....I went to public school, and did not have to wear saddle shoes, but they were the in thing back then......Oh I remember well polishing the white every night, and being so careful to make sure the black polish did not get on the whitle.....LOL...and then trying to put the polish on the sole...damn you had to have a steady hand.........imagine actually liking those shoes when we didn't have to .......

ChiSandy

I went to public schools too, and we didn't have a uniform code in grade school—except white blouse, red tie or scarf, and navy blue skirt (or pants for the boys) on Assembly days. If we were Scouts, we could wear those uniforms to Assembly instead. Eventually, the uniform code was relaxed to just white shirts or blouses with any skirts for girls (and any pants other than jeans for boys). Few restrictions on footwear, though sneakers were frowned upon for anything other than gym. Boots were verboten unless they were over-the-shoe galoshes, which had to be lined up on the closet floor below our coats. And we all got saddle shoes when they were cyclically in fashion (as were ruffled “Elizabeth Taylor" and side-buttoned “Dr. Kildare" blouses). However, gray flannel circle and poodle skirts were before my time. From grade school clear up through high school, girls were strictly forbidden to wear pants (except under dresses or skirts when the mercury was below 20F). In junior high, girls weren't allowed to wear sleeveless blouses or v-or-scoop-necks; and we had to wear ugly green one-piece gymsuits which had bloomer legs. We had to wear white canvas sneakers and polish them (or get dreaded demerits if we didn't).

In high school, the gymsuits had attached skirts (but outside of gym class, our skirts had to be no shorter than 1" off the floor when we knelt, as the Girls' Dean often made us do—with the result that I was the only Honor Society, aka Arista, member to serve detention). By then, we were all wearing stockings and pumps (flats or kitten heels), but pantyhose or stay-up thigh-highs were yet to be invented. So we had to wear either garter belts or girdles. Naturally, the locker room was in the basement, and the next class was always on the fourth or fifth floor (and only faculty & disabled students were allowed to use the elevator). We didn't want to be late, so many of us wore our stockings & girdles beneath our gymsuits, white socks and sneakers. We also used chalk to touch up our sneakers because white shoe polish stank and took too long to dry. But then one day, the gym teacher--as we sat on the floor, knees up & feet flat for attendance—began patrolling our ranks, randomly pinching legs to see if there were nylons on them and sweeping a finger across Keds to see if any telltale chalk came off (or the polish was still wet). I'm sure gym teachers were probably very nice women in real life, but back then they seemed petty tyrants who took particular delight in the power they had to wreck honor students' GPAs and even threaten being left back for poor performance at dodgeball or inability to pass the swim test.

I rejoiced when I graduated and went on to Brooklyn College, where the dress code was “no shoes, no shirt, no service." Jeans! Sleeveless shell blouses! V-neck tees! Sandals! Sneakers (whenever we wanted and as grungy as we cared them to be)! Anything that wouldn't get one arrested for indecent exposure on the subway was permissible. Then I rushed and pledged a sorority…and during pledge month, we had to wear dresses or skirts. Sigh.

Chilly here too, Jackie, though nothing like it was this morning up in Hayward, WI where I performed. (Carole, how far n. in MN is your summer resort? I was pretty far north of Minneapolis today, almost to Lake Superior). On the way home, in Milton, WI I saw a double rainbow at sunset—pretty neat considering it's Pride Weekend. Will post a pic later when I can upload it.

IllinoisLady

"Happiness comes most to persons who seek her least,
and think least about her.
It is not an object to be sought; it is a state to be induced.
It must follow and not lead.
It must overtake you, and not you overtake it."

—John Burroughs

IllinoisLady

Having delightfully cool mornings here. Took up most of my day yesterday with dealing with a beautiful med to lt. gray cat that wondered into the building ( Sears ) where Dh works. It apparently happened the day/afternoon before as the opening manager was startled by being talked to as he was doing something else. I mentioned elsewhere -- around here many times -- if an older person passes away the remaining family often will just turn a beloved pet outside or drop it off in areas where they are aware that other homeless cats reside.

I believe ( but could be wrong ) they feel that the cat will do just fine. They don't always. To be accepted into an established colony is difficult as the pecking order works to make sure the new person is well aware they are LAST. These cats often have to wait for their opportunity to get scraps which may be all there is for the group. If these LAST residents are not good at hunting --- they may not eat well at all.

Many reasons why the cat came in --- but Dh called me to bring food which I did. All day long the manager became more and more enamored of the cat and decided he wanted to take it home with him. I came home and cleaned up a crate, got a dish and toy and clean small blanket for the crate. The cat was starving but viable. Ate well and very attentive to human interaction --- craving both the food and attention. I hope this 'marriage' takes.

Catch up day here then. Lots of fun things but it is okay. Bill paying needs to begin ( sigh ) but it happens every month. So I do expect a fun day filled to the brim. May check in at the store ( Sears ) and see how things went last night. I will of course, make my usual trip to Wally's World. So tiresome sometimes but at least we now have the bigger store so it can be often one-stop shopping. At least I can feel good about that.

Hope you are all going to have a fantastic day.