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

ChiSandy

Joan, best wishes for speedy healing for your mouth. Speech problems can be so frustrating for those of us who depend on our voices for our careers (whether speaking or singing).

And sorry for the loss of your friend. It's tough enough to lose a close friend, but to have lost touch and then find out much later that they've passed away is wrenching. The “if only"s can drive you mad. My best friend in law school went back into the Army (it had paid his tuition after he'd been a medic in 'Nam) for JAG school, spent a year in Germany in military intelligence and visited me here and at my mom's in NYC before going off to AZ to be a military prosecutor. Last we spoke, he'd just been assigned to the Presidio for the Appellate Division and he'd planned to visit Chicago in a few months for a prosecutors' convention. He didn't call when he was supposed to have arrived, and the conference had no record of him registering. A bunch of us decided to try to ask around, and a classmate near Yakima did some digging and found out he'd passed away at the base in AZ. I called, and one of his fellow officers said he had gotten sick very rapidly and was emaciated when he died…three days after the call to tell me he was coming to Chicago. The colleague said he thought it was leukemia but couldn't say for sure. But it was about the same time as the dawn of the AIDS epidemic, and who knows what went on when he was in Germany. My Yakima friend, always a bit of a conspiracy theorist, hinted that maybe it wasn't a coincidence that he was in Military Intelligence—anything could happen in the realm of espionage. Decades later, it made me think of Alexander Litvinenko, who was sickened and killed by polonium poisoning, probably by the FSB. In my friend's era, the parallel would have been KGB (or Stasi if E. Germany). We've all searched the Internet and found no clues from his home town, Army bases, undergrad alma mater or anywhere he lived after law school.

IllinoisLady

I thank you God for this most amazing day,
for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and for the blue dream of sky
and for everything which is natural,
which is infinite, which is yes.
- e. e. cummings

IllinoisLady

Glad to see you back Joan. I miss you when you are gone as I'm sure everyone here does. Your entries/story telling is always a delight to read. Count me as well sorry to hear you lost your friend. The Universe is richer, but hmmm, we here with all sorts of emotions often have to struggle with loss. Sadly, we even see it/feel it differently depending on just where we are ourselves emotionally at the time we receive the information. We can only hope your friend was enjoying her life and the new changes and challenges of moving back to N. Carolina.

Sandy, I think the same of your friend. No matter what the cause. We gain something from everyone who touches our life -- no matter how big or small the event or time. JMHO but I think of these events as meant so that we learn from each other some important lesson which we will use in some way when it is our turn to live in another more rarefied dimension. Haven't had as much time for study for some time but have hopes to return to that study. I find it a huge comfort.

The day/weather/temps are great here. A/C not running -- cool enough outside -- very low 80's, to make do with the inner shade and some fans to circulate it. Was the same yesterday and we may be able to enjoy even more. Hard to believe we are getting close to September. That really ( for me ) begins to process of having to start thinking of Fall right around the corner. Fall means a lot of work here so we will see. I will have to help this year. Last yr. Dh was not able to successfully handle the leaf removal alone. I did not help enough and I will have to get out there early on, but for now --- I'm just going to enjoy this beautiful day. I hope all of you are having one as well.

ChiSandy

Mother Nature watered my tomato & herb plants today. Sunny now. Leaving the red ones (and the two purple-green heirlooms) on the vine to ripen fully, since the squirrels haven’t bothered. (Knock wood). The challenge now is not to let the indoor ones get too ripe & mushy—there is only so much pasta (or “zoodles”) my body and taste buds can tolerate. Couple of weeks ago I would get annoyed if Bob swiped one off the sill without telling me, but now I tell him to "go nuts.”

Speaking of nuts, they are verboten from today till after next week’s colonoscopy. No kernel or popped corn or seeds either (had to put the low-carb bread in the freezer because it has millet seeds). Tomatoes still okay—those seeds are soluble. On the bright side, I get a week’s vacay from iron supplements—so I can “go” more freely w/o the aid of Colace or suppositories, and shed a pound or two. (Sometimes I am told I am full of s#*t, but over the past couple of weeks that’s been literally true). Bet the prep will really accelerate that. Next Thursday night, if I feel like eating and they haven’t had to snip any polyps or tie off any ‘rhoids, I will have myself a nice big fat ear of corn on the cob with seasoned butter—with a chaser of pistachios & almonds.

VelvetPoppy

Watching a hurricane - Harvey - out in the Gulf. It's supposed to come on shore sometime early Saturday morning and hang around for several days just raining. H & I went to the grocery store early this morning (7:30) because he wanted to get back to mow. If we get the rain that is predicted, it could be a week or more before he can mow. The parking lot was packed! All we needed to do was our weekly shopping, but the shelves were bare...no water, bread, lunch meat, toilet paper(?). People were running around in a panic. All I could do was shake my head. Hurricane season starts June 1st - why do people wait until a day or two before a storm to buy their supplies.

We picked up the yard, took down the wind chimes & hanging baskets and readied a water bucket for the garage in case we have to bring the dogs in (they are outdoor pets with a 25' x 30' fan-cooled and heated building for sleeping. It is also H's shop and S's garage; but they do come in to the garage or utility room when we have severe weather). H was a first-responder, for the utility company where he worked, for more than 25 years. He spent many a tropical storm/hurricane working. I rely on his expertise when it comes to preparing. He only had me evacuate once...when we were expecting Rita in 2005. He is concerned about this storm. We aren't in line for hurricane force winds, and tropical storm winds he thinks will be okay. His concern is the rain. We aren't in a flood-prone area, but the weather people are saying we could get up to 25" over the next 5-6 days. H is saying we will flood if that happens. Especially if their prediction of 4" an hour proves accurate.

I am not too worried, yet. We no longer have any carpeting and the few pieces that sit on the floors that are lift-able, I will lift to higher ground. I think having BC and dealing with everything it entailed has changed my perspective. Before, I would have been in panic mode - worrying about my 'stuff'; now, I don't worry so much. We have flood insurance and house insurance, and while we couldn't replace everything, at least we could replace what we absolutely needed. I am not ignoring the reality of what this storm can do or how dangerous it can/will be, but I also can't stop it. So we have taken the necessary precautions and will stay indoors until it is safe to go back out. We have plenty of supplies to last the three of us at least a week. If we lose electricity, we have food that does not require refrigeration or cooking. We will get very hot and uncomfortable, but we will manage.

Please keep the people in the Gulf Coast area in your thoughts over the next several days. We are in for some really bad weather .

IllinoisLady

Never let a day go by without seeing something good in the people who surround you. And tell them! Tell them so. Maybe it's going to be difficult that day, you've got to really search. But find something good, and say, "That was really wonderful.That was beautiful." -Leo Buscaglia

IllinoisLady

Poppy, glad your Dh had a great deal of experience BEING in and around bad storms. I would imagine as you say, while you don't like it, you can view it on a bit of a more pragmatic level. I do think though many people ? Corpus Christi and beyond have to think about getting elsewhere. Even LA has some who need to go inland. I too wonder why people would wait till last minute to 'stock up' when something is predicted to happen. Wondering if they have plenty but just feel they should maybe over prepare, and that is what leads to such a scarcity in the stores. I do hope and pray all remain safe, especially now when federal help may have some issues attached.

Another cooler day here. I sure can't complain. Will soon do my car again -- while we have this nice cooler weather. Dh bought me something called Top Coat. I think he might have seen it on t.v. to put on my car --- he knows I take great pains and complain all the time about having to keep the dirt and dust down. Not sure how happy I'll be. I think I saw the ad, but didn't focus on it. I do think --- ads for things can be deceptive -- looking effortless. Sigh !!! I'll give it a go, but not sure how worth it in the end. Anyone here tried it ???

Otherwise, all is well here. Hoping you all have a fabulous Friday.

VelvetPoppy

Well, 'Harvey' is a Category 4 "life-threatening, dangerous" hurricane. It started raining early this morning - lightly and only off & on - and kept that pattern until about 5pm. It has been a steady moderate rain with light - moderate gusty winds since. We have been under a tornado watch since early afternoon. This is only the beginning. The storm is expected to make landfall between Corpus Christi and Rockport in the next 30-40 minutes. We are not in the path of the hurricane and I worry about the people who are. Many communities ordered mandatory evacuations, and most seem to have left, but there are always those who want to stay to protect their property. And I can understand that. Conditions will deteriorate rapidly once it makes landfall and we will be dealing with rain for the next 5-6 days.

IllinoisLady

In my prayers tonight are all those in the storms path and any later who may suffer with lg. amts. of rain. Uppermost the safety of anyone who felt they HAD to stay. I hope there were planned options for them.

ChiSandy

Velvet, hope you are so far inland and your sewers are so deep that you don’t flood—because a lot of people who don’t live in a Federally-designated flood area can’t even buy flood insurance, at any price. Prayers go out to MinusTwo and Illimae, in the Houston area. I have a pal in Sugar Land, and hope she can evacuate or at least stay high & dry.

VelvetPoppy

~Sandy~

I live in a tiny rural community south of Sugar Land. We don't have a sewer system. We have ditches. This storm is supposed to only be a rain event for us. A LOT OF RAIN!!!!!!! Flooding could become a serious issue. My backyard is under water already and the ditch in front of the house is full. We are used to this when we get heavy spring rains, but they don't last for days. The last time we had something like this was in 2001, with Tropical Storm Allison. The water came up almost to the front door. That's when we decided we needed flood insurance.

ChiSandy

Poppy, thank goodness you were able to buy flood insurance. I’m watching live right now—Victoria & Corpus Christi are being slammed: transformers exploding, hotels flooded up through the first floor (not the ground floor). It’s a very slow-moving storm. Though it’s been “downgraded” to a Cat. 3 and then 2, that only refers to sustained wind speed. Along the coast there’s storm surge (which was what killed most of those who drowned in Superstorm Sandy). And now tornado warnings. They’re talking 15-20 feet of rain south of Houston before it ends—which might not be for a week. Knowing you’re covered isn’t that comforting when you have nowhere to go and you don’t know the hardship that awaits once you have to start recovering from the damage. Prayers for you, and that you find a way to get through this and pick up the pieces as best you can.

IllinoisLady

Self respect cannot be hunted. It cannot be purchased. It is never for sale. It cannot be fabricated out of public relations. It comes to us when we are alone, in quiet moments, in quiet places, when we suddenly realize that knowing the good, we have done it; knowing the beautiful, we have served it; and knowing the truth, we have spoken it.

Whitney Griswold

Wren44

Houston is only 3 feet above sea level, hence flooding. There's no place for it to go and Galveston Bay is already high. I was at work one day when DD called to say they were canoeing in front of our house. We were lucky that it didn't get into our house; it did across the street. We went thru Carla in Houston. Total ignoramuses. We stayed in our mobile home surrounded by tall pine trees. I would never do that knowing what I know now.

VelvetPoppy

H was a child when Carla came through. MIL talked about how bad it was.

We had no damage at our house during the night; just a few limbs from the pecan trees. High wind gusts & heavy rain. Neighbors tree split and fell in the ditch, so water is not draining across the street from us. We drove out into the unincorporated area about three miles behind us and saw a lot of damage. H thinks a tornado went through there. There were trees uprooted, power lines & poles down (light company busy making repairs....we counted almost a dozen bucket trucks), sheet metal twisted around trees & poles and scattered in the fields. Farmers have been busy trying to get the cotton in. There were several fields where it wasn't harvested in time and is now ruined. Everywhere we looked was water...yards flooded, creeks full, pastures under water. It had not been raining for about three hours, so that gave some of the water time to go down some, but around noon it started up again. Most is light , but there are occasional downpours. Last report I saw, Harvey was downgraded to a Category 1, but has slowed to 2 miles an hour.

Anneb1149

Hi everyone

Prayers for all impacted by Harvey. I know you don't have to be hit directly to experience serious problems from these storms. I think I have a little understanding on why people wait till the last minute to prepare, at least in my area. Because of the possibility of being hit by a bad storm or hurricane, our officials go into high gear, telling people to stock up, put up hurricane shutters, etc. TV goes on 24 hr storm coverage days before it hits. I understand their reasoning, but it happens so often, and then the "storm" turns out to be nothing more than a bad thunderstorm. Also, over the years, especially Andrew 25 yrs ago, we were as prepared as we could get, without evacuating, as it was heading straight to Ft Lauderdale. Maybe half an hour before the predicted landfall, it turned and devasted Homestead and other South Dade (Miami) communities. After preparing for many storms that didn't happen, people tend to take their chances that the current storm will be as so many others. Putting up shutters, bringing in everything outside, takes hours if not a day or more. I know these people are playing Russian Roulette, but that's the general outlook. We fall somewhere in the middle. All of our windows, except for the sliding doors on the patio, are hurricane strength, so we don't need to shutter them. Our patio glass doors are under the roof, and we have prepared the outside for putting shutters across the patio- we just haven't bought the actual shutters. We do check our supplies, flashlights and food, and replace batteries, etc and make sure we have enough food and water to get through several days. And we do have a generator in our shed should we lose power for a significant amount of time.

We were hit pretty bad with Hurricane Wilma about 12-13 years ago. I don't think it got a lot of coverage, but it did a lot of damage locally. We watched our neighbor's patio door fly by, and they watched our above the ground pool collapse. We were without power for almost a month. My son, who now lives in SC, was living in townhouse nearby with his now wife. They got power back before us, and my two daughters, three grandsons and I went there to sleep. We were welcomed, as long as we left before my DIL left for work, which was about 7:30am. Our first night in air conditioning in weeks- therefore our first good night of sleep and we had to be up, dressed and out by 7:15am.

We had, by then, hooked up our generator. At first, we only hooked our refrigerator to it. Then we added one light per room., then we added one TV and by the end of it, we had just about everything except the A/C up and running from the generator. I worked at a school at that time, and they were closed for 2 full weeks. I still had no electricity at our house, but the school had power when it reopened. People thought it was crazy to make the kids come back to school when many of them were also still without power. When someone questioned the opening, our principal answered that she didn't give a hoot if the kids learned anything, or if the teachers actually had lesson plans. Most of our kids were on free lunches and our school also provided free breakfast for everyone. She said the food they got that day was probably the first hot meal and possibly the first decent food for them since the storm hit. And she said they needed to know life would and was getting back to normal. About half an hour before school was over, they asked for any students who didn't have power to come to the front office. Someone was handing our MRE's, as many as needed to feed the whole family a hot dinner. Since I didn't have power yet, I got 3 free meals.

We were very lucky that our next door neighbor was a police officer. It was impossible to find enough gas to keep the generators going, but Gary would call his wife every night to tell her where the police vehicles were filling up, and she would load all of the five gallon gas cans we had. It would be fifteen or more cans from about four families, we all had several, and she would go fill us all up. They really were live savers.

Again, my prayers go out to all impacted with Harvey.

Anne

ChiSandy

My mom went through both Katrina (Part I) and then Wilma. Her neighbors helped her pack and get outta Dodge (up to VA to stay at a suite-motel to visit my sis) the morning after Katrina hit SE FL. Three weeks later, her COPD landed her in the hospital in Arlington and we had to fly her home (sis got her to the plane, I picked her up and stayed with her for two weeks). Then a month later, Wilma blasted through. I was supposed to come back to help her, but flights were grounded and hotels were closed (not merely full). She had no power for a few days, and was lucky to have several huge oxygen tanks because her compressor was offline. She & her home health aide (who stayed overnight during the storm) were eating out of cans, but she viewed it as an “adventure.” She had heavy bars across her reinforced windows, and said she was fascinated by the storm itself.

Power came to her part of the complex first because it was on the same grid as Delray Community hospital. I was able to come down a week after Wilma, and it was like a war zone in Delray & Boca. I flew into FLL—palm trees all around the terminal had been snapped in half. Drove up 95 to Delray. The hangar at the little airport in Boca looked like a giant celestial foot (a la the ending of the Monty Python opening theme) had stomped on it. I approached her seniors’ condo complex, and the hedges surrounding it looked like the mouth of someone who’d lost a bad bar fight. As I drove through the complex, devastation was everywhere—entire back porch walls blown off, roofs shredded, blue tarps galore. Shocked to find that her building was the only one on her street that was completely spared.

What gas there was available was >$4/gallon (very high for 2005). Traffic lights were still out. I had to drive her to a different hospital to get her weekly transfusion, and had to dodge downed trees the whole time. We were able to get her a flu shot and a couple flats of bottled water at the neighborhood center. Amazingly, some restaurants had reopened.

duckyb1

anne..thank you for asking about Kaileen...she is doing quite well after a pretty difficult time._here is a picture of Kieran....

duckyb1

here is a picture of GENEVIEVE who will be her part er in crime o e day...cousins born 2 1/2 months apart

duckyb1

And here they are already plannning how they can get in troubl

duckyb1

Here they are plannning how to get in trouble..

IllinoisLady

Sometimes the only words are awww !!

Wren44

Both are adorable, Ducky. Lucky family.

The problem with preparing for a hurricane or an earthquake (up here) is that you need to buy a lot of food you would never eat otherwise. Then when you don't need it you have to use it up anyway or throw away the money. The only food I can think of to store is canned tuna and maybe beans. It seems like everything we eat is fresh because we have a garden and go to the farmer's market weekly. Everything seems to require cooking or refrigeration.

IllinoisLady

Give yourself the gift of forgiving others,
not because THEY deserve it,
but because YOU deserve the serenity and joy
that comes from releasing resentment and anger.
Unconditional forgiveness is the path to your own inner peace.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

VelvetPoppy

~Wren~

I know what you mean about the food. We have a stash of water that we can keep for a while, but any canned foods that we wouldn't normally eat is donated to the food pantry when hurricane season is over in November and we replenish it again in June. We eat out of our garden,too. But by this time of the year the season is over and the garden is resting. We continue to cook because rain, shine or ice, H will cook outdoors.

We have a lot of water...H & S drove out to the unincorporated areas (pasture) to release a rat that had gotten into a live animal trap. They said we are an island. We have 3 ways to get out of here, but all are under water now. Even if we could get out, the freeways are all closed.

We have lived here for 27 years and have never had to shelter. We had to today. A tornado went right over us; thank goodness it didn't touch down. I am so glad I insisted on an interior closet and an interior bathroom when we built this house.

It has been a long wet day & it will continue to be like this at least until Thursday.

Wren44

You were in my thoughts, so I'm glad you posted. I bet both of our previous houses are flooded at this point.

ChiSandy

Stay safe, Texas gals

bonnets

We have family SE of Austin. So far so good, but a lot more rain coming. Watching live weather channel.

Anneb1149

Your description of Wilma was very accurate Sandy. I spoke about that yesterday, but I wanted to mention that once it passed and everyone came out to survey the aftermath, our whole street (a very long street) was totally blocked by fallen trees, branches and other debris. The guys at our end got saws, axes and any and everything else and began clearing the way. My neighbor on one side was a policeman, and on other the other side was an EMT, so they knew they had to clear the way. Many hours later, we realized the people on the other end of the street were doing the same. What a pain in the butt it was, acquaintances became life-long friends as a result.

I have had another interesting few days. I got my third and final epidural in my spine on Tues. Can't get any more for at least 8 mos. I went for my physical therapy on Thurs. As usual, they took my blood pressure. It was too high, so the therapist told me just to sit and relax for a few minutes and she would try again, which has happened a few times, so I wasn't upset. Second reading was higher. Dr said to put the heating pad on, and to do the masssage. It was even higher- by this point it was 179/104. They sent me home without therapy. I took it myself Fri morning after being seated and relaxed for at least 90 min. It was 188/107. My brother said that I should just sit calmly while he showered and then we would take it again. But as he came out of the shower, he said that maybe we should get it checked, regardless of the reading. I agreed, because our mother died from a stroke. When we got to the ER, l was 210/148. I had no other symptoms except for a little pressure in the front of my head. They gave me a pill. After about about hour, it had come down a few points, but not significantly. I asked them to detach me so I could use the restroom

I wAs back in the bed for a half hour or so before they hooked me up again. At the same time, the nurse was putting an IV in to draw blood, and to admit me so I could get IV meds overnight. When the machine took my pressure, it was 178/102. Bloodwork was all fine, so they sent me home. I asked what to do if it spiked again-the Dr's answer was that I shouldn't check it- my nerves would keep it high. So I rested Sat, and then last night about 8, I told my daughter it was high again. The upper # was only 155, which is high, but not dangerously high, but the lower number was over 100.

I have a Dr appt at 2 this afternoon. I will keep you updated.

Anne

bonnets

Annie, My DH lives with crazy BP. We take it every day, sometimes good , sometimes high. they may have to play with your BP meds. He lso has "white coat " BP, always goes up if he is in the hospital! Hope they get your under control.