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

ChiSandy

31F now, but a wintry mix is predicted (causing severe icing) before changing to all-snow. Stayed inside today trying to get acquainted with my new Cuisinart (Custom 14) and its accessories, including wondering where to put it. ("Where the sun don't shine" is not an acceptable answer). It differs from my old Pro 11 (DLC-8) not just in appearance (the old one looks brand-spanking new after I cleaned it up) but capacity and incompatibility of blades & discs. The shaft of the old one's detachable disc stem did is too narrow to fit on the spindle of the new one, and the new stem's "male" attachment flanges are too big to fit into the smaller discs' "female" receptacles. (I'm using audio cable terms here--plugs are male, sockets or jacks female). Bummer is that for the old machine, I collected an array of specialty discs, including a julienne disc they don't make for the new machine, and finer (1 & 2mm) and coarser (6mm) slicing & shredding discs. The new one comes without a plastic dough blade, which has been found redundant, and with only two discs: 4mm slicing & medium shredding. For the new one I bought the 3-disc "specialty" set: 8mm slicing, fine grating and French-fry discs and a case to hold them.

What was wrong with the old one? Mostly, the lid design. Its original lid had a wide feed tube and separate wide pusher, but they broke long ago. The newer lid and feed tube assembly had a smaller pusher inside the wide pusher, which doesn't detach from the lid. It got to be a royal pain to insert vegetables for slicing by loading from the bottom of the lid, only to have some of them slip out of alignment when I'd put the lid back on--there was no way to rearrange them. The 11-cup bowl had its limitations when it came to liquid volume capacity (max. on food processors is less than stated bowl size). And America's Test Kitchen top-rated the new one, which has a new redesigned non-riveted steel blade to replace recalled prior riveted ones, which were known to crack off--both pieces of blade and plastic hub. (My old one has that recalled riveted blade, but it's perfectly intact).

So I'm going to practice with some veggies, making a batch of mirepoix (carrots, onions, celery) to freeze.There's supposed to be a way to julienne using only the 4mm slicing disc to slice twice, but the instructions on how to do so had no pictures and the description is difficult to envision. So I'm about to see if there are any YouTube videos on how to do that.

IllinoisLady

Wow...sounds like too much work for me actually. There are only two of us here and so I can easily slice what few veggies we need. If I have a recipe ( and I do have a couple or three of them ) I get out my Chop Wizard and make quick work of them. It also does apples easily which I often use in some recipes. I use my old, old Hamilton Beach food processor for chopping up big pieces of Jennie-O turkey ham to make ham salad and the Chop Wizard does a great job on the onions and sweet pickles for that. I also take a egg slicer and slice both ways for the diced eggs I put in. I actually have two Chop Wizards since I make a lot of salads and I don't have to wash as much in between chopping. The Wizard is pretty easy to clean and since I keep two of them --- sometimes if it is going to be a couple of days before I turn on the dishwasher -- no problem since I have the second Wizard to use. We don't have guests here much though I do on occasion make up food to take elsewhere.

Not sure what I did ( maybe without ) until I caught onto using the Chop Wizards for most of what I chop up ( lots of potatoes at times ) and it saves a lot of time for me as standing for a long period of time in one spot sometimes is irritating nowadays. I use to keep Mandolin slicers ( tricky now and then ) but gave them up for the Wizards.

It has been raining here tonight -- but it doesn't sound like it will get cold enough to freeze overnight and is supposed to warm up again tomorrow ( got up to 39 today ) some so we should be okay. Finally got the last indoor/outdoor cat inside so we are good for the night.

IllinoisLady

There is an Indian proverb or axiom that says that everyone is a house with four rooms, a physical, a mental, an emotional, and a spiritual. Most of us tend to live in one room most of the time, but unless we go into every room every day, even if only to keep it aired, we are not a complete person. -Rumer Godden

Wren44

Weak sun here today. Very welcome after 24/7 rain the past few days. I'm wearing real clothing for the first time since Dec. 28 and I feel better than I have since then. Flu really made me sick. I spent many days lying on the sofa with a cat snoozing in my lap. Our 58th wedding anniversary was New Year's Eve and we didn't even kiss. Quite a change from most. Now to tackle some of the things undone in the past 2 weeks.

IllinoisLady

Sorry to hear you have had all those flu issues. Glad you seem to be mending really well. Hope your Dh has made progress too. Sorta nice to have feline company when you are not yourself. They are such extraordinary nurses to have when a lot of what is going on is just inactivity. Hope you can have a sort of delayed anniversary -- though not quite the same. Hope for continued improvement for you both and hugs to you and your nurse. Job well done....

IllinoisLady

Compassion is the basis of all truthful relationship: it means being present with love—for ourselves and for all life, including animals, fish, birds, and trees. Compassion is bringing our deepest truth into our actions, no matter how much the world seems to resist, because that is ultimately what we have to give this world and one another. -Ram Dass

IllinoisLady

A little gray her this a.m., but some of the warmth the snuck in the past couple of days and brought rain has kept up without much sun --- and that gets to me, but I am happy that it is warmer. Just a reminder that we seldom have it all. It's so early for me to thinking about Spring but I am. Squirrels are out playing on the ground but also looking for their buried treasures. The cat inside is watching and likely salivating just a bit -- thinking of what he would do if he were outside right now.

I actually have a dog that chases squirrels and catches them now and then. Always thought it funny as she is a bit overwt., but that doesn't hamper her much when it comes to squirrels. I hate seeing it, or the results of it later, but no way much to get her not too.

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

duckyb1

Heat wave coming 58 this weekend.........

ChiSandy

Same here tomorrow or Fri. before the snow & deep freeze returns. Might pick any of the weather-frozen-and-thawed garden herbs and re-freeze them under controlled conditions.

IllinoisLady

A rather big concept here, but dovetails pretty much with my thinking --- so I'm sharing.

You are not your mind. You, a Spiritual Being,
are neither your mind nor your body.
Mind and body are your tools - to use as you choose.
Sometimes your body appears to have a will of its own,
as when it twitches or pains.
Likewise, your mind often appears to have its own will.
That incessant chattering of regret, disappointment, guilt,
shame, foreboding, worry, and fear
is your Rattlesnake Mind striking off on its own.
Know that your mind can be a vicious rattlesnake, and be cautious.
The mind can be tamed, but only with conscious effort and patience.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

IllinoisLady

You must not lose faith in humanity.
Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty,
the ocean does not become dirty.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

IllinoisLady

It is raining today while the temperature gauge moves up to at least 60 degrees. Sigh !!!! Though it doesn't always come -- that is something we might expect ( temp wise ) in late February. Tomorrow, it could snow as it will return to 'cold'. I don't know ( save for the global warming ) what gives here. Guess just more of the strange stuff that seems to have found its way into life and what we can expect.

Otherwise life goes on. I'm grateful to be here and to meet often with friends here and to share together. Hope you are all having an okay day. Sun would be nice. I actually think we might see some tomorrow. That will put a nice face on things for me.

Wren44

Pouring rain here and Fred Meyer was out of cough syrup you could take during the day. I'm resting up from my 1.5 hour jaunt out of the house.

IllinoisLady

Still warm out here in Illinois. I think the 'change' won't come for several hours. Too gray ( though some mild sun for a too brief for me time ) still. I think we will get more sun tomorrow and I can't wait.

ChiSandy

Hit 58 at noon and began to drop--now 36. Calling for "wintry mix" tonight, including perhaps freezing rain, before "lake effect" snow tomorrow. Then back into the deep-freeze Sat. night. Oh, well, it was nice to turn the heat off and the ceiling fan on last night for the first time since late Oct. At least we won't have to run the taps again till Sat. night.

IllinoisLady

The great affair, the love affair with life, is to live as variously as possible, to groom one's curiosity like a high-spirited thoroughbred, climb aboard, and gallop over the thick, sunstruck hills every day.It began as mystery, and it will end in mystery, but what a savage and beautiful country lies in between. -Diane Ackerman

IllinoisLady

A layer of snow on the ground this a.m. -- after the 60 degrees of yesterday. Sigh !!! Could be a bit of ice under here and there. Won't know till we go somewhere which will be soon as I need to feed the feral cats. Dh has the day off and has said he would take me out to breakfast. Well -- sounds like a winner to me. Some times I like to 'keep' my kitchen clean.

Hope you all are going to have an all right day. Not too drastic -- though I know Chi town will have the kind of weather ( likely a slight bit worse ) we do here.

19501952

Hi everybody,

Well my wbc was 1.7 and my ANC was low so I didn’t get chemo on 1/8. I did get a shot of neaulasta. I felt ok that night and then felt weak and tired then I think I got a cold or something and I just keep feeling worse and worse. I’m takin Tylenol for a slight rise in my temperature and I’m hoping if I did get a bug the Tylenol and my recovering wbc can get rid of it. If any of you had neaulasta by injection did you feel weak, tingly hands, headachy and just awful? Kat

IllinoisLady

I'm a long time past my txs, and I also had Neupogin ( older drug then Neaulasta ) but I never had any issues with the Neupogin like you describe. Hope others might chime in. I did have to take fast acting Tylenol a few minutes before I gave myself the injection -- otherwise I would often have headaches through the 7 days I was giving myself the shots. Chemo nurse had forgotten to tell me about the headaches.

Also, though it was long ago -- I think some of the other gals who were using Neaulasta were taking Claritin the day before and day of their Neaulasta which helped with how they felt after getting the shot. You might check with others about this as my chemo was in 2008 so it has been quite some time, and I don't know that I'm recalling it properly.

19501952

thanks Illinois Lady,

How I feel has got to be more than just the chemo and neaulasta. I think I’ve got a cold which is hard to fight off. I am so tired I have been falling asleep every time I close my eyes. The Tylenol does seem to be helping to keep my temperature in the normal range. I am so sick of drinking. I ate a popsicle earlier for a little change. I’ll check in tomorrow and give an update. Kate

ChiSandy

Remember that fever is a symptom--your body temperature goes up because your immune system is fighting an infection--or in the case of a drug that affects bone marrow, trying to defend itself against a substance such as chemo drugs (which attack fast-dividing cells, not just tumors but hair follicles and bone marrow) and red-and-white-cell boosters like Neulasta & erythropoetin (which "prod" the bone marrow into making new cells to replace the ones killed off). Unless the fever itself is making you feel sick, there is no need to reduce it.

IllinoisLady

You have not lived a perfect
day, even though you have
earned your money, unless
you have done something
for someone who will never
be able to repay you.

Ruth Smeltzer

IllinoisLady

Today ( despite frigid temps ) was a really nice day. Took a friend to do some shopping and we stopped at the Chinese restaurant. I always get sweet and sour pork. I'm still sort of bad ( but for me its good ) about finding something I like and just not branching out. I know there are other dishes I would like, but my love for pork just keeps me going back for what I know will be so satisfying to me.

Dh had the day off so he went as well. It is always fun, though I've always told my friend to call me anytime and I don't require a lunch treat to do this for her. She doesn't drive ( I think she never has ) and right now I'm more free than ever since I'm between jobs. I am thinking of some work, just have to think about it for a bit more. It would likely be ( if they chose to use me ) at the new Best Western Plus that opened here around Christmas time. They have a variety of unfilled jobs. I was surprised to hear it -- so we will see how it goes. They want a breakfast person, maid, clerk, and maybe someone else -- wasn't able to see the scrolling any longer. Anyway, not looking for anything full time at my age, so this may be doable for me.

The cold will continue for this week, but hoping the frigid temps. ease up soon. It didn't snow today and I think a lot of the roadways got enough sun to melt the icy patches. Could re-freeze overnight, but maybe ( hoping ) most of it ran off after melting and will be gone. My car does pretty good so all is fine. Need a warmer day so I can go to the car wash and have the salt spray washed off. I don't have a very pretty car right now.

ChiSandy

Jackie, is that the Chinese buffet near the cluster of motels off I-57? I love their fried noodles--just like the ones I used to get at Cantonese restaurants during my Brooklyn childhood.

Felt much better today than yesterday, when I seemed to be having some sinus issues. Went to pick up Rx'es for all three of us. I had run out of bupropion (generic Wellbutrin) and drove myself nuts going through the cabinets looking for the refill I thought I'd bought back in Nov. Went online to CVS, and learned it was "last filled 11/28/17, 90 day supply," so it was ineligible for a refill till the end of Feb. WTF?? I called them, and found out they were "holding" it. Suddenly I remembered: I had brought in the 'scrip with a bunch of others just before Thanksgiving, but my insurance wouldn't cover it till the 28th. I'd asked the tech if they could hold it, then fill it on the 28th and give me the usual "your prescription is available for pickup" robo-call. They never did. Last night Bob had called in a 'scrip for Tamiflu--the infectious disease guys at his hospital recommended it. If you take it as soon as flu symptoms hit, you might be able to knock it out within a day or two. But one of the i.d. docs said that the symptoms (headache, fever, muscle aches) come on so suddenly and severely that you're in no shape to have a Tamiflu 'scrip called in & go to the pharmacy to pick it up in time for it to work well. Bob is going to keep one pill in his glove box, and one in his coat pocket; he says to give Gordy two--one each for him & Leslie, one in my purse and the other five in our medicine cabinet. It's supposed to be taken B.I.D. for 5 days--but if we take that first pill soon enough it'll buy us enough time to get full 'scrips filled for each of us. Not bad for $2.50 per pack of 10.

I also went to my little combination Kosher deli/pharmacy to pick up my letrozole--it was expiring, so a couple days ago I went to my patient portal, clicked on "request Rx refill," clicked on "letrozole, last filled 12/12/17, expires 12/11/18," and clicked the name of the pharmacy. The next screen said "Your prescription will be refilled on 1/12/18." So I went to pick it up, and the pharmacist told me I had better call my MO--the refill was "denied." I said I couldn't understand why, since she wants me taking it at least through 2020. He replied that it was probably because she wanted me to do an office visit first, so she could get paid. I replied that she's on salary at the cancer center, an I have an appt. for 1/22 anyway (supposed to be 1/11, but her NP told me she had to reschedule for travel plans); and I couldn't imagine she'd want me to take a drug holiday. The pharmacist winked and said he didn't think so either. "Ten bucks. This didn't happen," he said, handing me the stock bottle with my prescription label on it. "Don't tell her I refilled it," he warned. I told him I would tell her my excuse for not calling her personally would be that I was able to dip into my stash of branded Femara (which was true). One more reason I'm not switching that Rx to CVS or Walgreen's. (Bet CVS would probably charge more). I will, however, message her on my portal and ask why the refill had been denied, since last year at this time it went through without a hitch. Bet her office never checked the portal and therefore failed to call it in this time.

IllinoisLady

There is a Chinese buffet off I-57 but I was here where I live in Centralia. I think we have two Chinese restaurants, 2 Mexican, 1 Italian, 1 barbecue, and a few other assorted as well as lots of fast food. It always seems odd to me to have so many places to eat ( 3 or 4 pizza places as well ) for such a small place -- and of course, off the Interstate are lots of places too. Lots of choices, but naturally I miss some of what we don't have -- like IHOP, Bob's Big Boy, Carls' Jr. Sigh !!!!

Wren44

With so many Asians in the family, it's a treat to go out for something else. We do dim sum every couple of months and Thai in between. My parents wanted American food when they visited and we were a complete blank on where to find some. We have a couple of Middle Eastern places, a Central American place and a Mexican place. Those plus a couple of seafood places and pizza cover our eating out. We don't eat red meat, but most burger places here have veggie burgers.

ChiSandy

You're not missing anything re: Bob's Big Boy (except the strawberry pie in summer), IHOP, or Carl's Jr. (but you do know Hardee's is exactly the same place--right down to the same ads, except w/o the bikini-clad supermodels washing cars; just as Best Foods mayonnaise is Hellman's here, and Dreyer's Grand on the coast is Edy's here). I'm more familiar w/Mt.Vernon (never stopped in Centralia) and Carbondale/Marion--the latter has a branch of 17th St. BBQ from Murphysboro. (The best branch used to be in the National Shooting Center just outside Sparta, but the owner closed it and it's been replaced by a mediocre Italian joint).

IllinoisLady

The value of all service lies in the spirit in which you serve and not in the importance or magnitude of the service. Even the lowliest task or deed is made holy, joyous, and prosperous when it is filled with love.

Charles Fillmore

IllinoisLady

Yes, Hardee's and Carl's Jr., is the same place. But they ( in the yrs. BOTH restaurants were here ) had fairly different menu's. The Carl's is gone now and Hardee's has d/c'ed their fried chicken which was one of the big draws for me. The two pretty much have the same food now. We don't eat out that often, though run into the fast food places if we are out and get hungry .

We got a brand new McDonalds on our east side. Thought about moving it I think, but the spot was good for a number of reasons so in the end they stayed there. I don't mind the new restaurant, though I have several big dislikes. The ordering kiosks are right at the front door as you pile in which to me is rotten on a busy day. Also, I have no wish to go through computer pages to order. I 'compute' enough at home. As well, they put in two drive-thru lanes which in my view really 'messed' with the parking areas and the parking lanes are now too close together. If there is a drive-thru back-up -- you will possibly be stuck in the lot or the line until it clears. Still, it is close to us --- and so far, seems to not be super crowded. That helps quite a bit.

Frigid again overnight and this a.m. Don't know if we will get sun, but looks like most of the week we will have some. By Saturday -- it should be 51. I'll be glad to see it, but as usual it seems for this yr. we are swinging back and forth a good deal. Hurry Spring !!!

Wren44

Supposed to be 50 here and the sun is lovely. Just wish I had my energy back to go out and enjoy it more.