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

HikingLady

Hi petite1

YES, it’s pretty common. Lots of us have ER+ cancer, so we’re on an Aromatase Inhibitor. You can find threads exactly about that medication if you search this site.

You might want to consider putting your “My Profile” info set to Public, so we can support you with more relevant tips.

So sorry you’re facing this, but you’ll find warm support here.

I found the “simulation” kind of shocking. The actual treatments were quite easy to get through, but I certainly got fatigued toward the end. My RO and MO both recommended 60-100 g of protein a day during radiation and after surgeries, to help with cell repair.

Warm wishes to you

shuf

hi,everyone. Haven t been for ages. Hope to find everyone doing well. Shuf

shuf

i think I hit submit by error.. Question, Dr are now recommending 10 years on armidex, etc. Coming upon 5 year mark. What do you guys think of hear?

Yogatyme

petite 1, there are several threads about Aromatase Inhibitors (AI’s). Women share their experience w using these, including Arimidex. I think you’ll find them helpful.

CindyNY

shud-

I can understand your concern, you're coming up on 5 years! I think your MO can give you bloodwork (can't remember the initials; BCI) to see if there is any benefits of you continuing. Fingers crossed, you'll be done. I've got 3 years & 5 months to go. Best of luck.

Beaverntx

ChiSandy, you mentioned biotin helped with your hair issues. Could you please share how much you take and how long it was before you saw a difference? I've been taking 10,000mcg daily for 6 months and my hair continues to get thinner so I'm wondering if it is making a difference. Doesn't seem to have had much impact on my fragile nails either.

IllinoisLady

Peace of mind just can't be bought. Trust me: Even if your conscience doesn't stop you from playing dirty to get what you want, once you get it, it will keep you from enjoying it. As my mother used to say, "A good conscience is God's eye." Which is why I always prefer a loss to an underhanded gain; the one brings pain at the moment, the other for all time. -Patti LaBelle

Wren44

Welcome Petite. I took anastrazole (generic Arimidex) for 5 years without any problems. I did take plain Claritin because I heard it helped and I have allergies anyway.

I think how long you take it depends on your MO and your history/risk. Mine said 5 was enough.

Puffin2014

welcome Petite: today is my last day on Anastrazole, I took it for 5 years. Initially I had a lot of joint stiffness in my knees and ankles,after sitting for awhile my ankles and knees would hardly bend for the first 15-20 feet, And then I'd be able to straighten up again. I took glucosamine every day, and found that staying active and walking the treadmill at my Y regularly helped with the stiffness. After a couple years, I found I wasn't even noticing the stiffness any more. The fillers in the various generic versions of Arimidex cause different symptoms in women and we have found that sometimes just trying a different one can help. Many found they like the Teva brand of anastrazole. Make sure you have a baseline bone density test done before you start anastrazole, and it's repeated every 2 years. Because it blocks estrogen, you can have bone loss. Doing weight bearing exercises can help (including lifting some weights with your arms - I forgot I had bones in my arms and lost 25% of the bone in my arms). When I resumed my weight lifting my arm # improved 3%.

snuf: Because I'd had chemo my oncologist had wanted me to stay on anastrazole for the full 10 years. Since I met the criteria to have the Breast Cancer Index test done on my tumor, which the hospital had on file I asked to have the test done. The test gives 2 scores, one is your chance of a reoccurence in the next 5 years, the second is how well the aromatase inhibitor is working for you. My first score showed I was borderline high for having a reoccurence, but the second score showed that staying on the anastrozole would not significantly change that number. Since I had moved from osteopenia to osteoporosis while on anastrazole, my doctor agreed I could stop after my 5 years, which was today. My next bone density test will be next summer and I'm anxious to see if it improves.

CindyNY

Puffin2014-

Congrats!! 5 years done. Best wishes to you going forward.

IllinoisLady

Glad you are done Puffin. Hoping that next test is favorable for sure.

IllinoisLady

I got some good news today. My Pet Scan ( lung nodule ) is fine. As most know I believe things happen for a reason. Soooo, felt like just breaking a bone in my arm that DIDN'T result in a CT scan just wasn't how it was to be. I always felt that it was necessary so that I learn about things I NEEDED to know so I could do something about them -- even if that meant just knowing they were there so they could be 'watched'. Still, I'm happy to have that confirmed since I won't have an appt. with the Pulmonologist until Nov. 14th. I am fortunate that I have someone who can help me with being able to read X-ray type work and not forced to wait such a long time to KNOW. I think maybe we can now start to think about a couple of other things -- like the colonoscopy that I wasn't able to do due to the arm.

Going tomorrow to Indiana to check on the status of my arm. Appt. is early and while in the a.m. it will not feel so good getting home a lot earlier will be quite nice.

IllinoisLady

There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year's course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word "happy" would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better to take things as they come along with patience and equanimity. -Carl Jung

Yogatyme

IllinoisLady, I love Carl Jung and totally agree with his statement. Some of the happiest people I know have rebounded from tragedy.

IllinoisLady

More good news. The Dr. in Indiana wrote up the order today for me to start exercises with my arm. So, I'm feeling as though I on the road at last to getting the good life back. I know it will be awhile, but I really am anxious to be able to drive again. Dh still can't seem to park my car straight though he has gotten better at driving it. It is not a big car ( Chevy Equinox ) and I hate to say too much, but ( I'm sure I was the same way when I first got the car ) he seems not able to easily judge exactly where he is in a parking space or even whether the car is straight. He does better with his truck and always has. Still half the time even when he goes alone somewhere he takes my car ( more comfortable ) and I worry till he gets back home.

We are awaiting storms. Glad my appt. in Indiana was early this time. We were home before lunch. I like that much better than the afternoon appts.

IllinoisLady

Compassion is the ultimate and most meaningful embodiment of emotional maturity It is through compassion that a person achieves the highest peak and deepest reach in his or her search for self-fulfillment. -Arthur Jersild

IllinoisLady

Cold today ( high 50's ) but looks like some sun so it won't feel quite so bad. We never got yesterday's what sounded like almost SURE thunderstorms and much rain later. That is often how it happens here. Predictions don't pan out as much since we are ( always have been ) in an odd little area that is often it seems by-passed for the worst weather. Not to say that we don't get some, but it is more fewer and farther between . Sometimes the wind is blowing with dark full clouds filling the sky and we are sure that just any minute -- but often we wait in vain. Not always disappointing.

I'll be making a lot of calls today to friends who want to know how my tests etc. turned out as well as providers since I wish to go to my therapy for arm here at the local hospital. There is a Dr. ( the one who always gave the nutrition aspects on healthy bones etc. ) in the classes I took. He has the rehab clinic with therapists that he trains ( he is admin. there ) and it is also close to where I live. In a town of 13,000 everything for the most part is close to where I live. Tri-Care will get their call as well.

Hope you all have a great day.

ChiSandy

I take Biotin 10,000 mcg, hasn't stopped the thinning but has slowed it since going on letrozole. My nails too are thin & weak, but that's because before I switched to gel-polish manis I had acrylics--which are brutal on the nails because the techs rough the nail surface with Dremel drills for better adhesion. Also, my manicurist says she sees weak, thin, ridged and white-streaked nails in her clients who've had cancer or heart disease. I still get the gels because my nails are too thin, even with "hardeners," to finger-pick steel-string guitar (20 min. into the gig the strings wear notches into the un-reinforced tips).

Have been on letrozole now almost 4 yrs. I think I will ask for the BCI test this time next year.

Glad your arm is healing well enough to begin P.T., Jackie!

IllinoisLady

The hallmark of courage in our age of conformity is the capacity to stand on one's own convictions--not obstinately or defiantly (these are gestures of defensiveness, not courage) nor as a gesture of retaliation, but simply because these are what one believes. -Rollo May

Beaverntx

Sandy, thanks for your response. With Biotin I think the hair thinning may have slowed (some days yes, some days no). Haven't really seen a change in my nails, just have to keep them short, especially the one I got too close to a sewing machine needle years ago.

ChiSandy

I keep my R hand nails just past the fingertips (actually, the index & thumb are the only ones I use) in order to get tactile feedback from the strings so that I don't hit the wrong ones (plastic or metal fingerpicks make me pick the wrong ones unless I'm looking at them--instead of the audience), and my L hand nails down to the quick (like baby nails) in order to build calluses and fret the strings cleanly by keeping my fingertips perpendicular to the fretboard.

carolehalston

So far, at age 76, I am not dealing with hair loss. My mother's hair was still ample when she passed at age 96.

I have developed another foot problem on the left foot, a callus on the sole of that foot that is painful. I need to make an appointment with my podiatrist.

More "deep" cleaning in the house today.

It's gray outside with possibility of showers but the temperature is cool and comfortable.

I have decided to move our diet in the direction of vegetarian. I need to find recipes that are plant based but also flavorful. My goal is less meat, not eliminate meat.

IllinoisLady

Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn't blow in the wind or change with the weather. It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see a person who won't cheat, then you know you never will. -John MacDonald
If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity, nothing else matters. -Alan Simpson

IllinoisLady

Going to be sunny and cool today. I will do minor dog sitting this afternoon for which I will be likely overpaid. Dr. B and Jo have been so wonderful in my life. It is not the appreciation of being ALWAYS overpaid which I have been most of the time. I do appreciate that so much, but just as much I sooo appreciate that they live as the people they have always seemed to be which is willing in a variety of ways to do things that enrich ( not always monetarily ) the lives of others. Sometimes seeing an ideal helps you feel inspired to do what you can in your own way -- no matter how small. I feel fortune that I was gifted these people as a pattern to attempt to emulate. Others have been an inspiration as well.

Carole, I have found that along with my huge exertions helping wt. loss, that having actually included more vegetables along the way seems to have promoted an overall feeling of wellness an satisfaction. Dh at one time was a big meat eater, but I never was and over time he has desired less and less. I use recipes sometimes that feature ( gr. lean hamburger, beef tips etc. ) smaller bits of meat throughout a dish. Also when we do eat meat it is seldom more than what nutritionists say which is palm of the hand. Also, I incorporate tuna fish in some recipes which again spreads out how much each time is eaten and veggies on the side. My digestion has gotten a lot better and I'm still amazed at how often I don't even consider desert anymore. I wish you well and hope you too might notice more of a feeling of wellness.

Hope you all have a great Friday.

IllinoisLady

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved. -Helen Keller

carolehalston

Good morning to all. It's a beautiful fall day here with sunshine and comfortable temperature and low humidity. I hope to accomplish more cleaning and then venture out to do some shopping. I have not left our home property since arriving here on Tuesday. DH has done the necessary trips to the supermarket.

Yesterday I made appointments with my BC doctor's NP and my podiatrist. I learned that Medicare doesn't pay for my kind of foot problem, a painful nodule on the sole of the foot, unless the patient is diabetic. I qualify since I am a diabetic (borderline) and take metformin. My first experience of being glad I can claim diabetes!

Have a good Saturday.

IllinoisLady

Sunny day here if rather cool this a.m. Things are good here for now though I have as yet to hear anything from Tri-Care. I'll be keeping watch ready to call and have Mt. Vernon give them a call with hopes of hurrying them if possible. I can't believe I'm this anxious to cause myself aches and pains from working out my arm but I'm super anxious to reclaim being able to drive my car. I know it is still a ways away -- but can't shorten that time at all until I actually get started.

Carole, glad to hear that the metformin qualifies you for foot care. I had that outcropping on the ( slightly a ways under my middle toe ) and the podiatrist just sort of sliced it off -- making my foot flat again. He needed ??? to lift my arch just slightly. I'm sure there is a word for that. They wrapped my foot until the orthotics came in. That was able to take care of it just fine. I don't wear the orthotics anymore but seems things may have adjusted because I don't get the callus/bunion -- whatever its called anymore.

Hate to say but it seems older age makes us subject to things not expected. I hope it all goes well and you get good relief because it is miserable doing the simple things in life, like walking, when you have any outcropping on the bottom of your foot.

Good day to all.

Wren44

DH had that and they advised him to rub it with an callus stone after his shower in the morning. It took a little while, but it worked. He continues to do it lightly on a regular basis.

ChiSandy

Even though I'm not diabetic, Medicare covered my ingrown toenail treatment and shaving of one callus at the end of a toe. But it didn't cover my orthotics. I have bunions and bunionettes (the L foot is worse than the R), but I refuse to have surgery unless I can no longer fit anything but a post-op "surgical shoe" or cast-boot on my foot. Bob's feet are far worse--not just bunions but hammertoes and thick long toenails. I keep pleading with him to pop into the office of one of his hospitals' podiatrists, but he insists he doesn't have the time--he says he'll just have to live with it (so long as he still gets to complain how much his feet hurt. What is it with men that they will complain about their health but not do anything sbout it)?

WorryThePooh

Hi all, I turned 60 on the 24th of September, so I am just old enough to join this thread.