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

Wren44

We have an "atmospheric river" (formerly known locally as a pineapple express) headed our way. It's supposed to bring lots of rain and snow in the mountains. There's a flood warning on all rivers, so I'm a little worried about going through southern WA on our way to Oregon. So far, they're not predicting snow between Portland and Hood River, although we will definitely have chains in the car. I've only had a few white Christmas in my lifetime and this year I'll settle for rain. DD is making an overnight round trip to DS for Christmas, and she's not experienced driving in the snow. DH grew up in Anchorage, so he's pretty good at it.

ChiSandy

In all the 7 years I lived in Seattle, we had worrisome snowfall only twice: our first January there, it snowed 2 feet on my birthday (back then, totally freakish for the "wet side of the mountains"). We lived on the second floor of a "California-style" (i.e., "motel architecture") building with front doors that opened on to an outdoor balcony walkway, and it took brute force (and eventually UW Housing maintenance crews with snow shovels) to get our door open. I actually bought lace-on crampons for my hiking boots so I could navigate icy sidewalks without falling. Then in our last year, we got a 6" snowfall that caused one car to skid into the rear of our little Datsun on an offramp from I-5's express lanes. We never fixed the dent in the trunk, even though we kept that car for four more years (putting it on the moving van to Chicago)! Always a headscratcher how Seattleites could drive with aplomb on thick compact snow & ice in the Cascade ski areas, yet panic, fishtail and crash into each other every time we got more than half an inch in the city & suburbs.

Our grad student apt. complex was a block from the Ship Canal, and even during the majority of "wet Christmases" we liked to stand on our balcony and watch the brightly-lit boats parade by, blasting holiday music, piloted by folks who had no doubt partaken of quite a bit of liquid Christmas cheer. It was great fun, no matter how drizzly.

petite1

Good morning, ladies. My follow up went well. I have started Arimidex. Happy Holidays to all.

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. -HelenKeller

IllinoisLady

Sun is out and the next few days will be warmer -- enough to rid us of most if not all our snow save maybe for a very small amt. in crevices. That will sure make it nice out there, but will ( melting snow ) create the possibility of dirty cars with some of it left-over road chemicals of a couple different kind along with some dirt. Planning a quiet week-end although there is plenty I can work on inside as usual. Maybe Sunday I will go through the car wash and touch up the inside of my car.

Going to the store later on today -- likely Aldi's for fresh veggies and fruit. Also I get my bottled water there. I like Nestle's Pure Life, but their cartons are so big that we have trouble getting them in the house. My broken arm came from trying to move dolly with the case of water on it -- so maybe I have developed an aversion to lg. cases of heavy items. Easier to get the smaller ones for now.

Here's to doing well on Arimidex, petite and glad your follow-up was good.

Hope you all have a great week-end and lots of sun.

Chevyboy

Hi gals! Just reading how you all are managing the snow and ice! I have some of those rubber, stretchy wire things that fit over my shoes when I go out doors on the ice! They remind me of tire-chains, Hah! But I also throw down an old towel, right outside the door, when the ice is there.... Seems to be easier to step on, rather than the rubber frozen mat!

Just be careful! My leg just plain hurts in this cold weather! The one that I fell on and broke, and which I got a rod and a few screws to hold it in my femur.... It doesn't bother me usually, but lately I take either a couple Aleve, or extra strength Tylenol, and sit on a little warming bag that I made. I make a bag, by folding a wash-cloth in half, then fill with rice, and maybe dried Lavender, and sew the end up! Then put it in the Microwave for 2 minutes, and put it wherever it hurts.

It's either shin-splints.... or the back of my upper leg, like what runners get? What is that? HAMSTRING!! Geez, I had to look it up! I have elasticized wraps for that, but they work down my leg, while walking....

Anyway, it HAS to be the weather causing all this trouble. Oh, wah-wah!....

Got my annual Mammogram yesterday.... Doesn't it always scare you, waiting to hear? She called back, and everything looks GOOD!!! And it's been over 10 years for me!!! I had the gals at the center laughing.... One of the questions is "Are you pregnant"? I looked at my Husband, and said "they want to know if I am pregnant!"..... He looked at me and asked, "WELL, ARE YOU?:…. And the gals all laughed! I said, "Well, at 82, that would REALLY be a Christmas Miracle!".... I SHOULD have told, him, I thought you were using protection!"

Jackie, take care of your arm! I know it is getting better, but it's also easier to hurt again now! You still have to baby it!

MinusTwo

Chevy - love the dialog with the mammo techs. LOL. Glad to know you're not pregnant.

IllinoisLady

Chevyboy

Minus..... You can just tell when you can see and hear other people kidding and laughing at their job... that today is a good day! But I remember being terrified when I was called back after that ONE mammogram.... "looked suspicious"... Then listening to the tech while getting the biopsy....and then getting dressed after the biopsy... I just put my head on the wall and cried.

Sometimes you just KNOW.... And then, you go through so much, getting to the point where I am now!! I just thank GOD for today, and pray for a million more tomorrows.

Love you gals! And take good care...

carolehalston

Thanks for making me smile, Chevy! So relieved you're not pregnant!

IllinoisLady

Happiness consists not of having, but of being, not of possessing, but of enjoying. It is the warm glow of a heart at peace with itself.

Norman Vincent Peale

IllinoisLady

Sun is out today and it won't be too cold. I agree -- happiness for some can mean your not pregnant. It was a great laugh. Isn't it great when your under stress, afraid of what life MAY be handing you and then you get the gift -- a wonderful laugh. Maybe you still don't know for sure just how it is going to be but somehow a little faith and hope seeps in and a little tension and fright seep out. We are better often when we can laugh -- it is great medicine.

I'm planning another trip to the store. My beautiful Aunt passed on two days ago. The one that was 101. I'm sad, but she made a beautiful parting to remember. She looked at her daughter from her chair, told her that she was going to see her husband ( called him by his name ) and quietly and quickly made her exit into the next life. It is a huge custom here to share a meal together after the wake and funeral which will be together. I will be making several dishes to share as will a couple of my other cousins.

I hope you ae all going to have some warmth, some sun, and enjoy your day.

Wren44

When my Mom died, the funeral was in OK and the burial in KS. The women of the church made a luncheon for the whole family and we invited her hospice nurse to stay for lunch. It was great to hear her say she saved Mom for her last call because Mom was always upbeat and sweet.

ChiSandy

When my Mom died (suddenly, but she'd only recently been discharged from 6 mos. of home hospice for COPD & CHF), her funeral was in FL in her town--we had the repast at her favorite restaurant, where there was an empty chair at the head of the table, and the staff all toasted to her and told anecdotes. Her burial was in NY (family plot out on L. I.), but the few cousins who attended begged off going out to eat--they had to get back to work. So the four of us (Bob, Gordy, my sister & I) went for a late lunch at Legal Sea Foods at Roosevelt Field, where Mom liked to eat when she was still well enough to fly to NY for visits & weddings.

IllinoisLady

Life is a thing of many stages and moving parts. What we do with ease at one time of life we can hardly manage at another. What we could not fathom doing when we were young, we find great joy in when we are old. Like the seasons through which we move, life itself is a never-ending series of harvests, a different fruit for every time.

Joan Chittister

Chevyboy

Reminds of when my Dad passed away.... Went to the grave-side service, where he was laid to rest beside my Mom... then my Brother and I met Dad's neighbor "Jim" at their favorite bar.... It just seemed appropriate.... and we had a drink "for Dad"....

Old Jim, this big black guy, who was my Dad's best friend in the world, used to tease and yell the worst, stupid things at each other, as loud as they could! Whether they were out front, or in the Safeway store, just to get a reaction from everybody that was around!

When I was with Dad at the store one time, he saw Jim across the store, and just YELLED as loud as he could! Jim, screamed at him even louder.... The checkers just shook their heads laughing.... I was embarrassed, but guess they all knew those two better than I did...

Di2012

Wishing Happy Chanukah......please eat some latkes for me!....as my part of my DNA is Ashkenazi Jewish....which was hidden from my father (born and lived in Brooklyn, NY) . He found out when he was over 60 years old. My mom made "potato pancakes" for my dad. (YUMMY)

23 & me confirmed for me I am part Ashkenazi Jewish at 32.6% and ( I found out at age 69 or 70)

Di

ChiSandy

Back atcha, Di--chag sameach! We had latkes tonight--Bob (who is Scots, Swiss, German, Hungarian and a tiny bit Peruvian) had traditional potato, with applesauce. I (99.6% Ashkenazi with a tad of "Broadly European" and an iota of "North African/Middle Eastern") made keto latkes out of Birch Benders keto pancake mix (almond-coconut flours), an egg, almond milk and ricotta. (So I indulged and observed with minimal carb impact). I found out on the Chabad website that the original latkes were grain-and-cheese, not potato. (Judith fed an enemy general cheese pancakes--the tryptophan in the dairy made him fall asleep and she decapitated him, saving her village). So maybe I was the more trad one tonight! (No dreidels or chocolate "gelt:" they don't make the latter with 72% cocoa solids).

IllinoisLady

The best things are nearest: breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of God just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things of life. -Robert Louis Stevenson

carolehalston

Enjoyed the Jim story, Chevy.

This talk of latkes has me wanting to make them.

Kind of gray day here so far. I have things to do.

mac5

Hello to all. Feeling a little less “prickly” lately. Maybe just more accepting.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. We will have Church Service with Carols. It’s always a peaceful and calming experience for me. Regardless of my circumstance. I always find gratefulness.

It’s nice to have a respite of quiet reflection.

Just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas from my Family to yours. May your Day be Merry and Brite

ChiSandy

May yours be likewise, MacB!

IllinoisLady

Enjoy the peace and gratefulness.

IllinoisLady

IllinoisLady

I sometimes think we expect too much of Christmas Day. We try to crowd into it the long arrears of kindliness and humanity of the whole year. As for me, I like to take my Christmas a little at a time, all through the year. And thus I drift along into the holidays--let them overtake me unexpectedly--waking up some fine morning and suddenly saying to myself: "Why this is Christmas Day!" -David Grayson

carolehalston

Cute comic strip!

It's sunny out and the weather man says our temp may rise to almost 70 degrees today. I plan to do some cooking for tomorrow's Christmas dinner at my younger sister's house, about a 20 minute drive. The gathering will be smaller this year, the first Christmas following my mother's death.

My niece, Rebecca, totaled her car yesterday, a result of looking at a text on her phone. Fortunately, no one was killed in the three-car accident.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.

IllinoisLady

Oh Carol -- what a bad incident to start your X-mas out as an accident. Thankful every one survived. Another huge reminder why your phone should not be to close to you when you are driving -- and texting while driving is much worse, obviously.

I had a difficult time with every FIRST after my parents/Mom passed away. Not sure why but for me with Mom especially, each holiday, birthday or event we almost always celebrated together was a very deep and palpable reminder and sense of loss. As time went on it became much better and I can recall the things we shared at those times now with a small sense yet of loss but more gladness and joy and gratitude for all of it. The memories of loving times and events starts to outweigh dread and loss and the sunshine comes through again. Still the firsts were hard and I felt some impatience along the way.

IllinoisLady

carolehalston

DH’s Christmas ornaments:

carolehalston