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

petite1

WorryThePooh, How are you doing? I haven't heard from you in a while and there certainly been a lot of news on the wild fires. I hope you are safe.

Puffin2014

My moving company will be here Friday morning at 9. Now that I have an actual date I can really pack. I planned my noon and evening meals for the next week and anything I don't need for them has been packed. Tomorrow I'm washing clothes, then I can pack the rest of my laundry supplies. I can also take over more clothes and just leave enough for the next few days. I made another trip to donate a box of stuff and put away the stuff I took over last night. My friend Curtis who's been helping me with my computer issues came over and I told him to take whatever he wanted from the garage, he filled his vehicle with a shop vac, rakes, shovels, even a hatchet and a pick axe and a bunch of tools. Glad it's going to someone who can use it.

IllinoisLady

I'm still excited for you Puffin and it does sound like things are moving along fairly well. Then again, maybe you are pretty organized for having taken the many birding trips -- able to think about lots of unexpected things and also planning with contingencies. Sounds as well like you have had some time to put away numbers of things as you have made trips to the new space and that I think is so much help. Easy to be overwhelmed by 'packed' boxes so the more taken out of the way, the better.

I hope it continues to go well for you and it is wonderful to be able to gift someone things they can make use of and simply their life or pocketbook a bit. As your friend is good with computers I hope he will be able to pay you visits in your new place. Dh and I lost our computer geek so buy a service from Microsoft. Don't use it much but when we need it, we really need it.

MCBaker

Busy making pouches for wallabies. Right now the minor receiving stations are counting stock, as a large shipment is leaving California on the 25th via Qantas Airlines. Naturally, they have a large investment, and are shipping for free. There are also small packages going via other airline employees.

I have to go to the PO to pick up a package. Someone at these apartments has been having problems with packages stolen, so all suffer, including those without transportation. It is one of those fluffy beds for my dog. He is on a food-strike. Mama spoils him massively. What else can I say?

I got a phone call yesterday reminding me to get my port removed. I told her it had already been removed at the local hospital.

Wren, that sign was cute. I have so much software installed in my brain from being an extreme bibliophile almost all of my life. Gave me the foundation for writing. However, because of experiences growing up, I had a lot of writers' block to overcome. Especially since I have been writing on a no-no subject, the reason self-expression was denied.

Went to gym on Tuesday, followed the trainer's session for a better use of time, and ended up having lightning-flashes going down my right leg at 2:00 AM. Wednesday I was busy, Thursday all cement outside was a skating-rink. In the meantime I got some topical anesthetic for nerve pain. Went to the gym yesterday for a mild workout. Hopefully I will be able to get back on a daily schedule.

My son hasn't been able to visit me for a while. I took some pictures of my apartment, showing how well I have recovered from some major losses. Most of my furniture came from Mom's estate. A few pieces are extra furniture from my sister, as part of negotiations with her. Some of those losses still hurt, but I keep remembering to be grateful for what I have.

IllinoisLady

Healing is the journey. The destination is yourself. The full recognition of all the different aspects of yourself—your joy, your sorrow, your pain, your pleasure—all lead you to the source of who you are. Only by having intimate contact with this source can you experience the fullness of your life. Only by fearlessly looking within can you embrace the landscape of your life and open yourself completely to all the love and compassion that lives inside you. -Philip Berk

carolehalston

The house is like a cave this morning. The weather prophets have been issuing dire warnings about a storm system moving through, so dh and I lowered the storm shutters over all the windows last night. We had a brief period of rain and wind a little while ago but more is supposed to come. It's supposed to be more of a wind event than a lot of rain. Wind can spawn tornadoes.

Normally I would be headed to the gym this morning but I will "stay put" under the circumstances.

When dh's father died, clearing out the family house was quite a task. Both parents didn't throw away anything. My FIL had kept all his pay stubs for his entire working life. We filled a large dumpster and then had to bring in a smaller one. Those of you who have children are doing them a big favor if you deal with your accumulation of possessions and not leave this job to heirs.

We have no children. My "prized" possessions are things I collected during our travels. A lot of pottery and clay art, glass art. Mostly items made by artisans that give me pleasure. I hope that once I'm gone, my treasures will fall into the hands of someone who appreciates them. As long as dh is able to pursue his interest in and passion for wood turning, we will stay in this house with his workshop in the back yard. It's as large as our house.

Happy Saturday to all.

Beaverntx

Puffin, you are impressive!!

MCBaker, the wallibies will appreciate you. Your sewing skills have served you well.

Chilly here this morning after a big thunderstorm rolled through last evening. No damage here but late news last night showed various areas with wind damage, some question of a minor tornado.

IllinoisLady

Rained most of the night here and the dog paced a lot of the nighttime hours from the thunder going on. Even got me once with hearing aids off. I think we will see today we much milder, less rain or maybe none. Much cooler though. I'll just be glad to see the gray go away. Not much planned for the day. Since we have had 'weather' chores inside get first billing. Always plenty to do here.

Need to write out a recipe for a couple of relatives who asked for it. One of my favorites since you can use whole berry cranberry sauce from a can. Means you can make it after the seasonal fresh cranberries are sparse. I also like it since you don't use marshmallow fluff which is hard to stir in to some recipes.

McBaker you are great helping out Australia. Praying Australia can get some control going. It is hurtful to read about the animals suffering and so many gone, as well as the human damages and tolls. I recall a long time ago a friend traveling to Australia and returning with stories of such beauty.

Carole, I hope you do not end up with wind/storm/tornado damages. This seems a bit early for all of that, but weather patterns/global warming has changed things in some areas.

Wren44

I follow some artist blogs. One, who lives in Sydney, went out to the suburb that had some damage from the fire and sketched what she found. Interesting to see the bark and new shoots coming out already. The losses are just monstrous and hard to visualize. I have a friend in Victoria who is keeping us up on her local conditions. For her, the smoke is so bad it keeps her housebound and she says, "you can only watch so much Netflix". One day their smoke level was 400 on a scale that only goes to 500.

WorryThePooh

Wren44 May I ask which artist blog please? I am an artist myself and would love to see her sketches.

We are so tired of the smoke. Many nights I am woken by it, including last night, the stench was so strong I woke with a headache, had to get up and close all windows, and put fans on, which helped a bit.

McBaker well done for helping our wildlife! You are wonderful. My daughter has been involved in making pouches also as she is good at crochet.

Carole, after reading your post about cleaning out your dh's family house, it helped remind me how much I want to clear things out to save my kids going through that one day.

I read an article yesterday about 'Death cleaning' and it has also helped motivate me, especially the bit which said it's important to start clearing things out at 65... as I am still 60 this has given me some hope I can do it, a few years ahead of time!

CindyNY

WorrythePooh - I tried donating to your volunteer fire comapnies, unknown reason but my credit card wouldn't let it go through. But I did get to donate to NSCPA for the animals. It auto filled in AUD, but after processing it, converted to USD. My heart goes out to all of you.

MCBaker

Credit card companies are very cautious about international charges. Just thank your CC company for their caution, and go on.

They are in critical need of veterinary supplies. Wrapping the burns on paws and tails takes a lot of gauze.

The major shipment concern is on hold while they assess supply and demand. However, the Wisconsin association is continuing to collect stuff, and is assessing need at pet and wildlife rescues in case there is an excess of any items. Even though we have only one marsupial, there are other items, like the crocheted bird-nests.

windysea22

Hello again everyone.

Brief reminder, DCIS ER+ stage 0 grade III, no lymph node involvement, removed with OK margins last month. My sister died of HER2- breast cancer 5 years ago. I haven't had the gene tested yet but will ask for that on Monday.

I have made a decision and if any of you know about convincing Blue Cross to pay for it, ideas WELCOME.

Letrezole kicked my butt, and no, I don't want to live this way. I'm losing brain function already, I have no energy at all, I'm constantly dizzy, to the point of holding on to things to make sure I don't fall while walking, and have an never ending headache. I'm been on it for 3 weeks. It started day one. However, I am much more concerned about the serious long term side effects, like my joints, bones, heart, etc.

I will be 68 next month, which is also playing in to this decision. I don't know how many years I have left anyway, but I know I don't want to spend them like this, and the side effects won't go away if I stop this drug after 5 years anyway, the damage will be done.

I want a double mastectomy. I don't want to try a new drug, or go through radiation if I'm going to have a mastectomy anyway. I do not care about my boobs, I don't want reconstruction simply because it will increase healing time. I'm perfectly happy to put on fake boobs if I want or need them socially.

This is no way is intended as a comment on others or their decisions, it's purely about me, my living situation, and my desires. There is probably a forum about this here, but you guys are the ones I know right now, so I thought I'd start here.

Still trying to decide on the type of double mastectomy, I do know I want them to leave my lymph nodes alone, they were clear already and I already had mild lyphedema, certainly don't want more. Since it was ductal, I am also wondering I could just remove the main breast tissue and leave the sides/back alone, a question with I will ask my oncologist on Monday.

I talked it over with my primary care doctor who has had many breast cancer patients over the years, to ask her if I sounded nuts or anything like that. She said no, I didn't, and it's what she would do if faced with this decision, aromatase or mastectomy. IF my new breast cancer oncologist refuses, I have another oncologist who knows me well, she's known me for 20 years for my other cancer, a sarcoma called GIST (it never came back even though I was high risk, so we just follow with CT scans.) I am nearly positive she would order it for me.

ETA I would have gone to my old oncologist, but I've moved and it's a 6 hour round trip in wintery conditions.

So, that's where I am. An update and the question about insurance approving it.

xoxo

ETA again, I stopped taking the Letrezole last night, NO DIZZINESS today, still have a slight headache but it's not nearly as bad as it's been.

Wren44

Pooh, It's Liz Steel - lizsteel.com. She's an urban sketcher. I also read Jane Blundell for her information on watercolor. I was able to take a class from her when she was here.

WorryThePooh

Oh thank you Wren44! I have heard of Liz Steel. I have met Jane Blundell, but only briefly at a sketching get together. I find her info on watercolour very useful too.

WorryThePooh

Hi Windysea22, good luck with what your are facing. Before I got breast cancer I used to imagine I would want to have a reconstruction if I ever had breast cancer and had to have a mastectomy, now that I have had breast cancer and know how hard it is being on hormone therapy, I can perfectly understand your decision. The pills have quite a long half life, so they will take a while to get out of your system.

MCBaker

Windysea, it is your body and your life. I made the decision early for a mastectomy. Five days a week for four weeks of radiation, eighty miles each day was beyond me. I have a friend who has a network of red on her chest from radiation burns.

By the time surgery was scheduled, however, the DCIS was throughout the breast, in just a month. I had no choice but to have a mastectomy. And the invasive was HER2+, well under a centimeter, and grade one. It probably turned invasive between the initial diagnosis and time to cut.

So good to be done with it. I know, I know.......

Puffin2014

I washed clothes today so now I can move my laundry supplies to the apartment. Bought a dowel to put in the track for the sliding glass door. Bought new shower curtain and liners, will put those up tomorrow. I've found a home for everything I've taken to the apartment, and I have the kitchen, bathroom, and clothes in closets there. The furniture will be moved Friday, I can tape the doors shut on the metal file cabinets and don't have to empty the drawers of the dresser or chest of drawers.

Big surprise of the day came after I got home, my next door neighbor Jeff came over. He and his wife talked it over, and rather than have me sell to a developer who will rent my house out, they would like to buy my house, paint the inside and take out the paneling in the living room, change the carpets and rent it themselves so they would be in control of who lives there. If we can agree on a price he would pay cash and we would not need a realtor. So I need to come up with a figure and see what he thinks.

IllinoisLady

Windysea -- I'm on the same page with you and everyone else. We all know what is tolerable and what is not. I have always thought my will to live ( and hopefully have a quality of life that suited me ) did not actually require breasts and if I ever needed to lose one, I'd ask for both to go. Nothing I currently do requires me to have breasts and as you said -- you can use fake ones if needed. So, I applaud your knowing your wants and needs. That is a huge step and I'm sure once this was what indicated down deep you likely felt some satisfaction and relief. If you know where you're going, the journey is a lot easier I hope you will let us know how you are doing along the way.

IllinoisLady

Puffin, that is a surprise but I think a good one. It will save a lot of grief likely for you and certainly will cut down the time waiting for a 'positive' sale to happen. It can be ( seen with family, friends, and ourselves as well ) a little miserable when your neighbors and you don't share enough similarities in general lifestyles. I hope this works out well for everyone.

windysea22

Thanks everyone, I just talked to the Blue Cross advice nurse, she was great and she agreed with me too, she can't answer for BC approving it, but she said I hit a few of the right boxes for it. My maternal grandmother also died of breast/ovarian cancer...long ago so who knows which came first, and I had an aunt with ovarian cancer who survived.

This is honestly what I wanted from the beginning, and today is the first day I've felt good about it all since that phone call.

If I absolutely HAVE to, I will pay for it myself, which may require a 2nd mortgage or giant credit card bills, I'm on a fairly limited retirement living...but, one way or another this is happening.

I believe in listening to your gut, and mine is making a lot of noise saying DO THIS. Hopefully this oncologist can write a decent letter convincing Blue Cross they will save money in the long run if they approve this.

xoxo

Beaverntx

Wow, Puffin, looks like this move was meant to be! Do you know a realtor who could get you comps for similar properties in your area? That would give you a good basis for a fair asking price and is what we have done in selling previous homes.

IllinoisLady

This is an oldie, but a goodie.

CindyNY

Puffin - it seems the stars are in alignment! I can't think of a better situation.

There are some online reality sites such as trulia.com, or realtor.com. You can plug in your zipcode and get info on homes that are for sale, compare yours to what's out there. Its been a while since I've used them but it might also show sold prices. Our Sunday newspaper prints sold prices as well.

IllinoisLady

When you arise in the morning,
give thanks for the morning light, for your life and strength.
Give thanks for your food, and the joy of living.
If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies with yourself.
- Tecumseh

IllinoisLady

Not a pretty morning but no more rain. In fact, we thought it could be a very lt. amt. of snow but that didn't come either. It will be up and down with a couple of days of higher temps then rt. back down to somewhere in the 30's. I would drop in a sigh, but it is pretty typical for these parts. I, of course, am already thinking Spring early because the colder winter weather always encourages those thoughts of how it is going to be. Something to think about which will bring my sprits up nicely -- even more so when we get our sun back.

Hope you ae all going to have a great Sunday.

Kat333

Hi everyone... this is my first post on this thread after finding it and enjoying reading the comments, thoughts, and experiences of ladies that are diagnosed when older. I was diagnosed (age 62) in September 2019 with IDC left breast, 2cm, Stage 1a, Grade 3, 0/5 nodes, ER+/PR+, HER2-

Am half way through four treatments after a bilateral mastectomy, no reconstruction, in October. I was small breasted, rarely wore a bra, so that decision wasn't difficult. My surgeon said there would be no problems, insurance wise, and that turned out to be the case.

I look forward to getting to know you all...

Wren44

Welcome to the group! I wish I'd gone the bilateral route, but at the time I wasn't even thinking of it. Now I hesitate because there would be some lymphedema risk. I hate wearing a bra and mostly only wear it when I'm out in public. I love winter because it doesn't show with a sweater over my T shirt.

carolehalston

Windysea, I chose bilateral when I could have opted for lumpectomy with my diagnosis. I wanted to avoid radiation and forego any future mammograms. Plus, my paternal grandmother died of ovarian cancer and there was bc on my father's side where his half sister and two of her daughters all tested positive for the mutated gene. I tested negative but my bc specialist agreed with my decision. She was my aunt's physician and one of my bc cousins was a patient of hers. She didn't altogether trust the absence of any genetic involvement.

I did choose reconstruction and my recovery was complicated by healing issues that eventually resolved themselves. I don't regret my choice even though there may be more issues in the future as my implants age along with the rest of me. At my last annual exam, the NP at my bc specialist's office decided I should come back on a 6 month basis for the chest ultrasound. She detected something about the left implant that she wanted to keep an eye on.

I had a low oncotype number which ruled out chemo but I took an AI (arimidex) for almost 5 years. I tolerated it better than many women do and continued being physically active, playing golf and exercising regularly. Good luck to you in dealing with Blue Cross. I think they will pay if you get your doctors' support in dealing with them.

Puffin, what a great thing that you might sell your house without having to pay a realtor's fee! I'm so glad for you. Plus it's always nice to have a home fall into good hands. My one regret is your losing your wonderful back garden that gave you so much pleasure. And you'll probably miss the harvesting of your grapes. You won't miss all those winter problems for the home owner.

I'm thankful to report that our weather event yesterday was not as bad as it might have been. Rain and some wind but no damage to home or to us.

IllinoisLady

Kat33e -- welcome. Yay for being half way through. Hope it all goes nice and smooth for you. We will love getting to know you too.

Carole, good to hear that your weather was not as harsh as predicted. I don't like too much wind, but then we had straight-line winds out here with all the trees a few yrs. back and it was fairly scary. Without power for a week back then and that made it a really long week.

Was hoping our gray day would lighten some, but guess we won't see anything today. Hoping for tomorrow.