MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN 40-60ish

Meece

Thank you all for your congratulations.  I do appreciate each and every one of you.

DH is not a movie goer, so I don't get out to see any movies.  We don't watch them at home either.  I'd love to, but DH doesn't like them so much.  DS3 is an avid movie fan, so maybe I could get him to go with me.

karen1956

Meece.....happy 7 years!!!  thata is a milestone to celebrate!!!! and one for those behind you to look forward to!!!

My 2kids at home, hubby and my folks saw Unstoppalbe on turkey day....they all loved it,,,,I stayed home in peace and quiet to finish cooking and then a walk with the dog!!!

cookiegal

Yea Meece!!! 

LEisenbarth

Funny I never thought I was middle aged.  Just thought my kids were getting to old for birthdays.  I will soon be 45 and quit possibly get to have my 1st chemo treatment on my birthday.  Glad to have some women to share my feelings with.   My husband has been great, but he's not much on showing emotion.  Any ideas on making chemo easier.  God Bless you all.

elimar86861

LEisenbarth, welcome to your middle-agedness and to this thread.  What surgery did you have?  One suggestion I have for you is to first celebrate your birthday and then have the chemo a day or so later.  Waiting a couple days to start shouldn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.  This suggestion is just because you never know how you will react to the chemo the first time.  Then again, I skipped the chemo, so I'm sure some others will have better suggestions.

There is also a whole forum here (look above in that pull-down menu) for "Chemo--before, during & after," with a zillion topics and you can join the Dec. 2010 Chemo thread too...then you get in with women going thru' it at the same time as you.  (Plus, read Oct. & Nov. groups to get some info. from the ladies just a bit further along.) 

faithandfifty

Meeeeeecie!!! Are ya still dancin' today? I would think so.

We are all packed up and head out around dawn tomorrow for da biggest of my crazy adventures to date, or at least the wildest ride to date. We start for DC and spend the night w DD2&hubby and then it's off  to the races & into the BIG apple.

Three schools over the remaining 4 days. Upper east Manhatten, then Long Island and then 14th Street on Friday. Serious fun or serious nuts.... who actually drives in da big city?????

This is such a big thrill. Send travel mercies in our direction. Hopefully we'll have connectivity here & there -- from time to time.

Everybody take good care of each other.

xx00xx00xx00xx

Five days till I'm squeezing our Cookiest in person!!! What a reward for a week of excitement!!!

elimar86861

Have a great time faith!  I think both cities will be decked out in their holiday finest already, so that should be a sight to see.  Careful, don't turn Cookie into Crumbs.

OG56

Meece-Dancing with NED for 7 years!!! In this very serious economic depression I am wishing I would be fired. My supervisor denied my time off and scheduled training and my DD is due in 1 week. I have been so depressed I don't know what to do with myself. She is my only child and never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that I wouldn't be there to support her. I have been job hunting for the last year but have yet to find anything back in Omaha. I feel some apathy too at being 56 etc.. because I don't f....want to work anymore. I think I need to be hypnotized and told "You love to work and you never want to quit" LOL I wonder if it would actually work??

I can't wait to try some of these great receipe's. I am off to the frozen tundra of upstate NY tomorrow to conduct a workshop and I hope there isn't a snowstorm.

Hope everyone has a good week.

thrmine

HI all,

I am 44, with 6 kiddos ages 13-3.  Nice to see this thread.  I just want to let the world know I survived chemo, I think.  Last treatment was Friday, that was a 7 month stretch I am glad to be done with.  Wouldn't you know it, my 7 y/o came home from a playdate today saying that her playmates Dad came down with the stomach flu today.  AGGGHH.  I have been healthy all these weeks.  

Hoping for a flu free week.

Surgery is next, in December.  It has been quite a year. 

Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving. 

Alice in Ohio

Meece

OG, when did you change your screen name?  Or is it my imagination? 

I quit my job last week.  Scary in this economy, but my health was suffering because of it.  Now I am on a job hunt.  Tomorrow will really be my first day without anyone else in the house, so it will probably really sink in then.

Meece

Welcime, Janey.  What was your HER2 status?  Are you a TN, too?

elimar86861

Greetings new Mid-Age sisters!

thrmine, maybe you won't mind writing a response to LEisenbarth, who is just about to begin chemo and posted a little bit earlier today on this page asking what to expect.  Chemo is different for all, I know.  I guess part of that depends on which drugs you are treated with.  YAY!  You are done with that now...YOU DID IT!   Let us know as your surgery approaches.  We are here for you if you have anxiety or questions.

janey, guess you found BC.org after the majority of your treatment was completed.  Are you on a maintenence drug now?

meece, hope you are able to find a less stressful job.  When I was younger, I had all kinds of stressors in my life, and I was vigorous and able to handle it pretty well.  Now, in mid-age, it really is time to eliminate as many as you can...they can take a toll on the body, and we sure don't need that.

OG56, feeling your frustration to not be there for the birth.  She will just have to set up a birth-cam for you.  I'm joking!   Mostly.  Way back when, I was getting phone calls put through when I was in the labor and delivery room.  I was surprised at the time...I mean, I was a little busy.  Now, women are probably on their cells and laptops in between pushing.  The times they are a-changing.

Eph3_12

Meece!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You quit the hell-hole???????????????? Hooray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OG56-isn't that a fairly new job for you?  what about FMLA-saying your daughter has to have you there for support?

I'm just home from my 2nd job that I'm doing during the Christmas season @ Harry & David mail order.  Have to be up sooner than I even want to think about for main job!  See ya off & on thru the week.

Eph3_12

E-the photo topper is BEAUTIFUL!

cookiegal

Elimar...lol!!!

Bukki

  Just dropped by to catch up all the posts...this is such a lovely thread. Hope everyone enjoyed your Thanksgiving holiday.....cyber ((((((hugs))))) to all of you.

3jaysmom

elimar, the thread "topper is gorg, as usual.. a big welcome to LEisenbath,thrmine(love it!) and Janey 3 .. i'm technically too old for here ^), but hang out, and they let me... 3jays

barbe1958

Meece, good for you to quit a job that was sucking the life force out of you!!! There are times it's better off to take that kind of a risk than continue to destroy your soul....

FYI, DCIS doesn't get a HER2 status.

Carrol2

Meece I worked at a job i hated for 13 years. well i did not hate it for the first 2 or 3 years. It was good money so i stuck it out. But it got worse and worse as time went by. Then I could not find another job to quit. So i moved from NYC to KC and got out of the rat race. Funny thing is they laid me off right before I was going to quit so I am still collecting unemployment i think i have one more week left after two years. That was all very lucky with breast cancer i would never have been able to work my old job in NY during chemo, my commute alone would have been too much. But now I will have to find a new job here which is tough to do right now so stress is on but still better than going to a soul sucking job every day.

thrmine

 LEsinbarth,

Regarding my chemo, I had 4 cycles of AC (had to go in once every three weeks), which was supposed to be a real kick in the pants.  That however, was fairly uneventful, minus loosing my hair, LOL.   Everyone loves my wig though, I didn't get into the scarves etc. 

Then I had 16 weeks of Taxol (once a week) combined with Lapatinib (clinical trial drug).  That was supposed to be a cake walk, but this was where I got kicked in the pants, so to speak.  Over time, my fingers and toes have become tender and numb. My legs have edema.   My nose is prone to bloody yuck, I may lose a nail or two, and my skin had an awful reaction to the Lapatinib.  Really bad, like leprosy on my face.  I was off the Lapatinib for 10 days and resumed on a lower dose with an antibiotic and it has been much better. I still have a rash on my hands.  Just on the back of my hands, odd but one of the known side effects.

HOWEVER all this being said, I had very manageable days.   I was up and at 'em each day with my kids.  We didn't miss a beat this fall with sports etc.    As far as my kids are concerned I think they think things are fairly normal.   I had no nausea, no vomiting and really only one day that required me to go back to bed. Best of all my tumor (and lymph nodes) responded to the chemo, reducing from 2.5 cm to something undetectable by exam. 

Chemo is manageable.  Enjoy the good days and hopefully the bad ones will be tolerable. 

So very glad to anticipate looking and feeling better.   Kinda a bummer though to have a bmx as my next big event. 

I hope your chemo experience is managable too.  You can do this!

elimar86861

LE, If you let us know what kind of chemo you are getting, there is probably someone here who had the same as you will have.

Thanks thrmine.

OG56

Meece, I am giving myself until April then I am done and I am going to follow in your footsteps...

I have been doing this job for 13 years and in NY for the last 7.  Everything was good up until 2.5 years ago, they terminated me while I was out for my surgery and radiation ( a whole 6 weeks!!!) Now I have a 12 year old boss who over compensates for being so much younger and less knowledgeable by being a total rag.

However, from now on I am just going to spend my time day dreaming about the baby

prayrv

boy this thread has been too quiet!  I need to post to see if my email notification works!

My 6 month check up ( 3 1/2 year mark) is coming up and I'm getting just a little antsy (don't we all?).  Wish me luck ladies!

Trish

Meece

Luck and prayers for you, prayrv.

suzwes

Good luck Trish.  I'm thinking of you!

Sherryc

Good Luck Trish!

Meece

Trish, did your email notifications work?

prayrv

Meece,

yes they did - thank you for asking.  I marked this thread as my favorite and get email notifications (although I rarely post much anymore).  This is the beast thread IMHO on BCO.

Thanks for the wishes all!

Trish

elimar86861

prayrv, you are so right, even if that was a typo --- this definitely IS the BEAST THREAD!  Hohoho!*  May your check up be jolly and bright (you can substitute "clear" for the word bright.)

(*All my cyber laughing this month will be done Santa-style.)

Because I am a little backward, I did some online shopping on Black Friday, and then I was out shopping at stores on Cyber Monday (and Tues.)  I did notice there were no posts yesterday, but figured some were commencing with their pre-holiday activities in their spare time, like I was.

As thread "hostess," may I bring something to the attention of all?  You can take it or leave it, but I do want to mention it...Some days ago we had some posts by newbies, one of whom asked specifically about chemo and what to expect.  I don't know much about that because I did not have it, but I know some of our "regulars" did.  Nobody responded.  I then asked another newbie who just finished up chemo to please write of her experience, but she was the only one who responded.  Now, much as I love the humor and support that this thread has going for it, I don't want us to fall short when it comes to sharing information.  WE HAVE THE KNOWLEDGE.

I know there are strictly informational threads out there.  I read them, and I direct newbies to specific groups as needed.  As we go into the holidays, let's think of the ones just getting diagnosed who have all those questions swirling thru' their heads.  It's not all "visions of sugarplums" for them this year!  Please help me to be especially responsive to them on this thread.  Thanks!

suzwes

Excellent point E.  I will most definitely make a better attempt to help our newbies out.  I'll begin by inviting anyone who is about to start chemo or going through chemo to PM me as much as needed.  BTW, I Love your "ho ho ho"!