MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN 40-60ish

Momine

Diana, please talk to your doc before you go cold turkey on the xanax. Xanax is addictive, so I strongly suspect that you should step it down gradually.

dechi

Love the name "Queen of Tarts",  Very awesome!

barsco1963

Good advice Momine - I tried to take myself off of an anti-depressant recently. Thought I would be ok as I wasn't on it very long. Wow - dizzy, lightheaded, ringing in ears etc. No fun. Good idea to talk to dr first.

I think the name "Queen of Tarts" is awesome too!

Dianarose

Went to the PS today for my consult before my exchange. I stopped at my primary doctors and got a copy of the bloodwork results and I showed them to the PS. She said she wouldn't worry about it because they were only slightly elevated. She said to try some benadryl at bedtime so I get to sleep. A week or 2 after surgery they are going to do the blood test over.

I have been going back and forth with the landlord on a lease agreement and we have come up with an agreement that we both agree on so I am hoping to sign the lease on Tuesday. I will give him the 1st months rent and the 2nd month is not due until 30 days from the day I open. This way I can start all the permits and stuff, clean, get the equipment in there,  have my surgery, rest, and then get her up and running. I can't wait to be able to do things my way instead of having a boss over you all the time.

I sure do miss the sun. I am not sure of the last time the sun was out around here. I don't think it is going to clear up any until next week. It is only supposed to be in the 40's over the weekend. No global warming in Maine.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. Thanks for all your support.

barsco1963

dianarose - Can you hear the collective sigh from all of your bco sisters? Sooooooo glad that you were able to have your PS look at the bloodwork and that she is not too concerned about it.

Sounds like everything is coming together for the Queen of Tarts! Here's a bit of sunshine to warm you up and help you get through the weekend!

Dianarose

Barsco-Thank you. What a beautiful picuture. I can feel the warmth.

jocanuck1951

Dianarose, so happy to hear good news from "The Queen of Tarts"!!!! Now why would your doctor call and stress you out like that....



Nice picture Barsco! Need some of that sunshine over here, cold and rainy all week!



Jo

Loral

Dianarose , cute name and congrats on the better news. 

marlegal

Love the name Diana! Here's hoping your PS was right and hte elevated levels are only slight elevations. I've had tons of elevations but my original breast surgeon of all people can look back and say - oh, it was elevated once in 2009, see? That woman has a memory like no one else I know. Hope the same for you too hon. And not to go on with the weather theme (Eli packs a mean left hook) but it's going down to 40 tonight here at the Jersey shore and then 85 on Thursday. 45 degrees in 6 days? Isn't that against the law or something??? Mother Nature just cracks me up.

Hope that lots of you have a long weekend this Memorial Day. If you're one of those essential workers who keep us all going, thank you for the extra service. 

Speaking of service, if you are currently serving, or have served in the past, or have loved ones who have served or are serving in any of our armed forces .... Thank you. I think all of us have friends or relatives who have lost their lives in time of war so I'll think of all of them during this Memorial weekend too. 

heartnsoul76

Greetings and salutations, middies!

I went to Dr. Google and deduced that I may have walking pneumonia following that terrible cough I had a few weeks ago.  The prednisone and levaquin didn't quite finish it off, I don't think.  But I might be getting over it.  Today I had a little energy and I have suddenly stopped coughing.  I've also been taking 2000 mg time-release Vitamin C everyday.  So maybe time, rest and Vitamin C have helped me recover.  If I don't feel better Monday, I'll call the MO.

Diana - I love the name Queen of Tarts!  Even though you're doing a lot of work now to get it started, it almost sounds fun!  Good job with the negotiating - I've always enjoyed dickering over the price of something, haha.

Barsco - that picture is so awesome you can almost feel the warmth!  Here in the Deep South we are freezing. (okay, lips zipped about weather)

Sherry - your boot camp is intimidating me! But it's also inspiring me to do more... You go girl!

luv - I'm surrounded by about 8 acres of woods, and we're starting to have a problem with that dadgum English Ivy growing up the trees.  There's a service in Atlanta that rents out their goats to eat up all the ivy!  They pen them in and keep moving the pen until the area is all cleaned up.  My brother (who is my neighbor) and I were talking about hiring them, then it occurred to me that we can't - there's a coyote family in the woods.  No problem!  These guys camp out with the goats and a shotgun to protect them from coyotes, which are a recent addition to our wildlife.  They've been moving eastward from the west.  Now they're killing all of our cute raccoons and people's pets.  I'm sure it's pretty expensive, but I hope to hire them one day.  In the meantime, I'm dealing with it one or two trees at a time.

Marlegal - hope you don't freeze and swelter too much this weekend!  Have a great time at the shore! 

Momine

Dianarose, if you are on letrozole, it can mess up liver numbers.

barsco1963

HNS - good to hear that your cough is diminishing. Hopefully it has finally healed. We have an overabundance of coyotes in our area. Quite often you will see a hunters out to try and lower the numbers. I believe there is a bounty for them here as they are killing a lot of livestock. We hear the coyotes a lot at night - eerie as you can tell they are very close.

marlegal - hope you have a great weekend at the shore despite the cool temps. Nice tribute to those who have served, those who do serve and to those who will serve in the future.

luvmygoats

Diana - I second what Momine says. I would take a look at all the drugs you are on but don't be surprised if they all say something about liver. Drugs are metabolized only 2 ways - thru the kidneys (don't quote me but I think less common) and thru the liver. That would be the first place I would look rather than go to mets thinking. And I also agree with not stopping Xanax cold turkey and you might not need to stop it at all in view of the minor nature of the enzyme elevations. They are watching for a trend with such minor changes so expect some repeat blood work. But VERY GOOD NEWS.

Queen of Tarts is perfect. Descriptive, cute, succinct. I think the name will stick in people's heads. And you sound like you are on a roll to opening. Hard work I know (DH had a truck based tool business for a while) but it will be yours and your partner's. What date are you shooting for? July 4th?

HNS - I have heard of goats for land clearance. Uses portable electric fencing but I would think you're paying mostly for the herders' presence. Goats are pretty prolific breeders; most have 2 kids and the Nigerian Dwarf breed I have is known for multiple kids up to 6. Whew - I've only had one have 3. With 6 you would have to supplement. So what I'm saying is cruel but as it is the herder may tolerate a few losses. The unwanted males in a dairy are often euthanized at birth and maybe not so humanely. So his herd could be free for the taking males he neutered inexpensively. I'm a weenie and my vet does it for me. Otherwise they band the testicles at about 6 weeks. I give my "males" away as pets.

I have not heard as many coyotes around as my across the creek neighbor has a dog kennel full of feral hog hunting dogs. I abhor their barking but I think they're keeping the coyotes out of my creek. I have only seen one on a rainy daytime across the road and I assume was a sickly one. Not as many stray dogs either.

Dianarose

Momine- I am not on letrozle yet. That's next month. After 2 nights of not sleeping at all I will have to agree with not stopping the Xanax all at once. I am going to take a half tonight.

heartnsoul- if you don't try to negotiate you will always wonder if you could have gotten a better deal. I used to sell cars for a living. It must be in the blood or something.

Luvmygoats- I am shooting to open by the end of June. My surgery on the 5th is sort of bad timing, but I need to get it over and behind me. The other woman who was supposed to be a partner in this wanted me to take all the financial risk and she would pay me back over time. Didn't work for me. If I am taking all the risk what do I need her for. I am just going to hire a couple people to work the front. My niece needs a job this summer and I know a couple other people who need work.

jo- I think my doctor was in a panic because she thought it way from the Metformin, which she prescibed to me off label. She was glad when I told her the blood was drawn the day before I started taking it. I will go back on it after surgery.

LorAll- love the picture of the Queen of Tarts. I will try to post the one I was thinking of using.

Marlegal- I hope you are right. It always stresses me out when any doctor calls me after hours. It has never been good news for me.

It was a whopping 45 degrees and pouring this morning and got up to 49 and still raining. We need some sunshine.

I hope everyone has a good weekend.

heartnsoul76

barsco - unfortunately, it's against the law to shoot coyotes here because we are an urban county.  (I assume the goat-herders have a special license).  The state won't do anything about them because just as soon as you remove one coyote family, another one moves in. We're stuck with a vicious neighbor.  I hear them howling under my window at night - they're in my front yard!  I hate that!

luv - lol, I know what you mean about being a weenie.  I used to think I wanted to live on a farm, but when it came to slaughtering time or killing hobbled newborns or ANY of that, I couldn't do it.  My father had a friend that owned a farm and her cows died of old age - I was just a kid then and I knew that would be me.

Diana - haha, it must be in the blood!  I'm a real estate agent now and still get to play the game.  It was as cold here in Georgia as it was in Maine this morning!

macatacmv

Hey everyone, been enjoying my reprieve from my AI. My MO was out of the office this week so I get another week off.

When I was tested for brca and found negative, the counselor said my nephew (my sister's son) might want to get tested,since she was the reason they were testing me.The test wasn't available for her. She also said they were going to store a sample of my blood in case more tests become available. All that to say she seemed to think the gene runs through both female and male relatives.

When I was 50 I started to exercise, my son was enlisting in the marines and needed to lose weight. So to support him I joined a boot camp like you,sherry. After the initial pain,I loved it. My son stopped by the end of the month. I kept going for the whole summer. It was so empowering. So have a great time!

Diana, whoo what a rollercoaster ride. I hate when my doc emails me with a subject line of important message from Dr.....please login to patient gateway to read message. I keep telling her,she could word it differently. I'm close enough to come visit once you get the Tarts opened up. So I'll surprise you someday.

DragonGirl

Hi guys,



Having a crappy week, lost a good friend, but stopped by to say hey so you didn't wonder where I am.



Dianarose...so glad about the good news! Thanks for your link.



I will resurface in time.....



DG

barsco1963

Dragongirl - sorry to hear of the loss of your friend and thanks for letting us know that you will be away for a while to save us some worry. Take the time you need - we will miss you and hope you can join us again soon. ((hugs))

NativeMainer

I remember the counseling session before BRCA testing, and the counselor went over the family history of BOTH sides of my family. While there is no bc history on either side there is pancreatic  cancer on both sides, and stomach cancer on my father's side, and THOSE were the risk factors that warrented testing (besides my being younger than 50 at diagnosis).  The BRCA mutations are also associated with stomach, pancreatic and non-smoking related lung cancer, I was surprised to learn.  Then, of course, after all that I tested negative.  Luck of the draw, what a crap shoot life can be. 

Dianarose--the first thing I would recommend is getting a copy of the lab work report your doc is referring to. Post it here and we can help you sort it out.  Yes, abnormal liver function tests can indicate liver mets, BUT, and it is a HUGE BUT, that's not the only cause of abnormal liver tests.  There is a long, long list of things that can cause this, many as silly as how long the blood sat before being run through the machine, how much water you drank the morning of the test, if you were fasting or not, if you'd had a few drinks in the few days before the test was done or ate certain foods.  Liver function test results are well known in the health care industry for having random, meaningless elevations.  The standard response if a result isn't clearly hugely abnormal is to repeat it in a week or so.  One of the biggest culprits are the cholesterol meds, especially the statins like lipitor.  I would trust the cancer center report the most right now, if I were you.  They have a lot riding on getting that info right.  But, I do understand you are frightened, and I would be, too. 

DellaHJ

cmharris59:

I can say that I feel the depression acutely.  I can't take the cancer meds either.  I was diagnosed at 48, no cancer in my family.  The Tamox made me suicidal and had terrible physical effects.  I know this sounds trite and cliche, but hang in there.  Get your breasts done.  Did you say you're taking any supplements or meds for the depression?  I have NO group for support where I am.  No one to talk to about it and I go round and round in my head.  I have found that DIM + has helped give me energy and made me feel better.  I wish you better times, my sister.

Dianarose

Macatacmv- That would be great if you stopped in for a coffee and pastry once I am up and running.

Dragongirl- sorry for your loss. I lost my best friend in February and it's hard.

Nativemainer- I got that dam lab report and started working with Mr. Google on it. My Alkaline Phos. are 146 and according to this report anything over 136 is high, but if you go on other sites they say normal is up to 147. I have also read that you need to fast prior too and I did not (I had a blueberry muffin) because I didn't know she was doing the test. The other 2 things that are in the abnormal row are Liver 1 (70.9) and Liver 2 (7.4). Not sure what it all means, but they are not that far off the normal as far as I can see. I also take 40 MG's of Imipramine at night to prevent occular migraines. I read that it too can raise liver enzymes. I still get the dam headaches so maybe she needs to find something else for me and get off from those. I don't take any cholesterol meds. I am not going to stress over it. I have my surgery on the 5 and she will re-check it a couple weeks after that. I will fast this time though. My daughter is an ER nurse and had a girl hysterical after they told her she was pregnant. She said it wasn't possible. Sure enough the lab tech made a mistake.

Ok, it was 37 degrees on my way to work this morning. This is crazy. They are saying 70's by Thursday. We are going to have to hold that weather guy to it.

elimar86861

Welcome, DellasHJ!  I have to point out that when you are posting on a new thread, take a look to see if you are on the current page.  (Hope you get to this page to read my welcome and my tip.)  You wrote to cmharris59, but she has not posted on here for about three years!  Anyway, while you might not have real life support, you have come to the right community to meet with LOTS of others who are more than happy to give info., support and who "get" what B/C is doing to you.  Are you on different hormone drugs now?  When you get a chance, maybe you can fill in your diagnostic info. in your profile.  That usually helps others write a more specific answer to your situation.

This is just a hunch...I bet every last one of you are having "weather" this weekend.  Goes without saying.  Once someone mentions their sunny day, darn if six others don't feel compelled to report their weather.  I try to lead by example and never even mention when I'm in a tornado watch box (and that's like 52 times a year.)  As I have tried to explain, the social convention of talking about weather is, to me, a way of relating at the lowest common denominator of things that people have in common.  Since we are all WOMEN, all MIDDLE-AGED, and have BREAST CANCER, I would think that would be enough in common to keep us going for a good long time and not even have to bring weather into it. 

There's a big difference if someone on this thread is in the path of hurricance Sandy or something, but other than that, the daily reports are just filler and I ask you, on a thread of 800+ pages, do we really need additional filler?  However, for those hardcore weather-lovers out there, there is a spin-off thread hosted by our own lovely Meece...

Baby it's cold outside

Don't be fooled by the title.  You can post all your sweltering summer temps there as well.  Enjoy!

                                                                  

Loral

elimar...And you my dear are hilarious. Enjoy your evening ladies.

barsco1963

Well middies - seems we have been scolded - lol 

Thanks for getting us back on track Eli. What would we do without you?

barsco1963

And a warm welcom to DellasHJ. You have found the most wonderful cyber support group around for caring, sharing, learning and encouraging. Lots of support to be found from everyone here. Hope you decide to hang out with us.

As you may have notice already, any talk about the weather will earn one a rather firm scolding from our fearless leader Elimar. Fear not - we do find LOTS of other topics of interest. Some related to bc - some not so much.

elimar86861

I'm not ruling out my peevish nature, but I mainly scold to do like you said, keep us on more stimulating topics and if it ain't cancer then the random craziness of everyday life is always a winner with me. 

And bragging is o.k....for example, I walked four miles at a nearby lake today.  Woo-woo!  But keep it real too...because the last 1/8 of a mile was a steep hill and I had used up my energy, I made my husband go for the car while I waited on a nearby rock to get picked up.  I'm having my "good spell" this weekend, with my next round of chemo coming up on Tuesday, due to holiday.  I had some ice cream, and although it doesn't cause the pains at this point, cold stuff still makes my throat feel funny like it is closing up a little.

I DO hope everyone gets a chance to enjoy some outdoors activities this weekend.

heartnsoul76

Wow, Elimar! That is a big WOO-WOO! I couldn't even do that now - I have to go see my knee doctor this week because something hurts.  

We were invited by my ex to go out on his boat tomorrow with 2 million other people, but we declined.  If everybody else is there, that's where he wants to be.  Me, I head in the other direction.

I'll probably just have a cookout and invite my brother.  His son is training to be a Navy pilot about 6 hours away and his son said, "No, don't come see me.  I have other plans."  Haha, it gets to the point that our kids kick US out!

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!  

Especially to all of our veterans, past and present. 

"Standing Guard"

DellaHJ

Sorry about the misunderstanding and my posting.  I am never sure what to do where on here. LOL   Why hasn't she posted in three years?  Does anyone know?

Eph3_12

DellaHJ, some gals drop off after treatment because they want to leave BC in the rear view mirror.  Some people "lurk".  They look & read, but don't continue posting.  Some of us enjoy the on-line friendships, the banter, the info, the humor & we stay around.  Some pass away & we wouldn't know unless they were pretty closely involved in a thead or 2.  As far as posting, just look at the top of the thread page & see if there are more pages to go to (right now - this says I'm on page 814 & it's the last page # listed)  sometimes when I go onto a discussion it will be on page 117 & I'll see that the thread is up to 119 meaning I've got some reading to do.  But no worries, just jump on in!!

Valjean

Not that I'm a procrastinator or anything, but I finally planted my flat of flowers that I received from my DD for Mother's Day. Have just been busy or lazy, a bit of both I would admit to. And you know, it felt so darn good to play in the dirt again. I have a rather large flower bed at the back of my property that I used to keep up with regularly before my dx & for reasons I have yet to figure out yet, have not been interested in much since. Thank goodness perenials take care of themselves for the most part. I don't mind if they spread, never have. BUT, there are some weeds that have invaded the area. They love the sifted black dirt, too, I imagine. (if I were a perenial, I guess I would to!!)

Does anybody else have something they were more interested in before dx & are not so much after dx?? Or am I the only one with this affliction??!!

Enjoy the holiday tomorrow everyone!