MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN 40-60ish

DellaHJ

CMHARRIS:

I am now glad that my post ended up on the wrong page, or place, or whatever. 

momto7

Hi ladies have not been on here in a while just reading posts hope every one is doing good and  had a great Memorial day. It has been nice out and I finally got my flowers in and just taking it day by day  trying to survive

Dianarose

Got to head out to work, but I SIGNED THE LEASE !!! I HAVE THE KEYS !!!! Queen of Tarts is going to happen.

Have a great day!!

barsco1963

Hooray Dianarose!!!! That's great news for you - and the hoards of customers that will be beating down your door! My mouth is watering just thinking about all of the goodies!

barsco1963

Good to see you again Momto7! Keep on keepin on.

cmh - Sure hope those "what if's" turn into reality for you someday soon. They are some great goals to have. You mentioned that your onc has not mentioned therapy. What about your primary dr? Perhaps a referral from him/her?

elimar86861

Hi there, Miz-Jackie-Kennedy-face, glad that you stopped by.  With you being some months out of chemo, we need to get a "hair report" from you. 

I had chemo 4/12 yesterday.  It seems like I lost a few extra hair stands in the wash the last time.  Still don't have quite enough to donate yet.  It has been hard to grow hair when my protein is kept busy trying to do cell repair on my chemo ravaged tissue.  I think I will try a collar length razor cut when the time comes, but not sure who is going to do the cutting.  When you rock the long hippie hair, it's not like you have a regular stylist.

DianaRose, Woot-woot, she has the keys!   Poised and ready for the Tart Takeover.  Are you going to be located near enough to create competition for your boss?  If so, does she know yet? 

Loral

Congratulations Dianarose

Meece

Yippee!! Jumping up and down for you, Dianarose!

elimar86861

Calling Momine...

I saw a thread that you started about Intermittant Fasting.  Can you write a bit about it here, and those interested can follow along on your thread.  Link to it.  I thought it sounded doable, but I have to do the opposite of fasting right now.

Momine

Elimar, sure, I will just link the thread, it is really easier. I will continue to update with foods and their calorie counts as I go along (if I can stick it out, we shall see).

Momine

Here is the thread:

http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/79/topic/805169?page=1#idx_19

and here are the menus for the first 2 fasting days:

Day 1:

Breakfast: 3oz fat-free, Greek yogurt with spices added as a dip for raw cauliflower or other low-carb veggies plus my usual coffee with low-fat milk. According to fitness pal, this amounts to 110 calories.

Lunch: A large salad of assorted salad greens with a dressing made from roasted garlic, parsley and lemon juice (no oil). I may add a small amount of plain chicken breast, if the calories work out.

Dinner: No-fat broth with some veggies.

Day 2:

Breakfast: 1/4 container (the full container is 6oz) Greek, zero-fat yogurt, with a lot of finely chopped parsley mixed in, salt and pepper, with a yellow pepper in strips that I dipped in the yogurt. 5 almonds. Coffee with low-fat milk. 120 calories.

Lunch: Creamy cauliflower soup. I took about 1 cup cauliflower and a large carrot. Boiled that in veggie broth (cube) along with a little seaweed (I had it on the shelf and it adds a bit of taste and minerals). Pureed it with the blender. Then took another 1/4 cup of the non-fat yogurt with herbs etc and stirred that into the soup. 150 calories and it actually tasted pretty good and felt like a meal.

Dinner: 3 cups salad greens with 3oz poached turkey breast, dressed with parsley/lemon/garlic puree (no oil). 175 calories.

Snacks: Raw cucumber. 3-4 inches of English cucumber is around 25 calories.

elimar86861

Thanks, Momine.  After my DH did that prep for his c-scope, he mentioned that he would like to do the liquid diet just as an intermittant fast, but I think something like this would be better and more doable and less hungerable (not my best made-up word, but not my worst!)  I'm going to mention it to him.  Me, I'll just take notes for later, and I do like how you put the Mediterranean spin on your recipes.

Momine

Elimar, lol, it has only been two days (with several normal days in between), but so far it really feels totally doable. I also have the feeling that with a bit of practice, it may get even easier. Today I have really not felt unpleasantly hungry at any point. 

As for the Mediterranean spin, it never occurred to me, but after 15 years in Greece, that is just how we eat.

momto7

I had lost all of my hair even eyebrows and eyelashes UGH!!!  They are growing back  which is good so is my hair but it is not blonde anymore it is all gray will have to see what it looks like when it gets longer still wearing scarves and sometimes a wig when I go out

cmharris59

I lost all of my hair also.. twice.. except the hair on my forearms.. lol  Mine came back grayer than before.. but I dye it now.. lol  mine also came back healthier , thicker, and grew super fast after about the first 6 mths. It is now nice and long.. to my waist.. thick, wavy, and have almost no split ends... hang in there.. I will say mine was growing back during the summer and it was a great transition for me... gave me time to get used to it without worrying about the heat... hot flashes were bad enough.. lol

dwill

elimar, thanks for making me laugh out loud!  Being in this club is somewhere no wants to be, but I can say I have never felt such love and humanity as I have in this club.  The love, thoughtfulness, compassion and caring are the real deal here.  

staynsane, i just love your name.  It put a smile on my face.; it speaks for us all.

cmharris, I am sorry to hear of all that you been put through--hang in there.  Last year, by chance, I took out cancer insurance--didn't know I was going to get BC less than a year later.  Well that iinsurance company fought me tooth and nail trying to prove I had a preexisting condition.  I had to gather medical records from several hospitals, pharmacies, doctors, ect.  all while I was in the thick of having surgery and treatment.  Finally, after two months, they gave up and started to pay out.  Their first payment was a measly $1,400 and I don't see much coming after that.  Thankfully my job has  decent insurance--that pays most of my bills.  It is sad that we have to work so hard to get decent medical treatment that can be based on how much insurance or money you have.

cmharris59

Dwilli: WOW! I am so glad that they finally paid off on your cancer insurance!! Kudos to you! That is disgusting that it hasn't paid out more than that though! I thought I was being paranoid, when I paid for the extra disability insurance at work.. Now I wish I could have gotten more.. It barely covers the basics.. I had great health insurance through work, paid 100% of everything, until my treatments outlasted Cobra..I never thought of cancer insurance, it just didn't run in my family. Longevity did. MY great grandmother was 103, grandmother 101, mom is almost 90 and in better health than me, dad was 90, my siblings are older and no major health issues.  I always figured I would have to worry about retirement and nursing home insurance. I did manage to save a lot for retirement but expected to work another 20 years and my 401k took a major nose dive at the same time that I got hit with cancer. Always thought if it took a hit I could recover , put a little more in, and as I got close to retirement age, go with less risky investments..  Instead not only did it get hit hard, but I had to use hardship withdrawals to cover debts that I could never have paid off on disability income.One of my biggest peeves is my life insurance policy.. I had a great one through work. But my HR rep screwed up when I was terminated. She didn't give me the right paperwork to convert it to a private policy instead of one through work. So now I have no life insurance and it is cost prohibitive to get one. Damn, sorry I started out wanting to congratulate you for the foresight and segwayed (sp?) into CMH nightmare world again.. I am bitching again... grrr.. And you are absolutely right, the state of health insurance in this country is deplorable. I found out that even when you know it's bad and you are lucky enough to afford it and think you have protected yourself, you can still get blindsided.

OK on a lighter note... HAIR... chemo put me in menopause and when my hair started growing again...I was standing in front of my bathroom mirror one morning... sun shining in the bathroom window to my right.. and OMG! I was growing a beard!!! the sun hit the hair on my face and I was covered in it... I freaked out!! I called my niece in tears, totally losing it... "I have peach fuzz all over my face!! Chemopause is turning me into a guy!!"  She said "breathe Auntie, I will be over as soon as I can" . She drove over for a visit the next weekend on her day off. She got up really close to me and took one look at me  and said, "OMG Auntie, that is the same facial hair you have always had, it's just you haven't seen it  in so long!"  She is absolutely right. I don't even notice that I have hair on my face anymore. If I get out my magnifying mirror .. sure enough there is that little light dusting of facial hair that I have always had.. no one else ever notices... but when it first came in.. I had gotten so used to not having hair anywhere... scared me to death. All I could think was.. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse? ROFL.. 

barsco1963

cmh - got a chuckle out of the facial hair story. Haven't done chemo but if/when I do - I will keep this in mind. Also good to know that head hair can come back in quite nicely.

staynsane

cmharris- Thanks for the laugh!  My eyesight is not nearly what it used to be and every couple of months I do a close up inspection of eyebrows, facial hair, nose hair, etc.  This takes good light and good glasses, and is never pretty!  Thirty minutes later I feel sleek and rejuvenated after plucking and trimming away.  I'm not one to have these services performed elsewhere, and if I forget to do it myself, my brows start looking like my husband's (he verges on Andy Rooney brows until I mow them down when I cut his hair).  Then I hit his ears, his back...men get hairier and hairier with each passing year!

marlegal

Facial hair... I really don't remember having any before chemo, but man did I get it after! I stood there and looked at it and then thought, ok...do I want to shave? No. Will I get laser? No. Wax? No! So I decided to ignore it and that's worked very well for me



dwilli, forgive my late welcome to our group. Love new takes on life, etc. from new members. Sorry about the whole bc thing of course!

macatacmv

Lol about the facial hair. Because of my lung issues I was on mega steroids for months. One day I was looking for my chin hairs and realized I had long hairs all over my face. It was white but very noticeable. I ended up getting my cheeks waxed twice. Since I've been off the steroids it's gone back to just regular fuzz. My daughter was really freaked out about it,she thought it was going to happen to her. It was so weird. I was afraid it would come back in scratchy but it stayed soft. Now let's talk about underarm hair. On the radiated side I only have one hair. It is very hard to see so sometimes it gets really long. LOL

Valjean

macatacmv ! Omg, I only have one hair on the radiated underarm side as well. Too funny!! (though not really....) In fact, I only have to look at the top half because nothing grows in the bottom half. Oh, the joys.........

Valjean

cmharris ~ Welcome back. I do remember you from way back. Cancer is a bitch........sorry if that offends anybody. JMHO. I am so sorry for everything that has happened as a result of that for you. It sure does change our life.... And please don't feel bad about b*tching a blue streak around here. I bet half the things you have already said some of us would like to say out loud & never have ........ maybe I only speak for myself ...... maybe not.

Welcome dwilli.

Dianarose, congratulations! How wonderful for you! Hard work pays off.   

cmharris59

ROFL !! l I have 3 under arm hairs ... I think...  my eyesight is so bad, at that angle, reading glasses don't help.. lol.. sometimes I think none are there.. Other times I am like .. oh wait.. there's 1.. 2.. 3.. lol

cmharris59

VALJEAN!!! heya! Ya I remember you, too!

it has been a long time! Wow! nice to be remembered... but then .. sometimes I think... how could anyone forget my treatment and appointments from hell? LMAO!

Valjean

Hey, cmh, sometimes I think I have to LMAO or I won't even get out of bed in the morning!!!!

dwill

cmharris,  rofl about the hair on your face.  I visit my hairdresser every two weeks and whenever it breaks off in certain areas she blames it on the HT meds.  Shoots, I don't care anyhow' ive been checking out some cute wigs and won't have to pay so much for hair care.  Me, i swear this HT meds are making me gain weight.  Everytime I look in the mirror, my face looks puffier.  Ugh!!!!  i need to make myself go out and walk, exercise. 

Oh yes, there are a lot of insurance companies out there scamming.  I also bought extra disability insurance that promise me $2,000 a month if I was disabled. So as soon as I filed temporary disability and was approved by the school I work for-- this other disability at the same time I got the cancer insurance--same company which I won't name (independent of the school I work for) told me by law, I am not allowed to get more than 60% of my regular pay so since my scchool TRS was paying disabilty. this extra insurance company that I thought would give me the $2,000---would only pay me $500 out of the $2,000 at any time per month. And I still have to pay the $72 dollars while I recieve their crappy $500.  So actually, they are only giving me $428 a month.  What a rip-off??  They did not explain that shit to me when I started paying them $72.00 a month.  As soon as I go back to work in August, I am dropping this crappy extra disabilty insurance and banking that $72 and just sticking with my school's insurance.  Too many crooks out there taking advantage of the innocent .

cmharris59

Dwilli: You hit the nail on the target about the crooks in insurance... I had credit card insurance that refused to pay when I became disabled. I had same issue with my disability about going over some arbitrary limit, which was why I had paid for extra insurance. They never explain any of it to you until you try to collect.

Wigs - I had chemo before surgery and lost my hair very early in the diagnosis. I was determined to have fun with that part of the treatment. I expected to be back to work in less than 18 months, so figured I could afford a splurge.. I bought 14 wigs before it was over... Some were very cheap and strictly fun, none were very expensive. Everyone I knew  in town knew about the cancer so it was no secret that I was going ot be bald. I told everyone because I knew I was going to need help. So I didn't really get too concerned about whether they looked realistic .. not all of the time anyway.  I still have them. I have super short ones, shoulder- length, long ones, curly, straight, blonde, brunette, redhead, almost neon ORANGE (think 5th Element movie with Bruce Willis), black-which I still use at Halloween.. LOL  When I got around to radiation, I still had no hair. The first day they took a picture of me with a wig. For the next 3 weeks it was a joke about what my hair would look like; I wore a different one every day. The 15th day, I came in with no wig. They never knew what to expect, and a few times they didnt recognize me lol. I had considered not worrying about a wig at all, but I knew my parents couldn't handle me being bald and niece's son was only 5 at the time and we weren't sure how he would react to me being bald. We took him with us when I went shopping for the first few wigs before  my hair fell out.  We tried very hard to be upbeat about the situation with him. The day my hair fell out... it looked terrible. My niece sheared my head before we went out to dinner and my nephew asked me to please put on a wig and be pretty. lol Staying upbeat with him must have worked or he blocked it out, because even though we told him I had cancer, occasionally, he will say Auntie Connie, I don't want you to get cancer and die. And I tell him "don't worry, honey, Auntie Connie had cancer and is still here and has fought worse things than the cancer these last few years!" lol 

cmharris59

Oh... and weight gain... I was one of those women you love to hate... eat like a horse, high metabolism, never gain weight... I know.. I am truly sorry...UNTIL... chemotherapy! Then I paid for all those good genes I had... lol

My family was afraid that I would waste away. After all, all we had ever seen was Hollywood chemo - gaunt faces, dark circles, skinny, and patchy hair.. They didn't think I could afford to lose any weight.  I gained weight... a lot of weight... and my hair was only patchy the first couple of days as it fell out, then my head was smoother than baby's bottom! lol But the weight... I had been on steroids a couple of times for my asthma and gained weight, but the chemo took me by complete surprise. I don't know if it is just breast cancer chemo protocols, but I found out that most women with breast cancer on chemo manage to gain weight. Just another nightmare to screw with our body images and our health...  Needless to say, I believe if men had as many issues as we do with cancer treatments when they were diagnosed with prostate cancer, you can believe they would find a different protocol and treatment plan.

I think I said a few years back... they tell us they are preventing some breast cancers because now women are having prophylactic mastectomies... and this is good research... Well, I must be an effing genius! Since they have determined that if men live long enough they WILL ALL develop prostate cancer.. no ifs, ands, or buts.. I can prevent ALL prostate cancer in men with prophylactic prostate -ectomies... (is that a word? lol) hit the guys around the age of 35-45 and no guy will ever have prostate cancer... but they won't listen to me....Sadly, I am afraid they won't even see the connection... just call me a man hater...  There goes my fortune....  For the record, I don't hate men.. I despise the male oriented medical community... lol

OOOH! I feel that angry, bitter, soul creeping out again.... down girl... down girl... lmao

barsco1963

cmh - I do enjoy your postings. You say it like it is - withholding absolutely nothing! And you throw in a sense of humor too. I am glad you decided to check in again - I am glad to be able to get to know you.

You aren't too far off on the prostate - ectomy. I heard on the news this week that the first ever prophylactic  Prostatectomy in London, England. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/804423  Maybe there is a trend starting?