MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN 40-60ish

Eph3_12

Barbe, as a former smoker I do not take offense at your observation.  I wish I didn't have cracked mouth (that's where most of my wrinkles are that are my tell-tale "cracks") I quit on 1-2-09, cold turkey after 40 yrs of Marlboro Reds!!!!.  Dx with BC on 4-2-09.  Trust me, sometimes, especially during all my treatments, I really wanted to start up again.  So glad I didn't.

The goat is awesome.  Where is Annette (her avatar name eludes my "cracked" brain cells )  

Eph3_12

so I just realized that today is 5 years since my lumpectomy, the day the BC was drawn & quartered and sent to walk the plank!  Ahoy mateys!  THAT makes me happy!

marlegal

way too far behind to catch up properly. Just popping in to say hi and I miss you all. Will try for a decent read and reply this weekend. Hugs buddies

macatacmv

eph congrats on making that bc walk the plank!!!! (5 years!!!!)

elimar86861

Eph,  Another milestone!  Congrats!!!

barsco1963

Congrats Eph! Happy, happy, happy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6Sxv-sUYtM&feature=kp

Eph3_12

Thanks all!

Footballnut

congrats eph!

So I did it!  Shaved my head last night!  See pics with and without wig. Now that it's gone I'm cool with it!!

macatacmv

you look beautiful both ways, fbn!

Spent the day antiquing with my DD. I am exhausted!

elimar86861

Looks like you could easily play for a hardcore band now, if you are willing to get a few neck tatts. 

I have to say the picture with the wig looks very natural.  I made a new friend once and she had a real pretty auburn bob, shiny and it never seemed mussed.  Only 6 mos. later did I learn that she had been wearing a wig then.  She wore her natural hair in the same style (but the real hair had a few split ends. Hehe.)

barbe1958

FBN, the wig does look very much like your pics from before! You chose very well. annettek was the gal with the leaping goat on her avatar. I'm friends with her on FB and every once in a while she posts the little goat and I STILL get excited!! hehehehehe

linda505

barsco1963

FBN - You look mahhhhvelous!

lol @ linda - We know how important it is to follow doctors orders.

barbe1958

Well, here's another internet piece o' crap!!

#5 Because You Eat Grapefruit

A study by USC and the University of Hawaii found that women who eat at least a quarter of a grapefruit a day increased their danger of breast cancer by 30 percent. It is thought that the grapefruit increased levels of estrogen in the women, which in turn fueled the breast cancer.

elimar86861

LOL, Barbe, I like your introduction to the "news."

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While the all the random studies out there may actually come up with findings that, in the best scenarios, can be duplicated time and again, there is one thing that we are not going to see in our lifetimes...that is the BALANCE SHEET on all of this stuff.

What do I mean?  You can write your own list (or just picture it in your head):

Column A                             Column B                                            Column C                                          Column D(*)

Ccarcinogenic stuff               Stuff w/anti-cancer properties            Risk factors you can change             Risk factors that you cannot change

I ate a 1/4 grapefruit today (Column A) but then I had some brussels sprouts (Column , but uh-oh, I heated them up in the plastic storage bowl (Column A), and then washed it all down with some green tea (Column B.)   Then, I went outside to get active and ride my bike and lose a pound or two (Column C,) but I didn't have my first kid til after age 30 (Column D.).  

I got it ALL going on, so what is the bottom line?   I know my NET didn't end with me in the PLUS COLUMN of no cancer.  

Where to go from here?  I can avoid A, bulk up on B, and turn over all my leaves with C, but will ANY of it be enough to offset D?  Don't answer sister girls, because the researchers do not have the answers so how on Earth could you know?  

(*) Please let this come out in nice columns.

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It certainly does not hurt to eat and live as healthy as you can, but don't be too disappointed that what you do DOES NOT STOP CANCER in it's tracks.  It's a LOT more complex than just grapefruit, ya know!

macatacmv

lol

that's why I come here!!!!!

Anonymous

hi all! Been sick for a couple days, can't catch up now but wanted to say:

Momine

The grapefruit thing is apparently for real. I have seen warnings about it in reputable and proper medical sites. Purely anecdotal, but the 3 years prior to DX I had developed a serious grapefruit habit. Not saying it caused the cancer, but I do wonder if it helped speed it up.

Loral

Have a great day!

elimar86861

Momine, You are a good example for what I was trying to point out.  You are a healthy weight, you are active, you eat the "Mediterranean" diet, so you've got a few things in your plus column.  Can eating grapefruit really destroy all the good you do?  Should the grapefruit be right up there with cigarettes?

This year they tested grapefruits.  O.K., test a hundred more foods and over time maybe 10 or 20 of them will show that eaters of those things had a greater incidence of cancer.  Like now, we can eat things like cruciferous veggies and dark chocolate.  We can't eat soy (some of it anyway) and now grapefruit.  I know some will try and track these do and don't foods, o.k. fine.  Now what about corn?  Can I eat an ear of corn?  Is an almond safe?  A walnut?  How about cheese, an aged cheese?   What is everyone doing about all the NON-TESTED foods right now?  Giving them up?  Eating them anyway?  As per my example, what if you actually do eat nine foods from the "good" list but "one from the "bad" list?   Is that one thing going to undo all the good?

Not enough is known and it will take a long time to acquire the knowledge, and then even more time to create a synthesis to live by.  We get this kind of info. (the grapefruit study) like a single puzzle piece, with no idea how it fits into the BIG PICTURE.

(Also, no one eats grapefruit in isolation.  What if grapefruit alone brings on cancer, but eating grapefruit combined with a hard boiled egg resulted in an incredible anti-cancer combination?   For that matter, I don't think all the people in the study ate the exact same other foods, so what if it was not the grapefruit alone but grapefruit eaten in combination with one two or twenty other things.  What if eating grapefruit was in someone's diet plan to lose weight?  Does that offset anything?  I think a result of this kind of study is an oversimplification of something that we do not have the means of knowing just yet.  I've already realized that I will not live long enough for science to figure all of the foods and food combinations out in my lifetime.)

As I already said, eat healthy to feel healthy, but if there is a magical formula of eating so as not to get cancer...science has not yet figured it out.

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I am not just a Cheetos-eating idiot.  I too try to make sense of these studies and may even tweak my diet based on some of them, but never do I think that the "magic bullet" to kill cancer has been found.  Not yet.

Momine

Eli, I have no idea. My diet has improved a fair bit since my DX, and my weight has dropped too. The grapefruit thing surprised me. It is one of those specific foods that is also known to interfere with certain meds. Apparently, it appreciably raises your blood estrogen levels. I am not saying it "caused" my cancer, because that would be silly. But I do wonder if my sudden obsession with grapefruit contributed in some way.

elimar86861

We are in the dark ages of nutrition still, when actual findings of one study propels many to effect changes in their lifestyle.  What I hear is something like, "Well, it may only be one thing, but it's better than doing nothing?"  I ask, "How do you know it is better than nothing?  You might change one thing and make no difference at all or actually make things worse than doing nothing because we do not know the interactions involved in cancer."  

But the mentality is we must DO something, and we would like to feel that it matters.  Going back to the balance sheet, we just cannot know that what we do does matter for us as individuals.  A population study can render a statistical finding, but what measure do we have as individuals to know if what we do does anything at all?  With us having had cancer already, maybe the die is already cast.  

The study was not even conducted on women who had cancer and who recurred, so we don't know with any certainty at all that if we never ate another grapefruit in our lives that we could escape recurrence.  For that alone, the study is meaningless to me because it is not my cohort.

Btw, my days are filled with wondering.

Momine

Eli, I hear you. It just stuck in my head because I saw it somewhere and rolled my eyes. Then I saw it some other place and thought "hmmm." Then when I investigated, it actually seemed to be a real and significant effect. 

barbe1958

Let me put it this way: I eat cheese. I got cancer. You ate cheese. Eli ate cheese. Ergo, cheese causes breast cancer.

I knew grapefruit and the meds I were taking were a bad mix, so I haven't had grapefruit in probably 30 years. So, that certainly wasn't a factor in my case! I think the fact they were studying grapefruit for the strange interaction it has with so many common meds is what led them to the silly "study result". There is ER in so many things we eat, why pick on the grapefruit????

elimar86861

But, Barbe, what about all the folks who ate cheese and didn't get cancer?  More like cheese (or grapefruit, or anything) plus everything else you do and eat all combine with your individual genetics and then the dice gets rolled.  The study results can be completely genuine but what does it all end up meaning to me?  I do not know how to incorporate the findings into my daily life, other than making sure not to eat a 1/4 grapefruit each day.  That says nothing about me eating 1/4 grapefruit every other day, or maybe eating 1/2 a day is o.k. because that is all outside the parameters of the study.

It's not even just what Barbe posted about grapefruits...it could be any particular thing.  Next week it will be something else.

I think back to when I first joined BCO and it was supposed to be beneficial during rads to drink 4 oz. of red wine.  Not more and not less...one serving...a 4 oz. serving to be precise.  It drew a fine line as to how much was o.k.  So with a lot of the stuff, supposedly good or bad, you also have to wonder how much?   Some others who go back to 2009 or so probably remember how everyone was writing about it at the time.  Cutting alcohol consumption is supposed to cut the risk of BC, so I don't even know what the current thinking about the wine during rads is nowadays.  This stuff tends to change like the (ahem!) weather.

elimar86861

A funny thing...I don't sit around thinking about this stuff too much anymore, but then when it does come up and I write something down, it kind of hits me like, "Oh!  So that's how I feel about that." 

Tomboy

...i  do sit around and wonder about this stuff all the time. well, a lot of the time! And, Momine, it is funny, i also had aquired a grapefruit obsession, about three years prior to dx. i couldnt get enough of it, i was eating it, and drinking it, and trying to find creams and lotions and perfumes, that really smelled like it. i am going to the store now, i want one now!!!! but i really havent been lusting after them, till right this minute! since treatment, i have probably only had two, altogether.

Footballnut

hi all. First thank you for your kind words!! I'm kind if getting used to the buzz cut. No brushing of hair. Super cool combos of beanies and caps and it's super easy oy but on a bathing cap!!!!!

As for grapefruit;  I never ate it but did and do eat cheese so my bc is definately the fault of the cheese!!  Lol

Agreed that everything changes   My mother is 91 and she just read that seniors who are overweight live longer. Lol

What to eat. What to drink. What to bathe in etc etc. 

all I know is that I'm not drinking alcohol now because I'm going through treatment. But once over I will return to drinking wine and beer every now and then like I used to. I'll still eat fast good every now and then. Eventually what's good today will be bad tomorrow and vice versa

I volunteered at a BBQ which supported the cdn breast cancer association yesterday. My DH bbqd and I handed out literature and sold rubber band bracelets. Met 3 bc survivors. It was awesome and so good for the soul!!

What a beautiful weekend!  I hope that everyone enjoyed it!  Happy Mother's Day to all moms!

I close this by saying that my scalp is driving me nuts it's so itchy!!!!!!!!!!!  Day 12 today and nothing has fallen out yet to still waiting to be a true baldie bean!!  Lol

  

barbe1958

Funny that the fund raiser would have a BBQ as that is a carcinogen!!!! LOL

My point about the cheese was just to say, like, ANYTHING, say the air we breathe can cause cancer. What really causes cancer??? We have a pulse!

Footballnut

hello all

Barb the BBQ itself was hosted by Nissan. They supplied the food. As for carcinogens -they are everywhere!  If we can't enjoy a good hotdog or burger every now and then why bother?  The literature that we had was awesome !  First time that I've seen a man used in one if the diagrams explaining how to check your breasts for lumps. We've come sling way!

The gm of my company really pissed me off last fri When I checked my wmd he sent me a request at 7:30 in the morning to connect with him on linkedin. For those of u not familiar with this it is a networking tool for business. When u send a request to connect with someone a default message appears which can be changed. He didn't even bother to change it. I haven't heard from him since starting my std then receive that. I may not have minded as much had he changed the default message to atleast say how are u doing? I got do mad!!

Other than that my scalp drive me wacko last night with itching. After applying a cold compress it seemed to calm down instantly. Day 13 today and STP have my hair. Fall out already !!

I drank a cup of non sweetened cranberry juice this morning. Ugh ! That was disgusting! I plan on drinking a cup 4 x a week and it will NOT be fun!!

I hope that everyone has a great day today! I'm off to walk then go boob shopping!! Lol