thread for middle age to older Christian women.

bandwoman1234

HI Margo,

I am not familiar with the Mammaprint as I only had the Oncotype test. Did you have that one as well. I was thinking you said you did. I will be curious to see what that one says. I have to admit that I am quite surprised that you have to have chemo. Did you get your biopsy report? There is a proliferation rate that is important which tells you how fast growing the tumor is. I wonder if that was a factor. I know many of the ladies that have chemo have ports so I am surprised they said you wouldn't have one. Maybe some of the ladies here can jump in regarding that. Usually there is a thread that will be a chemo thread for the month you start and that is a great way to meet other ladies going through it at the same time you are and you can compare notes on how you are doing. My veins are a challenge so I would have difficulty with that as well. You will be starting soon it looks like. We will be praying for you as you go through your treatments. Soak up as much Thanksgiving as you can before starting. You will get through this!!!

Love,

Nancy

margo53

thanks Nancy.... I don’t think I had the Oncotype, now that the other one is back. Medicare might not pay for both, I don’t know. I’ll look at my biopsy report... I think he said no port because there are only 4 treatments and TC is not as toxic to the veins as some of the other drugs... but I have sent a message to the nurse saying I would rather have a port.... some responded on the Chemo board saying they had TC with no port and did fine, but I’m thinking they could be much younger, I know one was in her 40’s. My veins were great when I was younger.

Can anyone tell me how to get my treatment changes to show up below in my signature? I have clicked save and exit and I don’t see my changes.

And how do I start a new topic? Like December Chemo?

Seems like I can only reply to other posts.

Thanks to all for your prayers😀

bandwoman1234

Dear friends,

I am leaving today for downstate and will be there until next Sunday. Looking forward to a good family time at Thanksgiving. I will check in when I can.

Margo, I am praying for you and I didn't have a chance to respond to you questions. It has been a long time since I started a topic and also a long time when I have wrote my stats but if and when I have some time I will see if I can help you with that.

Praying for ALL of you.

Love,

Nancy

Psalm 4:7-8 New International Version (NIV)

7 Fill my heart with joy
when their grain and new wine abound.

8 In peace I will lie down and sleep,
for you alone, Lord,
make me dwell in safety.

margo53

thanks Nancy,

My updates on diagnosis is finally showing up, still not sure about new topics. Would love to see one on Dec2019, chemo groups. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving

gkbuser

I know I have been kind of AWOL lately. Please know that I do think of you all and have not forgotten you. We are leaving tomorrow morning to drive to IN to be with mom for Thanksgiving. Will do a supper meal there and stay two nights then come home Saturday. Mom is starting the slow decline. 86 years old. Please everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Our God is good and the giver of all good things. Praise him!

-Krista

bandwoman1234

Dear ladies of faith,

I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving. For those traveling I pray for a safe journey to and from your destination. For those having family/friends in I pray that it will be a wonderful time of sharing and great food with loved ones.

Krista, praying for a safe journey for you. We are having a wind advisory in central IL and hopefully that will have passed by the time you are traveling through. My niece is coming today from Iowa and I am concerned as the wind is ferocious. I pray you can enjoy this special time with your Mom.

I have many things to be thankful for and I just received results from a test yesterday. I have had allergy shots for 38 years and I was just retested two years ago and reacted to many things. My allergy doctor is retiring so I had to find a new doctor quickly. I saw her last Tues for the first time and I really liked her alot. They did testing on me and it was truly unbelievable. I reacted to NOTHING. They kept adding more panels of skin testing and each one showed NOTHING. She ordered a blood test which she said would be very accurate in case any of my meds were interfering. I got the results back yesterday and again I reacted to NOTHING. I asked this new doctor last week if my cancer drug could be coming into play here and she said yes. I finished my five years on Anastrozole at the end of July but according to my oncologist because the drug is so robust (her words) it can stay in your system for a long time. So this is a case where possibly my cancer drug blessed me beyond cancer and into my allergy situation. At any rate I am absolutely thrilled that I will not need any more shots. I have two scheduled with my old doctor and then I will be DONE. Can you see my HAPPY DANCE.

Love,

Nancy

bandwoman1234

Margo, on the left of the screen there is a search button. You will need to scroll up to the top or hit the back to top link on the bottom right. After hitting search many topics will appear. There are directions on how to start a new topic. Only moderators can start new forums so I would suggest doing the topic. Looks pretty straight forward. Hoping you can do this as I know you are starting chemo on Monday. Praying it all goes well for you.

Love,

Nancy

IntoLight

Nancy, praising God with you. He is indeed good!

I will add prayers for all those unable to travel who will spend a quiet thanksgiving while missing family. I am thankful my family are not trying to travel in this weather. It is even raining in San Diego. We just returned from our annual trip to visit Santa and made it home just in time before the wind and rain hit ferociously. We go this day every year because there is never much of a line and Santa is not stressed nor tired yet. Works great every year. Going on this little outing is one of the joys of living near a grandchild.

We did euthanize our kitty last week. It was the right decision for her. This will be the first year in 46 years of marriage that we won't have a cat climbing the tree or eating the tinsel. I can also now have a poinsettia plant and fresh flowers. We always seem to have a cat who eats them! Although I will miss my kitties, I am not having any more animals. It is all I can do to take care of myself and my family!

God bless you all and your families with abundant thanksgiving.

bandwoman1234

Chris, I am glad you got to visit Santa. I am sure your grand daughter's eyes were filled with wonder as I imagine yours was too watching her with Santa. A wonderful tradition that I am glad you got to do. I pray you have a blessed and quiet time with your family at home. I know that must have been so difficult putting your cat down but I am sure she appreciated all the care and love you gave her. I know my sister who at one time had seven cats (not planned by any means) and now has none is appreciating some of the perks of not having a pet. She went through what I did with my cat not using the litter box so she has said no more cats. Actually she would like to get a dog but we'll see on that one.

Have a wonderful time with your family.

Love,

Nancy

Faith-840

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and safe travels. I’m glad we don’t have to travel far with the awful winds we have been having. We are enjoying once again having one of our granddaughters here during her break from school. Half of my family will be together at our Son’s house tomorrow, for which I am very grateful. I just miss having everyone together, but kids grow up and move away and it gets too hard and expensive to travel.

Nancy, how wonderful that you don’t need allergy shots anymore. What a relief that must be. I haven’t taken shots for years but I still take lots of allergy meds. Lately with the cold weather, things are better and I’m able to reduce what I take which helps me feel less tired. I think that and also reducing my AI by half is helping, I believe. Now, if I could just get my back pain and sciatica under control, things would be good. Still going to PT, although I had to cancel yesterday. Too many things to do still causes me anxiety. I’m learning to pace myself and not over schedule.

May you all have a blessed Thanksgiving. I’m feeling very blessed and grateful and pray all of you are too.

Love, Faith

zjrosenthal

Wishing you all a safe and blessed Thanksgiving. Nancy, so glad about your allergies. Love, Jean

zjrosenthal

Colossians 3:15
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

Love, Jean

bandwoman1234

Thank you Faith. Enjoy the family you will get to spend Thanksgiving with even if it may not be everyone in the family. In a few weeks I will probably be doing some of your same exercises as I will start PT in January for the same issues.

Thank you Jean. Thank you for that scripture too. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Thank you Joanne for that colorful and sparkly banner. Enjoy your Thanksgiving and I pray peace for you during this time.

Love,

Nancy

HersheyKiss

May God's blessings bring you warmth and joy on Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all.

Teka

Nancy,

You found me eating leftovers!

H & I served up an early Thanksgiving dinner for Son, Daughter and Boyfriend on Monday.

Blessings one and all.

bandwoman1234

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Can you say Pepto Bismol !!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

Hershey thank you for the beautiful banner.

Teka, good to hear from you. Love the cartoon.

I heard a joke which I thought was funny. What did the turkey say to the hunter? Quack ,quack.

Have a good weekend.

Love

Nancy

Teka

zjrosenthal

hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving. Love, Jean

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. —1 PETER 5:7

Ade

Thank you all for your beautiful scriptures and banners. I hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving. We celebrated with friends yesterday and will go to our son's house to do it again today! This time I have 5 things to cook/bake!

Nancy - praising the Lord with you on the allergies - or lack thereof!

This was the grand finale to our day yesterday. The Lord is good, and worthy of our praises!

Love,

Ade

bandwoman1234

Thanks Jean. I needed that Scripture about now.

Ade, what a beautiful sunrise to end your Thanksgiving Day. Have fun with your second celebration. I am sure you will be ready to collapse by tonight. Enjoy all the great food I am sure you will be having.

Love,

Nancy

IntoLight

Thank you Jean, Ade, Nancy, and others who read and pray silently. You are all appreciated, a special blessing this Thanksgiving.

I cooked TDay dinner yesterday for the four of us and made it through fine. Took shortcuts where I could but it all was still yummy. My DH and DD don't cook, so it is all me when necessary, but it is my joyful service for as long as I am able. Today we are putting up the tree and other decorations. The mess drives me crazy until it is done and I hurt from yesterday, but I love it when it is done. Thankful for family who help.

On another personal note: I was adopted as an infant and my biological father's side of the family found me recently on ancestry.com. I won't go into it all here, but Monday I am meeting my half-brother for the first time who only lives a couple of hours away. So this year I am thankful for additional family blessings. I think God just expanded my borders!

bandwoman1234

Chris, I am glad you were able to cook the Thanksgiving dinner for your family. I am sure your decorations will look fantastic after you get them up and the mess all straightened up. Wow! That is REALLY exciting for you discovering your family and meeting a half brother soon. I hear stories of this type of thing but now you are the story. I hope this opens up a whole new and exciting chapter for you.

Have a good weekend and hopefully you will have time to catch your breath and relax and enjoy your hard work.

Love,

Nancy

zjrosenthal

Sitting by our fireplace while the snow keeps falling. Very peaceful night. Love, Jean

bandwoman1234

Jean, what an inviting picture. Your cat seems to love it too! I have not used my fireplace in 11 yrs. Guess how old my cat is. LOL She is the reason.

I did make it home safely on Sunday evening. I have a CT of the chest on Tuesday and I am a little nervous about this. This is because of my persistent cough. I thought it was going to be of the lungs so the chest scares me a bit.

I hope everyone is doing well.

Love,

Nancy

IntoLight

Nancy, glad you made it home safely. I will be praying for your scan. Next week? Or was it today? I know you are nervous about it and I will pray God grants gives you peace and a good report.

Jean, love your cozy fireplace. We turned our heat off at the breaker (it was a poor radiant heat system in the ceiling) when we moved in six years ago and only use the fireplace for heat when needed. The advantage of San Diego. Of course we have a constant use of blankets, and I use a space heater when I am achey in the bedroom. We go through a cord of wood a year so that’s not too bad. The condo is over 40 years old and not very tight, but we rarely drop below 63* inside. I’ll send a picture once I get my DGD into bed.

bandwoman1234

Chris, my scan is next Tuesday. Thanks for asking. Getting blood work today for that.

My new allergy doctor has put me on an antihistimine spray. I don't usually tolerate antihistimines in oral form. I will also be doing bloodwork for my thyroid later as they have to be done in two different labs. I am concerned that the side effects of this nasal spray could interfere as the symptoms could mimic either too much thyroid or not enough if i did end up changing my thyroid meds.

Chris, did you meet your half brother this week? How did that go if you don't mind me asking?

Love,

Nancy

IntoLight

Nancy, I did meet my half-brother and his wife and had a lovely time. He is quite a character, but honest. He had lots of stories and brought a photo album for me to keep. For example, my grandfather was a train robber (and got caught!) and I am part Comanche. Lots of stuff I would have never known! One interesting fact is he had breast cancer 10 years ago, and is doing fine. It is rare for a male to have a mastectomy as they usually don't catch it all in time. He also brought me four books my dad wrote and published. I have yet to start them. My dad was also a musician and like me played many different instruments. I appreciate the acceptance from the family. Thanks for asking.

margo53

Hi Nancy and Chris,

I haven’t checked in here in a few weeks and just wanted to touch base. It’s very refreshing to be with Christians , even online.

I had my first chemo treatment on Monday. Doing ok, so far, I think. Just tired, face flushed yesterday. Today tongue is a little sore and knees hurt, I assume from the Neulasta. Taking Claritin for that. It has really helped knowing what to expect and when. Glad I put my Christmas decor up before Thanksgiving, as I knew I would feel up to it later.

Nancy, I’ll be praying your scan turns out good next week.

Love to all,

Marg

bandwoman1234

Chris, wow, what a story. I am so glad the family was so accepting. That was very nice for them to bring a photo album for you to keep. Finding out you are part Comanche is interesting. Your grandfather must have been a character. I hope this will open a new chapter for you of many more meeting with your half brother and family.

Margo, I have been praying for you and I am glad you have the first chemo under your belt now. I am I correct in that you only have three more chemo treatments. I say that not meaning to minimize that at all. I am glad you have all of these things in place for counteracting side effects. You sound well informed and ready to take it all on. I will continue to pray for you.

I passed my blood work so I am good to go on this CT of the chest.

Not doing so well with the nasal antihistimine but will hang in there for a few more days and see what happens. Things that make most people drowsy can make me agitated and hyper which is what I have experienced. This stuff would end up being pricey and I would have to pay a copay every three weeks which is certainly not what I was planning on. Oh well.

On a possibly good note...............I was emailing my VA advocate today and sending him the latest letter I got from the VA. I asked him if I should be concerned as they were acting as if I had not even started the claim process. He made a call to the VA handling my claim and emailed me back saying they have completed the claim on Dec. 2 and I should be hearing from them in 7-10 days. I am really hoping this will be my best ever Christmas present and if not I will be able to deal with whatever.

On a sad note my Mom's sister went into hospice on Monday of this week. I don't think my Mom knows this or would remember if we told her but I am hoping she can call her sister and have a good possibly final talk on the phone.

Joanne and her family could use your prayers. I won't say specifics without asking her.

Love,

Nancy

Ade

Chris what a wonderful gift before Christmas - for you AND your half brother!

Margo - good to hear your first chemo is over and tolerable. Now it's a countdown.

Nancy, I just had a thought. My mother was on a blood pressure medication and coughed for a full year before they (she!) discovered that was a complication of her med. The cough stopped when she discontinued that medication. Hoping that quick fix might apply to you. I am sorry to hear about your aunt and hope that in this case your mom's memory issues are a blessing.

We're in the thick of a fever bout AGAIN. This one came far closer to the last one than ever before. Prior to this James had really bad migraines last week so we are running thin on energy around here and don't get good restful sleeps so, we nap daily. These REALLY wipe him out and we are concerned about the toll they may be taking on his body. I am left with taking care of him (my privilege and act of love) and running the house, but sometimes (most of the time) I wear thin when it comes to strength. I had 2 meniscus knee surgeries in the past and now the same knee is acting up again. I walk like Chester from Gunsmoke. We haven't even decorated for Christmas and am not sure we'll even do it this year. But that's ok, I plan to do it in a big way once we get moved to Ohio. There is an old farmhouse just down the road from my brother-in-law & his wife near our old 'stompin' grounds. It is a fixer-upper (sigh) but if they'd come down enough we would hire it all done as we can no longer do that kind of thing like we used to. Still praying we don't get out of God's plan for us.

The VA didn't even take into consideration the severity of James' migraines even with a journal he kept so they turned down 2 of the 3 claims and just gave a 20% increase for the hypertension even though James had 2 heart attacks & open heart surgery which can definitely relate to hypertension. We are beginning a Higher Level Review and hope for better results. Nancy I pray your mom's claim gets good results.

Joanne I am praying for you & your family & sending you a hug.

Jean - LOVE your fireplace photo!

Lord bless and keep you all,

Ade