thread for middle age to older Christian women.

IntoLight

Nancy, beautiful orchid.

I am home from my colonoscopy. The surgeon said everything looked normal and he saw no cancer but he did send something in for a pathology report just to be overzealous. Thank you for your prayers. Last night was rough and I am tired but otherwise fine.

bandwoman1234

Chris, so glad to hear from you. Those preps are awful when you are feeling fine so when you aren't that's why I was praying hard for you. Take a very long nap and get rested. I am glad they didn't see anything alarming so that is good and if he said he didn't see any cancer then I hope he is right. They don't usually say that unless they are pretty certain. I hope you can start on your new drug asap now that this is over.

Hershey and Chris thank you. It is funny how it is usually only the expert orchid growers that say how easy they are to grow. The people I have mentioned about growing orchids usually roll their eyes and say I have had no luck or they could never get theirs to rebloom. I will say that IF you find all the right conditions and locations in your house to allow them to thrive and you water just the right amount and not too much or too little and you are faithful at fertilizing weekly THEN you might have some success. I had to kill off a few before I figured out a lot of this. I will never say they are easy to grow at least in my house with not enough good light.

My old gastroenterologist's office had glass above it. They had these beautiful orchids growing so they had the perfect location.

Take care dear sisters.

Love,

Nancy

bandwoman1234

Hi dear sisters.

This day after Good Friday for the followers of Jesus in His day were probably fearful that their fate may end up on a cross as well. I imagine they were despondent and blind sighted by the events of the prior days. Certainly confusion and disappointment would be in their conversations with each other. We as present day Christians know the end of the story. We know that the end for Jesus was actually the beginning for all believers and had been planned all along. As we go through our own personal trials the Saturdays and the in between periods can seem confusing and disappointing when we don't know the outcome. The outward signs do not tell the whole story. God is always behind the scenes working for our good. He has a plan if we will give up our own plans and accept His plan for our lives we don't have to live in confusion and despondency. It all boils down to TRUST. We know how our story ends and that should be a reason for much celebration. As we go into Easter Sunday tomorrow let our hearts be filled with the wonder of what God has done for us through His son Jesus. The ultimate sacrifice poured out for us is a sign of how much God loves each one of us. His only Son had to suffer greatly because of us as He bore our sins and took our place on that cross. How can we comprehend how vast God's love is for us by that sacrifice. We are cleansed by the blood of Jesus. Our sins are forgiven because He already paid the price for us. How do we absorb this?

Happy Easter to everyone.

Love,

Nancy

bandwoman1234

Jesus is ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Easter to all.

Love,

Nancy

Sun-Shine

Happy Easter to everybody!

bandwoman1234

Welcome, Sun-shine. We have another Sunshine on this thread. I saw your picture you posted on Share a Photo. That is a beautiful pic. Happy Easter to you as well. Feel free to post anytime.

Love

Nancy

Sun-Shine

Hi Nancy,

Thanks.

Yesterday I saw the pictures you posted here and loved them, which inspired me to post a picture on the Share a Photo thread.

bandwoman1234

Hi sun-shine,

I post some of my own photos but I will always say which ones are mine. Most are from the web. I am a nature photographer enthusiast and I love photographing flowers as well. Please post any pictures that you like. I post some on the Share a Photo thread but have not in a long time. More of my photos are on the Picture This thread which has stalled now.

I hope you had a good Easter.

Love,

Nancy

Sun-Shine

Thanks Nancy, I am also a nature photography enthusiast. Sometimes I call myself a crazy amateur photographer.

Have a nice day!

bandwoman1234

Hi sun-shine. It sounds like we have some things in common. I would love to see some of your pics. If our spring weather would ever warm up then I hope to be outside with my camera every chance I can get.

Faith, is still having multiple heath challenges. She said she has tried to get on BCO but gave up. She still gets email notifications and can keep up that way. She wanted me to tell you all hello and that she is praying for you. She fell before Christmas and has been having back pain ever since. She is having shortness of breath and has been walking on her treadmill which hopefully will help her anxiety and depression which she did say is slowly getting better and also help her heart issues that are causing the shortness of breath from my understanding. Please pray for her as she has so many things to deal with which can be overwhelming.

My exterminator for mice came again yesterday to check the bait boxes and to plug up the entry points which could have been the issue. I was totally wrong about how the bait boxes worked. When I mentioned I heard them in the wall where he had to cut through drywall to put these boxes they were actually having a big feast when they were moving those bait traps all over the ceiling. He was able to retrieve one of the boxes in the wall and the bait was completely gone. Apparently they go back to their nest and then die. Most of the bait boxes had no activity at all and only one under my kitchen sink had a small nibble. So I didn't have an infestation but left untreated it could have turned into that. So I am relieved and happy that hopefully this will be the final chapter of the mice saga in my house.

Have a good day dear sisters. We are having pretty crazy weather for April. There was some snow yesterday and this weekend it is to hit 80 for the first time this year. Some of my perennials are not even coming up yet it has been so cold. I do have daffodils in bloom now.

Chris, how did things go with your new oncologist? Have you started your new treatment yet? I am praying you will be able to start really soon.

Take care and have a good night.

Love,

Nancy

All we have to do is ask.

zjrosenthal

I. have developed Lymphedema in my left arm.. Please pray for me to see a doctor for a scriptvand begin therapy..Jean

IntoLight

Jean, I am praying for you that God will help you get the right care.

Faith, I am praying you get well and your back pain goes away and you can recover.

Nancy, glad you are getting your mice situation under control. Sounds like it is working. The oncology PA I saw today spent 45 minutes with me and was very thorough. She determined I could start my new medicine, Verzenio, so I started it this morning. Pray it doesn't give me debilitating diarrhea like it has a habit of doing for others. I saw a new PCP this morning and liked her also. I am thankful God sent me good doctors. Tomorrow I get my Faslodex shots then I shouldn't have another doctor appointment for a month. I think that is a record for me!

The previous owners who are still living in our new house will be moving out a week sooner. That is a small answer to prayer but we can't reschedule the move-in company or the cleaners. Still, I can get in and look around more, take some measurements, and make some decisions. Things are gradually improving.

Take care dear sisters. Chris

IntoLight

Oh, I forgot to mention the pathology report on my colonoscopy came back negative. I do have some new cancer progression in new areas but hopefully the new medicine will knock those out once I can start. God is good!

bandwoman1234

Jean, I'm sorry to hear about your LE. I am praying that you will be able to get in with a good therapist and help you with some exercises that should help.

Chris, I am glad you like your doctors. That is huge. I am praying that Verzenio will not give you awful side effects. I am so glad you have started it now. Hopefully you have received your shot today and I am praying God will give you a long respite from all of these challenges you have had for so long. Glad to hear that the path report from your colonoscopy was negative. It must be exciting to be able to get in your home earlier than you expected. I know you can't move in without the movers in place but just getting inside and being able to plan where things will go will be a nice way to help you organize before the movers come. I remember when I took possession of my first house (my house now). I had no furniture or anything moved yet and I just sat down on the floor pinching myself that this was really my own house. That excitement was so fun and didn't wear off for a long, long time. I know this is not your first house but I hope you have that same excitement that I did almost 31 years ago. I am praying even now for your 50th wedding anniversary celebration and that it will be everything you have dreamed and hoped for.

My PT is going very well. I am doing biofeedback which I won't go into the details as it is definitely TMI for me to share but I will just say that I can actually see the progress on the computer and for such a short time into this I am very happy.

Take care dear sisters.

Love,

Nancy

Sunshine99

Nancy, it always makes me happy to see your name under the "New" posts! I'm glad the PT is going well and that you can see the progress on the computer.

We've been having concrete work done at our house - retaining wall in the front, driveway, side yard, part of the back yard and the front steps leading up to our porch. It's a big mess but will be worth it. So far, it's been demolition and putting forms out for the driveway and "steppers" next to the driveway and back yard. The front steps will be the last thing, since they didn't want to have the driveway and front steps demolished at the same time.

Our neighbors have been super accommodating with the noise and lack of parking. Our next-door neighbor has been coming over and working upstairs in our attic so that she can have some peace and quiet. Hopefully the concrete will get poured on Monday. We need to block off about 60 feet of space in front of our house and the neighbor's house to make room for the big concrete trucks.

My husband has wanted to do this for a long time. It wasn't a big deal for me, but this is making him really happy. He's out there every day, measuring, adjusting and talking to the crew. They've been really good to work with and don't mind making adjustments when they need to be made.

I hope everyone is having a good week.

Carol

bandwoman1234

Hi Carol, I am glad my posts make you happy. I feel like I am long winded (if that even applies when typing. Ha ha) at times or probably all the time so I am glad you like them.

Your outside project sounds huge. I bet you will be so happy when you see the new concrete in place. I am glad your neighbors are being nice about all of it.

I have spent hours on a simple porch railing. Not me building it but finding someone to do it and then waiting on my contractor to give me the plans that I have to submit to my HOA board. When it is finished I will have to tell you the funny story about all of this. Years ago things with my HOA were much simpler and now it is quite a deal. I am also looking into buying new windows. One of our neighbors purchased new replacement windows and they won't be installed until July because of the supply chain delays. I have blood shot eyes from watching many, many You Tube videos on window replacement. It is quite the learning curve for me as I have never had to do this before. I was gearing up for all tilt windows so I could clean them myself without a ladder and then I brought it up at a HOA meeting last night asking about the requirements and the president said we would like double hung windows to be replaced by the same and side by side windows the same. UGH More complications.

Have any of you heard of tilt turn widows or perhaps do any of you have them? That could be a solution possibly but I have a suspicion that they are more expensive than encasement windows which may be out of the question since I have several side by side windows. I bought a little giant ladder many years ago thinking I could wash my own windows on the second floor with that. Well the ladder unlike all of their TV ads portrayed was way too heavy for me to even lift out of my garage let alone try to maneuver up to my second floor.

The joys of being a homeowner!!!!!! Actually I love it but sometimes not so much.

I am having extensive blood work done tomorrow and will be able to see if my detox program is having a positive affect. Actually I had some blood work done last month and I was very pleased at the results then.

My second orchid bloomed on Easter Sunday. That happened last year as well. A small gift from God which thrills me. The color cast is from my grow light.

Have a great night everyone.

Love,

Nancy

IntoLight

Nancy, I love your orchids. They are beautiful. I had my windows replaced in January, and yes, it took six months because of supply demands. But I loved the windows. Unfortunately, we moved two months later so I was unable to enjoy them for long. I ordered them long before we knew we were going to move. It was quite an ordeal. We lived on the fourth floor and that presented its own challenges even though the installers insured us it would be fine. The first day they arrived they forgot to bring an extra long ladder...but they were able to install the other windows. The whole time I prayed no one fell!

I started my new medicine, Verzenio. So far the only side effects are extra fatigue and muscle weakness. I can live with that if that is all that happens, but I know eventually there will be more.

Carol, concrete work can be a huge deal and I am glad your neighbors are accommodating. I am sure you will all be glad when the work is done.

Chris

Sunshine99

Nancy, I love your orchid. My DH is really good at managing our plants. We keep receiving plants (orchids and such) and they're taking up a lot of room on our kitchen table. He gave one of the orchids to our housekeeper on Wednesday. She was thrilled and we were happy to share our bounty with her.

I've seen the tilt-out windows. They look great for cleaning. Yes, HOAs can be a pain sometimes.

The concrete pour has been pushed back from Monday to Tuesday. They're busy getting the rebar into the forms.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Carol

bandwoman1234

Thanks Carol. Did you have a special occasion since you have been showered with plants and orchids or was this since your recurrence? People can be so encouraging and supportive.

I wanted the tilt windows but we'll see how flexible the HOA board is on this. When I brought this subject up one of the board members said I have those windows. She told me previously that she got them 12 years ago which the same rules would have been in effect so we'll see. I may press the president on this issue. I can see others who have those as well.

I'm glad that your DH is taking care of your plants for you. I hope you will enjoy your new concrete areas when it is all finished.

We went from winter to summer in just a matter of a few days. My car said 82 on the way home from the Arboretum where I took this pic. We have had so much rain I had mud on my shoes and my jeans. There was mud on the trails and off. It was still fun to get out with my camera which I haven't got to do for a while. The daffodils were breathtaking today.

I watched several parents positioning their children among the daffodils and getting some pretty amazing portraits I suspect. It made me smile. One little boy was sitting down among the flowers and it was the cutest thing.

I hope you all are enjoying the weekend.

Love

Nancy

Teka

Nancy,

A lovely field of daffodils!

The blooms must have smelled so earthy.

______________________________________________________________________________

Husband & I with Son, Daughter & BF enjoyed our Easter dinner prior to Easter weekend. Turned out no way I could've enjoyed Easter weekend.

April 14th & 15th......

Severe weight bearing knee pain in lame (R) leg.

ER, knee X-ray (degenerative arthritis) results.

Thankfully, husband bought me a walker.

April 19th......

PCP follow-up, Medrol prescription for arthritis and a referral to an orthopedic surgeon on June 9th.

May 3rd......

PCP follow-up, evaluate my progress.

My knee pain trumps spring outdoor clean-up. I'll be staying on level surfaces. ;o))

_____________________________________________________________________________________

In my prayers one and all.

HersheyKiss

Nancy, wow! Such beautiful daffodils ... they always make me smile.

Teka, so sorry you're having knee pain but glad that your doctor is being proactive with a referral to a specialist.

Carol, I hope the concrete project goes off without a hitch this week.

My husband and I have many spring cleanup projects just waiting for us. Several trees are either dead or dying and need to come down. The window wells are full of leaves that blew in over the winter. I'm hoping we can tackle the window wells this week if the weather holds.

Wishing everyone a blessed Sunday.

IntoLight

Teka, I will be praying for your knee pain and potential surgery.

Nancy, beautiful daffodils. What an amazing experience. Reminds me of our trip to Amsterdam and the tulips at Keukenhof.

I have had a rough couple of days but am up and ambulatory today. God is good.

Blessings on this Sabbath.

bandwoman1234

Teka, I'm glad you had your Easter with your family early this year. I'm sure sorry to hear about your terrible knee pain. I hope the meds you are on are helping until you get to see the specialist in June. Sounds like you may be having a knee surgery in the future. If so I sure hope that it will resolve your pain. So no outdoor spring clean up for you this year. I pray for you always but now will be more specific.

I wasn't aware of the earthy scent of the daffodils but was very aware of the mud everywhere. I usually get down on my knees to shoot this type of scene and I tried to get some leaves under my knee but I only ended up with a wet knee. When I got home my shoes were covered in mud and I had mud spattered all over the bottom of my jeans. We have had a ton of rain and again another rainy day today.

Hershey, spring clean up is more fun that fall clean up I think but it is still work!!!. At least this time of year we have pretty flowers and warm weather to look forward to. Our landscapers do some of that but I have a bunch of sticks to pick up and cut up as we have had some really windy days.

Chris, I'm sorry to hear about your rough days. Is this the side effects showing up now do you think? I'm glad you better today. More prayers for you!!!

Thanks for all of your nice comments on my photo. It was so good to have a warm day outside with my camera. It has been a long time it seems but I am looking forward to the butterfly house opening up in May. That is my happy place in the summers. The Virginia Bluebells will probably be my next photos to post. They are barely out this year as it has been so cold this spring but should be very soon.

Enjoy the rest of your day everyone.

Love,

Nancy

zjrosenthal

Developed Lymphedema in my left arm after 7 yrs! Seeing a Lymphedema doctor at Sloan Kettering on Wednesday. Jean

IntoLight

Jean, I will be praying for you. Chris

bandwoman1234

Jean, did you receive any LE preventive information when you were going through treatments? My nurse navigator wanted me to go through LE preventive therapy while I was going through my treatments. I was fortunate enough to have this option but I know so many don't even realize this is a threat once you have had any lymph nodes removed. When I went to get fitted for my first sleeve and glove there was a lady waiting to go into this place of business and she told me after 25yrs of going through cancer she developed Lymphedema.

For all of you reading this it is important that you educate yourself on this issue if you have not had any preventive information. I have to admit I started to become a bit lax using my sleeve and glove. I always try to use them when doing anything strenuous. I did have a scare a few years ago and went through therapy again as it appeared that I had it. After I concluded the LE sessions my therapist was never able to 100% say that I had it. After hearing your story I will be more diligent in wearing my sleeve when doing gardening etc.

I do pray that you have caught this early and that you will learn the exercises which should help. There used to be quite a bit of info on BCO but I am not sure how easy it is now to navigate all of that with their current issues.

I did find that once I knew my measurements it was cheaper for me to buy the compression garments online than buying at this shop that I went to initially. My insurance at that time was not very helpful so it was cheaper for me to pay the whole amount online. I can't remember the online site but it had the name Divas in it. I liked their colorful designs but that may be everyone's cup of tea.

I am praying for you and I am very sorry you are going through this now.

Love,

Nancy

Sunshine99

Wow, Nancy, that's good info on the LE. I had no idea it could happen so long after surgery. I only had 3 lymph nodes removed during my mastectomy in 2007, but I'm still careful about blood draws, BPs, etc., on that side.

Teka

Nancy,

My daffodils and siberian squill starting to bloom.

bandwoman1234

Carol, I'm glad you found the info useful. I just wanted to let anyone know about these things who might not have had any preventive education while going though their BC journey.

Teka, it's always so much fun to see our flowers blooming in the spring. Waiting on those first daffodils feels like a kid waiting for Christmas day to open their presents. We call the blue flowers Scilla but I just looked it up and it is the same thing as your flowers just an abbreviated name. They are so pretty and delicate. I love getting down on my hands and knees trying to get an up close pic of them. I hope your spring flowers will be a joy to you as you wait for your ortho doctor apt in June. I hope your pain is manageable.

Praying for all of you dear sisters.

Love,

Nancy

zjrosenthal

I knew about preventive measures for Lymphedema after axillary dissection and have been very careful for the last 7 yrs. Still I got Lymphedema after tripping and hitting my shoulder against a wall. I am seeing a doctor on the Lymphedema team at Sloan Kettering tomorrow.