For Older People with Sense

Thank you for the lovely welcome, folks!

We here in Iowa have been having a heat wave too, but it's been more about the humidity than the heat. We finally had some rain last week, but my flower garden is about fried. I was finally able to get out an do some weeding this morning, and man, were they BIG!!! I don't worry too much about the mosquitos after I've had an infusion. I figure my blood it pretty toxic and they are going to fly off somewhere and die. Aw :::insert sarcastic sympathy here!:::

I've been reasonably lucky with the pain issue -- mostly neuropathy in my finger tips, especially my right hand. My scalp is very sensitive too. I have hydrocodone/tylenol 5/500 mg that I can take every 4 hours if I need, but manage to get by with 3 to 4 a day. I think my med onc is concerned about permanent neuropathy like you are experiencing, SoCalLisa, so I'm hoping to avoid that. I have a desk job, so you could say I make my living with my finger tips. 

Going to head north to stay with 3 of my 4 grandsons overnight on Monday while my son and his wife celebrate their anniversary. Will need to take an extra day of my steriods to make it through as I usually hit the wall on Tuesday after my Friday infusions, but it will be worth it to hang out with the little men for a while!

She is in my prayers then too, Chrissy.





Judie

Chrissy, just wanted to tell you................took my first Femara today...............hoping for the best.........I had to do it, even if I end up stopping because of SE's at least I can say I tried................

Chrissy - I had a very lovely 2 mile walk on the beach before my cousin and friend showed up. Also got primo parking since I was there so early. It feels so good to be able to walk without pain. 2 1/2 years ago, prior to knee replacements, I was using a scooter at work and avoiding walking whenever possible.

Lost_Creek - my mother made the best bread and butter pickles. Then, when the pickles were gone, she would put beets in the pickle juice and put them in the fridge. What a treat the next day. She also made the best white grape jelly from the grapes in my Dad's arbor. She used to put up tomatoes, too. I can still hear her in the kitchen, sweating over the stove, saying "If I wanted to be a farmer's wife, I would have married a farmer."

Duckyb1

I knew you could do it:) Hang in there:)

Welcome all you new ladies.  Hope you find this is a great place to hang out.

ducky - here is hoping that the SEs with the Femara are easy on you.  Mine have not been too bad, at least they are managable.  And it is working well for me and has been since last August. 

Aw, Chrissy. So sorry.

Aw, Chrissy, so so sorry about Junie.  (((  Junie's friends  ))) 

 Ducky, I started AIs last year  and I can say it isn't such a big deal for me. I was very concerned about QOL.  But it seems I'm one of the majority - who tolerate AIs ok. My BS is kindof a major player in the BC world and I trust her, and she assured me that most do tolerate ok, but those who don't, just don't.  But give it a good chance - and don't let every new ache or ouch go straight in your mind to AI problems.  Most of us have "aging" issues anyway...

I had no major joint issues yet, and have kept up weight-bearing exercise & walking. I'm taking extra calcium + magnesium, and Vit D.  But DH's doc cousin who is really into nutrition wants me to try to get more calcium from leafy greens (he'd rather not do dairy) and I am going to call him and talk again - the last time was at my birthday party and he is such a serious guy that any conversation can turn south, so I just flitted through and said I'd call him. My biggest hit is my skin.  Any good suggestions for a firming lotion??

Also: I was doing great on the Arimidex (similar to Femara) and then added statins in December - now those statins sent my muscles into achey spasms for several months and I found myself taking a pain pill a couple of nights just to be able to sleep. Afte I found out my cholesterol went from 225 to 134 in less than 6 months, I began splitting the pill and taking just 1/2 the recommended dose. My muscle aches really eased up, right away.  So it wasn't the Arimidex, but the statin causing those extra aches....  I hope you sail right through Femara!

Went up the hill into the cooler elevation yesterday, local jam session in a mountain meadow, wired for sound.  It doesn't get much better.

Hope you all have a peaceful, restful, or even a good-exciting day!

Ducky, I've been on Femara for about 14 months and found it tolerable. I had killer hot flashes in the beginning but those have pretty much petered out. I get the achiness but it's usually when I've been sitting for a while and after a minute I can walk it out. The achiness is much less when I've been getting my exercise walk in. I do get tired and my sleep patterns are weird.

That said, I LOVE Femara because IT WORKS. I had regression and now I am stable. Obviously since I'm Stage IV I'll put up with SEs that would annoy the heck out of me if I didn't have the mets but you can think of it this way - if the Femara took care of the known tumor I have, what will it do to any cells that might be left for you?

Best of luck.

Leah

Lost Creek............just got finished taking the 2nd Femara.................I wanted to tell you something about Statins.

I have been on them since 2007 after a very mild Heart Attack.................I could not tolerate any of the statins, even at the smaller dose 20mg....................A friend of my daughters was told about my heart attack in a passing conversatioln with her, and also about the muscle aches and pains, and how I was having so many problems.

She told my daughter to tell me to take 200mg of coq10, and the aches would go away .........................reason................statin drugs deplete the coq10 in your body, and we need it, so by taking the supplement we replace it the aches should subside.....................I take 200mg each day..............no aches and pains from the statins anymore.......................I do have some arthritis, but that is in a different area...................try it, it can't hurt, and will do you good, especially if your plan is to continue the statin.........good luck

Thanks Ducky, I bought some coq10 but I don't know much about it, and really didn't know why I was thinking I was supposed to want to use it... so I'll give it a try this week.  I am doing much better on the 10 mg of simvastatin, but we'll see where my bloodwork goes.  MO and PCP sure thought 225 to 134 in 6 mo was substantial, but the heart doc just saw numbers & didn't want to hear SEs.  So I just decided on my own, and confirmed with PCP to reduce the dose.  It felt like a miracle, most of the aches & ouches disappeared within a week or two so I knew it was the statin. 

I think of the Arimidex as "my friendly pill" and really hope IT is doing its job.  The rest I'll work around or with... Good luck with the Femara! 

ETA sometimes especially in the beginning, I'd visualize any stray cancer cells starving to death.  Thank you Arimidex!  None of which is to say that I don't get panic-stricken just before bloodwork or exams.  I place a lot of hope in the AIs, but ..... we'll just never be the same, will we?

Thanks Ducky

Hauntie, I forgot to welcome you.  I've never thought of putting beets in the bread & butter brine - will try it.   If I missed any others, welcome too!

Chrissy - so sorry to hear about Junie. 

BarbA - I quit taking my statin so I may try the red yeast rice and see if it will help my cholesterol. 

Leah, try google for red yeast rice - I just tried it, and since google likes to think for people, it offers red yeast rice benefits, side effects, cholesterol, (and Latin name which may help you find it) - by sites like Web MD or Mayo Clinic.  The fact that BarbA's PCP recommended it is interesting.  I noted once that Dr. Oz presented it in one program. It might be worth checking out. Sorry I can't help with translation!

Leah - here is a little of what I found.