Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?

Integrity is telling myself the truth.
And honesty is telling the truth to other people.

Spencer Johnson

Anne, that trip sounds marvelous. (I'm not a birder, but a trip geared to one's favorite avocation is a wonderful thing). Have you taken any other Roadscholar trips, and if so, what were the pros and cons (strenuousness, personal space, etc.)?

One of the sanest, surest, and most generous joys of life
comes from being happy over the good fortune of others.

I used to think it was great to disregard happiness, to press on to a high goal, careless, disdainful of it.But now I see that there is nothing so great as to be capable of happiness, to pluck it out of each moment, and, whatever happens, to find that one can ride as gay and buoyant on the angry, menacing, tumultuous waves of life as on those that glide and glitter under a clear sky; that it is not defeat and wretchedness which come out of the storms of adversity, but strength and calmness. - Anne Gilchrist

Jackie have you ever heard the saying about Missouri? "If you don't like the weather just stick around a day or two. It's sure to change!" That's probably true for your area too. I guess it's hard for the weather people to get it right very often. Ha! Ha

Cool and cloudy here on the city’s N. lakefront—with a huge fog bank hovering offshore. My car’s climate control has been set at 68 degrees, and for the first time it’s the heat and not the A/C that’s kicking in. All my tomatoes (about 15 still on the vine) are still green—we’re supposed to get 70s and sun the next few days. Hoping to get a bit of blush on them before the squirrels catch on. Our Concords are sweeter than they’ve ever been. Normally, they’re not my favorite grape, but it’s worth having to spit out seeds for them this season.

Morning all

Just want to agree with Jackie about A/C's. When we first moved to Fl in 1973, until maybe 8 years ago, we turned the air on in late April, early May, and turned it off at the end of Sept. Between Sept and April, windows were opened, we ate most dinners on he patio, kids played outside, etc. Now, we go straight from A/C to heater, never turning the unit off. We will wake up freezing one morning, and switch to the heater. Many times, by that afternoon, we are back to A/C. Sometimes we get several days with the heater, but not in recent years. I, like many others dismissed"global warming" as a political catchword, although I had no idea which political party was benefitting from it. They were crazy, anyway- the winters were colder and more brutal than I remembered. Then I heard someone call it climate change, and that made sense to me.

Anyway, please keep me in your thoughts and prayers today- I have a dentist appt for the first time since the BC. I am terrified of the dentist, so much so that my husband made our appts and pretty much dragged me by my hair to the office. I had a couple of bad experiences over the years. I was planning to ask Tim to come with me so I could take some Ativan before I went, but thought my appt was tomorrow. I will let you all know how it goes as soon as my hands stop shaking enough for me to type.

Anne

Anne, either you are in good company or I am. I hate the dentist, I hate how the office smells, and I don't even like the people who work there who seem so blasé and comfortable about it all. Like you, I know, generally that I'm being " too sensitive " and certainly allowing myself to draw inferences and conclusions that really aren't much there ( except I my head ) but it is not easy. All for an incident that took place when I was 17. I never liked going to the dentist period, but the day ( at 17 ) when the dentist chose not to waste Novocain on me haunts me to this day at 71 yrs. of age. I can do it, but I don't really go unless some dental issue forces it, but I might have saved some of the teeth that now aren't there had I not had my "experience" at 17.

You know what I think ---- just like all of us having different kinds of breast cancers, txs, and experiences --- we never know in our life what is going to have a really BAD effect, scarring, scaring, and making us feel so timid and far less in control. I see myself as a sane, viable, decent person --- except when I think about dentists and going to their offices. Then for me I become just a bit not balanced well. I can be timid about medical tests, and even my mammogram and I can't say I LOOK forward to going, but darn, I don't feel 'irrational' about it like I do the dentist.

So Anne, I'm enjoying your company as a fellow traveler in dental upset and fear.

Yup Anne I agree! I finally made a dentist appt. for Thursday. Have a tooth that has been sensitive when I eat or drink and i've been putting it off. Guess we have dentalphobia!

I moved all my summer clothes and brought the longer sleeves in over the weekend. Been in the 60's for the most part here, with 50s and 40s at night. Wearing my short coat or a hoodie when I go out. It is better than the 90s with 95% humidity, that we had last month. The world has experienced climate changes for decades, guess this is part of a natural cycle!

Glad to know I'm not alone with my dental phobia. My bad experience was when I was in elementary school. Living in the Bronx, we had to take the Ell train to the Yankee Stadium station to go to my Mom's dentist. BTW- he never used novacaine, and I had no problem with that. With 4 kids, my Mom was going to the dentist all the time. So she decided we could use the very popular dentist on the next street - We could go there on our own, and it just made more sense. His office was jam packed every day after school with kids. I went week after week after week. I told my Mom I didn't like him, and he didn't even wash the tools or his hands between patients. My siblings didn't seem to mind as much, I don't think. But I was adamant enough (and I was not an adamant child, I was a bookworm) that my Mom agreed to go back to the old dentist. The first time I saw the original guy, he called my mother intothe exam room and asked her "who the hell" did she take me to. He said almost every tooth had a filling, and even the spaces between the teeth had fillings. Then, it didn't help when my oldest DD contracted Hepatitis from her orthodontist.

All that said, they were wonderful. I told them how long it had been and how scared I was. I need one new crown and have to get one replaced because it is broken, then they have to put something in 4 places due to bone loss. I asked if she could give me something I could take before I came for the actual work. She asked if I was okay with laughing gas, which I agreed to very quickly, and she gave me a script for Xanax or something. She said if I just get laughing gas, I will be fine to drive myself, but if I take the Xanax, I will need a driver. When I got home, I took an Ativan to calm down.

They know and love Tim, so that was nice. They have met Nissa and knew he was married.

We are all about Hurricane Matthew right now My youngest DD, the one who lives in the warehouse is in a panic and can't understand why I am not already heading out of town. All five kids + some spouses were mass messaging each other all morning about the hurricane. I sent them a message saying I was home from dentist, but had taken an Ativan to relax myself. Jamie comes back with "Don't take that, Mom. It causes hallucinations and suicidal thoughts." My response was to tell her it was Dr prescribed along with every other medication I take, and that's why I was still seeing that Dr every three months. I didnt tell her I have been taking 2 of them every night before bed for years and have had no hallucinations or suicidal thoughts.

We have bought extra water, milk, bread etc. Our gas tanks are full and we have 2 five gallon containers of gas for the generator if needed. Two of the guys Tracy works with live in trailer homes and have asked if they can come here during the storm. I hope they do- may be old fashioned of me, but I prefer to have a man around in these types of situations. Tomorrow Tracy's company is closing down at noon. We will start then to bring in all the outside furniture and other stuff. Then we will just wait it out, as we have done many times before.

Will keep you all updated.

Anne

No doubt we would all agree with the sentiment:" There's more
to life than things. " Yet much of our lives seem to be spent in
the acquisition, maintenance, and disposal of material goods.
Certainly we cannot enjoy the basics of food, shelter, and clothing
without a concern for things.The truly important things of life,
however, are those which cannot be encountered by the physical
senses, purchased with money, or placed on a shelf.When we
take a look at what we value most in life, we generally find family,
friends, health, peace, contentment, laughter, helping others,
and communion with God foremost on our list of priorities.

Unattributed

Anne, my dh's sister has amyloidosis. She was diagnosed 4 or 5 years ago. Until then, I had never heard of the disease since it is somewhat rare. At first she was evaluated for the same treatment that Sandra's husband underwent but was not approved because she had too much heart and lung damage by the time the disease was diagnosed. Instead she began chemotherapy and improved greatly. One of the drugs had a huge out of pocket expense.

Whenever the chemo was discontinued, the "light chains" in the blood would increase again after a time. Two years ago she entered a study at Mayo taking an experimental drug but no chemo. She got worse and quit the program and resumed chemo. Now she is in another Mayo study, taking the experimental drug and chemo at the same time. At present she is able to drive herself to places but cannot walk any long distances.

The disease is incurable and the medical approach is to "manage" it so that the person has some quality of life.

My sister-in-law is more fortunate than many people with the disease because her dh is a retired physician and has navigated the medical waters on her behalf. She has a nursing degree even though she never worked as a nurse.

This morning I took my Prius to the Toyota dealership for a routine servicing. Then I dropped off a check at Allstate for our home insurance, which jumped $400. Don't guess we can blame that on Obama Care, can we?

While I'm sitting here, nobody is cleaning the house or doing the laundry. So I guess I should get myself in motion!

Thinking about those being affected by Matthew.

I invited my 87-yr-old cousin and his 85-yr-old wife (who still spend 6 mo/yr RV-ing) down in Aventura to stay with us in Gordy’s room while he’s in California for the week, but they said they’ll ride out the storm in their seniors’ condo building—they couldn’t get a flight out and would have ended up stuck on the freeway in their RV, and have plenty of food, water, flashlights & batteries. They’ll stay in the designated windowless storm shelter area with their neighbors till the winds have passed. Their daughters & families were able to evacuate inland; but their son is a cop in Cocoa Beach and as a first responder cannot leave town. Praying for them all.

Bob had a 10 am appt. with the ophthalmologist down on the SW Side near his own office—to which I had to drive him because he still had the patch & shield on his eye. There was horrible traffic on Lake Shore Drive due to both the storms and the Grant Park diversions & closures for Sunday’s Chicago Marathon—and all of the idiot drivers in the Midwest seemed to be out in force. We were nearly an hour late. Then we went even further south because Bob had some restaurant gift cards that were about to expire. By the time we got home I could barely keep my eyes open, so I went upstairs and napped for over 2 hrs. Meanwhile, Bob was happily reading again, polishing off weeks of CME medical-journals. He had planned to take the entire weekend off, but his interventional-cardio colleague is taking his boards on Mon. & Tues., and Bob can drive again (at least during the day), so they traded days so his colleague can study over the weekend. Bob & I will stay over at the Oak Lawn Hilton Sat. night so he won’t have to do any night-driving till Mon. None of the scenes I’m in for the Bar Show are called for this Sat.’s rehearsal, so I won’t have to take the CTA early Sat. morning to be in the S. Loop by 9 am. But next Sat. I do have rehearsal…..with a gig back up north late in the afternoon.

Our house is 108 years old and has no ductwork, so our A/C consists of window units, and we have hot-water heat via a boiler sending water to standing & baseboard radiators. Central air and forced-air heat would cost about $20K for the ductwork alone.

I am very happy to report that the hurricane missed us totally. We sat here all day yesterday, waiting for the first band of rain to hit. The night before they said it would hit between 9am and noon. Then it was between noon and 3pm. Then they said we would feel the worst of it by 9pm. Finally, about 4pm, they said they were cautiously optimistic that we were not going to be hit. For 3 hrs yesterday, the storm moved directly north instead of the northwest path it had been maintaining all along. Right now my neighbor's tree is moving with the Wind, but no more than it does during an any day thunderstorm.

I think I told you my youngest DD was in a total panic about the storm. I called her on Wed to see how and what she was doing. She said she was mAkng her plans right then and Would call me. She and her husband's stepmother were heading to some land the MIL owned. That's at least a twenty hour drive- with an 11year old daughter, an overactive 7 year old boy, and a six month old daughter. Jamie is not a good traveler in any circumstance. She has a real phobia about hotels, freaks out if she has to fly, etc. My oldest DD in Atlanta finally heard from Jamie about 7pm Wed night. They had ditched the plan to Kentucky were going to an acquaintance of the MIL in Atlanta. You can only imagine Nancy's reaction to that. They didn't arrive at the acquaintance's house until about 7 last night. As soon as Nancy heardJamie was near Atlanta, Nancy had begun asking Jamie where she could pick her and Jamie kept saying it would be rude to ditch the MIL like that. What?!?! The MIL lives about 10-15 minutes from Jamie and makes very little effort to see her. Nancy has had a very special relationship with Jamie from the day Jamie came to live with us and was a second mother to Jamie's oldest two. In fact , Nancy has said that if she knew Jamie was going to have another child, she never would have left here. Nancy, who is another one who hates traveling, flew down for four days by herself just to see Alexandria when shewas born.

Finally the MIL said they could go to Nancy's from noon today until noon tomorrow. But, Nancy had to pick them up and bring them back. We are all mystified at Jamie allowing Beth to make those decision. I texted to Jamie last night that she would go crazy in the home of a total stranger and she would be extremely stressed trying to keep Kayden from running around the house and if Alex cried during the night. Nancy's home is a two story and Kayden can run around as much as he wants - Nancy has no problem getting him to stop when it gets too crazy, and as far as Alex waking up at night, I can almost guarantee she will be in Nancy's bedroom, and Nancy will be the one to get up and feed her. The MIL is talking about heading home tomorrow or Sun, and I texted Jamie she better keep a good eye on the hurricane-- we're clear here in South Florida, but the hurricane is still out there and the last thing she wAnts to do is ride right into it.

Carole- my cousin's DH has been through chemo and some trial drugs and it all just made him worse. He is a mountain of A man, always very athletic but his body just cannot take the treatments. They live in Vero Beach and did leave for the storm. I think they are heading home today - He checked with a neighbor and they had no damage and power is on.

Anne

The unthankful heart... discovers no mercies;
but let the thankful heart sweep through the day
and, as the magnet finds the iron,
so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!
- Henry Ward Beecher