Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?
Comments
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I am a lurker on here and just read. Most of you are completed with TX when I am still waiting on the PLAN! So I know you have been thru all this, but this is new to me and I want to be in your place, done and getting on with life.
ANNEB my heart breaks for you. I have 2 grankids, they are one of my reasons for kicking cancers ass!. They are 8 and 4 and I need to watch them grow up. To not have them here would break my heart. We want to protect them and watch them grow up to loving adults. I would have been like you last week when you wrote about him running away. So sad. Prayers that your family comes together.
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Welcome Cliff, I've found this to be a very supportive group, hope to see more of you here.
Goincrzy8, when will you know The Plan? I found it a lot easier to focus once I knew what was ahead.
I had a tube put in my left ear for the collapsed eustacean tube and it didn't help. I went for a follow up appointment with another Dr at the same clinic who specialized in allergies and she started me on an antihistamine nasal spray twice a day which finally seems to be helping. I still have periods where I can't hear but they're getting less. She also ordered $400 of allergy blood testing which I had done and we're waiting to see if insurance will cover. To do the standard skin tests I'd have had to stop my atenolol for 48 hours which I take for arrhythmias. My heart starts skipping beats if I'm even a couple hours late on my dose so I knew that wasn't an option.
They've finished converting the 140 video tapes that I mailed in, they're on line and I'm going thru each one and making notes as to what's on each of them, then I'll go back and edit and group them into albums, then invite friends and family to the web site and they can download any they're interested in. Have loved reliving our family reunions and the wonderful trips Lew and I took, have to keep the kleenix box close by though.
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Wow Sandra. You both are amazing on this long journey. Certainly don't blame you for not checking in more often, You certainly have a full calendar. Praying things continue to go well for you. Keep us posted when you can.
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Photo of my thumb AND Mike last week in recovery after getting the cardiac monitor put in. He's lost so much weight.
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Sandra, glad to hear back from you. Hope Mike stays in remission from AML, can put some meat on his bones, and continues on the mend from everything else! Prayers and healing thoughts for all that (and for your strength & resilience).
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Sandra, So good to hear from you. Mike seems to be like the energizer bunny - just keeps going after near misses. Sending healing thoughts along with wishes for energy all round. Please accept all help you're offered. You must be absolutely exhausted. Hugs.
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Here is good news to those to whom enthusiasm does not come naturally: It can be cultivated.
At first, you must consciously put your eyes, your voice, your spirit--in a word, yourself--into your appreciation of people and events and things. Do this around your home, at your work, and in your social contacts, and you will be surprised at how quickly it will become second nature. You will find yourself living in a more gracious and enthusiastic world, for your enthusiasm will be reflected back to you from the people to whom you give it. -David Dunn -
Sandra, you are always there in our thoughts even when you are too caught up in daily challenges to check in. I have great admiration for you and Mike. You both refuse to admit defeat. What a fighter he is and what a supportive partner you are.
I hope you enjoy you SB party
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Sandra and Mike, enjoy the SB and a lot of snacking! ;o)
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Sandra - I will PM you my number again. I would be happy to drive down to MDA and take you to lunch while Mike is in treatment. So glad that things seem to maybe be stabilizing.
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Every result you get in your life is the combination
of the challenge you receive from the reality around
you and your capacity to respond to that challenge.
Fred Kofman -
Your inner voice always knows what to do,
but it is a quiet voice.
You can only hear the whisperings of your inner voice -
your inner compass - when you turn down the volume
of your fears, your regrets, your resentments,
and the fear-based advice
your neighbors are so willing to give you.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie -
Well, we were due some rain around midnight last night --- it has waited until this morning. Thunderstorms. A bit scary as it will be 70 degrees or close to it today. We have had like temps. in years past, but not mixed with thunderstorms. Hoping no one has to deal with other forms of negative weather from this sort of drastic shift I patterns. Glad I washed my car a few days ago and dusted it really well a couple days before this. I hopefully won't end up with a badly dirt spotted car though there will be mud puddles to go through.
Am hopeful for today anyway as I usually am. I think whatever may not be to your liking or right can be worked on and made much better and I always lean that way. SSHH, I'm also trying to cheer myself up for sooo disliking GRAY days.
Jackie
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We had some rain last night, and it was freakish to see lightning in Feb.! Was in the low 50s yesterday, 45 and windy today, 38 right now and dropping like a rock. Won’t get above freezing tomorrow, and should be in the single digits by Thurs. morning…when I have my ENT appt. up in Northbrook.
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Empathy is about finding echoes of another person in yourself.
- Mohsin Hamid - -
Cool and cloudy today. After yesterday mornings' two rain storms the afternoon was very warm and actually quite sunny. A little wonderful taste of Spring. I am/was sad to hear that several tornados went through parts of LA and I'm hoping Carole that you and your whole family are fine. The news said while there were some injuries that was no loss of life and I am so happy to hear that. It was mentioned that the parts of LA hardest hit were areas as well that Katrina really damaged and that people were finally get recovered from it and then this.
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I appreciate your concern, Jackie. We were fortunate that the tornado that came through nearby Madisonville did not touch down on us.
I was just thinking about you as I muster the energy to wash my car. You would be shocked at how dirty it is.
Here I go outside.....
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Hello all. Thought I'd check in today. Took me quite a while to catch up with all the posts. I've been recuperating from heart issues and absolutely no energy.
Just recently found out my oldest GD's 7 month old girl has Mosaic Downs Syndrome. This breaks my heart. And as if that's not enough her 2 1/2 year old brother had to have eye surgery on both eyes this week in St. Louis.
My second eldest GD has a new baby girl that is 2 months old now. That makes 8 Great Grands and 8 Grands for me and my DH now.
Welcome to all the newbies. Sorry about the moving situation Anne. I know how that feels. Sandra and Mike glad to hear from you. To the rest of you please keep posting. I love to read them. Hoping you all are having a good day.
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"Life has no remote. Get up and change it yourself!"
-- Mark A. Cooper -
SeedSally, glad to hear you are through your heart surgery -- and sending positive energy vibes your way. Sorry to hear about the Downs syndrome and other medical issues in your family. Sometimes I think they are often harder to bear than our own personal ones.
Sun today ( hope it stays ) and a light layer ( very thin ) of snow. That is what yesterday's -- maybe a very small drip of rain turned into, but I'm happy it stayed thin and won't be here long. The day before of so it was near 70 -- so odd to get such wild fluctuations but that is what seems to have started these last few ( global warming/climate change ? ) years. This week-end -- 6o's. So here we go again.
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We finally got some winter! In the 50s yesterday, have about 9-10 inches of snow so far. Radar looks like it shud be ending in a couple of hours. Just sitting and watching it snow. Good we dont have to go out. Went to the continuing care community near us yesterday, looking into down sizing a d possibly making the move there, befor DH memory problems get to where we don't qualify! HArd to imagine we are old enough to be looking at this!
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Hello all,
I saw my three grandkids for a while on Sun. They did not actually sleep in Lake Placid till Tues night, after pulling the kids out of school the Tues before. Had I known they were still local, I would have tried to see them all week, even just to take them for lunch or ice cream or the park. When I got to the warehouse with their laundry Sun afternoon, just Kayden and his Dad were there. Jamie had taken the girls to Walmart with her. Kayden was very happy to see me and started to show me all the funny videos he had on his phone. His dad saw us, and told Kayden he had to get off his phone, he had been on it too long. Now, the phone is a real phone, but doesn't have service, but with wi-fi he can download games and videos. When Phil took it away, I felt so bad for Kayden- he was stuck in a partially empty warehouse with no toys or TV, his bed was folded up, so he couldn't even take a nap - what was the child supposed to entertain himself with?
When Jamie got home with the girls, it took Alexandria a few seconds to recognize me in her home, but as soon as she did, she leapt from Jamie's arms to mine, and just lad her head on my shoulder. I stayed for about 2 hrs, till about 5pm. I got at least 10 hugs and kisses from Victoria and Kayden, and Kayden begged me to come with them. They were, at that time, just starting to load up for a trip that night. Haven't heard a word since they left.
My brother handled his kidney Stone process ok, and is planning on drive down tomorrow.
My youngest son- the one that was working for the ER and going to school, dropped by Tues afternoon. I knew immediately I wasn't going to like what I was hearing. Not only is he not working at the hospital right now (he says it was to hard to schedule both- even though he had said he could work 2 days a week, and go to School 3 days- and they were paying for his school), he has decided to join the AirForce and become special Ops. He makes up his mind on things like that based on something he heard or saw, and dismisses anything anyone says that tries to tell him the truth. For example- no matter how strong and fit he is right now, he has a documented history of back problems and ankle problems that will show up on any X-ray as well as a broken arm or wrist. Beyond that, he has refused any efforts to fix the problems. He says his wife has agreed to go wherever he is sent, but she is the big bread winner of the two. She has changed jobs a lot in the four or so years I have known her, but each move has definitely been up the ladder. I don't think she realizes the jobs she has had here aren't available everywhere. Or the possibility he could be stationed in Iceland, or Japan, or anywhere. And for me, putting aside the usual dread any mother has when a child goes in the military, it means another child moving away. And any children they have while away, would know me as a visitor, not Grandma, even though they might call me that.
I have a feeling my life is going to be going through some changes in the next year or so. I've already begun looking at condos in Lake Placid. I saw one, fully furnished for 60,000. I will be spending more time with my son in So Carolina, and go back to dividing my life between here and Ga. I have more of a life here, but not much. I really need to find something to do to bring some meaning to my life, besides shopping, cooking and reading.
We are partly cloudy at the moment, making the statement "if you don't like the weather here at this moment, just wait 15 minutes, it will change" very true.
Anne
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The future is not a result of choices among alternative paths offered by the present, but a place that is created--created first in the mind and will, created next in activity. The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating.
unattributed -
Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news.
The good news is that you don't know how great you can be!
How much you can love!
What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!
- Anne Frank -
Oh my --- it turned warm yesterday and will continue -- who knows for how long, but it sure is nice. Don't know if we will have a lot of sun -- maybe muted, but as long as we are not bone chilling cold I can hang in there. This sort of thing usually inspires me to want to get things done. We have ( in the past ) often had a lot of nice days in February and I can only hope we are having some weather normalcy again. We just don't seem very predictable anymore so fingers crossed.
Extra work for me today ( has been as of late my day off ) but that is okay. I will just have to make better use of the time that I am home. Dh is working today anyway, so it will be fine. I think some of his longer days have maybe been good in a way for him. He claims to be sleeping better. That is what getting truly tired will tend to do for you. Hoping that holds, but mainly the better sleeping part since I am a great believer that your body/systems need restorative sleep to operate well. I do have a couple of friends who only sleep in two or so hour stretches --- some people have always had a different make up that way and it does seem to work for them. Then again -- they fully recognize it and Dh always thought something was wrong if he didn't sleep like he thought he should. Told him for years -- if you really get yourself tired you will sleep.
Hope you all have a great Saturday.
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MY BROTHER HAS ARRIVED!! Couldn't be happier.
I'm having a terrible time sleeping, even though I am on a lot of medication that is supposed to make me sleep. I have had to up the dosage of one med, and add two Tylenol and still don't fall asleep till 2:30-3:00 in the morning. I have always needed at least 10 full hours of sleep to feel rested in the morning. Before DVRs and such, I never saw a TV show that came on at 10 or later. Never saw Johnny Carson, Sat Night Live, or any of the 10:00 Prime Time shows. To make it worse, my shrink retired in Dec- I had been with him for over 20 years and loved that I could just say "Jamie's moving to Lake Placid" and he knew all the history behind that statement . Every one in the family except my oldest son has gone to him through the years.
The new guy I picked does meds only. I've seen him twice- the first time he looked at the meds I was on, so he had names for my issues, the second time I was with him for 15 min and he spent the whole time trying to figure out how to print a prescription for the same med at two different doses, even though on my paperwork, I notedthat sleeping problem had greatly increased. I am not comfortable with medicine changes without discussing the problem. I'm starting to think it may be connected to my eating. I have stopped eating ice cream after 7:30 pm and that seemed to help, but last night I didn't have ice cream- but I did eat Chinese food between 8-8:30. I need to find someone who does counseling and meds- or is at least interested in why I feel the way I feel.
Bro and I are heading to health food stores to find some tart cherry juice he forgot to pack. Hope everyone has a great weekend.
Anne
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Anne, Seems, at least myself and most of my friends agree, the older we get the less sleep we need and get. I think I've had a good nights sleep if I get more than 5 or 6 hours. Maybe your body is changing with age!I used to sleep all night thru, now I wake up around 3 AM for a couple of hours! Don't know the answer for you, but that may be part of your sleep changes. Jean
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Anne, I think our needs do change over time for sleep. I try not to eat anything at least four hours before bed and more if possible. In my younger years I could eat and even drink when I wanted, but time took a toll. I remember drinking coffee all day long and taking a cup of hot coffee with me when I went to bed ( very addicted then ) and I would settle down with my book, have a couple of swallows of coffee and wake up the next morning with an almost full cup of very cold coffee on the bed side table. Not I stop coffee, only having maybe four cups a day --- once in a while five usually by 3 to 3:30 p.m. and the spicier the food -- the earlier I try to eat it.
As far as spices etc. I have found that if I lay on my left side and I have eaten a bit on the late side I'm usually fine, but oh watch out if I turn to the right. That will cause me to need at least one Tums and maybe two. I have a t.v. in my room ( everyone says that is a no-no ) but I have found that after a VERY short while I'm bored ( it has a timer ) so roll over and fall fast asleep. So --- I just turn on something that is boring to me. It has worked now for a long time.
Hope you are able to get some relief -- the few times I've been wakeful, it feels so lonely --- to feel like the rest of the world is sleeping while the sandman is avoiding you like the black plague.
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Anne - the solution for me is to eat EARLY. In a perfect world, I would like to eat dinner at 4pm. In fact, that's a challenge when others are involved. In fact, i don't eat meat or protein after 6pm. If I have to eat late, I stick with veggies & carbs, or maybe light grilled fish - but late means dinner is finished before 8pm. This has made going to sleep much easier.
Sorry, meant to say I hope having your brother there is great.
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Kindness is the golden chain by which society is bound together.
- Johann Wolfgang van Goethe -
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