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

We usually look outside ourselves for heroes and teachers. It has not
occurred to most people that they may already be the role model they seek. The wholeness they are looking for may be trapped within themselves by beliefs, attitudes, and self-doubt. But our wholeness exists in us now. Trapped though it may be, it can be called upon for guidance, direction, and most fundamentally, comfort. It can be remembered. Eventually we may come to live by it.

Rachel Naomi Remen

You are goodness and mercy and compassion and understanding. You are peace and joy and light. You are forgiveness and patience, strength and courage, a helper in time of need, a comforter I time of sorrow, a healer in time of injury, a teacher in times of confusion. You are the deepest wisdom and the highest truth; the greatest peace and the grandest love. You are these things. And in moments of your life you have known yourself as these things. Choose now to know yourself as these things always.

Neale Donald Walsh

Jackie: hope you feel better soon.

No, Carole, there are four blocks and a “wall" of condo highrises (including the one where the fictional Dr. & Mrs. Hartley, of the Bob Newhart Show, lived) between me and the lake. Even if I climbed up atop my roof (as if I needed another excuse to end up in the hospital), I wouldn't have that view. But all I have to do is walk four blocks and hit the sand. But it's so relaxing out on my deck, with all the sounds of the city and the beauty of nature to enjoy. (I've been a city kid all my life—never lived in a suburb—and have always been in earshot of elevated trains in Brooklyn and here, railroad trains here and Seattle, and boat whistles along the Ship Canal in Seattle. Silence would drive me nuts).

RIGHT ON Jackie!!!! Still hoping you're recovering nicely.

Morning gals....... Jackie, even though we weren't anywhere near each other, we must have caught it together.... I've been "sick" for 3 weeks, just starting to feel better. I thought it was just the sniffles, with being sooooo sleepy, and cold.... then the Asthma.... So I thought I had better call the Doc. They wouldn't call in the Z-pak, without seeing me. So she listens to my lungs & chest, and says it is Pneumonia.... I DID get the prescription for the Z-pak, and more refills for the Nebulizer...

I took Claritin or Zyrtec, to help with the other, and just wanted to sleep & stay warm.... Went back for a check-up.... still not gone.... Another Z-pak, along with Prednisone, and another week of whining and treatments. BUT it's all better now....

And YES! That tea is great Sandy! Only I make mine with pieces of fresh Ginger, lots of lemon pieces, a couple tea bags, and boil it all for 10 minutes! Strain it, and drink it with honey..... Every day.... a few times a day. I don't know what it does, but it just feels and tastes good.

There are so many sick people out there! All of it some sort of upper-respiratory stuff..... she says!

So then I had to get a Tetanus shot! Went to Walmart, showed the gal in the Pharmacy my arm, that I scraped pretty bad on the wooden fence... She looked at me like "Are you kidding???" I just wanted to know if I should let it dry, or keep it covered... She said NO, KEEP IT COVERED WITH SOMETHING, AND USE AN ANTIBIOTIC CREAM ON IT. Period. She asked if I had been to the Doctor about it.... OR had a Tetanus shot. So she did give me a Tetanus shot. I had just LEFT the Dr's office, with a free sample of an Inhaler.... And no, I didn't ask anybody to look at my arm.

Sometimes you feel like a 12 year old, with all the things that go wrong! So my arm looks a little better.... and I do keep it covered.

And it is 20 degrees HERE! If anything would keep you in the house, THAT would! Snow and cold. But my yard is looking a lot better....... We had such warm weather for awhile....!

And sorry about your little gal............ She really was a trouper.... best you stay home anyway, and take care of yourself. Do you run a humidifier? That is good for you too.

Oh wow! Sorry about that..... but you have it controlled now, right? Had you been taking your pulse-rate?? My DH was not feeling well for 2 weeks, just no energy.... but you know how Men are.... they don't go get checked until they can't MOVE anymore....

We went.... he was examined.... then going to take blood.... But I went out of the room to tell them "something is wrong.... check him for congestive heart failure" because I had been reading about that.... They went back in, did another test, them said "no blood work".... He has "heart-block".....

His pulse was only 32.... not the normal 70 or more! Next morning a Pace-Maker was put in.... that was over 15 years ago.... He is on his 2nd one now, and doing great!

My Mom had congestive heart failure..... she didn't tell me.... and they lived in another State. When SHE wound up in the Hospital, I asked Dad "What are these pills for"???? He told me what she had then..... She never came home from a quadruple by-pass..... had a stroke during surgery.....

You take care of yourself!

The first time Bob was being “medically-managed” for his perforated colon (not the same facility that botched the colonoscopy) back in May 2015, the residents wouldn’t discharge him to home because his potassium was too low. So they kept giving it to him I.V. even after he was able to have fluids & soft foods by mouth, until he couldn’t breathe lying down. And he had gained 18 lbs. overnight. He was in fluid overload, the immediate precursor to CHF. I called a colleague who is a malpractice specialist* and we worked out a plan to sign him out “a.m.a.” and transferred to his own hospital…where he specializes in heart failure, unless they did right by them that very day.Bob was saying, "give it time, they know what they’re doing, you know where our wills are…” I told him in no uncertain terms to demand they let him see the attending cardiologist and write his own medication orders for the attending to sign, or else we were gonna sue. He reluctantly agreed, and the attending (an 80-yr-old from Thailand) said “no big deal, you’re just in fluid overload.” Bob ordered him to hand him the in-room terminal’s keyboard, and he wrote himself an order for Lasix & oral potassium, then told the attending, “Sign this or my wife will sue—she’s a lawyer.” He walked out the next day, weak as a kitten but 18 lbs. lighter, courtesy of that Lasix.

So I was pretty shocked when, the day after New Year’s after he’d been coughing from a “chest cold” he swears he caught on one of our flights to & from NYC (I think he caught it from a patient) he agreed to stop in at a doc-in-the-box before leaving for work—he called me and said he was at Walgreen’s filling codeine cough syrup and abx ‘scripts because a chest x-ray revealed lower lobar pneumonia, his temp had been 102, but was normal after a couple of Tylenol, and was going in to work! I told him to come home, not just for his sake but for his patients’, but he said he’d wear mask & gloves on rounds and just cancel office hrs., because his staff still had to get paid. He did see a pulmonologist colleague at Advocate Christ, who gave him an “Acapella” positive-airway-pressure thingy to help him cough stuff out faster…but he never used it. At least a couple of other docs were walking around with pneumonia (probably mycoplasma) at the same time. I got bronchitis a week later, but it was viral and lasted 4 wks (all I could do was treat symptoms), aggravated the second week by the plaster dust. Had laryngitis from the coughing, for over a month. And now it’s tree pollen season. Whoopee. (Got a whole bunch of Ventolin inhalers and a montelukast refill waiting for me at CVS). God bless Zyrtec and Nasacort, too.

*My colleague's wife just marked her 13th yr. of being NED with Stage IV bc.

Take time to work, it is the price of success.
Take time to think, it is the source of power.
Take time to play, it is the secret of perpetual youth.
Take time to be friendly, it is the road to happiness.
Take time to love and be loved, it is the privilege of the Gods.
Take time to share, life is too short to be selfish.
Take time to laugh, laughter is the music of the soul.
Author Unknown

Good morning , the last of our run of crazy spring weather. It was 74 yesterday in the Hudson Valley! Spent another lovely evening in the ER with DH. We thought he had an intestinal bug the last few days, but when the pain migrated to his vack figured it might be a kidney stone. We have both had the pleasure of passing them. His CT showed it was indeed a stone, which seemed to move when he had an IV. Good to see him feeling better today.

Also good to see others of you who have been under the weather recovering. Take care hope no one are in the blizzard areas. Crazy Winter/spring. Most of our snow has melted, but will cool off tomorrow.

Hi all,

So sorry to hear about all the sickness and injuries. Hope everyone is feeling better each day.

I, too, am dealing with a physical issue. When my brother arrived, he got me walking every day. The first walk, we went all the way around our block which has approximately 20 houses per side. I did not do well. I was leaning forward, which made me stumble a lot, and leaning to the left, which made me look like I was drunk. So he decided we needed to do shorter, but more frequent walks. I was doing great, going a mile a day according to my iPhone. Then my sciatica flared up. I have had problems with it before, but no where as bad as this time. It is excruciating pain and I have trouble getting comfortable no matter what I try. I called my Dr on Wed, but they couldn't see me until Thurs, so I called a chiropractor I went to years ago. She fit me in at 5 that night. I did go to my reg Dr on Thurs- she gave me steroids and Percocet, but said the chiropractor was the best option. The only time it doesn't hurt is when I do my walking. Unfortunately, I can't walk 24 hrs a day, and to walk from the couch to the refrigerator is incredible painful. I was so scared getting the X-rays at the chiropractor that she would find cancer somewhere, even though my Onc has assured me they got 100% of my original cancer out before they did any surgery. She says she can't guarantee I will never get cancer again, but she can guarantee if I do, it will not be mets from what I had, it would be a totally new occurrence. Still can't get over that fear regardless.

Thurs was my DD's birthday ( the one that lives with me) and that night, the daughter that just moved called to tell Tracy that they were coming down last night to celebrate, so I got to see my three GC. I spent most of the time holding the baby on my lap, singing and playing. She looked a little confused when they first got here, but when I starting singing, "I love you, a bushel and a peck, a bushel and a peck and a squeeze around the neck" she laid her head on my shoulder to get her squeeze and we were best buddies again.

I have finally decided to find out how much it would cost to update my kitchen, and organize my garage. The quote that I got for the kitchen includes new doors for the kitchen cabinets, and granite counters, and that is a little over $18,000. It includes everything except the floor. The garage is around $12,000, which would be a total overhaul. I am thinking both will add value to the house, but have to now figure out how to pay for it. I have to take a withdrawal from my husband's IRA since he would be whatever age it is that you have to start doing that if he were still alive. Tracy got the lady who gave us the estimate to give us 12 months to pay with no interest and no monthly payments, so that gives me two years of the IRA withdrawals to pay for the kitchen. I will have to take enough to cover the garage as well. Since I've seen the difference from what they are to what they could become, I am determined to get them done. Since the kids are eventually going to get the proceeds from the selling of the house, I am justifying it as adding to their inheritance.

Can't believe he craZy weather you are all going thru!

Anne

thanks everyone for your support.....i am so thankful for the good report.

next thing I have to deal with is this darn itching on my scalp...do not know if it is from meds....I take metformin er 1000 mg twice a day.....glipizide 10 mg twice a day.... and 5mg of tradjenta for diabetes and have taken it for quite some time along with this .075 mcg of levothyroxin...i also take arimidex 1mg. been to skin dr..he told me to put some triamclone cream on it....i have switched to head and shoulders and sometimes rinse with baking powder rinse...doesnt help. I have been under lots of stress since June 2015.

My hubbie got up from computer and fell to floor with V-Fib....gave him compressions...called paramedics...was in room while they did cpr, intubated him, shocked him, etc and he died 45 min later at hospital. Since then I have had flashbacks of seeing and doing all that and been to emerg myself with episodes of flashbacks. They said I have PTSD, but I think that term is overused.

Tried going to a Psych for help at a christian counseling center but to no avail. Plus i take care of my 89 yr old step-dad who lives next door. They prescribed some pill to take but, i hate taking another pill.

I guess I am just in a "slump" and rattling on to you all....keep me in your thoughts....

Use what talents you possess. The woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang the best.
Henry Van Dyke

Perhaps the final step in the healing of all wounds is the discovery of the capacity for compassion, an intuitive knowing that no one is singled out in their suffering, that all living beings are vulnerable to loss, attachment, and limitation.It is only in the presence of compassion that we can show our wounds without diminishing our wholeness. - Rachel Naomi Remen

Anne, your kitchen re-do sounds really nice. DH wants me to get new counter tops for our kitchen but I haven't done anything about it. The last time I checked into new countertops, I was told I wouldn't have use of the kitchen for two weeks. Too inconvenient for me. I figure our house will be a tear down when it's sold some time in the future. We have a two-acre lot in an area with a lot of million dollar plus homes. Our house is a simple one-story brick ranch with an updated interior. Of course, the updating happened 20 years ago! It's perfectly comfortable for a retired couple.

Jackie, losing 10 lbs sounds really good to me but being sick is no way to lose weight.

Today I did a friend's federal income tax return on Turbo Tax. She moved to TX years ago and still sends me her tax info. every year.

Best wishes to everyone.