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

Love hearing all the " Chicago " stories myself though I'm fairly far away. I think about 4 hours north of where we live. I remember as a small child my Dad had to go 'somewhere' in the Chicago area for something to do with his medical issues through the V.A. I can't even recall how long he was gone. I do recall though --- when he got back home he had purchased ( why that, who knows ) my sister and I each a little plastic turtle that had a head and tail that moved. I sill have the little turtle in a glass case and as memories go it remains a treasured part of life for me. Dad was not given to presents ( very poor childhood and he later had to take care of his brother who went blind after being kicked in the head by a horse ) so the few things that came in life were deeply appreciated.

Miss my folks daily --- we too had something of a poor childhood, but like I'm sure many could claim --- we didn't see it then and only discovered it later in life. Made for some of the best times, and experiences in many cases that those a bit better off never got to have. Like my mom making snow ice cream ( watch out for yellow spots when you are out collecting ) and home-made stilts, and trips through the woods looking for wild ( oh so delicious ) mushrooms in Spring.

Sally, glad to hear you are having much better days of late and getting on your feet. I hope you can get into your past-times that make you happy.

Hi to everyone else.

I have no problem with the “Health Care” part of RHC—it’s the “Resurrection” part that was false advertising . Bob was treated at St. Francis because it was the closest decent hospital that CFD paramedics could take us (Weiss used to be good until it was taken over by a for-profit corp.). Evanston Hospital was outside of their area. They did a great job on his surgeries (hemicolectomy to repair the colonoscopy botched out southwest, then hernia repair), but the residents who “medically managed” him for his first admission (they didn’t think his colon was perfed all the way through) put him nearly into heart failure. They refused to release him because his potassium was too low and wouldn’t supplement it orally (even though they gave him his antibiotics by mouth), so they I.V.ed him into fluid overload. He, a cardiologist, had to direct the staff cardiologist (80 years old, barely English-speaking and semi-retired, who said “is no big deal, you just in fluid overload") to write him orders for Lasix, threatening to check out a.m.a. and mentioning I’m a lawyer. He wrote the orders himself, the staff cardio signed them, he lost 18 lbs. of water overnight and was home the next day. After that, his care was fine.

Just read through three pages of posts to catch up. Everyone has been sick! I thought it was just here that we were having a bad year. Guess it's all over the country. With Mike's severely compromised immune system, it's been a challenge to keep him away from illness - especially since we are at MD Anderson in Houston or at our local hospital several times a week. Sick people go there!

We've been lucky. Neither of us gets colds - maybe once every four or five years, and neither of us had ever had the flu. Unfortunately that record, which lasted 68 years for me, is no longer in effect. I got the flu two weeks ago. Growing up, we always thought the flu meant when you had a stomach virus. That's what my mom said and all my friends thought the same. It was one of those things that I was surprised to find out I had all wrong when I became an adult. (Like finding out there was no such word as irregardless, only regardless.) After that, I believed that the flu was some kind of super cold. Now I know that was wrong too.

I got a dry cough late one afternoon and by the next morning, couldn't get my head up off the pillow. I didn't know what day it was, was running 102.5, and had waves of unproductive nausea, retching & delirium. Mike insisted our son take us to the ER. I don't remember even getting there. Next thing I knew I was admitted to the hospital. Wow! The flu hits fast and hard. I had no idea. The ER doc had done a nasal swab and learned I had influenza, type A. Apparently it's nearly epidemic here in South Texas this year. People over 65 die from it sometimes! After tons of fluids for two days, Zofran, a chest x-ray which showed an "opaque" lobe indicating pneumonia beginning, shots in my belly & devices on my calves to apply intermittent pressure to prevent clots, I was discharged with Tamiflu. The doc said it is effective if you get diagnosed in the first 48 hours. They gave Tamiflu to Mike as well. We were all worried he would get it too but other than a cough and a week of feeling quite tired, he escaped.

I'll be the first one in line to get a flu shot next year. I'd never bothered with them since I'd never had the flu. I know it's no guarantee, but even if there is a 10% chance that the shot will prevent or reduce length of flu, it will be worth it. Mike is still not allowed to get the shot. He is not strong enough yet to even begin his baby shots. Did you know that bone marrow transplant patients have to have DPT, MMR, etc baby shots all over again? He's almost at the one year mark, so as soon as his platelets come up to 50k, he can begin the shots.

We've been back to MD Anderson again and got the good news that our visits will be monthly from now on. Yay! We've been going every other week. The deep level molecular testing results were ready from his recent bone marrow biopsy. All the DNA mutations are fixed! That's amazing. We knew the "salvage" chemo plus the research trial chemo had put Mike in remission from Acute Myeloid Leukemia, but never expected that the research chemo treatment would actually repair mutated DNA. Magic!

Sandra - you are amazing!! Glad to hear you're on the mend & Mike has had such great results.

Let every dawn of morning be to you as the beginning of life, and every setting sun be to you as its close:—then let every one of these short lives leave its sure record of some kindly thing done for others—some goodly strength or knowledge gained for yourselves.

John Ruskin

Befriending life is less a matter of knowledge than a question of wisdom. It is not about mastering life, controlling it or exerting our will over it, no matter how well intentioned our will may be.Befriending life is more about harmlessness than it is about control.Harmlessness requires connection.It means listening to life from the place in us that is connected to the wholeness around us, the place in us that is also whole. - Rachel Naomi Remen

Hi all

Just checking in. It's been two weeks since my sciatic flare up. I've been to primary care twice and chiropractor 5 times, and couldn't walk around the corner this morning, much less the whole block.

This remodeling I want to do is not as much fun as I thought. I've lost track of how many people have come to give us estimates- I thought I would be overwhelmed by choices and having a hard time picking what I want. Not the case at all. Most of the people came with one or two samples, and none of them could be modified to fit our needs. We got one estimate of $18,000, Which we thought was an awful lot to change the doors on our cabinets, but the estimates went up from there. Finally found a guy on Home Advisors last night that can do what I want for $10-15,000. Haven't signed with him yet because we still have 2 more estimates coming, but I am pretty sure we will go with him for the kitchen, and I'm waiting for a lady to send me an official estimate on the garage.

My sister called Sun nite and asked to go on speaker phone so she could talk to my brother and I together. She sounded really good, so I knew she was okay. Our cousin had fallen on the way into the school for her grandson's basketball game. They got her inside and she watched the whole game, but when it was time to leave, she couldn't get up. She broke her hip. She had surgery yesterday and they said all was good. I told her I would come up if she wanted me to, but she said right now she is fine. She has her husband, three children, plus their spouses and 4 adult grandchildren, so she thinks she is pretty much covered. This would be a really tough time for me, between the sciatica and the remodeling, but I wanted her to know that I would have dropped everything and gone if she wanted me there.

My brother went to the grocery store to get toothpaste and shaving cream over 90 minutes ago. Guess he got side-tracked somewhere, which is hard to do from here to the store, but I know he is okay cause he's called me a few times. He's enjoying himself so much that he is going to fly home for his check-up on the kidney stone, then flying back.

Sandy- glad to hear you and Mike are doing well

Carole, Hoping you are able to have a happy birthday! Glad you have family there to lend their support.

There's always room for expressing our uniqueness and love and changing the world with it, no matter what our position in life.I saw on the news a New York City subway conductor who sent out poetry, love, and messages of good cheer over his loudspeaker system instead of the usual "Stand clear of the closing doors. "He is a true original. So are you—if you will simply learn to express your originality.Share your life with those who are also on the journey and you will change the world. - Bernie Siegel

Happy Birthday Carole!! At our age, we get the whole week, so plan on it. I'm sorry to hear about your mother's condition. It's good that your sister and brother are able to be there.

Weather forecast is for rain/snow mixed for the rest of the week. Too warm for snow to stick. Right now there are blue skies overhead with white puffy clouds. Weather systems come from the southwest and there are very dark gray clouds there now. Probably heavy rain in an hour or two.

"Never be defined by your past. It was just a lesson, not a life sentence."

-- Author Unknown

Looks like we’re getting February in March because we had April in February. Oy. 38F now, warmest it’s gonna get till a week from tomorrow. Temp slowly dropping, getting overcast, predicting flurries tonight—of course, because we have to walk 1/4 mi. ea. way to & from a wine dinner (don’t wanna drive and risk DUI, and taking an Uber or cab for that short a ride is wasteful; if we’re walking to the bus stop and stand outside we might as well walk to the restaurant). They’re talking about real snow starting Sun. night and lasting into the wee hrs. of Tues.—at least 2” in the city (which usually means half a foot) and it’s gonna stick because the pavement will be cold. We won’t even get above freezing for a week (and it’ll be in the teens overnight).

Forgive others,
not because they deserve forgiveness,
but because you deserve peace.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

((((((Puffin))))))

Hugs, Puffin. I hope the birding trip is a wonderful getaway.

Thanks for the birthday wishes. I was bracing myself for Hospice but my mother is doing much better. It looks like her will to live is overcoming adversity again. Today she is playing Spades my SIL's notebook.

I am enjoying the opportunity to let other family members look after her.

I am feeling good about going back to WW and making a concerted effort to lose weight and get healthier. Not to mention getting back into clothes that are too tight. Wish me luck