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

I love the SU campus—it's everything an urban university campus should be. A bit of background—when I went to law school it was University of Puget Sound in Tacoma (a satellite campus in a business park in S. Tacoma across S. Tacoma Way from the Tacoma/Lakewood border—close enough to McChord AFB that we could hear them bench-testing engines). Graduated in May 1975 (first full graduating class). By 1992, the school had moved to the old Rhodes dept. store bldg. downtown. In 1994, Puget Sound decided to ditch all its post-BA programs except English and music; and SU was eager to acquire a law school to pair with its MBA program. Ground was broken on the Seattle campus, a large donation came in from Larry Ellison of Oracle, and the school remained in the Rhodes bldg., rebadged as SU School of Law, until the state-of-the-art law school building (take that, UW Condon Hall and Bill Gates!) was opened in 1999. It was and remains amazing, as was the then-new Ignatius Chapel.

As a result of the sale of the Law School, our diplomas were reissued, with the May 1994 date writ large (and the “originally granted May 1, 1975” line way at the bottom in the calligraphic equivalent of “mice-type” font). So my clients were quite impressed by the two Juris Doctor diplomas on my office wall (provided they didn’t read too closely).

Ironically, we lived in Seattle, across University Way NE from UW Health Sciences (where Bob got his PhD in Genetics and then went to med school) and five blocks from Condon Hall. I didn't get into UW Law School (women were not eligible for Affirmative Action, unless part of an ethnic minority underrepresented in the legal profession—and Jews were not exactly underrepresented). I retook the LSATs but Puget Sound accepted me even before the scores were tabulated. I commuted by 6 am car pool* 45 miles each way 5 days a week (6 days as a 1L, due to compulsory Legal Writing and Admin. Law being offered only on Saturdays). Women were only 11% of the initial student body of 200 (400 by graduation day). We had only one ladies' room, which made it tough to get to classes on time, especially on the second floor (accessible by two narrow crowded staircases). When we complained, the Dean (otherwise a sweet guy) said he didn't know what our beef was, considering that though we were 11% of the student body we had 25% of the restrooms (the other 3 were men's rooms). Poetic justice came when we took the WA Bar exam (our profs taught our bar review course): our first-time pass rate was 92%, compared to UW's 76% and Gonzaga's 67%.

* which turned me into a confirmed lifelong night owl as soon as I went into practice for myself in Chicago after leaving the IL A.G.'s office.

What's that song " I Can Do Anything Better Than You ". Not meant to be too snarky. Women do seem to have an almost built in sticktoit-iviness. Spell check is crazy now. I sort of think we are less in competition with others, but more in competition with ourselves. We know it is there -- maybe buried pretty good because of life circumstances but there and we are so determined to get it to the top.

I well recall getting a real estate license after all the chemo and rads. A big struggle for me, and I did take the test twice. Passed the longer national part of the test first, but you might know, had to go back a second time and take the Illinois state test over. I was amazed that I passed at all. I still struggle with memory but I'm okay now with it all -- I know what's inside and that's good for me.

Our big 80% chance yesterday --- a mere dribble of a sorts. I thought we would get real water and have one of the grayest days on record. I was so wrong. Today with a far less chance is cloudier and darker. So, we will see. I actually expect a real RAIN today but it may just slide away.

Hope you are all going to have a good day.

Just learned that the gal with metastatic breast cancer that was on my Costa Rica birding tour died yesterday. The trip was the last big item on her bucket list. It was not an easy trip and it was an inspiration to watch her live life to the fullest.

Anne, your body has been needing to rest and so have you. It knows more than we do and tries to take care of things. Sleep is an enormous 'healer' and you had the right factors working. You were somewhat relaxed and not in pain. PERFECT.... Just of course, so much of the time it doesn't come together quite so well. I am sure hoping with maybe some better medications and a good Dr. you and he will find a good combination of therapies to get you going again.

Puffin, sorry to hear about the woman from the Costa Rica trip - yet, how great to have done this one last thing she wanted. I recall my mom saying she had done everything she wanted and enjoyed it all. No regrets that way or wishes unfilled. That is great inspiration.

Puffin, so sorry to hear about the death of your Costa Rica traveling companion. But how amazing to be able to successfully cross off something so significant from one’s bucket list.

Anne, just reading about your back pain hurts! Can they do anything with laser surgery to stabilize your spine, such as gel injections to increase that collapsed intervertebral space? I hear that spinal stenosis surgery is usually very successful. My mom had been scheduled for it, and I was en route to FL to help with her post-op care. Unfortunately, at her pre-op physical her NP noted extreme foot & ankle edema, so she was emergency-admitted instead for CHF. She never did get the surgery, but she did recover enough to be released a couple of days later into my care.

Now, Mom lived in a seniors’ retirement community in south Delray Beach, on the Boca Raton city line, called Kings Point. (It was the model for “Del Boca Vista” on a few episodes of Seinfeld—Jerry’s real-life mom lived at Kings Point). At 82, she was squarely in the middle of the village’s demographic, and it was not unusual to see people wheeled out of their apartments, on gurneys, into ambulances or even hearses. The day she was released, it was raining, and they wouldn’t let her ride home in my car—they insisted on delivering her by ambulance, lying on a gurney, even though she was easily capable of standing and walking. So I drove on ahead, back to her place to get it ready for her and greet her at the door. Neighbors were waiting too, hanging out their windows and standing by their street-side back doors. So you can imagine the gasps when she was wheeled out of the ambulance, on a gurney, covered by a sheet to keep her dry. I dashed out with an umbrella. Just as I arrived, I tapped her through the sheet—and she threw it off and yelled, “BOO!” Fortunately, nobody watching had a heart attack.

Sandy -- I love that story. How nonsensical that your Mom had to go by ambulance when she could have ridden with you and been under an umbrella full time which would have kept her a lot dryer than being prone with a sheet on while walked into her residence. Glad though that she turned the situation into one with some humor attached.

Anne, great suggestions for you and hopefully something to be able to discuss with your Dr. I don't ( knocking on wood with a total fury ) have much go on with my back. Good pain tolerance generally -- but not for the back. Had issues once while taking care of my patient. The Dr. had me 'healed' in no time. Gave me meds and told me the best exercise to do right then and there along with the admonition to only use a straight-backed chair for the present. Less than a week and I was good to go as long as I used care and judgement.

My Aunt had the spinal stenosis surgery and did fine. Went for a few yrs. Underwent a second attempt that did not have the good results as before but she was able to get by at least. Bonnets -- hope your 'pains' get more tolerable. I still think of that saying that goes something like -- "getting old is not for sissies " and it is really not. Sometimes I just think -- is the joke on us. We look so forward to retirement and the pleasures that seem to be coming into sight only to find it dampened down by health issues -- THAT we now have time for. Oh well -- we are here and surely can do some good, even if we may be a mite slower.

Should be a good enough day here -- no storms coming we don't think. We don't have full sun yet, but it is early and the a/c is working a lot. I think it will be warm with a touch of mugginess. Most of my work today is inside.

Hope you all have a good day.,

Often misconstrued, authenticity is not about being an open book, revealing
every detail of yourself without rhyme or reason. It is simply the act of
openly and courageously seeing what needs to be seen, saying what
needs to be said, doing what needs to be done, and
becoming that which you are intent on being.

Scott Edmund Miller

ChiSandy, i remember KingsPoint. My mom lived in Century Village in Boca Raton. She is now with me. We still have the little condo, not sure what we will do with it. My DH says absolutely not, to us one day living there. I remember, staying with my mom, the constant ambulances and her checking to see if it was one of her friends. She was a city gal all her life, so the quiet was hard for her. She lived in Chicago until she was 50.

Odd when she first bought the condo, 20 years ago, I was 'youngish' and had no clue to retirement life. Now that I've reached that age, it's on my mind.

Lovely, dry and mild (mid-70s) today & tomorrow. Rained yesterday morning for only about 10 min., so had to water the tomato plants in the aft. Will have to check their soil and give them a drink today & tomorrow to prevent hypocalcemia (which caused the two tomatoes on one plant to have black bottoms and the blossoms to shrivel & fall off—I cut the affected tomatoes off for the squirrels to gnaw on, and trimmed off the dead blossom shoots). I can’t harvest the basil, thyme and flat-leaf parsley fast enough. (Pesto tonight and herb omelettes tomorrow)? To my chagrin, the two little strawberries that had begun to ripen were gone—either rabbits or squirrels got ‘em. They don’t go near the raspberries, though—the thorns on the canes prevent that. (Bob is happily harvesting those a few at a time as he walks to the garage each morning).

And now for the not-so-hot news: my anemia is beginning to accelerate. In less than a month, Hgb down from 11.7 to 11.5, ferritin from 13 to 12, and though it's normal, my PCP isn't happy with the slow rate at which I'm making reticulocytes (which become red blood cells), though it's technically "normal," not just "normal-ish." On Monday, we will have the GI-imaging talk. Because my poop is normal and isn't dark (sorry about that), and my 'rhoids haven't bothered me or bled in over a year, he thinks we can wait on the repeat colonoscopy till 2021 when it's due. But we will probably need to do another upper-GI endoscopy (though my GERD is under control and I have no gastritis symptoms), and if it's normal, a capsule endoscopy to check for an intestinal AVM. He cautions that it's the pattern, not the absolute values, that concerns him—"you're not very anemic" and "the ferritin suggests blood loss" were his words. I faxed printouts of the results & my PCP's note to my MO. Will see what she says too.

He also asked about my "anemia history," which might give a clue. As a kid (even a couple of years into puberty) I was rail-thin and so pale that I had to wear long sleeves & jeans at the beach when all my friends (and everyone in my family except my dad) were happily slathering on the suntan oil. My mom kept giving me liquid iron (sort of pediatric Geritol), which she thought she could sneak into Pepsi to hide the taste—to this day I cannot abide Pepsi in any form. In my 40s & 50s, I often got rejected at blood drives because either my BP was too high or low, or my H&H (while statistically "normal") were too low. Haven't successfully donated since 2014. And in 1996, when I was in rehab recovering from OR/IF surgery for a tibial plateau/fibula fracture (got hit by a car crossing the street), my Hgb dipped into the single digits. But iron pills & a shot made a transfusion unnecessary.

Bob says that because my platelet count and WBC/RBC are perfectly normal, we probably don't have to think about bone marrow yet, but that I should ask about starting iron & C (which I did). But mention of reticulocytes scares the crap out of me. I think I will not deprive myself of a small glass of wine with dinner so long as it's very good wine and needs to be drunk. (Not gonna drink a wine just because it's there, and I don't need the buzz). Bob also says that at our age, especially if we're asymptomatic, it makes no sense to completely give up the stuff that makes life worth living (or even bearable—if pain is awful and caused by inflammation, take an NSAID occasionally if it doesn't give you heartburn).

Heading out on foot today, dragging my wheeled shopping bag behind me—CVS, coffee roastery (need fresh espresso beans—WF doesn’t sell fresh enough ones), and either WF or En Lai Asian Restaurant to pick up a noodle &/or veggie dish to go with the leftover roast duck and Chinese broccoli—maybe I have enough broccolini in the crisper to supplement it.

I’ve been off the aspirin (and Celebrex) since June 16th (and all other NSAIDs since 2013), yet my Hgb, crit and ferritin all dropped. I’m wondering that if there’s no intestinal or uterine bleeding anywhere how long it would take for evidence of screwed-up bone marrow to show up and absent any symptom other than anemia, how long can we wait to treat it?

It is going to be a hot one today. I won't be doing much outside. Slept in this am. for the first time in a long time and that did feels sinfully good. I've caught up pretty good - but only just now with my second cup of coffee. Summer seems to be moving right along and though we have plenty left right now -- I'm dreading that moment when it is evident that the leaves on the trees are getting tired and lackluster again. I think I should resolve to quit thinking so much about that and just find all the joy in the beautiful days. May water a little later on -- I really don't want my hostas to wilt too much.

I've not as yet figured out what I want to do with all the space I now have to work with where the big heat pump unit set outside. Big consideration is the fact of all the leaves when Fall arrives. I may want to find some large decoration that is easily movable ( as in put completely away somewhere for Fall and Winter ) and let it go. Plants in pots is still an idea since Dh can't seem to not 'ahem' accidentally run over my yard plants. We will see.

Hope you all have a really pretty day.

Awe enables us to see in the world intimations of the divine, to sense in small things the beginning of infinite significance, to sense the ultimate in the common and the simple, to feel in the rush of the passing the stillness of the eternal. -Abraham Joshua Heschel

Several rain blasts on the way to the office today & one lovely rainbow. Hot, humid and stormy in greater Cinci, OH area today. But, at work, so who cares? The weekend was lovely - low 80s and low humidity.

Wren, I checked that out ( the book ) and it is on Thriftbooks, and Best Deals Today. It sounds like a wonderful book which would be quite in line with the things I like to read. Thanks.

Storm early this a.m., and a little drizzle on & off all day. Pattern will repeat itself till Fri., so I needn’t water. (Will look up where to find the “suckers” on my tomato plants & trim them off so the plants will redirect the nutrients to the fruit-producing parts).

Just got off the phone with my PCP. He sincerely doubts that there's anything wrong with my bone marrow (no aspiration necessary, whew—last thing I want is to have that trochar rammed into my hip like into a wheel of Hickory Farms cheese); but that the low-normal reticulocyte count might be because my Hgb is still high enough that my bone marrow isn't “alarmed" enough to start cranking out more cells. My iron sats are good, but he concedes my ferritin's pretty low. He says, especially in light of the fact that I felt sort of "pre-refluxy" last evening (even though I could have wine I didn't want any) and that I'd had some recent nighttime episodes of "acid brash" after eating chocolate or fat too close to bedtime, it's time to look at my upper GI tract as the source of a probable slow "ooze" again. He said at my last EGD in 2013, my Hgb was 12.3 and I tested negative for H.pylori.

There are two ways we can go: do a blood antibody test for H.pylori, and if positive I'd have to do either 10 days on a tetracycline—can't do penicillin or Cipro--or 7 on (ugh) Flagyl (the latter of which means at least 11 days of no alcohol, not even in toothpaste, mouthwash or toner/astringent). But to see if it worked, I'd have to have an EGD. So we are going with option 2—EGD first. He's almost certain he's going to find at least some esophageal erosion, if not also a gastric ulcer, even with a negative culture or antibody titer for H. pylori. If that's the case, we continue the PPI—maybe switching me from one bedtime Dexilant to Protonix BID—avoid oral NSAIDs & heart aspirin (the krill oil is protective enough), and not eat (or drink anything acidic) w/in 2-3 hrs. before bedtime; and also add some iron for awhile. He's sending me to the top GI guy at Evanston, who was his own Chief Resident—rather than the guy at St. Joseph's who gave me only Versed, not even propofol, for my EGD so he could have me watch the procedure and see what he would point out to me(!). Thanks, but I'll wait till I "come to" before learning what they’ve found.

My PCP also said to go work out, eat a nice dinner, have some wine with it, and then take a whole Xanax at bedtime.