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

What a beautiful room Anne. I bet your grand-daughter is going to totally love it. I do hope mom and dad take a little cue from it and move toward more structure in other parts of the house. It makes living enjoyable and well, normalized.

I am sorry to hear about your niece. That would be devastating. It almost sounds like the groom had something going on well before the marriage and was never able to let your niece know. How odd to go through with a wedding and then run out first chance to never return. Since I don't know them I can't really say but off the top of my head I'd have to say maybe if this guy is THAT flaky it may be for the best that it didn't work out -- but still just a horrible way for it to end. I'm glad to your brother could be close at hand for his daughter. Hope it doesn't take too long for her to move away from this life altering sad event. I think she deserves a much better guy.

I'll be glad when your brother gets back too. You seem to hold each other up well. By the way, I love the 'unicorn' by your g-daughters t.v.

Anne, I'll bet your granddaughter is thrilled with her room. Sad story about the unfaithful newly married man.

We were prepared for high 40's this morning but it was 50's, thanks to a cloud cover. Tomorrow is supposed to be much warmer. Today my schedule includes mowing with a new lawn mower that propels itself. Exciting, eh?

I also must go grocery shopping and do a final load of laundry. More excitement! I had to wait until noon yesterday to use the washer and dryer because they were In use by a woman who is "new" to the resort. I had not met her before.

DH is having to finish up a landscaping job begun by a man who fell and broke his wrist. Otherwise we would probably be venders at the local flea market today.

Happy Thursday to all. It should be a beautiful day here, sunny and cool.

Wow Sandy. Sounds like you will get a good fix for your dental woes. I've heard of that before -- that it is the next tooth rather than the one it SEEMS to be. Anyway here's hoping that your soon through -- well next wk. with dental and dentists -- and then on to a hand and wrist healing well so you can go and do your life w/o so many of the most recent restrictions.

Love the excitement over the self-propelled mower. I think they are better nowadays. I tried one after we came back home here ( have to admit that was 20 yrs. ago ) and it had one speed -- too fast. Maybe I should say too fast for me and the type of lawn we had. Dh laughed at me but I refused to use the mower and he finally got me one that I could propel at my speed.

Took my friend to the Dr. today. She has lung cancer in a nodule that has been watched for yrs. Today, she went to another specialist and he says she has a mass on the other side so a biopsy on that to see what it actually is. She had something removed during her colonoscopy so I'm starting to feel a whole lot of concern. That too could be a b-9 spot. I have my fingers crossed, but it sounds worrisome to have several areas that seem troublesome all at the same time.

Thanks for the compliments on the room.

Jackie- the sign in front of the unicorn says “Always be yourself- if you can’t be yourself, be a unicorn”. V picked the unicorn herself and wants to paint it. She also picked the comforter. We picked the furniture together.

Sandy- you are so right about my niece finding a better man. She lost her mother 18 yrs ago, but has gone on to get a pharmaceutical license, a paralegal degree, and now a real estate license. She has lost about 80-90 lbs in the past couple of years, and kept it off. She is breathtakingly beautiful. Did I mention she owns her own home? It gets a little crazy here, because the house belonged to her ex’s grandfather, and the ex has remodeled the whole thing. But she is the only owner. Her ex has gone to school as a career, majoring in many areas, but never quite completing anything He now works as an aide in an autism classroom. Diana (yes, she was named after Princess Di) got her 4 yr degree about a year ago. Further muddling the pot is that she works with her ex’s father,who is a lawyer and he is handling the paperwork for the divorce. She has worked for him for many years, but he is not a divorce lawyer. She says he and his wife are both shamed of their son’s behavior.

I have lost enough weight to need to go down another size in clothes. I mostly wear capris from JC Penney’s. Unfortunately, all the stores are stocking up for the fall and winter, which Florida does not have, and they don’t have capris, even on line. I found one pair at the mall I walk at each day, so decided to go to a different mall today. I entered thru Penneys, and sure enough, they had a white pair in my size. I did my walking, then went back to buy them. I couldn’t find them anywhere. I circled the store three or four times before finally asking for help. When I asked where the St John’s Bay capris were, the two cashiers looked at me and said “We don’t carry St John’s Bay- Penney’s does” I was in Macy’s. I just bought 4 pair on EBay, because hopefully I will go down one more size in the next few months.

The other day, I went to the garage to get my laundry, and I could hear water dripping from the a/c. I was waiting for my daughter to get home to tell her, but she came n through the garage and heard it too. Then my son came home, and he heard it too. Could have been a major problem, but Rob’s best friend since middle school just happens to be an a/c repairman. Rob called him, he was here in a matter of minutes, and spent about 45 min fixing whatever needed fixing. Then he came in to say hello to me, and stayed visiting for the next three hours, it was near 11 when he left. We had such a good time, but Rob was dead on his feet he was so tired. I said to him and Tracy that the three of us were in bed before the friend got to the corner. We all head to our bedrooms between 8:30-9:00,Tracy and I each watch TV for a while, Rob is asleep before his head hits the pillow. It was worth it though- I haven’t laughed so much in quite a while.

Sandy, it must feel so good to be able to use both hands, even if one of them is limited use. At least you can get dressed on your own

That’s about it from here- hope everyone is having a good day,

Anne

I can dress on my own, but still need to step into & out of my bras (using extenders). Having considerable pain a day after the root canal--actually feels a bit worse than it did beforehand. Hoping it's not an extra canal in that root (it can happen) or abscess in the bone. Might also have to do the tooth originally thought to be the culprit. I asked my dentist if I should have kept to an every 4 mos. cleaning schedule instead of twice a year (because my gums were in great shape back in March), but he said that the root issue had nothing to do with that. Before the root canal, I was taking 1000 mg. Tylenol and 800 mg. ibuprofen every 6 hrs., but my endodontist said to cut back to 600 mg. of ibuprofen. I've been getting breakthrough "gnawing" and dull-throbbing pain so I started going to every 4 hrs. today--I think I'm gonna do 800 mg. again at bedtime (which for me will be about 3 am.) and see how long before the pain wakes me up (yes, I do have a message in for my endodontist).

Puffin, hope your ear clears up well before your trip. Are your knees natural or replacements? If the former, you might want to look into an "unloader" brace to shift the weight off the most-eroded cartilage in the joint. Bought me an extra year before getting my R TKR. Anne, need a fat donor? It could be arranged....

Jackie, so sorry to hear what your friend is going through.

Puffin, I'm sorry to hear about your body pain. I know you're a fit person and not carrying extra weight. My body has been reminding me lately of getting older.

Anne, I so admire you for those decreasing clothing sizes. You are becoming my heroine!

Jackie, I had a bit of trouble adjusting to the self-propelling mower. The speed is adjustable with two levers on the handle, kind of like brakes on the handlebar of a bike. So you can go forward slowly if you prefer. Or run behind the mower! I still found mowing boring and tiring but I did some so that dh had less to cover on the riding mower, which is better for wide open spaces. We get paid for mowing the grass so that gives us spending money.

When dh worked an offshore schedule, I used to mow our lawn at home with a riding lawn mower. Once he retired and bought a big zero turn mower, I quit mowing. Unfortunately, keeping up the flower beds and pruning shrubs still fall into my share of home upkeep. I think longingly of a gardener. And a housekeeper!

Wren, I hope your husband gets good care and is soon going home to resume his life. I was shocked at your gas being siphoned out of your car.

Happy Friday to all.

Carol- no one is more surprised at my weight loss than I am. I put myself on a hypoglycemia diet many years ago when my son was diagnosed as hypoglycemic, to show him it wasn't a restrictive diet, but more of a balanced eating plan. I lost weight on that! Which was great, but I was soon back to my old habits and gained any loss back very quickly. And, of course I lost weight during chemo, but again as I got back to eating as usual, I gained it all back. The diet I am eating now is a new way of eating- nothing earth changing, but for someone who could skip breakfast and lunch, scarf down half a dozen bakery cookies mid- afternoon, have a dinner that always included pasta or potatoes, and end the day with a huge bowl of ice cream covered in caramel sauce, and snack on chips later in the evening, this is quite a change. I feel so much better and have gotten into a balanced diet with more protein and less carbs, I do not feel deprived or the need to go back to the old way. I will have a piece of birthday cake (especially if it's an ice cream cake) and had a small serving of mashed potatoes last night with Pot Roast. I have never stayed on a diet for so long and do not feel the need to go back to old ways

Heading to the Dr this afternoon with the DGS who lives with me. He was at a Jr ROTC camp a few weeks ago, and my daughter was called the night before it ended about 10pm to pick him up because he was almost 103. Luckily, his dad lives a lot closer to where the camp was, and got him that night. My DD picked him up the next morning and took him to the Dr who said it was viral, not bacterial. Long story short, he hasn't bounced back and is sleeping a good part of the day. It could be a growth spurt ( he's almos 16), could be he has been sleeping on the couch most nights (his choice), not eating as he does when in school, or could be mono or a vitamin deficiency.I leave Mon for Atlanta, so we decided that it was easier for me to take him today than it is for his mom to have to take off work next week to take him.

We have some dismal sunshine today but it is incredibly hot, even for So Fl in Aug.

Anne

DH is still in the hospital. Tomorrow will be day 10. I kind of think he'll get to come home tomorrow, but I've had hopes for every day so far. I did come home early today to grocery shop. We ran out of cat food - a real emergency! The Blue Angels are here for Seafair and we got to glimpse them from his window a couple of times. I think they're a terrible waste of money and fuel, but grew up by an air force base and love fast planes. I'd love to ride in one. I couldn't get on the hospital's wi-fi today, so it was truly endless with no internet. You can only play pyramid so many times. It kept saying I was connected, but nothing would load, including local TV stations and my mail. Normally I can get on here and read.

We used to go to downtown Seattle for the Seafair parades back in the day (we called it "Seafarce"). Here in Chicago, we have both the Blue Angels & Thunderbirds for the Air & Water Show (coming up in 2 weeks). The day before that fateful mammo in 2015, Bob & I had brunch at the Signature Room atop the Hancock Tower--and it was wild to see the jets whoosh past below us! The planes rehearse on the Thurs. before the show, and we're in the flight path. Kinda cool, but it scares the crap outta the cats.

Prayers for your DH, Wren!

DH finally got to come home today. YAY!! He immediately took the cat outside and watered plants.

Not kidding about the cat and watering. Then we went to a friend's birthday party. Just sat in the back yard and ate some food, visited with people, and came home. He feels really good - may feel tired tomorrow and has agreed to take it easy for a while. Niece and her new husband are coming over tomorrow to help pick up things in the yard. He cut back a lot of vegetation so the painters could get to the house and we have yard waste pickup here every week. Food scraps and branches and stuff are taken and composted. Seattle is very serious about creating as little waste as possible. They just banned plastic straws. Plastic bags have been banned for a long time.

Our rushing and our busyness create a fog layer that encloses us, surrounding us with thicker and thicker layers externally and building denser and denser fog layers within. Pretty soon, we have lost touch with that which guides our lives. We need contact with our spirituality to be the people we would like to be.

Anne Wilson Schaef

Wren, I'm so glad for you and your dh that he is back home, the best place for rest and recovery. Here's hoping everything goes well for him from this point onward.

Puffin, you are certainly committed to harvesting and processing your grapes. I might be tempted to give the robins a treat and save myself a lot of work. I used to drink grape juice, back when that was part of some kind of healthy eating plan I had at the time. Now I don't drink any kind of juice, especially orange juice, which is loaded with sugar. I would rather eat an orange. WW has influenced me to eat the whole fruit or berries instead of drinking juice.

Today has been a leisurely Sunday. We went to the gym at 9 am and attempted to eat breakfast out but gave up when we saw how crowded both of our breakfast places were. DH said, "The church folks beat us here." So we went back home and I cooked bacon and poached eggs and made some toast.

Yesterday and today I had an egg salad sandwich for lunch, using a tip from one of my ww member acquaintances. I mashed 1/4 of a ripe avocado and then mixed in the hard boiled egg. Luckily I also had a little ripe tomato from my patio tomato bush each day and put sliced tomato on the sandwich, too. Yum, yum. This version of egg salad is very tasty. The woman who told me about making egg salad this way doesn't like mayo. I don't share this aversion but had ripe avocado and boiled eggs in the refrigerator and decided to give her idea a try.

It isn't miserably hot today (actually it's pleasant for being outside) but I did turn on the a/c this afternoon. We'll probably turn it off later.

We have grapevines, but they're Concords. Meh. Big seeds, not sweet enough to eat. Not a big fan of grape jelly, but the vines are good for grilling and the leaves for stuffing. Not even a big enough yield to make that awful Passover wine. Every fall I tell myself I'm gonna buy some Riesling budwood (the only vinifera that does well in cold Great Lakes winters) to graft and every spring I forget. Takes 3 yrs for grafted vines to start bearing.

Still need painkillers for the tooth--down to 2 Tylenol & 2 Advil every 6 hrs. Barely cuts it, but I need to protect my guts and stop retarding my bone healing. What was that I was saying about reaching the age where we can't fix something w/o breaking something else?

When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious
privilege it is to be alive -
to breathe,
to think, to enjoy, to love.
- Marcus Aurelius