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

Hi Northstar - Thanks for starting this thread. I am an 70 (71 in November). Diagnosed with mucinous carcinoma, L breast, on August 23. Having single mastectomy with tissue expander on 9/25. I have never not been healthy and active (swim a mile 4X/wk, gym 6X/wk, cycling) so this is throwing me for a loop. Some days I an talk about it without being teary, other days (like today!), all I have to do is think about it and I cry. I am blessed to have wonderful support - husband, kids, community - and a wonderful breast surgeon. And I know I have to get this cancer out, but I am very apprehensive about a total lifestyle change post-op. Like I used to tell my kids - suck it up, Buttercup. I'm tryiing and will get through it, as we all will. Thanks for listening!

This is the true joy in life, the being used up for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community, and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no "brief candle" to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations. -George Bernard Shaw

Courage doesn't always roar.
Sometimes courage is the quiet voice
at the end of the day saying,
"I will try again tomorrow."
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Sounds like your niece will come out of her thyroid issues just fine. Sadly, not perhaps her other issues, but each person has their road and sometimes others are powerless to do much about that road. Carole, you tried and that is all anyone can do. Some things just have to bear the fruit they do -- no matter how difficult or unpleasant for others.

Nice here today as yet, but we will warm somewhat. So, I can get back into my pedal pushers and enjoy.

I made a dessert yesterday that I've thought about ( hanging my head a bit here ) for over 20 yrs. Well, not this exact recipe but recipes using crushed pretzels as the base. I may have seen something similar when we lived in California, but I don't recall any of them. In the 'hometown' type cookbooks I found once I got here there were lots. Wow !!! I should have done it long ago.

Everyone I know personally who had thyroid cancer came through it just fine---none had a recurrence. (For one, it's been almost 50 yrs.). A lot of baby boomers got it because their tonsils were removed by radiation, which was all the rage in the late '50s-early '60s. My pediatrician was old-school and sent me to an ENT with a surgi-center in his basement (yup, it was a "thing" even back in the 1950s). So my sis & I managed to dodge thyroid cancer. (And instead of an overnight hospital stay: we came home the same day, to vanilla ice cream....lots & lots of vanilla ice cream...maybe that's why I can take or leave vanilla...).

I hear these days they're even doing drive-thru appendectomies!

It takes more courage to reveal insecurities than to hide them, more strength to relate to people than to dominate them, more "adulthood" to abide by thought-out principles rather than blind reflex. Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles and an immature mind. -Alex Carras

I wish the media wouldn't treat hurricanes like an exciting event. They're terrifying. I also wish all the people in Florence's path would evacuate. The inconvenience is better than the reality of riding out a hurricane. I have memories of hurricanes dating back to childhood. One year my whole family went to another house in the neighborhood that my father knew was a well-built structure, newer than ours. When we returned home the next morning, our roof had been blown off. There was no rain at that point so no damage was done to the interior of the house. Amazing.

Another year we loaded up into our vehicle and set off for Champ Cooper school. About halfway there, we came to a tree over the highway. So we had to turn around.

This morning I awoke to the sound of a patter of rain on the camper roof over my head. Just a drizzle. Still dh went off to the golf course. Now the drizzle has stopped but it's still overcast.

I have nothing pressing on my schedule today. I may do some laundry and some cleaning. I'll also visit with Mary and Lyman next door. They will be heading to FL on the 21st.

Have a good Wednesday.

My friend who moved with her three pets (two dogs & a cat) to Charleston this June--her DH is staying behind in the Chi. 'burbs until he can retire from his radio news reporter job--has evacuated inland (and upland) to her sister's place in Spartanburg. She reports it felt really weird to be driving the wrong way on the Interstate--all lanes on both sides of the road are headed inland. Good news is that the winds have slowed to the point that Florence is now a Cat. 2 (likely a 1 or a TS when it reaches Charleston), and the pines in their backyard will likely make it through OK--but still so wide and slow that even though wind damage is less of a concern now, storm surge and flooding from days of heavy rain are still quite worrisome. Doesn't help that DHS transferred $10M out of FEMA's disaster relief & recovery funds and into ICE to fund immigrant detention beds & deportation efforts. (And even more $ has been diverted from the Coast Guard to ICE). Now, none of these funds were legally mandated solely for FEMA disaster mgmt., but that doesn't mean somebody's (ahem...) priorities are majorly effed up.

Wilmington, NC is predicted to take the most major landfall hit. What a lovely town--played the Cape Fear Folk Fest. there twice. And though it's not a major resort town in the same sense as Myrtle Beach, SC, enough of its mom-&-pop businesses are centered on the attraction of its oceanfront location. (Hope that Charter Oak in the park in the center of town survives).

Phew, glad the storm has been downgraded. Still much concern over the amt. of water. My BIL ( the one who spent so many yrs. as a foreign relations officer/diplomat ) did live very near the coast of Wilmington, but moved inland to Salisbury a few short yrs. ago. He and his wife and son did live in a house they had built in Shalotte ( no longer sure if I have spelled it correctly ) so were in many tight situations, but never as bad as this predicted one. I hope all do well, but there is going to be a lot of water and aftermath.

So far sounds like we will have an okay day here. I will go over and take care of Muffy -- then back here for awhile and have to take Bill for his medicated bath and then back to care for Muff for a bit longer. Really should be a good day for me though mainly a day to spend with animals more than getting anything done. Dh has the day off which is nice but we will be hit and miss. I have food ready ( a no cooking day ) so it will all be smooth.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JACKIE

Hope you have a great day, and thank you for being the glue that holds us all together!

Ann

Oh that cake sure does look yummy and thank you Anne. I have an eating plan -- but desserts have never managed to fall off of THE plan. The great thing about a plan is that it can be changed, re-arranged or otherwise fiddled with whenever you need to. A birthday is a really great time to need to. I have managed to not gain all that much this summer so guess I can say I've broken even. It is usually the winter that causes me to 'bulge' where I shouldn't.

Our a/c came on early this evening so though it was nice enough outside the temps. have inched up enough to need to cool the house. It has been four or five days so probably time to help us dehumidify a bit.

Deer are turning up in the yard now on a daily basis getting their fill of acorns. Had a deer yesterday that was sooo reluctant to leave. I wanted to let the dogs out but every time I glanced out there the deer remained nibbling away. I think he was there well over an hr.

It is great to be 73 -- well and happy.

Glad you're able to "make music" again, Sandy! Hope you are healthy afterwards.

Another overcast day here. We're signed up for couples golf at 11:30 and dinner afterwards.

Happy Friday.

Thanks again ladies. It was indeed a wonderful birthday. Especially the more so since back in 2007 and being diagnosed a couple of weeks after my birthday that year I questioned whether I would have any more. Just a reminder for anyone who might lurk here -- after many, many yrs. of mammograms I had become super complacent about thinking I would ALWAYS have good mammograms. I had no family history, at least that I knew about, and thought I did ( some cheating and wt. gain ) mostly healthful things. If you are not having regular mammograms please begin immediately. If you are, then good for you and keep up the good work. We older ladies are exposed to toxicities for a long time and no way of knowing usually when cells might ( hopefully they don't ) react. Be safe.

Lovely out today. Sun is shinning and I imagine later on we will need the a/c again. Right now open windows and fans are doing all we need to stay comfortable. This a.m. just like most mornings now, deer were out in the yard chewing up acorns. Dh mowed late yesterday so likely popped open many of the nuts so I'm sure the deer found the munching very easy and rewarding.

Hope you are all going to have a marvelous Friday. Still hoping for all those in the Florence styorm areas.

Logistics for the gig worked out fine: my singing partner pulled into the parking lot exactly when I did--and he was coming from Madison, WI. The church sent down a volunteer to help carry stuff in & upstairs. Set up by 7, all tuned (2 guitars, 3 dulcimers) by 7:15. "lubed" my wrist--which had woken me during the night with sharp stabbing spasms; and my cries woke Bob--and we started a bit after 7:30 so the manager (who was late) could hear the whole show. Only the staff and a few transient onlookers during a break in the lecture series in the main hall came to see us. But we were getting paid no matter what, so this was sort of a cross between a post-op "shakedown cruise" and paid dress rehearsal.

I found the difficult chords were less painful if I kept the guitar neck high (not qulte Johnny-Cash level). The thumb suspension on the second position G on the dulcimer was as painful as I remember from the pre-fall Lafayette, IN show--but I knew it was coming so I powered through it. I am either going to have to start using fingerpicks (I hate the feel of them and that one needs to be excruciatingly precise when playing with them) or bite the bullet and get an artificial tip placed on my R index fingernail--still too short and vulnerable to the steel strings. I played my hand-built Gramann, which is a lovely guitar for single-note work & fingerpicking...if amplified. It didn't ring the way the Martin does when strummed with a flatpick. Will have to start getting used to the Martin again, at least before the folk festival we're playing in early Oct. I iced a little (instant disposable icepack) between sets but didn't hav the chance to do so afterward, because the staff needed to close up & head home. So when I got home, I did 12 minutes inside the "Cold Donut," the same one my hand therapist uses.

Just ordered the new Apple Watch Series 4, 40mm with cellular.All my accessory bands will still fit. I will get $115 off for trading in my Series 2, 38mm, with just wi-fi & GPS. The new watch has a better heart monitor and can take an app that turns it into a portable EKG. It also has an altimeter to measure flighrs of stairs. It has to be the same cell provider as my iPhone (AT&T), so I assume the Apple Store will either set it up with AT&T or send instructions.

Be Grateful for All of Life:
Each of us has been infinitely blessed - beginning with the gift of life.
Whatever may appear to be missing or broken on any particular day,
our glass is not half full, it is 99.9% full.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie