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

I talked with two plastic surgeons. Radiology was able to get my MRI done earlier. When I got home I was a bit out-of-sorts, but made an emotional phone call to a friend. Read and vaped, and the headache mostly went away. My driver smokes, but we did discuss vaping. Looks like the local transportation contractor is back in operation.

Analogy: Get a new car or replace some fuses. Get the breast cut off or get a lumpectomy with revision later. I am beginning to get used to daily trips to the city, and radiation may not be that traumatic. They said about 16 sessions. I can get fat grafts to round it out into a mound, and get a nipple tat.

Will see BS tomorrow to check into results of MRI, and make decisions. There are many possibilities.

The jalapeno-peach and the rhubarb were left behind. The pineapple-mint was argued over. I put out a block of cream cheese. They didn't touch the margarine.

MCBaker, my dh would have grabbed the rhubarb. It's not easy to find the straight rhubarb. It's usually mixed with strawberry, a combo that's tasty. We sometimes buy jams from sellers at farmers' markets, but the price is so much higher than his favorite marmelade purchased at the supermarket.

Hope you recover from your cold fast, Sandy. A cold is a miserable ailment even if not life threatening.

Boring stuff on my schedule. Cleaning out and straightening bathroom storage and cleaning the bathroom. Also laundry.

Happy Friday to all.

Colds are definitely the pits. I hope it eases ( then leaves quickly ) soon and you are on the mend Sandy. Hmmm, not sure I've ever had straight rhubarb jam. My mother was a HUGE rhubarb fan. She was forever putting rhubarb into anything she could which made for some good eating at times at her house. I laughed when she came home and found one of the only houses in town to buy that had a big rhubarb patch in the middle of the garden. It wasn't a bad house by the way.

Did lots yesterday. Cleared about a 1/4th. of the yard from leaves. There are plenty out there yet but I took what looked to me to be the heaviest area and cleaned it. Just so happened that it began just to the right of our front door so it seems very nice out there. Waited on Dh hand and foot pretty much which is what you do when someone is recovering. He's enjoying that part I know. Doesn't like the discomfort, but it would get better faster if he'd get up and walk a little more. I think he gets drowsy and just forgets.

Walked out to the mailbox to get the mail. Stumbled on a rock and fell, but I'm just a mite sore on one knee -- the one that broke the fall and otherwise fine. Rained last night and is raining this morning so no leaf removal today. Maybe I can get someone to look at my mower today or tomorrow. I think the young son forgot to tell his dad I needed a spot of help.

Hope you all are going to have a good day.

What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us;
what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.
- Albert Pike

Create the legacy of a better world.
Leave this world a better place than you found it.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Conscience, as a mentor, the guide and compass of every
act, leads ever to happiness. When the individual can
stay alone with his or her conscience and get its approval,
without knowing force or specious knowledge, then he
or she begins to know what real happiness is.

William G. Jordan

That quilt sounds so very pretty Carole. You have a great SIL. It was nice here too, but fairly windy -- so good thing it was a mite warmer. The sun was beautiful as it usually always is to me.

Had a long day. Woke up this a.m. to a t.v. that was quite un-responsive. After a few minutes of CPR we realized it has apparently expired some time during the early morning hours. So, we called my BIL and asked if he would help me choose another one at Walmart. We didn't go with his recommendation ( checked the reviews given and most were highly negative ) and instead stayed with our previous brand which lasted us 8 or 9 yrs. with nearly constant playing. He was okay with that though since my BIL's present themselves as smarter than God, he did raise his eyebrows at me a couple of times. I'm used to that.

Made for a long day though. I took off for a bit in the afternoon to check on Dr. B's dogs. They went west towards the city ( this side of the river near St. Louis ) for the afternoon and I promised I'd check on my little pals. So when I got back home here the new t.v. was playing away. What a difference in electronics in 8 yrs. The sound, and picture were so much better.

Nice to get up tomorrow and have our morning be like most mornings are -- with a t.v. full of life so we can watch the morning news together with morning coffee.

I hope you all had a marvelous day.

Doing nothing for others is the undoing of one's self. We must be purposely kind and generous, or we miss the best part of existence. The heart that goes out of itself, gets large and full of joy. This is the great secret of the inner life. We do ourselves the most good doing something for others. -Horace Mann

I need to get more memory for my kindle before I can post pictures of my humble quilting efforts. The MRI shows that my tumor is larger than first estimated. Lymph nodes look good. I have dishes to wash, another quilt to start, a book to read, volunteering at the VA to schedule for tomorrow, and cousins to call. Will also drive my scooter to the grocery store, but I need to carefully consider my list first. I saw some advice that pre-operative anxiety management includes getting back to my regular routine. I need to plug my ears in and listen to some music.

Thank you for the reassurance.

Yes, I am now more aware of discomfort in my breast, a feeling of pressure, and it is 26 days since my biopsy, so I don't think it is that. I quit wearing a bra for the past--five days, but am wearing it again to see if that helps.

My breast would have been all chopped up and dwarfed if I had demanded lumpectomy. Better to get it out cleanly and have better chances. And no radiation.

Thanksgiving dinner is at the American Legion every year, just across the street.

Sunny out this morning, but rain likely for the evening hours. Ick, but it is what it is. As usual with Dh at home I am staying busy. Will starting working on the Thanksgiving menu. Mainly traditional pretty much, but I usually try and throw something in that I've never made before -- so that may be what I'm really working on more than any thing.

Dh will be having his first after surgery pre-check first week of November. Hope it goes well. Slowly he is getting up and moving a bit more and trying to use his cane a bit less. I think he is hoping to learn to keep his own muscles working more w/o the help for strengthening over-all.

Hope you are all going to have a really pretty day.

I always play the "little old lady card" when attempting to hoist a rollaboard into the overhead bins--someone always helps. I also got a rolling (not spinner) under-seat tote that slips over the spinner rollaboard handle (the U-shaped one on the Brics, not the T-shaped one on the Rimowa) and holds all my essentials I don't want to entrust to baggage handlers, as well as a small purse. When I get to the boarding gate, I take off my crossbody purse, stuff it into the tote, and slip the tote over the spinner's handle. Last time I did that, when I took out my purse and iPad once I got to my seat and then slipped the tote underneath the seat in front, the flight attendant grinned and said "I see you've found our little secret." My waterloo is being impatient at the baggage carousel in case Bob can't spot our bigger spinners in time. The smaller airports we use don't have porters/skycaps, unless I am shameless and ask for a wheelchair when we land. Too proud for that now. (Embarrasses the hell out of Bob anyway).

Warmer (low 60s) today but rainy tonight. If I am well enough to make the Bar Show rehearsal (I might still be contagious--on day 6 of my cold and running a low fever), I'll Uber it down there. Not gonna walk to or from the train in the rain, nor risk catching another bug or further re-injuring my arm. Seeing my surgeon tomorrow to find out whether I did any damage to the ulna or hardware or just irritated the soft tissue. Then home to hand out candy for Trick or Treat (my surgeon will be leaving as soon as we're done so he can take his toddlers out to make candy rounds). I will be costumed as a doctor: lab coat, shower cap, scrub mask, old stethoscope, and surgical gloves. That way I won't make any of the kids sick. One neighborhood to the north, where there were two random unprovoked shootings last month and the killer still at large, the alderman is holding "Trunk or Treat" instead: parents load up their car trunks with candy, park in the lakefront park's lot, and supervise the kids as they go car to car rather than door to door. Local businesses are donating candy, hot chocolate for the kids and coffee for the parents.

We live on a double block that goes all-out, and much of the North Side knows that. The roadblocks will go up at 3pm to keep all vehicular traffic away. (That's not just for safety, but to try to limit kids to those who could arrive by public transit or on foot--one year we saw SUVs, including a Hummer H2 and Range Rover, obviously from a wealthy neighborhood--cruising the block disgorging their kids). We usually buy 15-20 lbs. of candy each year and always run out--even handing out one piece per kid. Our block count last year was 2000 kids. Gotta man the door myself, though--Gordy is going to the Bulls game and Bob is working.

There are three waves: afterschool from about 3:30-5, kids from ours and neighboring blocks; just before dinnertime, when parents get home from work--that's when we get most of the babies & toddlers, and from 5-7 it's still the neighborhood kids & parents--from 7-8 it's parents & kids from Rogers Park (where the shootings were), mostly minority. Earlier in that period there are a lot of parents pushing strollers, and the toddlers who do climb up on to the porch under their own steam are usually quite shy and have to be prompted to hold their bags open and say "Trick or Treat." Around 8, there are more teens--most of whom don't even bother with costumes or disguises because they can't afford it. At best they just have trash bags or grocery bags. At worst, they just stuff their pockets.

I used to be resentful of teens doing this--when we were kids, we weren't allowed to leave the outer perimeter of our block or hit up stores or businesses. and had to stop by age 13 or so. (Many 9th graders were mortified at the thought that anyone would expect them to participate in such a babyish activity except to accompany younger siblings). This was before razor blades in apples or poisoned Tylenol--many homes offered homemade cookies, cupcakes, apple cider or hot chocolate; and we used to stuff little wax paper bags with an assortment of penny candies to give each kid. We'd go broke (and I'd have to start doing that tonight) if we were to try that now. I used to say that if you're old enough to shave you're too old to trick or treat--and especially if you ask for "some for my baby mama." But I just go with the flow--when we run out, we lock the door and turn off the porchlight. It's either that or hand out #2 pencils or soy sauce packets.

Our rain is finally here. More tomorrow and for a few days after. El Nino is playing a role and may help us have a more kinder winter. We will see. There won't be any trick or treaters here. We are very dark back here as we off the beaten path and surrounded by trees that always make it dim when late afternoon and evening arrive. So we just kick back and wait for it all to be over. Our town ( which I've mentioned before ) being so small has a children's Halloween Parade during the day-time hours, them a big night-time parade. I think about 120 entries this yr. For a very small town much is made of the holidays here. Parades are normally about three hours long. The city puts up decorations and the minute the Halloween decorations come down they will put up Christmas ones.

They decorate a part of our parks system with many, many holidays lights and Christmas scenes of all kinds and it usually takes about a half an hour to drive through all of it. I've always found it astounding to DO so much here but it is one of the things that make living here so nice.

Hope you are all going to have a good day.

I was very surprised my first Halloween in FL in 1978. Growing up in the Bronx, we all went trick or treating as soon as school let out. And my siblings and I were restricted to just 2 buildings. First year in FL, I had my almost two year old dressed and ready right after her nap- about 3-3:30, just waiting for someone to knock on the door. I was still waiting at 5. Totally confused (thinking I had the wrong day) I called a neighbor. She explained that no one goes trick or treating until dark, and after dinner. Three years later, when a new neighbor, also from NY called me late afternoon, I answered her question before she asked it.

We have lots of people drive to our neighborhood for trick or treating, but almost all of them are joining family and friends that live there- we had extended family and friends with us most years. My street has 21 houses per side, and there are 5 streets in our neighborhood. It is a very safe area, and people who don’t want to participate just don’t turn their front lights on.

We had a tradition for many years where the five houses around me would have a pot luck dinner together on the front lawn of the middle house. After that, several of the dads would take all the children off to get their candy, and the moms would sit together in lawn chairs in the front yard, each giving everyone candy, explaining that we were the “house next door.” It was lots of fun. Last year was the first year we had no candy collected for our house. My grandkids of trick or treating age have moved away, and the one left turned 16 yesterday and didn’t trick or treat last year. And we gave out every single piece we bought.

Today will be the first year I will not be home to hand out candy, that I can remember. Of course, my daughter will be giving it out, but I probably not join in- I don’t know any of the kids or parents here.

Anne

Glad for the 'not' so bad dx Sandy. It is good to know that you won't harm something if you do things, but sounds like you will have to stay addicted to self txs. after using your hand for much of anything. I have taken for granted my ability to do things without much for repercussion and feel like I should say a prayer of gratefulness.

I hope you won't get a bad winter this year and won't have to worry quite so much about falls in snow and ice. I think I recall some of your issues were from just that.

Sounds like things are at least a bit quieter for you at the moment Anne. Actually resting while someone else sees to the Halloween candy treats sounds great to me, but then better since you don't know anyone any way.

Been a drizzly day here and pretty quiet. I got out my food processor this afternoon and made ham salad. I use Jennie-O turkey ham, grind it up, slice some eggs in the egg slicer, take a sm. onion and chop it in the processor, then do the same to sweet pickles. Then all together with several tbsps. of mayo and done. Cleaning up takes longer than anything else.