thread for middle age to older Christian women.

Praise The Father! Praise Jesus! Nancy, so happy for you! And continued prayers for your mom's health and wellness.

Praising God with you Nancy and everyone else here that prayers were answered and it was benign. I'm so sorry you had to go through such an awful long time of waiting and worry. You mentioned something earlier I have to address. When you said you were praying for my friend Sue and thinking you might be facing that terrible ordeal she's going through, it made me realize the terrible fear so many people have of this disease. I have to tell you and others here, especially those just lurking in the background that there is “life after stage 4" as the title of a thread on the forum states. I believe that there’s a cure coming for metastatic breast cancer with the new drugs being discovered all the time. I think the Ibrance that I was on is just the beginning. These new drugs are also not nearly as toxic either. Many doctors think this will someday be managed like a chronic illness such as diabetes.

I think I’m probably a good example of that. I was on Ibrance and femara for about 18 months and then we stopped the Ibrance and I’ve only been on the Letrozole (Femara) for about two years. My last scan showed no tumor left in my lung and my tumor markers are normal. I know that’s great news but I’m realistic that the Cancer can raise its ugly head again. When that happens, I will probably go back on the Ibrance again which is not a walk in the park but not terrible either. I believe I can live with it for a long time. In the end, however, it’s all in God’s hands as we know.

Ok, I’ll get off my soapbox now and I hope I haven’t offended anyone but I just felt I needed to give some hope to those facing the possibility of a cancer returning and take away some of the fear that I know is all too real when it happens to us.

Jo, thank you for all those beautiful praise verses.

Ade, thank you for that beautiful sunset, and I pray your pains go away. For what it’s worth, I get pain in my armpit on The Side too. I believe it’s just one more thing we deal with. “ Cancer, the gift that keeps on giving.”

Love and prayers for everyone,

Faith (in the future).

Nancy,

Praise God for your test result! You do so much good for this thread/group with your posts and pictures I know God has you in the palm of His Hand. You and all the others posting here uplift my spirits at times when I need it most--even though I don't post a lot and am not on here every day.

As far as cryotherapy--I feel God has led me on this path. Although I am running into issues obtaining the treatment as it is not "standard of care". I am interested in it as it shows it stimulates the immune system and helps prevent metastasis in the studies and trials that have been done. I also have a lot of allergies and was concerned along with my family about problems with anesthesia etc. I was actually scheduled for surgery at end of January--which I have delayed as I am trying to get cryotherapy now. I have been accepted as a patient and told I am good candidate for it by a physician in Detroit who reviewed all my medical records and imaging etc. He has been doing it for 15 year for breast cancer and was part of the Frost Clinical trials etc. . However, it only replaces lumpectomy and not radiation or chemo/hormone therapy etc. I am having a difficult time finding anyone here at home willing to do my radiation after. My alternative is to have radiation done in Detroit but would have to literally move up there for 5 weeks and then be tied to driving back up there for all follow up etc. So I have some decisions to make and am praying very hard that God will show what His Will is regarding my treatment. I had what I thought was a promising appt. with a radiation oncologist at the Cleveland Clinic yesterday. But it ended up being more a bait and switch appt.-- which left me very discouraged and frustrated.

Anyway enough about that--we said prayers of thanksgiving here last night for your good result. Continued prayers that your breast pain eases (I had stabbing pains after my biopsy also for quite a few weeks) and for your mom.

Jeanne

Nancy, thank you for your kind words. I was afraid I may have offended you and others when I responded as I did. I’m glad you clarified your fears as being of chemo and side effects more than the stage 4, which is also terrifying. I just wanted to take away a little bit of fear of the cancer itself. It’s awful that you have to worry about how your body will deal with the treatments, let alone whatever illness you’re facing.

I hope everyone will continue to pray for my friend Sue, she is just not recovering as quickly as we had hoped and is still very sick. Thank you for your prayers, they mean so much to me and all those who love her.

Love and prayers,

Faith.

Nancy..I am sighing in relief at learning your good news!

The stabbing pain in your breast after a stereotypical [sp?] biopsy is normal. I had one back in 2011, and the poor thing looked like an eggplant and those pains were ongoing for a while! They put small surgical markers in the breast for future observation too. I did opt to have that breast removed along with the right one which did contain the cancer in 2013 mainly because the surgical marker was on a nerve and it was painful..also, didn't want to go through the scare of cancer again.

Praising God for good news and also for the strength he gives us to endure through the bad and fearful times too.

~Blessings & Love~ Lisa

For those of you that know who Joni Eareckson Tada she needs prayer. She did have a return of her cancer which you can see on her blog. She has been hospitalized for many days with breathing problems and could use our prayers.

https://www.joniandfriends.org/category/posts-by-joni/cancer-updates/

Love,

Nancy

Dear ladies of faith,

I hope you have a wonderful week. This has been an unexpected very difficult time for me

after my good news. Only God understands our mind and emotions because I surely don't.

Ade, how are you feeling? Praying we all have a good week.

Love,

Nancy

Faith, I am glad to hear Sue is home and I do hope with all the trials she has been through that she will get good news. I am not surprised she is depressed dealing with being so sick and then losing her hair on top of everything. I sure hope and pray that she will get good news.

I feel for your DH. I am currently on a heating pad which is unusual for me but I have had bad pain and I think it is from the position of my neck during the biopsy. I don't know what I am going to do but need to contact my insurance since the office where i had PT said that Medicare had a cap on PT and I specifically asked if you have another issue would that start the cap all over and they said no. I am hoping they are wrong. I was having issues before the biopsy and now it is really bad.

I pray for your DH that he will get some relief quickly. There is an excellent myotherapist in the area that I saw for years when my insurance covered it and she has a philosophy that really works. In fact if mine doesn't get better I will pay out of pocket to see her as I have done in the past. She really does help. Let me know if you are interested.

Thank you for your prayers. There is a social worker that works with oncology at my clinic and I have messaged her to get in to talk with her. This is a free service which is wonderful. I was at the Aboretum today knowing getting outside would help. I was in the pine tree forest area and just sitting there. There were a few tall pines that looked like they had been blown over. I felt like the Lord speaking to me and saying those trees had deep roots like your faith but the high winds were too much for them. Hopefully I will stand tall again unlike those fallen trees.

Have a good night.

Love

Nancy

Nancy, praying for relief from your shoulder pain as you swim your way to strength.

Ade, praying for pain relief and strength as you prepare to move.

Faith, still praying for Sue.

Jo, still praying for Michelle. This story has touched me in a special way.

Praying for you others as I go down my prayer list each morning. May God provide new strength everyday.

I am having to decide on whether I can continue to handle my precious cat. She is having surgery today with perhaps diabetes in her future. I can barely handle my own care much less the care and expense of special food, daily bloodchecks and insulin shots for this cat who I originally took in as a stray. Please don't judge me if I have to say no more and say a sweet goodbye to her. She has had a good 11 years.

Gumdoctor, a shelter won't take her needing so much expensive care--they will just put her down in 2 weeks without it. They have more than they can manage now. It is possible we can manage with a special diet and that is what we are going to try first. It all depends on how well she responds to this surgery first. I don't mind trying alternate options. We are trying...

Hello Nancy,

Thank you for asking about me. I am doing alright. Like your recent good-news-but-did-not-make-you-ecstatic, I got a decent CT progress report (every 3 mos) recently. Only catch is there is now a met in my femur that had never shown before. It could be healing and it could be progression. I have had horrible pain there that my previous ONC (the one who was arrested for trying to strangle his estranged wife) blew off as neuropathy.

I should be happy that things are overall stabilizing...very hard to gloss over this new news...while mets are still only in bone, they are now outside the spine...

Also the Army has started the process of doing a medical board to kick me out. The official document that ends my career was created yesterday. Until things are finalized, I continue on active duty receiving regular pay. This is a huge blessing in God providing for me/us. But there is so much grieving. So much pain. So much loss. I am reeling. They are threatening to discharge me with zero benefits in August. This means I would have to stop all treatment as we could not afford it without insurance.

As a believer, I know God put me in the Army so I know I have served the best of my ability and used the gifts God gave me to do His Good Work. I am comfortable with this part. What I struggle with right now is a near-complete loss of identity. As I tell people sometimes, I used to be somebody (Army Colonel, Dr, periodontist...) and now I am "Who are you again?".

God is taking care of me and my husband through all this. But I must choose, sometimes every minute, to be "up" and positive about it all. I am working very hard to wait on the Lord's timing and to accept whatever the outcome turns out to be. If I am barred from any military benefits, then God will provide. Easy to say...

I read often and do not post much here as sometimes I am in that dark place in my head. I want to bring only light here to you and the great people in this thread.

As for your tooth, yes I do know where that may be heading. With all your recent stress, you could be grinding your teeth and aggravating that one tooth. Teeth grinding (bruxism) is very common especially around a stressful event/events. With your symptoms, one easy and inexpensive thing the dentist can do is check the bite on that tooth and adjust the pressures on it if needed. Then if the sensitivity subsides, that's all for now. Root canal would be next and then the final solution, of course, is extraction if these other options do not succeed.

This is a pretty straightforward treatment cascade options but not always easy on the patient when it involves $$, stress, time, energy, etc.

Hope this helps you to address it a little more comfortably. Knowledge is power.

Bless you and All here,

Gumdoctor

Joanne, still praying for tomorrow.

Chris, praying for your kitty that she made it through surgery and is comfortable and for you as you cope with an added stressor in dealing with her.

Gumdoctor, I can feel your anguish over all of what is going on with you. I am really sorry to hear that you possibly have a new met. I pray it is not progression. What a bummer about your former onc. When I had to give up my clarinet performance in 2001 due to my neck surgery I felt like my right arm had been removed. That WAS my identity and my life long dream to perform which I did for a while. When I retired from being a band director in 2011 I had plans to continue my private clarinet teaching at home in retirement but my Mom started her dementia that year and then my identity became a caregiver. I couldn't go anyplace in my town without some band parent or former student recognizing me. Now my last students will be graduating this year and next from HS.

I don't understand why you would not be able to receive benefits from the Army that I am supposing you are entitled to. I am going to pray that somehow God will intervene in this situation and allow you to be discharged with benefits. You don't have to tell us that you have served God in the Army to the best of your ability because the simple fact that your reached out to Chris and me in our cat and tooth dilemma is testament to your Godly character when you are already going through so much yourself.

I know that God's plans for each one of us will far surpass anything we can imagine for ourselves. In this life we as Christians are only passing through. I know that does not take away the pain of the now but it gives us hope that we will one day not have grieving and loss and pain.

What you are experiencing is very normal with the question Who am I now? I could go into a whole litany of what God says about YOU but what I will do is pray that He will gently show you who you are becoming in this next chapter of your life. God can use anyone who allows themselves to be used by Him. I can tell you have a big heart and God will use that.

Thank you for your expertise on my tooth situation. I was a little bummed that I did not see my regular dentist yesterday and they didn't call to let me know that. The lady I saw was very nice and informative and told me the what ifs. I just drove home in a very poor state of mind wanting to strangle someone but not knowing who!! I was on stress overload and this was another thing to add to the mix. I do wear a nightguard as I have TMJ so I do imagine I have been doing my fair share of clenching during the day and not being aware.

I will definitely pray for you and that God will help you through this most difficult time. Praying for poor Whitey too. I am sure your cat is grateful YOU are his/her Mom!!

PS I have to check out the cats thread. I think I stumbled upon the topic recently but never checked it out. One of my friends loves to hear my Cammie (my cat) stories. She tells me on a regular basis I need to write a book about her. I think if I don't shut up now this post is becoming a book!!!

Take care.

Love,

Nancy

Good morning sisters,

I had what I thought was my last oncology appointment this morning...turns out that my oncologist wants me to complete 5 full years of Tamoxifen due to my second diagnosis 5 years ago. I have been on Tamoxifen for three years, following that disasterous year on Arimedex. Since 2010, that is 6 years of Tamoxifen and a year of Arimedex. Oh well...better not to take any chances. She also urged me to see a Dermatologist, that my back had a couple of suspicious moles. I had a basal cell patch of skin removed from a radiated area 2 years ago....I also worked out on the farm growing up and did some sunbathing before sunscreen came along. praying that this won't turn into a big deal.

Faith, I understand your break from this...I have done the same. We used to refer to our world as "Cancer Planet" and sometimes we have to step away. Take good care of yourself and enjoy this blessed season. Our little choir is doing "Is He Worthy?" By Chris Tomlin Sunday...what a beautiful song....

Nancy and Jo...hope all is well with you....

Jean, so glad your area of concern wasn't cancer...hope your "hips" are doing ok. I have gotten along well since those surgeries....so glad not to be in that pain.

Praying for you ladies; God's healing, strength, and love to you all!

Oh.....some good news...my DILis expecting in October, so "Awesome Grandson" Calvin will be a big brother! DIL has had 2 miscarriages, so we are praying hard. Going to a baby shower tomorrow for my daughter Lauren who is due in June. Family is growing!

Love, Ellen

Nancy,

My prayer of joy for your *NED* results.

My 1st crocuses in bloom!

Nancy, you are correct that I have been there--and probably if I am honest am there now. Your (my) good news is tempered with the overall picture of our dx and it gets overwhelming.

I was happy I got to get out and worship yesterday, but I have a deep pain that worries me as it is in my right side whereas my other tumors were in my left. I am trying to relax and give it a couple of days as the meds (Ibrance/Letrozole) I am on often cause random pain. Also, I am having minor dentist work in the morning and you all know how much I am a dental wimp! To top it all off, my range stopped working yesterday. The good news is my cat is doing very well and seems to have more energy than ever. I have her on special diabetic food praying that is enough to control her diabetes.

So we all continue with all of our battles praying for peace knowing God is our refuge and our strength.

Psalm 46:1 "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble."

I Corinthians 2:9

"What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived"
the things God has prepared for those who love him—