Ade, after hearing your long drive to your medical apts I will NEVER complain about any of mine which sometimes feels long but certainly is nothing like you have had to endure. Getting a migraine on top of it was a major bummer!

Since my BIL is now at 100% disability I am curious. Did James serve in the Vietnam War? If so maybe I could share some things with you.

Beautiful sunset. I will miss seeing those pics after you move but I am sure you will have many other opportunities to get some beautiful pics in Ohio. Thank you for your encouragement on my Heron pic. I was telling my social worker today that it would be something if I won then I could officially celebrate my five as a bc survivor which begins on July 4 with my fifth win with the newspaper.

Grandma Ellen, CONGRATULATIONS on your new grandson, Connor. So glad you could be there to help and hopefully everything will be fine so you can return home. Now praying that Connor will have a new cousin in October!!!

Chris, I am sorry to hear about your fatigue. I am glad to hear that your DH will be home more. Sounds like you will have a little more quiet time as well with your daughter and granddaughter on vacation. I too am experiencing great fatigue and I am getting really concerned as I am not sure what is the cause. I can't believe I forgot to tell my social worker about this today and asked her if this could all be tied in with the reactive depression. I seem to hit a wall especially in the evening. Thank you for your encouragement on my photo. The big win is a $50 gift card at this camera store so every little bit helps as this hobby is very expensive.

I got summoned for jury duty and if I don't snap out of this fatigue I have no idea how I can get up really early to get to the courthouse which is in another town and serve all day. It is a trial jury so if called it can last up to three days. Hopefully it will be like the last time I served and stayed all day just to say you can all go home now because they settled out of court.

I am having the new shingles vaccine which my new primary doctor wanted me to get since I have had shingles three times and two of those was after I had the original vaccine. The good thing is this one is much more effective but the bad news is you can have flu like symptoms up to three days afterward. UGH

Have a good night dear ladies. Praying for your needs you have expressed.

Love,

Nancy

Good news,ladies. I saw my dermatologist at Sloan-Kettering yesterday and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find a single spot on my skin to biopsy. I also had a bone density. Results soon. Many life challenges lately but I am getting through as I remember that without Jesus I can do nothing. I only get in trouble when I try to do things on my own.

Love, Jean

Yes, Ade, today I am taking off swimming and going out of town to the butterfly house which will be fun even though I am not feeling well. Short night! Love that pig photo. Yes, I do know I can try to get out of jury duty but it might come up again when I am at my Mom's so I will suck it up and do the best I can. I did find out my Free Cleaning from the company that cleans for women cancer patients for free was a mistake which I was thinking. Oh well. Not I don't have to stress about getting my house in order for someone to come in and clean. LOL

Congrats Jean on no more spots on skin!!!

Gumdoctor, hope you have a good day and weekend. That goes for all of you too!!

Love,

Nancy

Thanks Jean. I read books and articles and had Cammie to the vet several times and I thought I had it all figured out and then.................I have a couple of ideas which reading your article you pasted confirmed some of it. Thanks for posting that.

Love,

Nancy

Hershey, that is GREAT news. I know we still have that weight hanging over us as far as the house but i live in that house when I am visiting with my cat so we are not in a hurry to sell. I am sure it was exhausting and so glad that part of this journey is almost over. I hope you Mom is adjusting well to her new facility.

Love,

Nancy

That is one of my treasured verses, Nancy. It's so reassuring and comforting. Thank you for posting it today.

Hershey - so glad for your good news regarding the house!

Nancy - one of my "go-to" verses too!~ thank you.

Lita - just good to hear from you!

I met a lady - a new customer - who was looking at some of the clothing I had up for sale. She asked some questions and had mentioned she'd lost about a hundred pounds. I asked if she minded my asking how (since I need to lose MUCHO MUCHO weight - and can't seem to bring this metabolism into line). She replied that 2 1/2 years ago she lost 3/4 of her tongue to cancer and can no longer eat! She said she'd rather be fat and be able to eat again than this, and that it is really socially difficult for her. I don't know if she is a believer or not but told her I will pray for her. I know this isn't a BC post but this lady could use your prayers. Her name is Kirsten. Thanks

Blessings on your day

Ade

P.S. Perhaps I shared too much regarding my family trial. If it seemed that way I apologize. My point was not to air old pain, but rather to give the Lord glory for His love getting me through it and to say we CAN come out on the other side of these things ok with the Lord. That time is all under the Blood now and gone from me. Glory to the Lord!

Looks like that verse resonated with several of you. It is powerful for sure.

Lita, how are you doing?

Faith, how are you doing? How did you manage the long trip to see your grand child graduate?

Ade, tongue cancer is an awful thing. I will pray for Kirsten.

Chris, so for DH it is really happening quickly. Good for him. That will be a fun chapter for you both I feel certain.

I have just not felt very well for several days and I don't know what is going on. Trying to get this VA application in and running into obstacles that are so frustrating. Having fatigue and GI issues and to tell you the truth I am a bit scared because I don't know what is going on and it has been going on for quite some time. I see the dentist tomorrow to see if they will have to drill through my fairly new crown and do a root canal. UGH I am getting the new shingles vaccine this Friday and one of my friends from church got it and was sick for five days. I was expecting 2-3 days as this is pretty normal. I did get some butterfly pics on Friday. Was feeling better then. Here are a few of them.

Have a good night dear sisters.

Love,

Nancy

Thanks Teka. Love your summer banner. Hard to believe July 4 is just around the corner. Hope you are doing well.

Love,

Nancy

Thank you Chris. That butterfly is a tiny thing called an Atala and it just came out of it's chrysalis. This was it's first few moments of life which was exciting to see them release it. They actually let this little girl put it on that flower and she was SO excited. What a sweet kitty you have. Just beautiful. I am getting ready for the dreaded dentist evaluation to see if they need to drill a hole in my fairly new crown and do a root canal. UGH I would appreciate your prayers. I would mention something to your doctor about your depression. I cannot tolerate those drugs so I can only do talk therapy and exercise and because of apts and day camps at the Y I have not been swimming on my usual schedule and I can really tell a difference. However I know those drugs are a Godsend for many people. I hope you can find something to make you feel better.

Got to run. Praying for you.

Love,

Nancy

Hi dear ladies.

Joanne, I will say amen to your post. I imagine we all have family issues that have caused us heartache and knowing God can bring us through it and bless us in the process is certainly worth sharing. We have had a lot of cloudy skies here too. Nice sky pic. Clouds are some of the most fascinating of God's creation. Last night I left a homeowners meeting and we meet in the basement of the neighborhood nursing home so we had no windows. We were all shocked to see it raining when we left and one lady pointed out the beautiful rainbow. I always see them when I don't have my camera.

Good news. On Tuesday when I saw my dentist he was able to put a sealer on this crown and did not think I needed a root canal. I was really so sure that I was not going to get an easy out with this tooth and I was SO thrilled when I didn't have to have one. Then I came home and made a phone call which was hopefully the last piece of the puzzle to this VA application for my Mom. Again I was expecting a real hassle and didn't get that at all and the document I need is coming in the mail soon. PTL I can't tell you how those two things lifted me. I had two pretty good days of feeling good. So that is the good news. The other news is I am getting REALLY scared about getting this shingles vaccine. My neighbor who planted my rose bush for me and is strong as an ox asked me what I was doing working in the yard in this heat. I told her I was madly trying to get things in place before getting this shot tomorrow because I was bracing for a rough week. She told me she had the first of a series of two shots and she had so much pain she could hardly stand it. She was in bed for the first day and felt bad for the next two. She is hesitant to get the second shot in six months.

Joanne, I know you have pleaded with me to NOT get the shot. I read some horrific stories last night about people having long lasting issues such as sciatica for months after. I am praying that if I am not supposed to get it the Lord will stop me. I have had shingles three times and I know that if it goes into the secondary phase which is chronic you can have years of nerve pain. So I feel like my choices are do you want us to take off you arm or your foot! Please pray that God gives me wisdom to do the right thing. My apt is Friday at 4.

Ade, I don't know how you and James have forged through in the TX heat and doing all of that work. I pray that God will bless you with a quick sale when you are ready and that He will bless you with another wonderful place to live. You may not have wild horses in your view in Ohio or who knows, maybe something even better. I guess we still have deer in our neighborhood according to this one lady I talked to last night. She said they are almost domesticated. So maybe it was deer that ate my hydrangea. Love that pic. I still have a desire to take horse back riding lessons even at my age!

Got to run. I see my social worker today.

Love

Nancy

Hello all! I have a few questions I am hoping you can help me with. I finally met with the surgeon after having two ultrasounds, a biopsy, bone scan, CT scan and PET scan to make sure my breast cancer has not spread anywhere else, and thankfully it is only in my breast and sentinel lymph node. The CT scan showed severe arthritis in my spine, both hips, both shoulders, both knees, both hands and both feet. I am 67, and have diabetes. The surgeon and oncologist conferred and are recommending a lumpectomy rather than a mastectomy, and the surgeon said she will not even discuss a double mastectomy due to my diabetes. They are afraid of infection if I have a mastectomy and, because I have large breasts, having a single mastectomy would make me very lopsided and increase the severity of my spinal arthritis. They are unsettled about chemo, due to my diabetes, so they want to schedule an Oncotype test. Have any of you had that? And did the results affect your decision regarding a lumpectomy or mastectomy?

Also, if you had a lumpectomy, how long was your recovery time and was your surgery outpatient? The bedroom in my house is upstairs, so am wondering how easily I'll be able to get up and down the 12 stairs after surgery. I have more questions, but don't want this to turn into a diatribe, so will stop for now.

Victoria

Photo of an old garden gate I took in a beautiful wildflower field recently. "Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them!" (Psalm 96:12)

Hi Victoria,

I am glad to hear you do not have mets. I am your same age and I live alone with stairs. I did not think I needed anyone to stay with me when I got home from the surgery as an outpatient. That was five years ago. I had a friends with me at the hospital and one that was taking me home and another friend who was to be with me in the evening. It was recommended I have someone with me for the night and I am very independent and thought I won't need that. Well, when I was in recovery I knew I needed someone with me that night so my friend that was to stay with me in the evening stayed that night with me.

I had a lumpectomy and I had complications with mine which according to my surgeon hardly ever happens with his patients. I developed a seroma so my recovery was a bit bumpy. I did not have drains but had to be manually drained by the surgeon because of the seroma which is a build up of fluid in the breast due to surgery. I did have the oncotype test and my medical oncologist said don't worry about your insurance he would take care of it. I was not on Medicare at that time. The oncotype test is a help to determine whether chemo would be beneficial to you or not. For me it was not so I had radiation several weeks after my surgery. I did not have cancer in the sentinel nodes so I don't think chemo was in the picture but my MO wanted to be sure. I have arthritis in many places as well and I think for someone our age that is probably par for the course. My recovery was maybe a month and I had no problem with stairs from the beginning. I actually talked my radiation oncologist into starting radiation before she wanted me to because my insurance ran from July 1 so she let me do that so I could finish rads before my new deductible started over. Well you know how the best laid plans can go sometimes. The radiation machine broke down for four days right at the end of my treatments so I didn't finish until July 3. Oh well. I was just happy to get them over.

Hope all goes well for you. Let us know how you are doing and I am sure many will be glad to answer questions if they can.

Your garden gate pic looks neat. Prayers for you as you and your cancer team make wise decisions for your best care.

Love,

Nancy

Joanne, I missed your post and just now saw it in my email. After going to my home owners meeting the other night apparently deer have eaten some of the neighbors rose bushes. A deer would have a hard time getting around my fence but if it was a big one and they were persistent I supposed the could reach over the fence but so far so good. They aren't eating my roses that I am aware of. I know you were looking out for me but I just felt in my knower that I was to go ahead with this. Time will tell but so far not as bad as I had expected. I was truly expecting really bad pain from the get go and it was not that at all so I was thankful. I am so used to fibro pain and back and neck pain that maybe this will not be any worse than I deal with all the time. Thanks for your prayers.

Love

Nancy