Fatmad I'm glad your knee brace and water exercise are helping you.

Carol Sue I don't know if we can know exactly when we are going to leave this world, but I've also heard of people who seemingly knew. I don't expect to know the moment but I think there is the possibiliity that we can know it is close and we will be ready. However, I also agree with you that we need to live each day as it could be today. I think we agree more than we don't.

I hope you will know something soon if you will have the procedure done for sure.

I could have slept longer today but I had to go to the bathroom and once I was up I decided to just stay up. I have to be at oncology in the morning around 10 am and want to be able to get up without being groggy. They don't drug me for a 30 to 45 minute treatment and lately I meet and talk to others there for their treatments.

I did have to do an eye test which was not as good as they used to do. They took 2 pictures 1 w ith and 1 without glasses so I don't know which they will use. I have a paper copy without glasses that is temporary good until the end of the year, but should have the actual plastic card within 10 days. If I had not already answered the question that I had to have a hysterectomy due to ovarian cancer, the girl told me I didn't have tell them about it. I made the statement to DH that I didn't know how to spell hysterectomy and she said "Don't write that". I'm glad I had written it because I didn't want to lie about anything like that. I'm surprised my license is good for 8 yrs. I thought Daddy had to go once a year after 80 and I thought I read that online. Any way it is done and I didn't have to wait a long time. In fact we got there 30 minutes early and was out of there at 3 pm which was my appointment.

DH is starting dinner so I want to go do my part to help him.

Have a good day y'all.

Trish, I am assuming my procedure is going forward. I was notified that my prescriptions were sent for the steroids I need to take. This is happening!

I hope your treatment goes well. I'm glad you get to talk with others while you are there. Things are going well for you.

Carol Sue Do you know when you will be going in the hospital the day of the surgery or the day before? Did they tell you how long will you be in the hospital?

I will check in tomorrow when I get home from my infusion.

Goodnight.

interesting topic about what I call the Death Zone. I no longer collect things, and have given away lots of stuff, but more because of downsizing. Neither of my kids want a lot of old stuff. We got rid of many boxes from the basement yesterday, no one wanted the set of china from my MIL. I never used it, and to my knowledge, neither did she. Younger DD has my mother's china, but it has meaning, as we frequently visited there and had meals, including "fancy" ones with that china. They only met my in-laws a handful of times. Then it was at the camp which was theirs at the time, so we would visit for several days, but not frequently. Younger DD barely remembers them. That is sad to me, but that's the difficulty of living far away. I have many memories of my Dad's parents, though they lived in Quebec and we only saw them once per year. But again, stayed for a while, and the whole family had a lot of parties and activities when we visited, so perhaps that makes more memories to enjoy.
In all, I think that people give away things as they age for many reasons. Even not "knowing" when, giving things you kept but are not using away while you are alive ensures that you can give them to the person you want to have it. No worries about having it in the will. When my mother died, I knew I would not wear most of the jewellery and gave it straight to my kids, right in front of my Dad, so he know that they were taken care of. My FIL gave away the most valuable coins from his collection at their 50th anniversary celebration. Each son and each grandchild got something. Otherwise, he didn't plan so well, LOL.

I am doing ok. I ate low carb yesterday. Plan is to fast today. DH will leave this am for the camp, and be back late tomorrow. He has to bring back "stuff" . Not sure what all is involved, but that's him.
I was in bed early last night, but work up about 445 am and could not sleep again. I tried sleeping with the fitbit on and maybe that affects things. I did fine in the water yesterday when I did my water walking. Its a class that is less aerobic that aquafit, although you can make it more so by going faster and harder. all the exercises involved walking back and forth across the "shallow" pool. It is set at about 4.5 feet deep.
Oh, and my blood sugar has been 5.6 (100 to you) the last two days, so that is coming down nicely.

I hope you are both doing well and that your surgery will be just what you need Carol.

Trish, I will go into the hospital the morning of my procedure. They will call the day before and tell me what time. I will stay overnight and come home Wednesday as long as all goes as planned. I am taking my tablet and will report when I can. I don't call this surgery because they don't cut me open, but I guess it is considered surgery.

Mad, we have nothing of value. I have a dish that belonged to my great grandmother. I have no children. I want to give it to my cousin who has several children,but she lives in Delaware so I would have to find a safe way to ship it. We both remember our grandmother but never knew great grandmother. I have a dish that belonged to my MIL, depression glass, Step daughter will want to sell it as she has no sentiment. My step son's FIL is a wealthy man who has many things from his parents. Several antique guns and grandchildren are boys. My step son is a gun collector so that interested him. It seems no one today values sentimental things. We have a house full of "stuff.". I call it junk and want it gone, but DH thinks "you can get money for that.". I told my step daughter that when we die she inherits the basement and her brother inherits the attic.

No one in our family ever had good china. What my MIL had was a conglomeration of mismatched pieces. I have a set I bought so I could host holiday dinners but it is an inexpensive set.

DH wants a new phone, so off we go!

DH couldn't get a phone so I will order it online.

Fatmad I like the term Death Zone. I also liked the way hospice told me when DH DM was dieing. She told me that his Mother was being birthed into Heaven. I don't have anything of value to leave to anyone except for a few of my Daddy's sermons and Bible Studies that I will give to my nephews one of these days. I have pictures my youngest son wants. DH has saved coins etc and I think he gave that to his son when they came to visit us. He has stuff that he inherited from his parents and from an aunt who had no kids. His kids won't want most of it and will ditch it.

Carol Sue I'm continuing to pray for everything to go smoothly with the procedure too.

I always had nice dishes and things but never china or anything fancy. China and fancy just isn't me. I don't want anything that the child or grandchildren would feel bad about breaking. When we had family gatherings us DIL were in charge we decided to buy paper plates so we didn't have to spend most of the time washing dishes etc. We also bought the throw aways because DH#2 grandmother bought the kind of paper plates and made us wash them. LOL On Christmas and Thanksgiving we used china and crystal etc because his aunt wanted fancy and everything had to be put out on the table even if we weren't going to use it. I was the one who ended up washing and the other DIL dried and put things away. I swear when they cooked family gatherings like that every pan in the house was dirty. Bless their hearts.

Infusion went well. I had gained 5 lbs which might be because I had not taken Lasix in 2 days, but that 5 lb gain was a wake up call so I also need to get back to my diet starting tomorrow. Guess I better get back on MFP.

I haven't looked on my portal yet but my team nurse said that my numbers were good and my hemoglobin was up above 10 for the first time since May and that back then was probably after a blood transfusion. Looks like the 2 meals of liver and onions does help build up my blood.

We came home, ate pizza and fell asleep and slept so sound that when I woke up I was so disoriented that I didn't know what day it was or why I was sleeping in my chair. Wierd! I asked DH if it was still Thursday. LOL!!! Any way the rest of the day has been fine and I figure I will sleep good tonight. I told team nurse that I still fall asleep more than I want to, but she told me that is due to the infusion so I guess falling asleep is nothing to worry about... it is just part of the process.

Goodnight.

I guess it was not a good idea to weigh today. I was 174! I don't know what is going on. My waist is same (37 inches) so that is ok.
I did not have the best sleep, so that always affects the weight. I hope it is temporary. I did OMAD yesterday, so not sure why it is so weird.
Going to fast today. I have aquafit later so that also feels good.
Have a good day and a good weekend everyone.

Trish, I have gained 5 lbs but I'm still taking the fluid pills twice a day. When I first started I was scared to death to eat something wrong so I went down to 165 quickly. Since then I have relaxed a bit so I think that's why I gained. I'm holding at 169-170.

I was looking over my instructions for my procedure and I am not allowed to take any diabetes meds on Monday. So I will have to be sure to eat zero carbs! In addition, I have to start taking the steroids at noon, which will drive my blood sugar sky high. I will be going into this procedure with my blood sugar around 300+. One of the biggest risks for this procedure is diabetes. I'm assuming they know this. Even if I fast, the steroids will spike my blood sugar. Maybe I will walk on my treadmill to help bring glucose down. I don't want to do a complete fast on Monday because I won't be getting anything to eat on Tuesday, either. I know it wouldn't kill me. In fact it is healthy. I just don't want to. Good thing God is in charge here because my mind is boggled.

Our everyday dishes are Corelle, and actually 2 different patterns. So the china is for company. My DIL has so much fancy dishes and serving pieces that she got for her wedding, plus a full set of Fiesta ware. She never uses throwaways. She has a couple different sets of casual reusable plastic dishes she uses for casual get togethers. She also has casual flatware and never uses plastic forks, etc. Everything is washable and reuseable. I think she is eco friendly. No waste. When she first joined our family she had problems because everyone was used to throwing things in the garbage at cook outs and casual parties. She was going behind them pulling them back out to be washed.

When I cook, I clean up as I go along. My kitchen is small so I have to do that. It only takes seconds to wash something in between. After the meal, all that needs done is the dishes we ate from and serving bowls and utensils. I also have containers ready for leftovers and throw aways for people to take home. I always prepare extra because my family loves to take leftovers home. Good thing because DH never eats leftovers.

Today I will go online and set the bills up for payment so that's out of the way.

I just got a call from the hospital. My copay for this is $295. Not bad at all.

_______________

Its Friday the 13th. My phone is dying. I didn't want to set up the new phone until after the hospital but now I have to, like it or not. I turned on the PC to get online, but then I noticed that the new phone battery was dead. We put it on the charger and now the PC won't shut down. Fun, fun, fun.

Fatmad I'm sorry about the gain. At least I know what could have caused my gain and half of it was my fault because I haven't been eating like I should and the other reason was not I had 2 days in a row of taking only 20 mg of Lasix. I took only 1 on Tuesday because we were going to go to DMV for DL renewal and I took only 1 the day before the infusion so I could be hydrated to make it easier for them to find a vein. However, I really get upset when I have no idea why I gain because I know I was doing everything right and still gain weight. I'm sure you will get your weight loss soon.

Carol Sue I would eat healthy but be sure you have enough to give you the strength you need. They spent so much time trying to get me to eat so they seemed to be happy with my 5 lb gain, but I wasn't. Do what you need to do to get yourself well and you can go back to your diet like you want it when your procedure is done and you are back to living your life.

I just realized that I had not checked in today. I talked to DD this morning and she said we set a new record as we talked for about 2 hours. So I didn't get things done that I wanted to do but feel I did what I needed to do. I charged my phone while I cut onions and made whaat I call gumbo of okra, small diced canned tomatoes and onion. Then I put Country Style Ribs to cook. By then phone was charged enough to call DS because I wanted to let her know what I learned from the team nurse yesterday. By then DH was in the kitchen making our salad and putting on a serving of beets for himself. While eating, DS called back and said her DD had called wanting us all to pray because the house 2 houses away from them had caught fire and it had spread tothe house next to thgem. She called back long enough to thank us for praying saying everything was under control and her house was safe. Thank God. So it has been quite a day. I've had a shower and am now sitting with my feet on the messager I bought. I will use this one as long as it works and when it wears out I will pay more for the expensive original because I read that people are reversing neuropathy with that one. Supposedly this one will help me sleep good tonight.

I fasted until we ate at 3 pm. Not a pure fast, just a liquid fast. I had a balanced meal at PB sandwich made with half a small banana on it and a cup of coffee. Didn't count calories but I ate much less than usual. I hope I can continue that tomorrow and make it a habit. I can actually fast until 3 better than I can go without eating after main meal although I would rather eat breakfast and fast after dinner.

Have a good night's sleep.

Trish was that PB sandwich all you ate all day? I know there are many people who wait til later in the day to eat and it is best for them. You might very well be one of those people. I don't know that I am. I have tried it and was successful for a while but in the long run it was a constant struggle. The whole time I was thinking about food and what I wanted to eat. It just seems natural for me to eat earlier in the day and less later on. For years I didn't eat dinner. Dinner food doesn't really appeal to me as much. I often just want something very small at dinner. If it wasn't for DH wanting dinner every day I wouldn't even think about it. I kept my weight at 130-135 when I was single eating this way. It seems to be what's best for me,but may not be best for someone else.

Thank God your niece's home was not affected by the fire.! Praise the Lord. I pray for those who were not so fortunate.

I think my eating on Monday will be healthy and also enough food and nutrients. I will just avoid carbs since I'm not allowed to take my diabetes meds. I will eat my eggs the same as always but I will not have toast. At diinner I will eat whatever meat/protein I'm having that day along with non starchy vegetables like broccoli or Brussels sprouts. I can also have some yogurt. I know that vegetables are carbs, but they aren't starchy carbs like bread, potatoes, rice and pasta. The steroids are still going to spike my blood sugar but I will eat as best I can. I don't know how the high blood sugar is going to affect my procedure but I just can't think it will be good.

I imagine before I was diagnosed my blood sugar went very high because I didn't have a meter and wasn't testing. Even after diagnosis I didn't test for a very long time. That was wrong, but I think I just didn't want to face it. I was eating whatever I wanted with no regard, but in the back of my mind I knew it was wrong. I think posting in this forum made me understand what I should do and why it was necessary. I am still not where I should be with my eating but I'm greatly improved. Now I test excessively, I know, and I go through a lot of strips. But by doing that I've learned more about how my medicine works and how my body reacts to food.

Trish, I know that your cancer caretakers are glad you gained weight because weight loss is often a big problem for cancer patients. They don't realize how long you have struggled with your weight and how much this loss means to you. Although the scale is the fastest way to know your weight, the scale weight is variable. Our bodies are complex machines and they self regulate. Things are going on in there that we don't know about or understand. In many instances the number on the scale has nothing to do with what we ate or drank or how much, except in cases where someone is stuffing themselves indiscriminately with an abundance of unhealthy foods for an extended period of time.

Another thing you must take into consideration. For months now you have been inactive. During that time you have lost muscle and become weak. Now you are exercising regularly and becoming stronger again. This exercise is causing you to increase muscle. Muscle weighs more so your weight goes up. We don't like to see that on the scale but actually it is healthier for our bodies. This is good weight gain. Your body looks better with muscle tone. It allows you to walk without your walker. It allows you to get out of bed without assistance. It is keeping you out of a wheel chair. As long as you know you are eating healthy and staying on plan, try not to worry about the number on the scale. Keep in mind that an anorexic has a very low number on the scale, but they look terrible, just skin and bones and their bodies are far from healthy. What you are doing is the right thing and you are getting good results. Keep going!

Today I will pack my little tote bag for the hospital. I have chosen the clothes I need to wear home and I want to take my tablet. I'm secretly hoping they keep me an extra day to be sure I'm ok. I know DH and he is going to want me to go places once I'm home.

Carol Sue Thanks for the pep talk. I've been in this counting from diagnosis to now about 8 or 9 months. I also believe a lot was going on inside my body for years leading up to that point. I feel something going on even now that is different from the way I it has felt before with this treatment. I am praying and I also believe it is something good because my blood work has improved this time. Dawn, my team nurse I see when I don't see the doctor, said the only time my blood count had been above 10 was after a blood transfusion. I got my CA 125 count this morning on my portal which she didn't have the results yet and probably won't see it until Monday and it is down to 248 from 273 last month. She also explained to me why this medicine could slow down healing from cataract surgery even though they use it as a shot in the eye for macular degeneration. She said it stops the flow of blood to the tumor so it has to be stopped 6 weeks before any other surgery. That kind of helped me understand why cancer patients experience neuropathy symptoms that can go away within 6 months to a year after it is stoppped. I hope I'm able to minimize some of things if I learn to eat and eat healthy at the same time.

Today I don't want to eat anything. I didn't get up until after 10:30 and could sleep even now. I know that eating is important because DN told her Mama (DS) that it is the cancer patients who don't eat who do not make it. So this is when Protein shakes becomes important on these days when I don't want to eat. I haven't felt like doing all my exercises this past week and I've don't probably half total for the week so that may be the way I feel like I do or it could just be a reaction to the treatment medicine. Some things Dawn said to me especially when she tells me what she is thinking when she gets ready to see me. Example "Is she going to still be ambulatory today?" So do they expect me to continue to get better or not? I think a key to that is what she says about my up beat attitude about all this.

What I take from the things she said is that a lot of how this goes is up to me. I need to eat as healthy as I know how, make myself do my exercise at least 5 days a week. Sleep when my body lets me know I need to because that is important for healing. Chemo was hard on the body and the maintenance treatment can be too and probably because I don't understand all that is going on. I'm going to use the foot massage pad 3 times a day. It works so soft starting out as I'm building up to stronger but I can tell it helps with the feet. I don't think I can fast while going through cancer treatment because that could be what is making the burning sensation in my stomach. However, I think I could still do a 8 to 10 hr eating window, because I can go long hours between eating, but I notice I need to eat a bite of something to keep from getting sick or stop the burning sensation which sometimes is around 10 or 10:30 pm. I usually don't even have breakfast till almost noon.

Carol Sue I would think they would want you to have at least a few days before they want you to get too active after the procedure. I think that may be what the preacher we watch on Sundays (church we want to attend when I can go again) may have had that procedure. He just told us Sunday on tv that he had 3 heart valves opened. I don't know how long ago that was because I noticed a lot of his sermons sounded like reruns. He had told us he had heart problems and was on meds and had problems adjusting to one and that was not long after I was diagnosed. Any way Sunday he announced that he had praying for those valves to open up and now they are open after they had opened them. However, I noticed he is sitting while preaching instead of standing like he used to do. So they might want you to take it easy at least for a week or so. Be sure to ask them so DH will know you might be limited to how much you can do and I think you will know when you can go and when it just isn't a good day for you to go some places. Plus we are going into flu/cold season and you don't want to get sick during this time.

DH has already asked me if I want to go to the store with him Tuesday when he goes. I had told him Thursday when we left oncology that I needed to make myself get out once a week and go walk around a store because it was helping me walk better. So we hen he asked if I want to go Tuesday, he also reminded me that I don't have to go if I don't think I can that day. At one point at Walmart, he could tell I had gone too long and asked if I was okay. I told him that I felt I was at the point that athletes call "hitting the wall" and they push themselves to keep going to win the race. I didn't tell him but I prayed I had enough to "win the race" and get to the car before I ran out of energy. Walmart isn't good at having charged shopping carts but Sam's and the local store is good at keeping theirs charged so I shouldn't have any problems shopping Tuesday. You may have to just let your DH know what your limits are for a few days or weeks. At our ages we have to let our bodies recover a little differently than we did when younger. But the key is we can recover if without any problems if we just do what we need to do.

We have decided to eat leftovers. I am going to cut most of the fat off the 2 left over ribs and eat those and a salad. I think I will eat veggies for a late supper and hope it will keep me from needing something around 10ish tonight.

Have good day everyone.

Trish, the information I was given to read already told me that I should avoid stairs for the first week. I cannot go into or out of my house without climbing a flight of stairs either up to the front door or from the garage/basement to the living quarters. It also says the main issue is healing of the incision in the groin and that will take at least 2 weeks. This means nothing to DH. If he wants to go somewhere he wants me to go with him. If I get out of my chair and go to the bathroom he thinks I'm feeling fine, so lets go! He hates to stay home. So many times I pretend I don't feel well so I don't have to go. I have meat in the freezer and I will buy hot dogs and kielbassi that he can eat. I know he prefers to go to a restaurant to eat. But that is not supposed to be a daily thing.

I didn't want dinner today so DH got chicken McNuggets. I would be more than happy to cook dinner for him if he would tell me what he wants. Other women are lucky that they cook dinner and their husband eats whatever it is. Earlier this week I defrosted a steak for him and he didn't want it. I couldn't refreeze it so I cooked it and fed it to the dog. I give up. Find your own food. I have to worry about myself and my health.

In our Walmart they have a couple benches in the front aisle and one in the middle of the grocery department. If I get tired I sit for a few minutes and I see others do that, too. We usually go twice a week and don't buy a lot so we are done in 30 minutes. One time I tried to drive a motorized cart and I ran into a display. I'm afraid to try again.

My stitches came out of my gum from the extraction. I could feel it moving around and then it came out on the tip of my tongue. Very small but felt big. I was worried that I would swallow it but it was so tiny. The gum feels healed.

Trish, I want to know what kind of foot massager you bought, even though I don't think I have neuropathy. I agree that your attitude and effort has a lot to do with your recovery. Some of the things you went thru really scared me but you kept on trucking and fought through everything like a trooper! You are looking forward to complete recovery and will accept nothing else. You are an inspiration!

Hi gang. I enjoyed having DH home from Friday evening to this am. He leaves again today for 4-5 days, and is taking the Dog so I am free from walking him. Even with the dog walker once per day, I had to take him out twice myself for short walks to do his business. that was hard, so he is taking the dog. I will be on my own for 5 days. No dog. Not sure about that, as I always had the dog to keep me company before. But the dog will be happier at the camp. They will close up for the winter as it's getting colder now. I usually go to do that, but have things planned. DH is not a planner for dates. It has more to do with weather and star gazing while he is there.

I woke early again today. Looking at the fitbit app, all 4 days of it, the days I wake early have different looking sleep cycles. I don't have deep sleep as much early on and have REM sleep earlier than the days I sleep longer. I don't know how to control that, so I am not sure what to do with the information. I was tired and tried to go back to sleep after I woke up, but I could not get comfortable. I had the same issue falling to sleep last night, lots of mild discomfort. I took only 1 Tylenol before bed because at the time I was not in pain. I guess one lesson is to keep up the two bedtime Tylenol even if it doesn't always feel like I need it. Better to reduce during the day.
I am supposed to take it before I start my exercises though.

Carol: we will be praying, thinking good thoughts and keeping a candle lit for you as you go through this surgery. When you get home, practice saying no to going out and it will be fine. I am sure when the 2 weeks is up, DH will be raring to go back to the casino, but you will have a good break.

Trish< I think Carol is right about muscle mass. Same thing with my neighbour. She started Ozempic and lost 60 pounds. Very noticeable. Recently, I thought she had lost more, but she said she actually gained 4 pounds, but her pants were looser. So with the weight loss, she has been much more active. She also had a procedure to reduce her heavy periods, so she is not so anemic, which also improved her energy and activity. I am sure the weight gain is muscle. She is looking really good. She is a mama of 3 busy kids, so I am glad she has her diabetes under control and is getting healthy so she has a long life and a healthy family.
You are doing the same for yourself. Keep up with the exercise you can manage. Your weight is fine and you just need to be careful with your meds.

Have a good Sunday friends.

Trish, I am interested in knowing about the massager but I don't think it is something I would need. I'm just curious. I was wondering if my vibration platform would effect my valve but everything I've read says that there should be no concern about the valve moving due to activity.

DH is not supposed to use the vibration platform because of his hip replacement but he does not stand on it. He sits with his feet on it and just vibrates his feet and lower legs. That was shown online with a person in a wheelchair. Maybe I will ask my doctor when I go for my follow up visit. I will ask if there are any exercise limitations.

Mad, I will be curious to hear how your neighbor does long term with Ozempic. I have heard that if you stop taking it you regain. That is the case with most weight loss. If you stop doing low carb you regain. The problem is in the USA the cost goes up after the initial dose and many can't afford it then. I hope she can reach her goal.

I would love to have some alone time without DH but not spend it in the hospital. "Be careful what you wish for" I don't ever want him gone.

DH is getting McDonalds for dinner. I will take my burger apart. Tomorrow I already have cooking planned because we can't leave the house because the hospital is going to call. I bought a lot of things that DH likes that he will have on hand to fix for himself. Beef stew, chili, corned beef hash, hot dogs, kielbassi. I'm hoping I will feel ok to cook after the first few days. I will be ok to make things in the slow cooker that I can get started and don't have to stand at the stove cooking. He can and will help with vegetables and other side dishes.

Now that its almost time I am getting a little calmer. God is in control. I told DH that even though the extraction was painful, now its over and forgotten. He said this procedure will be the same. I'm looking forward to having more energy.