Older Folks and Vaping Front Porch - Part 5

[Kaezziel]

You may have answered this already early on so forgive me for asking. Are these trial drugs supposed to shrink/eliminate the tumors or put Bride in remission?

And I would like to say, even though I dont know you as well as other porchers, I am following your trials and hoping for good results. Hubby and I are in our 60s and cancer and Alzheimer's are in our families - cancer in hubby's and I'm likely to get A. They are our nightmare but that's nothing compared to you and your bribe living your nightmare. I'm the "fixer" in my family and I wish I could fix this for you and end this nightmare. ((((Hugs))))

Thank you, Bea! {{{{{{{{{{Hugs}}}}}}}}}}

The trial drugs are basically supposed to shrink/eliminate tumors and hopefully buy us some more time together. She is in fairly advanced Stage 4 with metastasis. The original tumor was colo-rectal and was located in the rectum very near the sphincter. It metastasized to the lungs. Surgery was done to remove the tumor from the rectum, and a permanent colostomy was placed. A second surgery was done later on to remove mets from the lungs. The mets have returned to the right lung with quite a few more in the chest wall and near the liver. She has already been through all of the standard protocol treatments (radiation, chemotherapy, surgery) and none of it has worked, and that is why we are looking at clinical trials at this point. The doctors say that remission is highly unlikely, and they just want to improve her quality of life and give her as much time as they can.

Thank you for following along with us. That is the main reason that I have been so open about sharing our journey. We both want others to know her story, and we hope that the sharing of it will help someone in some way or another. My Bride is 46 years old and has no history of cancer in her family. Her grandmother had Type 1 Diabetes and Alzheimer's, so I am fully aware of the fear that you feel from it and the nightmares that it can cause. My Bride also has Type 1 Diabetes, and she constantly worries that she may very well inherit the Alzheimer's that her grandmother suffered from. I'm right there with you on being the "fixer", and I so wish that I could tell you that everything is going to be okay, and that you will definitely be spared from that awful disease. All that I can offer, though, is the knowledge that love and faith can carry us through many, many things that we wouldn't otherwise believe ourselves capable of enduring.

 

[Debadoo]

The doc isn't even sure if it's gonna help her or not, so there's no sense in getting the 90 day script yet.

Hope it will as everyone is different. But they don't do much for my back unfortunately. I only filled a 30 day. I do have 90 days now approved, but dunno if I'll even fill them. Go tomorrow for more steroid injections in my spine. In a different place this time. So will see if they help any more after that or not.

Bea.......certainly hope neither you or your hubby ever have to deal with the things that run in y'alls family. They are both horrible!

 

[Kenna]

More “good news about “exploding” ecigs from those that don’t understand it. Take out the spaces in the addy.

Too bad they don't mention the fda has made teaching battery safety illegal in vape shops where sales take place.

 

[seminolewind]

Morning. I'd love to catch up right now, but I'm taking mom and the dog to a state park. There's a big rain cloud over the park, but this is Florida. So we go.

I love love love the story about the tent chicken. You know I would have done that. What a sweet thing too. Chickens make wonderful pets. Personality, eggs, don't care if you're in your pajamas, or having "morning" hair. Grateful for any little morsel. Make us realize how simple life can be. Love when you garden and turn over dirt. I could go on forever, but that's because I'm a moderator on chickenforum.

Can't NOT make a cloud? Take smaller hits. In public. Or turn down the temp.

In a pinch I'm liable to rent a uhaul and throw 9 roosters and 21 hens in the back and hope for the best.

Does anyone have a camper or camp? I'm looking into the possibility of getting a 2nd hand hybrid (regular camper with pop out tent beds). Not a popup. Anyone float down a river in a tube?

 

[Kaezziel]

Hope it will as everyone is different. But they don't do much for my back unfortunately. I only filled a 30 day. I do have 90 days now approved, but dunno if I'll even fill them. Go tomorrow for more steroid injections in my spine. In a different place this time. So will see if they help any more after that or not.

Yeah, he didn't seem overly confident that they'd do much for her, either. Won't hurt to try 'em out, though.

Ugh! I'm sorry, Deb! I hope the steroid injections aren't too bad... I can't imagine anyone stickin' a needle anywhere near my spine! They'd definitely have to knock me out first! I do hope that they help you, though... Thoughts and prayers go with you, Honey!

 

[seminolewind]

Thank you! And, yep... they want to do one full day and two half days of testing before they'll let her start the meds. I'm assuming they'll be doing blood work, CT/MRI, physical exams, and who knows what else... then they'll do it all again after two months on the treatment.



Very, very well done! Any comments that I might add to it would end up being counter-productive, so I'd leave it as you have it. I sometimes have a problem holding my tongue...



Due to make landfall along the East Coast... pretty much everywhere between Florida and Virginia from the last forecast that I saw.



I mostly use TFA flavors for my DIY, though I am beginning to branch out into some of the other brands of concentrates. I pretty much had to make the switch to DIY when I started going through 10-15mL a day... most of the premixed juice that I used to buy was between $20-30 for 30mL. That was beginning to cost more than cigarettes ever did!



Thank you very much! Things are starting to look up a bit, so we're trying to remain hopeful that all will go through as expected and that the new meds will have a larger effect than the previous treatments.



I didn't either. Just thought that maybe it was a neat little novelty, but worth a shot... that was seven and a half years ago... still vaping; no longer smoking.



I can completely understand! I only spent about a week in Perth, and another week in Hobart, Tasmania... but I'd absolutely LOVE to visit again. Just don't think I'd like to move there permanently because I'd miss so much from home. It'll be nice for you to come back to the States for a visit.

Kaezziel, thinking of you will everything that you will be doing. You can vape in a hospital as a patient. Either the bathroom or exhale under the blanket. No problem.

 

[Kenna]

I don't like big foggy clouds, but it seems to be the eliquid that determines how much I get. I prefer 70% pg, but seems a lot only offer all vg or 50/50. Sets off my smoke detectors, which is a pain. Next pay will order some mix your own supplies. Need a battery charger for my radius, and a spare battery. But I still only own 4 units in working order.
I don't switch around on flavours anymore, but am ready to have a go at diy. Don't like doing the math of figuring out proportions, but need to get my costs down. I go thru liquid super fast, so it's got to be easier on my budget.
So for traveling by air, Vape supplies in carry on?
Weathers turning to spring, going to work on turning my back porch into green zone. They've got some crazy and beautiful looking plants in Oz. here comes xmas mid summer again. Never get used to it.

@Vape? You need to use an eliquid calculator for mixing DIY. Ejuice Me Up is the one I use. It's downloaded to your pc. It's very easy to use. You just enter in the strength of your unmixed nic, the strength you want to end up with, the amount of juice you want to make, your flavorings & the percentage of each to arrive at your final flavor, the final ratio of pg to vg you want, & hit the calculate button. It tells you exactly how many mls, drops, or grams for each ingredient so you can see how much to use of each whether you mix with syringes (mls), drops, or by grams using a scale. I use syringes. Very easy. You'd save your "recipe" in your pc & it's there everytime you want to mix it. You can mix as much as you want at one time so you don't have to do it as often. Just mix in a big canning jar & divide into smaller bottles for ease of use.

 

[Kaezziel]

Kaezziel, thinking of you will everything that you will be doing. You can vape in a hospital as a patient. Either the bathroom or exhale under the blanket. No problem.

Thank you! I often vape when we're at the hospital. That's one of the rare times that I turn down my wattage or build a higher resistance coil and try to keep things stealthy. Even during the inpatient stays with my Bride, I was able to vape enough to stay satisfied. I just went back to some of the things I'd do as a teenager; I'd hold the smoke (now vapor) in until there was nothing visible in the exhale.

 

[Kenna]

Definitely. I kind of wonder what would or could the police officer charge him with?

DWHUA? Driving With Head Up A..

 

[Debadoo]

Does anyone have a camper or camp? I'm looking into the possibility of getting a 2nd hand hybrid (regular camper with pop out tent beds). Not a popup. Anyone float down a river in a tube?

@MattB101 was trying to sell his before moving back to Florida.

Ugh! I'm sorry, Deb! I hope the steroid injections aren't too bad... I can't imagine anyone stickin' a needle anywhere near my spine! They'd definitely have to knock me out first! I do hope that they help you, though... Thoughts and prayers go with you, Honey!

thanks darlin. this one won't be so bad. The first ones they did were 8 at a time, 4 on each side. Only a local anesthetic which probably burned more than if they had just done the shots. lol This one is only 3 on one side, but he asked if I wanted to do it under anesthesia. At first I said no........then said why the heck not if the ins will pay for it. lol I had 3 series of em the first time and finally stopped doing them because even though they helped with some of the pain and made me more flexible, they made the sciatic pain near unbearable! Dunno why I said they're tomorrow, it's actually at 1 pm today. The others really didn't hurt much, but I'll try it with anesthesia this time since he's going into a deeper place than they did before. They do it with xray in real time.

You can vape in a hospital as a patient. Either the bathroom or exhale under the blanket. No problem.

Jup I vaped in my son's room for 3 days. 3rd day as we were being discharged, nurse saw me holding it and said...... you know you can't use that in here, right! I said.......I'm just holding it. cuz that's all I was doing at the time. Wanted so bad to tell her I'd been vaping in there for 3 days and none of em had a clue.

 

[Kenna]

Our little generator kicked the bucket recently and we cant buy another one until we save up some money so I make sure all my batteries are always charged in case of power outage.

I've been keeping two in their battery case, 3/4 charged, as advised in the blogs but havent been using them. Sort of like a back up. The rest I keep charged up and rotate.

Is that ok or should I rotate the backup ones too?

I rotate all of mine. They are usually good for like 300 charges. So rotating them makes them last for years. I'm afraid storing them for long periods would let them drain slowly & then sit empty & be ruined long before they'd die just being used in rotation. I have lots of batteries so some only get used every couple of months.

 

[3mg Meniere]

Great letter! This is the only part you might just consider rewording. I might leave out technicalities. and would say considered by some to be using tobacco products I still wouldn't say smoker. Even the FDA hasn't said we're smokers, just that we're using tobacco products. And I'd definitely quote the Royal College of Physicians like someone else suggested. Much good luck to you!! I've been looking into subsidized housing here for when I (hopefully) get my disability. Fortunately at least so far, even though they are complete non smoking buildings, they specify that you CAN vape.

I made changes, and sent it by email.

I have in hand your letter of Sept 29, concerning the no smoking policy. I have not smoked for two and a half years. However, as a vaper, due to a FDA ruling, I am subject to restrictions intended for smokers, unless an exemption is made.


You listed a concern with “increased risk of fire.” People over 60 who vape do not seek adventure. We are generally content with single-battery regulated mods at under 15 watts. The actual risk for battery explosion is negligible under those conditions. This is nothing compared to the danger of fire from dropped cigarettes or neglected cooking appliances. If there is a concern about rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, then they should be banned in any application from the property. Media tends to exploit vaping battery explosions because of fear of a movement that threatens the tobacco and pharmaceutical industries.


Secondly, you listed a concern with the “known health effects of secondhand tobacco smoke.” This is my concern, also. I only recently moved from an environment rife with environmental toxins, and had significant health problems as a result. I understand the problem, and share a disgust with other non-smokers for the smell of burned tobacco. I (nearly) always ask when I want to vape in the presence of others. Again, over 60’s have little appreciation for great plumes of vapor.


Researchers have found no reason for concern about secondhand vapor. Some have found toxic substances, but fail to mention that the concentrations are so low as to pose no risk.

http://www.treatobacco.net/en/page_528.php

http://www.ecigarette-research.org/research/index.php/whats-new/whatsnew-2015/226-sp

http://ntr.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/12/10/ntr.ntt203.short

http://www.webmd.com/smoking-cessation/news/20140903/e-cigarette-vapor-may-be-less-toxic-than-tobacco-smoke-study


In my own experience, after years of fighting both an anxiety disorder and smoking, I impulsively bought an electronic cigarette at ----------. From that day on, I have had no cigarettes, and the smell and thought of smoking has been repulsive. Others have had more difficulty using electronic cigarettes to quit smoking, but “accidental quitting” is frequently seen on https://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/


In sum, I believe that the stated reasons for banning smoking on the property are legitimate when applied to burning tobacco. They have no relevance to the use of “electronic cigarettes, pipes or vaporizers.” Therefore the use of those devices should be exempted from the “No Smoking Policy.”


Sincerely,

 

[Kaezziel]

thanks darlin. this one won't be so bad. The first ones they did were 8 at a time, 4 on each side. Only a local anesthetic which probably burned more than if they had just done the shots. lol This one is only 3 on one side, but he asked if I wanted to do it under anesthesia. At first I said no........then said why the heck not if the ins will pay for it. lol I had 3 series of em the first time and finally stopped doing them because even though they helped with some of the pain and made me more flexible, they made the sciatic pain near unbearable! Dunno why I said they're tomorrow, it's actually at 1 pm today. The others really didn't hurt much, but I'll try it with anesthesia this time since he's going into a deeper place than they did before. They do it with xray in real time.

They did the real-time X-ray thing when my Bride had the nerve block done. They only used a local anesthesia, though, and she said that she'd never, ever do that again! Says it hurt worse than the pain that they were trying to treat!
All my best with you this afternoon, Darlin'. I'll just make sure to send them prayers a l'il earlier.

Jup I vaped in my son's room for 3 days. 3rd day as we were being discharged, nurse saw me holding it and said...... you know you can't use that in here, right! I said.......I'm just holding it. cuz that's all I was doing at the time. Wanted so bad to tell her I'd been vaping in there for 3 days and none of em had a clue.

Yep... One of the nurses kept remarking that she smelled vanilla every time she walked into my Bride's room. I had to leave a can of vanilla air freshener on the table so that she wouldn't question it too much. She ended up asking what brand air freshener it was, because she liked it so much that she wanted to get some for herself! LMAO! I couldn't bring myself to tell her that it was a 'custom blend'.

 

[Debadoo]

I made changes, and sent it by email.

I have in hand your letter of Sept 29, concerning the no smoking policy. I have not smoked for two and a half years. However, as a vaper, due to a FDA ruling, I am subject to restrictions intended for smokers, unless an exemption is made.


You listed a concern with “increased risk of fire.” People over 60 who vape do not seek adventure. We are generally content with single-battery regulated mods at under 15 watts. The actual risk for battery explosion is negligible under those conditions. This is nothing compared to the danger of fire from dropped cigarettes or neglected cooking appliances. If there is a concern about rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, then they should be banned in any application from the property. Media tends to exploit vaping battery explosions because of fear of a movement that threatens the tobacco and pharmaceutical industries.


Secondly, you listed a concern with the “known health effects of secondhand tobacco smoke.” This is my concern, also. I only recently moved from an environment rife with environmental toxins, and had significant health problems as a result. I understand the problem, and share a disgust with other non-smokers for the smell of burned tobacco. I (nearly) always ask when I want to vape in the presence of others. Again, over 60’s have little appreciation for great plumes of vapor.


Researchers have found no reason for concern about secondhand vapor. Some have found toxic substances, but fail to mention that the concentrations are so low as to pose no risk.

http://www.treatobacco.net/en/page_528.php

http://www.ecigarette-research.org/research/index.php/whats-new/whatsnew-2015/226-sp

http://ntr.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/12/10/ntr.ntt203.short

http://www.webmd.com/smoking-cessation/news/20140903/e-cigarette-vapor-may-be-less-toxic-than-tobacco-smoke-study


In my own experience, after years of fighting both an anxiety disorder and smoking, I impulsively bought an electronic cigarette at ----------. From that day on, I have had no cigarettes, and the smell and thought of smoking has been repulsive. Others have had more difficulty using electronic cigarettes to quit smoking, but “accidental quitting” is frequently seen on https://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/


In sum, I believe that the stated reasons for banning smoking on the property are legitimate when applied to burning tobacco. They have no relevance to the use of “electronic cigarettes, pipes or vaporizers.” Therefore the use of those devices should be exempted from the “No Smoking Policy.”


Sincerely,

excellent! Sure hope they listen!

 

[Debadoo]

They did the real-time X-ray thing when my Bride had the nerve block done. They only used a local anesthesia, though, and she said that she'd never, ever do that again! Says it hurt worse than the pain that they were trying to treat!
All my best with you this afternoon, Darlin'. I'll just make sure to send them prayers a l'il earlier.



Yep... One of the nurses kept remarking that she smelled vanilla every time she walked into my Bride's room. I had to leave a can of vanilla air freshener on the table so that she wouldn't question it too much. She ended up asking what brand air freshener it was, because she liked it so much that she wanted to get some for herself! LMAO! I couldn't bring myself to tell her that it was a 'custom blend'.

haven't had a nerve block done. Yipes! Don't know if they do those here. lmao on the air freshener.

 

[tj99959]

Oh-well.

 

[englishmick]

I rotate all of mine. They are usually good for like 300 charges. So rotating them makes them last for years. I'm afraid storing them for long periods would let them drain slowly & then sit empty & be ruined long before they'd die just being used in rotation. I have lots of batteries so some only get used every couple of months.

That's what I do with batteries. One thing worries me a little. They say leaving batteries fully charged is bad. But I charge them after I use them, and put them in a row so I can take the one off the front that's been there the longest. My batteries spend most of their time sitting in the stand fully charged waiting for their turn. I don't worry too much though. Still using the first batteries I bought a couple of years ago. Don't know what my yearly cost of batteries will be but not much.

 

[Semiretired]

haven't had a nerve block done

They are great after they get the block done, but going through the process and finding the right nerve to block is where the pain comes from.

 

[Debadoo]

That's what I do with batteries. One thing worries me a little. They say leaving batteries fully charged is bad. But I charge them after I use them, and put them in a row so I can take the one off the front that's been there the longest. My batteries spend most of their time sitting in the stand fully charged waiting for their turn. I don't worry too much though. Still using the first batteries I bought a couple of years ago. Don't know what my yearly cost of batteries will be but not much.

no worries. That's basically for if you're leaving them sit long term with a full charge. Since you're using yours probably once a week or two, and discharging them through use then recharging, they're fine. I've got 6 in rotation, and change batts once a day, so within a week all of them get used.

 

[Kenna]

Still no landline. Can't seem to get anybody at Century Link except computers. This is kind of ridiculous outage since Friday. I got a letter from Tri West saying I have an appointment with a doc tomorrow downtown have no idea anything about it. As usual I think they are screwed up not the VA. It's with an internest. Usually they call you. The Pulmonologist I'm supposed to see called before we lost our telephones got an appointmen for December.

I thought they told you they were aiming for today. It sounds like something major got hit in that storm last week & they're having to basically rebuild it. We've had that happen with phones & cable.