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KleenTeeth

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    knitting, reading
  1. I just had to share!!!! Diana come into town for a visit and I don't think I have EVER seen her look so gorgeous! With everything she has gone through, I had such an awful picture in my mind of how she looked. She is a very distinguished looking young woman and I hated the thought of her loosing that look. But to tell you the truth, I am jealous! Her hair is salt and pepper, thinner than before, but that is ok!!! It has a little curl; all in all she looks gorgeous! She isn't too skinny...she is skinny to begin with. She tells me she drinks Boost once a day,which she thinks is helping her. I am just so happy with what I saw! I think her coming home was more of a moral booster for me, and my parents than it was for Diana. Thank you for your prayers and suppoort! I just had to share my good news!
  2. Thanks for all the replies! I will ask my sister again about the pork deal. Diana is complaining about discomfort with her port. When they put hers in, they put it too close to her heart and had to put her back into surgery to correct its placement. She had been told she would be able to go have her treatment right after placement, but she was too sore after the surgery, so they couldn't do it. She is telling me she still has the bandage type strips covering it. She did tell me when she got her first treatment last week Tuesday, the RNs had a tough time using the port, but once started it was fine.
  3. My sister now has a port and the oncologist told her since her cancer is in the right lung, they would put the port on her left side. I am very excited as my sister is coming home in January for a week! I haven't seen her since May 06 and she was diagnosed in 12/06. She tells me her hair has grown back, but now is all white But at least she has hair!! Diana's new meds are (and I know I am not going to spell them correctly) Nuvobene, Gemzar and Avastin.The RNs told her the worst side affect she would have would be that of fatigue. I hope it is no worst than that. When I talk to her she sounds super! I am just so excited to see her! Diana told me she can't have pork??? She said the MDs told her to stay away from it. Does anyone know why?
  4. Thanks for your all your posts! I will keep you all posted! Suzy
  5. Here we go again! My sister, Diana, finished her round of chemo, chemo/radiation in July, had a lung tap that showed her fluid was cancer free, then had a PET scan in September that showed her tumor had shrunk, but was not dead. She was so upset! She also was upset as the MD told her she would never be a candidate for surgery (cyberknife included) as when she was diagnosed, she had cancer cells in her fluid, so that meant the pluera was involved. So now, she is going to start chemo again (she waited for a month because she was not mentally prepared to start all over again she said). Diana told me she is going to be on Navalbine, Gemzar and Avastin. Does anyone have any information on these drugs? Diana said the Avastin is to cut off the blood to the tumor. Are there articles I should be reading, etc? Is it normal that the tumor does not react to the chemo the first time? I have a patient who was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer and has beat it to date! She said the MD told her she was a poster child for lung cancer! Diana told me the size of her tumor from diagnosis to July. She started out with a 6.7cm in Dec 06, then 2.7 cm at the time of radiation. At the time of the PET scan it was 3.3 cm. She also is doing the Cassie's tea 3x/day. I attended a dental seminar that spoke of acupunture being something to consider for lung cancer treatment. Has anyone heard of this? This is a first for me hearing such a thing. As always, thank you for your support and information! I feel bad that I don't have much to offer as far as information for others. I can help with mouth sores if anyone has them. As a dental hygienist I can at least help with infomation that way! I hope I can help someone!
  6. Don, I checked out the site a while ago. They said Diana isn't a candidate for that either The reason being she had cancer cells in her fluid when she was diagnosed; this indicated the pluera was involved. I just feel so bad for her! I am at such a loss!
  7. Diana emailed me yesterday to tell me she had her PET scan and there is still cancer in her right lung even after all the chemotherapy and radiation. She tells me this eliminates the surgery option for her. She had her lung tapped early this month and the fluid was cancer free. How much chemo do they usually give a patient? I am worried she will say "forget it, I am done", which is her personality. She sounded so down. I don't know what to say to her HELP!
  8. Thanks, Katie! I am pulling for her too! Will hear more from her on Sunday! Suzy
  9. Thanks so much for getting back to me. I wish she didn't have to go through this. Suzy
  10. Got an email from Diana. I wish I was in Montana with her. Not a thing I can do for her, but wish I was there. <> She doesn't say anything about getting a Neupagin shot and that is what she told me she was going to ask for on Monday. Does this mean her WBC wasn't low? Not familiar with radiation pneumonitis. Can anyone shed any light on this for me? Any suggestions I can send out to her? Thanks for your support and prayers! Suzy
  11. Congratulations, Jamie! This is wonderful! My husband and I just celebrated our 33 rd wedding anniversary! May you have many more happy celebrations!
  12. KleenTeeth

    Stage 3b

    Thanks, Barb! Diana hasn't said she is afraid. I certainly hope this procedure is normal. Sisters are definitely special; she is my baby sis. Thanks again!
  13. KleenTeeth

    Stage 3b

    Where do I start? Diana is doing wonderfully....I think. Her CEA marker is down to 3.8 (she started at 27 in Dec 06). Her liver enzymes started to drop once she started doing Milk Thistle. She is not out of breath like before; isn't as tired; is working close to full time. The list goes on of all the wonderful things she is doing. Her oncologist told her the tumor shrank down "8 fold". The fluid he told her is down quite a bit. What are my concerns you ask? She emailed me tonight to say the oncologist told her at least 3 more treatments of chemo. I can go with that and so can she. Then she said the oncologist wants her to have a PET scan to see if the cancer has spread. Is this normal for them to do a PET scan? She said that if the cancer has spread (and the PET scan should show this) it will mean radiation. That scares me! The radiologist took a chest x-ray about 2 wks ago and told her he thought there was a mass on her collar bone. The oncologist looked at it and said no it was her thyroid nodule that she had been having problems with and that she should probably have it removed when this is all over. In the beginning when she was first diagnosed, the pulmonologist told her it looked like the tumor was near her liver and involved her liver. The oncologist said he doesn't know what the pulmonologist saw as he doesn't see it. Up to now, I have been able to think so positive. Now I don't know if her current results (decrease in tumor size, decrease in fluid, increase in strength) are as positive as I was taking them. Was I wrong in thinking this way? Now I am scared all over again! Should I be? HELP!
  14. KleenTeeth

    Stage 3b

    Shelly, what Diana has "taught" me is 0-3 is "normal" for a CEA marker. So Diana is headed in the right direction. But the fact the numbers are moving so slowly after doing such a drastic drop from Dec 06 is what I am wondering about. What I forgot to post,is I wrote an article for my dental hygiene magazine and the editor has contacted me saying he is going to put it in the August issue! I am so excited! I did some research, put in a table with numbers, etc and he liked it! I have another hygienist friend who is a speaker and she says she will help me become a speaker on this topic as well. Don't know when all this will take place, but it is helping me cope with everything! Thanks for all your support!
  15. KleenTeeth

    Stage 3b

    I am sorry I haven't brought you all up to date on my sister. She is doing wonderfully! Her CEA is down to 6.4 (from the original 27). She is noticing her fingerbeds are turning yellowish brown from the Taxol she says. Also she said that she is able to walk more without being out of breath and coughing. Two weeks ago she told me she couldn't go up a flight of stairs without her heartbeat going up to 122 beats/min. She has her blood work every Monday and chemo every Tuesday. Right now her numbers aren't dropping as fast as she would like...they are only dropping tenths of a point and that gets her upset. Is that normal...the dropping by tenths the closer it gets to "normal"? Thank you all for your support!
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