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lilyjohn

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Everything posted by lilyjohn

  1. Thanks Diane I went to see him yesterday and was surprised at how good he looks. They didn't go through his chest so there are no ribs involved that have to heal. They went through his arm pit. I was watching his monitors and his oxygen level was gradually getting better. It went up from 92 to 96 while I was there. Of coarse it would fluctuate once in a while if he moved or was in pain. Personally I find it a toss up about the chemo. Part of my mind says it is so rough that he is better off without it but the other part knows that it just takes one small cell. I have gotten a lot of encouraging stories from this board in the past and have relayed them on to him. One is from someone who is a friend from my high school. She had a lung removed at the age of 27 and now she is 72 and doing quite well. In fact I never would have dreamed she had that done until she sent me a message about it. I hope that the weather is not too hard on you. Still hoping that you will get down this way someday and we can meet face to face. I am leaving for Louisiana in a few days and will be gone for almost 2 months between there and Bakersfield time. Have a safe rest of winter and be well. Thanks again.
  2. Today my nephew had a lobe of his lung removed. Doctor thought it might be a fungus because he never let up on a PET but it turned out to be cancer. Doctor told my niece that he believes that he got it all. My request is for some of you who have had that surgery to tell me how long recovery from the surgery took and how long it has been. He needs to hear survival stories and the pros and cons of having chemo when the doctor thinks he it has all been removed. I can pass that along to him and am hoping to get him to come on here and read once he is able. Thanks in advance. Lillian
  3. Hi Diane and everyone. Sorry that I haven't been on in a while getting ready for my trip to Louisiana and trying to finish up some things before I leave. I had to move my leave date up by 3 weeks because of the cost going up. So I am in a mad rush to get things done. I hate that your son got caught up in that mess but sure am glad to see the rain and the snow in the mountains. I was really getting worried and know that we are not out of the woods yet. Still raining here and should keep it up until Monday morning then a break with more rain moving in mid week. It is nice to see and hear the creek with water again and it is amazing how quickly the grass starts to green when it rains. Everything was so dry but I am already seeing green in the field across the street. Diane I hope you can get off of the Prednisone soon. I have a neighbor who is on it and she is all puffy and not happy about it. It has been awfully quiet on here. I hope it is because everyone is busy and enjoying their days and not because of the weather knocking out their power. Have a great day everyone. I will try to check in again soon.
  4. Stay in and stay safe is a good motto for all of you back that way. My family in southeast Louisiana are all off today. They are not used to that kind of weather and everything is shut down. This is the second time in a few days that they are expecting icy roads. Here in northern California it looks like the system that has been keeping us from getting any rain is finally breaking down. They are saying we should get some good rain in the next couple of days. We sure do need it. I was wondering about Bruce. He is probably frozen to a pole somewhere if it is as cold or colder than you are there where you live. lol. He could be warmer though. I say a few days ago that it was 20 degrees warmer in Anchorage than in Atlanta! Well I guess I will run fitness class in a few minutes then Bunco this afternoon. I try to do as much as I can so the arthritis doesn't keep me down. Sometime it is hard but I feel better afterwards and I do enjoy all of the different activities. One neighbor started a line dance class. I am learning but my stamina has a long way to go. Bruce, Mike, Diane and some of you others stop in and say hello. Have a great day and stay warm and safe.
  5. Good morning everyone. I hope you are all staying safe and warm today. Another day of bright sunshine and no rain in sight here. They say there may be a slight chance for a little on Tuesday but not real promising right now. I know Mike it is not going to be easy for him. Just hope and pray for the best. Thanks for your concern. Off to do laundry and fitness class then this afternoon I call poker Keno. Hope to get to the store sometime between all of that. Have a great day everyone.
  6. Sending prayers that all will turn out fine. You have had enough with one so will pray for NED on that one too.
  7. I just put LCSC as a favorite. Now all I have to do is go to my favorites list and click then I am here. Didn't mean to drag people down but just keep coming and not seeing posts for days sometimes and that had me wondering. Glad to know that people are reading even if not posting so let us old members try to come more often and give them something to read. It is so easy to get caught up in life and lose track of how many days it has been. I am very guilty of that myself but will try and do better. It has gotten harder after loosing so many of the people we had grown to know and love. What about long term survivors you have one thing that everyone needs and that is hope. Just share that you are a survivor and for how long.
  8. I can't help but wonder what has happened to this board. Every time I meet someone who may have lung cancer or who knows someone with it or has lost someone I tell them about this site and how great it is for support in all of those circumstances. The truth is I come here and see that no one is posting in most of the forums and I wonder if everyone is just giving up on it. Make a post it is seldom answered any more. Are we forgetting how important it was to us and at times still is? What about the new people who come here, don't they deserve the same kind of support that we have gotten while grieving or for those of you who have been fighting the disease? Sorry to rant about this but I was feeling so guilty because I have been too busy to come every day then I check and see that no one seems to be interested any more. It makes me very sad because I know that there are so many out there who could get help here in the past and now if they come there is no one around most of the time.
  9. I just have a few minutes before fitness. Still fighting trying to lose some weight but it always seems to be a loosing battle. I wish there were more hours in the day lately. I miss coming here every day but by the time I finish with every thing else my mind is too tired to think about it. We have a lot of activities here and I take part in them all. I am the one who organizes most of them. There is at least one thing each day and most days something in the morning and again in the afternoon. Today it is fitness and Bunco. Tomorrow it is line dancing class started last week by one of my new neighbors, Fridays it is fitness and Pokeno, Thursdays it is our HANDS program where we get together and make lap quits and tissue box covers for a local nursing home. Once a month on Monday they bring us lunch and someone to discuss things of importance to seniors. Yesterday we turned in 5 lap quilts and 5 tissue boxes. For Christmas we gave them 23 lap quilts. I am very glad that I started that program but for the most part I end up doing the most of them and finishing the ones the others do. It is a lot of work and very time consuming. We also have Wii bowling on Monday afternoons. Anyway you can get the idea of why I am MIA most of the time. Yesterday the lap quilts were going to Hospice patients. I had a nice conversation with the lady who is in charge of that department. She told me that her husband had died of Lung Cancer and now her boyfriends mother has it. She said he is having a very hard time. Sorry I didn't get any names but did give her information about Lungevity and LCSC and told her it might help him and his mom. I hope they come and visit so they can see that there is Hope. Well time to run. I hope all of you are staying well and safe with all of the crazy weather. Here we are having a continuous spring. Our temperatures have been record breaking in the 70s and no rain at all. I can see a very serious situation developing. Praying for rain but not so much that we have the opposite problem. Take care all and congrats Mike on NED.
  10. I am here Katie. I drop in once in a while but see very few posts so I just don't post. Often posts go unanswered. LC is still something that I watch closely because of so many we have lost here and that I have lost personally. My nephew will be going soon to have something removed from his lung. PET didn't show cancer but that has been a while. They will know when they go in and decide if the will take a lobe or just the growth. We are all hoping it is a fungus and not cancer but even the fungus can be pretty serious. I don't have a lot to offer other than my love and prayers but will try and stop in more often. I do know how important this forum is. It could have made such a difference to me had I been a member during the time of Johnny's illness and that first year after his death. I hope all are well and safe and will check in so we know what is going on in your lives.
  11. Not sure on that one but here is a question that goes with it. Do you believe in spirits of your loved ones returning?
  12. Like so many of you my time just seems to fly. I don't come as often as I should and I see that I am not alone as far as that goes. Diane it is good to see that you are on the mend. Our weather is crazy here too. No rain and one night of snow and cold temperatures for a week and now 60s every day and still no rain. Weather seems to be crazy everywhere. Busy or not I could not let Christmas and all of the holidays pass without wishing all of my LCSC family a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays and Happy New Year, May 2014 find you all safe and healthy and may a cure be found so we can come here just as friends and not in mutual grief or searching for support in our grief or fear. God Bless you all.
  13. Hi Bruce Eric and Cindy. I have been reading but not posting. I seem to always be rushing trying to get things done. I have a group I got started to make lap quilts for the nursing home, the thing is they are working on it but very slow. Just one lady really picked it up and is keeping up with me. So far we have donated about 20 and I am hoping to have 8 or 10 done when they come again just before Christmas. That and the activities I am involved it keep me pretty busy especially doing a lot of cooking for activities this time of year. Even here in northern California we are expecting very low temperatures, 20s and teens and snow tomorrow. I rushed to get things done before it gets here. Don't want to need something because I don't want to drive it that. I got caught one time when I lived up in the little mountain town of French Gulch. Starting snowing on my about two thirds of the way home from work. Luckily I made it alright. Well got to go I have more things to do before the live show The sound of music, Take care all.
  14. lilyjohn

    11 years

    It was eleven years at 5:18 am this morning that Johnny left this world. It has been a rough road but because of him I am a stronger and better person. This year it has been harder than the last few, possibly because the dates fell the same starting with Thanksgiving Day through today. I can still remember every thing that happened those last days almost by the minute. Today I am better than yesterday and keeping busy does help. I just want to say thank you to the man who gave me the greatest gift I have ever gotten other than my family. Johnny you gave me myself. You made me know that it is alright to be me. That I don't have to change into someone that I don't know to be loved and appreciated. You put a light in my heart that burns even brighter today after eleven years. Rest my love and know that I will always be grateful.
  15. Thanks Katie. The past few years were a little easier until my niece died and even sense then I have made out alright. I think it hit me harder this year because of the way the calendar has fallen. Eleven years ago Thanksgiving was on the 28th just as this year and the 29th was one of the hardest days and then there was that last Sunday and then on Monday morning the second I stood helplessly and watched Johnny die. For some reason having those dates and days fall the same has made this year especially hard. I am just thankful that I have so much to keep me busy. I am sure that Ann is probably having a hard time as well. There are just too many of us who have lost someone we love to that monster. Someday it will no longer be able to destroy so many lives. That day will come and when it does it will be because of people like you Katie who have taken their own grief and used it as a catapult to start a change. I know that it is painfully slow, but you are making a difference. Bless you for that.
  16. It is that time of year again. The time that always brings those painful memories of eleven years ago. I keep busy all of the time often I plan to be on my way to Louisiana or there at this time. It helps a lot but this year is different. I am not going to Louisiana until March for my grandson's wedding. Then several days ago in the midst of all my rushing and planning activities for myself and my neighbors it hit me. The dates this year fall exactly as they did eleven years ago. Everything that happened those last days of Johnny's life is coming back to me. I am stronger and better able to handle those memories but there are times when I just want to sit and cry for all that we lost and all that we went through those days. On this date at this time I was driving the interstate between Centralia and Olympia trying to keep up with Johnny's son at speeds up to 80 mph so I wouldn't get lost. I had never driven there before and didn't know the way. It was cold, there was a cold white fog that covered everything. The hospital in Centralia had shipped Johnny there the night before against our wishes and I couldn't get there until morning. He had called asking me to get there because he missed me. He remembered nothing of that nightmare day and the drugs given him the day before. I thought he was going to be alright after getting past those drugs they had given him. I had no idea that soon they would start again and that just two days later I would be in a nightmare that I couldn't wake up from. I lived in that cold white fog for over two years before I learned to live with the pain and loss. If it had not been for my friends here who understood I don't know if I could have ever survived with my mind in tact. I got by this date and the ones to come by keeping busy and it was getting easier, then two years ago there was another blow. I was in Bakersfield at my cousin's on my way to Louisiana when I got the call. Sometime during the night my niece Jackie had gotten out of her sick bed, she had bronchitis, they found her the next morning on the floor with eggs and orange juice next to here. She must have gotten hungry and got up to fix something. By the time her brother went to check on her the nest morning her body was already cold. So now this date has a double heartache. I will get through it because I am stronger than I was but those memories still hurt and put a pall on the holidays. Spending them alone this year will not be easy but I have busy plans. thanks once again for "listening" to me. Ann I know that these are rough days for you as well. You are in my thoughts as these hard days for us both keep coming.
  17. Happy Thanksgiving to you too Bruce. Saw your cold temperature hope you are warm and safe. To all of my LCSC family I am forever thankful for all of you. Be well, safe and happy. God Bless you all.
  18. That sounds wonderful to me Diane. We have so many special friends here on LCSC yet I have never met a one of you face to face. I just know that from the first few times I came here searching for something I thought I would find and then found something completely different, this has been another family for me. I don't come as often as I once did. I tend to get bogged down in other things and do spread myself thin at times but I never forget anyone here. Meeting you or anyone from the board would be something to treasure. Let me know for sure. I will be looking forward to it. I was so shocked to here about Ginny. I followed her Duke of Earl stories everyday that she posted until she lost Earl and sense I have tried to keep up on her life. Always happy that she got to enjoy her golf so much. I know things look dim but where there is life there is hope. I think the people here understand that more than most. If anyone hears an update please let me know. Now time for me to get back to my sewing. I made a run to my doctor for my breast exam this morning only to learn that the receptionist gave me a card and told me when to be there but didn't write it down. Now I have to go through those nerves again on top of not getting half of what I wanted to done today. Take care all and I will be checking in.
  19. Diane as you can see I am way behind reading here. Yes I will be here for Thanksgiving. Not going to Louisiana until the end of February. My grandson is getting married in March and I am waiting to be there then. Would stay here longer but I have an early morning dreaded breast exam. Time to grab a bite and run. Prayers for Ginny and wishing you all well. Will try to catch up soon.
  20. Good morning Diane and everyone else I have decided to drop in and read to try and catch up. I have gotten myself into so many projects and volunteered for so many things that for a while I had little time to even think of all of the other things that are so dear to me like all of you here. I was pleased to read of all the good news you have all been posting lately and saddened as always as I see Katie mention so many who have to fight again or the new people she meets almost daily who are just beginning their fight. My heart goes out to them. I have had many enjoyable experiences lately and some not so pleasant but I keep going. I thought I had made a long post here last night but either I didn't post it right or it was just too long and rambling and someone decided to nix it. Our weather here is perfect right now. Being half optimist and half pessimist I can't help but wonder what Winter will bring. I see so many who have suffered from the fury of nature this year that it makes me a little weary of what may lie in store for us here. I spent a great week in the Bay Area with new friends and some that I have gotten reacquainted with from my school years. That has been a truly great experience. Now I have a few projects to finish up while I am home bound with a sore foot. I had a planters wart removed from the bottom of my left foot yesterday. It is still a little painful so I am staying off of it as much as I can. I don't want the complications that came with my last "miner procedure " that had me walking differently to protect the wound and ended up being the cause of my having to use a walker for a few months. Have a great day everyone. See you around here more often I hope. Lillian
  21. Just stopping in to say hi. After going on about how we need to keep this forum going I seem to be the one who has let it down. My only excuse is that I tend to take on too much and when I get some free time I get lazy and don't want to do anything. A lot of activities here that I am in charge of and have had some personal things going on as well, both good and bad. Car trouble has been the bad and dealing with a few people who have problems is another but I am hoping all of that is finally over. The good is that I have 2 more great grandbabies born in the past 3 weeks and I will be going to Louisiana next March instead of for the holidays because my grandson will be getting married. It promises to be a very nice occasion taking place at Oak Alley Plantation. I am happy for them both they are a really good couple. This morning I met 2 friends from school for breakfast, one that I hadn't seen in about 52 years. We had a great time and are planning our trip to the picnic in October. Sure is nice to have someone to share so many memories with. Well I think I will play around with the computer for a while then watch the ballgame tonight. I was going to sew on the lap quilts that we are making for the nursing homes but it is late in the day for that. I have Saturday free so will work on them then. I hope you are all doing well. Dianne I know you had a lot of smoke up your way and we have had it here too. My friend that I met for breakfast lives just outside of Medford I am thinking that is pretty close to you. She said it was cooler her this morning that up there. That doesn't happen often. Take care everyone and stay safe.
  22. Good morning Eric and everyone else. Eric I am glad that you are keeping busy and getting things in order. Circumstances may be different but any divorce or separation is always hard but much worse when it is a long term marriage that is ending. I hope all goes well in the housing situation. Sorry that I have been gone for a while but as you all know I have been pretty busy. Our party was a great success. All comments have been that it was the best we ever had here. It was a very long day that left me exhausted and sore but very pleased. The next day was pokeno and wii bowling and I couldn't skip them because I am comited to them and have taken my plan to change many dates and times and ran with it. Yesterday at our council meeting I got the approval of all the other mem bers to make everything during the day time and to space it out over a number of days. My mind is already working on both our indoor yard sale and Barn Dance party in October. Next year? why beads, sandals and peace signs! What else but the 60s? Already thinking and getting ideas! We decided yesterday on a pancake breakfast for the 4th and later our monthly activity will be a picnic. If the weather permits the picnic will be in the lovely place we go to in the park at the river's edge. If it is too hot we will do it inside here with indoor games. I have been trying to exercise and walk some each day but with the rain the past few days my routine has suffered. Went for a short walk part way up the hill this morning but it is humid and that makes it really hard. Thinking about you Alan you should try a dryer climate for a few days. Even as hot as it gets it doesn't take the toll on your body that the humidity does. Any way on my short walk I saw 2 different quail families and a mama duck leading about 6 babies across the street. Any wonder that I love where I live? Now I have only and hour before we meet to make cards. We try to keep residents in our thoughts with cards when ill or when new ones come. I want to go to the fruit stand on the corner and buy some kind of fresh fruit before I get busy. I haven't had any in a couple of days and I am having withdrawal symptoms!!
  23. Janet are you lurking? Starting to get worried because we haven't seen you here for a few days. I hope you are doing alright. Come on people you can't all be that busy. I have to run for now busy day today and tomorrow with the party. Will tell about it in a few days.
  24. Janet are you lurking? Starting to get worried because we haven't seen you here for a few days. I hope you are doing alright. Come on people you can't all be that busy. I have to run for now busy day today and tomorrow with the party. Will tell about it in a few days.
  25. What did I do, chase everyone away? Where is everyone and what are you doing. I am hoping this just means that everyone is out there enjoying their summer and keeping busy.
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