Tom Galli

A beautiful tribute to Teri.  She will be so missed.

RIP dear lady. You will be remembered. 

Teri and I connected on the forums after my diagnosis in August, 2017. I always looked forward to her intelligent and thoughtful responses, as well as the humor she paired with her postings. She will be missed by so many and I am proud that I got to attend many zooms with her. May her memory be a blessing to all!
Ro

Roz,
This is a remarkable story about a superb result that only happened because you had the courage and tenacity to insist on treatment. 
Your story also points to the importance of consulting with all medical disciplines who treat lung cancer: thorasic surgeon, pulmonologist, medical oncologist and radiation oncologist. The latter is not often seen but as you’ve demonstrated has very effective treatment tools to apply. 
I do look forward to hearing you tell us of future scans showing diminished cancer until it is gone! And, you are NED!
Stay the course. 
Tom

Well done Susan! Now go get 6 more years. 
Stay the course. 
Tom

Congratulations, Tom!  i second everything Lisa, Lennie and Lou have said!  Yay for you!

Congratulations on such a wonderful milestone!  18 years as a Stage IV Lung Cancer Survivor is fantastic!  Something we all HOPE and want for all!  May you have many more years and hope you are safe and warm.   Snow and Freezing Rain here too and after last week's blizzard I'm sick of winter!!  
 

You my friend are an inspiration. Thank you always for sharing your journey, wisdom and positive attitude.
 

Tom,
CONGRATULATIONS!!!  This is indeed a great thing to celebrate!
You service to our country, battle with cancer is inspiring for so many of us who came here for help.  But, what continues to amaze me even more than your Army years or even your difficult treatment is how many others you are helping out each and every day.  The first thing I give to almost all newcomers is your "10 Steps..." and I often after reading your responses to complex questions I wonder, "where the hell did he learn all this?!".  Then I realize you've fortified your personal experience with an acquisition of a lot of knowledge so that you could help people today to navigate their journey through this disease.

You have my deep respect and you're a great role-model for the rest of us.  Thank you for all the time, effort and caring you've put into this support effort.  No doubt you've saved lives and reduced grief and pain for many.
Congratulations again on your 18th Anniversary of Life.
Lou

Thanks Tom, being new this was what I came here for. 

Great post Tom! Did I read that correctly? One time-per-year & low-dose CT?? YEA! Beverly

Amazing, Tom!! So glad to hear this news. Thanks for the inspirational words. Wish I could build character some other way! 

I feel the same!  I'm not sure I'll ever be convinced that having Scanxiety is character building...so me it's stress building...PERIOD!  

LOL, no matter what ever crappy thing happened to me, my mom's go-to response was: "It builds character."
Yeah, ticked me off no end. 

Wow...what a great post!  Over the last few years I've accepted something I once heard, "Our fears never lessen, but our courage increases each time we face fear down."  and that feels right to me.  I have a feeling whenever you were diagnosed you would have brought the same grit to the battle.  

Thanks for sharing.
Lou

Thank you Michelle!
Sage advice indeed!
Stay the course.
Tom

Thanks, @Rower Michelle. This will help me.

Sharron,
I disagree with you on one important point.  You do have something positive to share.  Your experience!  No, not everyone will survive the way or as long as you did, but there are many out there that do.  And hope is something we all need sprinkled over the tragedies in our life or else we give up the will to fight and live and then the chance of death is greatly increased.
So, let people know what you've gone through.  The good, the bad and the ugly.  Show them what a survivor looks like.  True, you didn't control the treatment or the molecular level of your protocol, but you were in control of your mind, heart and spirit and that had to surely play a role in your long-term survival.  So, bring hope to others.  You have a good story to tell.  
Lou

I have viral cardiomyopathy, a severe heart condition. Went in hospital for a scan. Heart has gotten worse but they found a mass in my lung.   Lung cancer.  For two months they checked everything in my body. I have cysts on my liver and pancreas which I have to have checked out every 6 months. So after 2 months of stressing the finally removed the cancerous part of my lung! The immediate relief was amazing but then I started working it would come back. My doc said I most likely have PTSD now from the shock of it all. I didn't suffer with it until after the surgery. Now I have pain where the chest tube went in. Sore ribs and nerves could last a year.
Like you there is survivors guilt, most lung patients don't survive and mine was there one minute and gone the next. I have a 15percent chance of it returning in the next 5 years then it decreases. So I'll stress for 5 years because that 15 percent might as well be 99.9 percent.  It's hard to explain to people but I see you understand. Besides a bad heart I also have Intercostal Neuropathy and fibromyalgia. So I am in pain a lot. Then I got cancer on top of it all. For those 4 months I was a total wreck, had a breakdown. I don't know how you have done it for so long 
God Bless You,
Kathie
 

You're so right Tom...this is the time to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice.  I have a couple of names I carry with me of my buddies who did just that.  On Veterans Day I'll continue to think of those we lost while thanking those, still with us, who served.
Lou

Oh thanks Tom I think she would like to do something similar here in Oz through the Australian Lung foundation.  I have found this forum extremely helpful and I am as ready as I can be for my surgery in June, a Mini Thoracotomy a smaller incision and less rib separation apparently my fingers are crossed, it's a method used to replace heart valves and since this beastie is near my pulmonary artery I guess that's near to my heart anyway feeling positive and taking things one step at a time. I have hired the recliner bought myself  a wedge etc and  she was very impressed that I had found all this info, perhaps the Aussie Lung Foundation could provide a link here for lung cancer patients I will mention it next time I speak to her in a month or so after my surgery.  
Blessings

Marilyn,
There is no need to replicate or license LUNGevity in Australia. We are an international non profit and Australians are free to use this forum or the LUNGevity.org website. We have many international members and participants.
Stay the course.
Tom

Thanks for sharing your wisdom born of experience I am so grateful I found this forum.
I spoke to a Lung Cancer nurse yesterday from the Australian Lung foundation, and she asked where I had found my information I told her it from from this forum and told her it was a shame that we had nothing like this in Oz, her name is Nicole and she said she was going to look the forum up and join if she could so she can see how it works and perhaps replicate it here, I really hope she can do that.
 

Thank you so much.  As a newly diagnosed patient, this was incredibly helpful. 
 

LOL, I'm just envisioning the puzzled look on the oncologist's face when somebody asks about the "Roscopal effect" and the ensuing argument when they ask if they meant "abscopal." You may have to register that trademark!