Tom Galli

Congrats Tom! You are an inspiration for us all!

Thank you, Tom, and Merry Christmas!! We had missed you on here recently. Thankful today that Jesus came and that He has given me the strength to again cook Christmas dinner for my family. A blessing. 
Judy M. 

Time to try again to update this. Have only my Android phone to work with and for some reason what I'm writing tends to disappear in the midst of writing it and will sometimes reappear and sometimes not. So if an update I've tried to write previously appears before this that's the explanation for that. Have now had both PET and bone scans. I had 3 tumors in my lungs and no spread elsewhere before S. B. R. T. and 3 rounds of Cisplatin/Alimta. PET shows tumor in upper right lung no activity. Tumor in lower right lung enlarged a bit and down from previous S. U. V. of 3.3 to 2. 5. Tumor in left lung similar in size previous S. U. V. 5.3 and present S. U. V. 1.9. I must admit that I'm disappointed that they didn't all disappear like the one did. But Radiology Oncologist says he doesn't even consider those values to be cancer. Bad news is that I now have a 1.5 cm. tumor in my left hip that has been causing me some pain and lit up at 8.2 S. U. V. and also showed up on the bone scan. Will start radiation for that this week and Rad. On. assured me that though he can't promise me it won't show up somewhere else he's going to kill that tumor. Also a nodule on my left adrenal that's just been sitting there doing nothing is now 2 cm. and showed up at 2.7 on PET. So that will be biopsied on the 18th. So, that's my latest news. Would I still choose S. B. R. T. with a curative intent with limited stage 3 or 4 lung cancer and surgery not an option even though this round of the battle didn't come out N. E. D.? Yes. I still think in my circumstances given the options I had available at the time this was my best choice. And I believe S. B. R. T. is going to save some lives that would otherwise have been lost. 
Judy M. 

Tom,
It was such a pleasure to meet you on Saturday!  I've often said we're members of a club no one wants to join, but getting to meet and speak with others who've walked the path makes this just a bit better.  We had a good event and I'm already looking forward to next year.
Happy Thanksgiving to all - 

Thanks for sharing this Tom.  Great picture.
I don't ever celebrate the fact I had lung cancer but----- as you say it is great to survive it.
I do know that because of it I also have received many blessings - the many new friends I made because of it including Katie who started this on line support.
All my friends , neighbors , church family who helped me, prayed for me, supported me.  I also have survived !  I have much to be Thankful for this Thanksgiving .
Donna G
 

Your story does give hope Nina! My husband has limited stage small cell and just finished treatment except for brain rad which will start in 2 weeks.I pray he beats this and makes it past 2 year mark. ; hopefully 5 years.thank you for sharing. God Bless.  Michele

Yes,  I just got a 2nd opinion and the 2nd opinion doctor  team did more testing than my original onc.   For one thing he did the testing with Caris for bio markers and  I am positive for ALK and am looking for others to connect with on this.
By the way enjoy connecting with all of you
M

I rang the bell today after my 16 weeks of chemo. Will get transfusion tomorrow due to low hemoglobin. There were days I felt unable to deal with the chemo symptoms, but like many others I learned there is an inner reserve in all of us, waiting to be tapped into. I am grateful for the support provided to me by husband and hospital nurses, 
Does anyone know of visual side effects of chemo? The last two infusions of navelbine, and neupogen shots after infusions, seem to have made me light sensitive and caused a number of weird symptoms in my eyes. Seeing eye doc this Friday.

Danielle,
Oh my, there is so much to digest in part 1 but that said, I yearn for parts 2 and 3 of your Three Rs.  
Lung cancer: the surprise that keeps on surprising.  I was the patient.  I had it easy compared to my wife's continuous reset of her life while tending to me.  This is wisdom for the ages.
Well said, no extremely well said!
Stay the course.
Tom

Thinking about your daughter and you, and praying for only the very best results.

Thank you,  Katie and Tom 
Myra

I have in the past helped a number of people with SS disability applications, or SSI disability .(Social Security is based on what you paid in to the system; SSI is available if you haven't paid enough into the system but have very limited income and resources--the disability standard for both programs is essentially the same) Tom's advice is excellent. Two things I'd like to add. First, submit the most complete documentation and information  you can at the initial application. If you have a case manager through any agency, ask for their help with this, or whether they can refer you to any other local agency that can help at the initial application stage. Second, the Socail Security Administration will probably send a questionnaire about your abilities/disabilitie to a person you name in your application. You need to be sure that this person knows that this is coming and is also aware of the disability standards (as Tom says in #3 that you should be). It can be difficult for some people to fill these out for others because they either want to maximize the extent of the disabilty to be helpful  (as in "she can't do anything for herself and requires total care") or minimize it because they are in denial or trying to be optiimistic. (as in  " she is a wonderful person who tries to do everything for herself and only needs a little help"). It's important for the person filling out the form to be detailed and realistic and as Tom says- be sure to include treatment side effects, especially when treatment is long-term.
Social Security is a really convoluted system, so if you can find someone to help who has experience with it, so much the better. And in any case, be sure to meet any appea deadlines and don't give up!
 
 
 

My dad fought this battle when he became ill.  His neurologist certified him as totally and permanently disabled due to three strokes and ongoing seizures.  He was denied on his first application, hired an attorney and was approved but had to fight every year to remain disabled until he reached retirement age. 

Tom, I really appreciate your continued dedication to discussing nicotine addiction, the people who suffer from it, and the need for our country and culture to refocus how we address and manage this health crisis. This affects all of us!
If I may share a brief snippet of my life, some may recall that I was diagnosed with Stage IIIA NSCLC (adenocarcinoma) in early 2016, at age 40. I had a brief smoking history from my early 20s and was able to easily quit. I don't know whether addiction is *allowed* to be easy, so I can't say whether it was ever an addiction. I do know that my doctors did not consider me high-risk for lung cancer prior to my diagnosis.
My father (not biological, but the one who raised me), was a life-long smoker. He tried so hard to quit, on several occasions. He was successful for periods of time, as well. He was diagnosed the year I moved out of state, just after Thanksgiving. He came up to visit with my mom, just prior to his diagnosis, and he'd been sober for many, many years, but we gave him codeine syrup and whiskey because he was in so much pain from the hacking and the tumor that was resting on his spine. He couldn't sleep lying down, because the pressure was too great to breathe. I visited him at Christmas, just a month later, and he told me that even if he'd known in hindsight he would get lung cancer, he wasn't sure he would have been able to quit. And was he frightened of his disease? Of course he was. He was terrified. It broke my heart. He died the morning after I returned home. That was sixteen years ago. I hate that some diseases are used as punishment for "bad behavior" . That needs to change. 
There are at least two life affirming facts I want to become prevalent in our culture. 
1. Nobody deserves to get lung cancer.
2. Nobody deserves to die from lung cancer.  
 
 

I'm looking forward to painting my first red toe in a couple of weeks!  

Thank you for your words. They give me joy. God is by my side and every day I am learning to live with this thing called cancer. I will battle on!

Congratulations on this beautiful addition to your family!  I am so happy for you and yours!!  

Tom ---Charlett is soooo cute !   Congratulations and thank you for sharing your happy news with us.
Donna G

Great analogy!  I'm swinging for the fences every day....

Lung (Cancer) is a very nasty opponent...it doesn't usually play by many rules so be prepared to be prepared. 
No hitters and shut outs are frequent but if you take a swing you never know what might happen.

Mike,
My experience matched Ruthie's almost exactly.  Diagnosed in ER and oncologist took over.  But I did see a pulmonologist to assess my lung function to ensure i had enough lung capacity to sustain life after removal of my right lung.
I hope your Saturday consultation provides good news.
Stay the course.
Tom

As usual, your post is enlightening for me.  I'm flying next month for the first time since my lobectomy and wondered about cabin pressure.  I usually drive to this particular destination but due to lingering fatigue (lovingly referred to as my chemo hangover), my docs thought it best that I not make the long drive.  That said, I'll be prepared for the flight after reading your post.  Three of my physicians have said that it can take a full year to recover from a lobectomy, but I'll take that discomfort over the alternative every day.  Thank you, Tom, for being a light in this otherwise dark tunnel.  

That's the girl Ruthie.  Stay the course.  Enjoy the life you have.

I love this...it puts into succinct words what I have been trying to do "get busy living"! I realize, with a late-stage diagosis & one recurrence already, that my long term prognosis is not great. I don't have any control over how long I have left, but, right now, I have total control over how I choose to spend it.
After healing from nasty radiation burns, I have gone indoor sky-diving (basically a vertical wind tunnel) w/my daughters & grandkids, ridden dirt bikes with the younger boys & am going to their house this afternoon to fulfill my promise of trying to do a flip on their trampoline...if cancer doesn't get me soon, the grandkids "ideas" just might!
You have a gift, Tom, thanks so much for sharing it with us.
 
Ruthie