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Lisa Haines

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Lisa Haines last won the day on May 21 2022

Lisa Haines had the most liked content!

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About Lisa Haines

  • Birthday August 18

Profile Information

  • City
    Northeastern
  • US State (if applicable)
    MASSACHUSETTS
  • Country
    USA
  • Status
    Lung cancer patient/survivor
  • Interests
    I am a Mom to two grown sons and two little Chiweenie "Rescue" Pups who we adopted in 2012. I'm also a Wife, Daughter, Friend, Cancer Survivor and now a very Happy "Nanni" to three precious grand-daughters who came into my life after my cancer diagnosis. They are both a "Dream come True" and are the "littlest" LOVES in my life. They are also my greatest HOPE and INSPIRATION in my Cancer Battle. I have Stage IV NSCLC Adeno (KRAS +) with no other mutations. I started my battle on 3/27/15, with a brain tumor and pulmonary embolism and it was all a sudden shock. I never had any symptoms of Lung Cancer, still do not - never had a cough or any pain, only a sudden onset of "vertigo" which was actually from the brain met. I am happy to be NED/Stable and I am thrilled to be doing quite well. My treaments have included: Stereotactic Radiation (for the brain met), Chemo (Carbo and Alimta), Radiation and Immunotherapy (Opdivo). Currently OFF all Treatment and have been since August 2016 -- 5+ years and counting!
    I have celebrated my 7th Cancerversary and I am now very much looking forward to getting back to living LIFE again!

Recent Profile Visitors

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  1. Thank you for sharing, I’m happy to say that I have never fit and use the statistics for lung cancer and have never really tried to focus on them. I am now at 7 1/2 with Stage IV and despite starting out with a very grim prognosis I am doing well and have now been off treatment for almost 6 years. I do remember looking briefly at the statistics when I was first diagnosed and it was depressing and overwhelming so from that point on I was determined to beat them ! 🤍
  2. Tom, This is very endearing and so well written ! ❤️ Thanks for sharing with us all! May Teri now forever be free and at peace!
  3. 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!!
  4. 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!
  5. Ro, I am so happy that this worked well for you and also HOPE it will continue. I first learned about the abscopal effect when I was on Immunotherapy which I had just after radiation (after progression) and there were studies that also showed that it can happen when you do Immunotherapy right after or in conjunction with radiation. Not sure if that is WHY I had such a good result, but I did and I am so thankful to my Oncologist for being such a great researcher! I truly believe she saved my life! Lisa PS: Very creative to call this the Roscopal effect! 💜
  6. I've had two bronchoscopy one in 2015 and one in 2016 and in both cases I was totally out. Both procedures were totally painless and I woke up feeling fine and was discharged an hour later.
  7. I signed up and will be looking forward to learning more. Hope to see more of you there!!
  8. There can be a lot of confusion regarding the two programs offered by Social Security for those who become disabled. SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance) is for those who worked and paid into the system and then become disabled and meet the SS's criteria to be considered disabled. Generally, you need to be considered unable to work for a least one year. IN my case my Disability date was the last day I worked. I was approved in about 2 months, but needed to wait for the sixth month to start receiving my monthly benefit. My understanding is that Stage IV Lung Cancer is approved quickly, but again, you'll still have to meet your waiting period before benefits start. SSI (Social Security Income) is also a program for the disabled and provides additional funds for those who have very limited assets and income. In most cases if you are married and have a working spouse, you would be denied, because they look at "family income". The asset level is very low, under $3,000 and that is also based on family assets. It's basically for those at poverty level. If however you are eligible there is not waiting period, so you'll start benefits much sooner. In many States this also makes the recipients eligible for Medicaid (low income insurance programs that each State offers). Check the rules for your State to see what you may be eligible for. I always share this link https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/disability/ to the SS website, which has many more details. You can apply online and/or call your local SS office for more specifics, especially now with Covid, as I would assume many of the offices may not be staffed. Good Luck!
  9. Lisa Haines

    Covid and me

    Thank you Deb! ❤️
  10. Lisa Haines

    Covid and me

    Two are my round trip to Hope Summit 💜 !
  11. Lisa Haines

    Covid and me

    This is story I did with LUNGevity - I was very honored to be given the opportunity to share my how Covid has changed my life, especially as a Lung Cancer patient. I'm sure most of you can relate. COVID and Me By Lisa Haines When I was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer in 2015, I was extremely sick and my prognosis was pretty grim. I decided then, with the time I had left, I was going to live each and every day to the fullest. I wanted to do all the things that my husband and I had always talked about doing when we retired, such as travel and spend more time with family and friends, while I was still healthy enough to do so. Luckily, I responded well to treatment and have since been stable and doing well. I have been able to do a lot of the things I decided I would do and crossed many things off my bucket list. In fact, I had planned to celebrate my 5-year Cancerversary in Vegas with family and friends in March 2020. Unfortunately, that’s when the COVID-19 pandemic began. The pandemic has really inhibited my mentality to “live each and every day to the fullest” and taken away my ability to do my bucket list items. I imagine this change in mentality is something that many people with late stage cancer are facing right now. As cancer survivors, we are an incredibly vulnerable population. It’s important for people to realize how significant the risks for lung cancer patients are. Many pre-existing diseases are risky, but many of us with lung cancer have damage to our lungs already or have had a surgery and only have one lung, making the risk of serious illness worse for us. A lot of people don’t seem to understand this. Worse, some people seem to think that because we are so vulnerable, we should just stay home until the vaccine is available. What they don’t understand is that we already have our life expectancy cut shorter than we ever expected. It feels like COVID is stealing more precious time from me in so many ways. It’s a near-impossible catch-22 that this virus has put us in: try to protect your health but also live at the same time. That’s why this pandemic has been really difficult for me. The hardest part is what the virus doesn’t allow you to do. Prior to March 2020, I spent about 20-30 hours a week babysitting my grandkids, who live close by. I would see my 86-year-old mother, who also lives nearby, often. I would visit my son, who lives out West, several times a year. Once the virus hit, I stopped doing all of these things. I felt trapped in my house. As time went on, it was harder and harder to stay isolated. I would do video calls with my family, but it would just make me feel worse because it wasn’t the same. It became a quality of life issue for me. I am looking at my life in a shorter span to some degree, yet someone was telling me that I can’t see the people I cherish in the time I have left. Another added stress for me is that my husband is an essential worker and was still required to go into work each day. We of course took added precautious to ensure he wasn’t bringing home the virus, but there’s no way to be certain; there are just so many unknowns. I’m not sure what I would have done if he did get the virus. It’s really difficult to be in the same house and not touch things. All you can do is hope for the best and frequently hand wash. For me, managing the virus precautions while living with lung cancer ultimately became balancing living life and staying alive. I decided to talk to my doctor about the possibility of seeing my family again. He asked me many questions and ultimately, based on my responses, he was able to understand my need to be with them and gave me his blessing to do what I felt was safe for me. He explained that when COVID starts to affect our quality of life, it is important for lung cancer patients to make choices that they feel are best for them. I am lucky to be stable, off treatment, and not currently immunocompromised, so I decided it as best for me to see my family again. It was my choice to decide what I wanted; I made the choice to live my life. At first, I only saw my family outside and with masks. However, the day my youngest granddaughter cried because she didn’t recognize me, my heart broke. A week or two later, I started to go inside their home. I used extra sanitizer and washed my hands constantly. As I began to feel safer and the COVID case counts in our area went down, I resumed my normal life with them and go to their house on a regular basis. I consider it my second home. We do our best to take precautions, but I know I’m taking a risk. However, for me, quality of life wins out over COVID. I think the best advice I can give for someone struggling is to try to keep as busy as possible. I have used the extra time to keep more involved with advocacy for lung cancer. I even became a LifeLine mentor. I have also been joining the Virtual Meetups; they offer great support and are super helpful for people who might not have family nearby and feel isolation. While things have improved since the spring, I am starting to worry about winter. Right now, we spend as much time outside as we can. I’m not sure what we’ll do when it gets colder and that’s no longer possible. I will very likely need to isolate again this winter and that’s scary and sad. Currently, I have 5 airline tickets that are waiting for me to use. Every day I stay Stable I am hopeful that the time will come for me to be able to use them again. I hope for a safe and effective treatment for Covid, so that it’s safe for us all to get back out again. I look forward to the day that Covid is a bad and distant memory for all. It's not only stealing time, but as also taken far too many precious lives - such a devastating virus in so many ways. About me: Lisa Haines is a Stage IV lung cancer survivor who lives in Northeastern Massachusetts with her husband and two Rescue Chiweenie Dogs. She is Mom to two amazing adult sons, one living locally in MA and one living in CA. She’s been blessed with two sweet granddaughters, Harper now 3 ½ and Hazel who turned 1 this summer. Her grandchildren came into her life after her diagnosis and truly were a dream come true. At the time of her diagnosis, she did not have any grandchildren, but being a “Nanni” was something she dreamed of for many years and they have added even more joy and love to her life. They are now another huge inspiration in her cancer journey. She plans to be here for many years to watch them both grow up. Other than spending time with her granddaughters, family and friends, she also enjoy travel and can’t wait to be able to get back out to San Diego to see her son. She enjoys supporting other lung cancer patients and is very active with LUNGevity. She is also a moderator for two other Lung Cancer Support Groups on FB. Advocacy has become especially important to her and it’s something she wants to pursue long term.
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