MelanieLR

my dearest, My name is Greg Cantlin. My wife's name is Melanie. Tonight we looked at your sweet little kitty, Luna. Life has been a little hard lately. Melanie showed me the pictures of Luna . They brought me happy thoughts. May God bless you and yours. Melanie says that she hopes that you and Tim are happy in your New Home. My prayers aand love go to you and yours. Love Greg Cantlin, the proud hubby of Melanie. The following is from Melanie... Folks, I can't possibly convey to you what a labor of love the typing my Hubbie did above was. I just love him to death but a typist, he ain't. It must have taken him a good half hour to get that out.

She is such a little darling. I sure would love to see her play with my brood. I've got 3 of my own - Yeah, they see me comingg with "SUCKER FOOR CUTENESS" stammped accross my foorehead! Iff it weren''t for tthe cost of heallth ccare, I'd prrobably have dozenns morre. Gottta get offf heree now,, I justt complettely ran ouut of gass. Hugss & Praayers,, Meelanie

Have a beautiful anniversary! God Bless, Melanie

1.) Hy husband's hug is still a perfect fit. 2.) Finally lost enough of my steroid weight to get my wedding band back on! YAY!!! 3.) The church donated a porch swing - I just love it! Bless their hearts. 4.) Finished 5 more items for auction today on the trusty old sewing machine. The auction is 7/15/05. 5.) I'm still breathing, maybe not as deep as I should but as long as I'm sucking wind, I'll carry on. Hugs & prayers to all, Melanie

You all just amaze me. I don't feel like I'm doing anything that extraordinary. Just what I would have normally have done BC (before cancer). Just to give you a little extra, I'll post my 5's today for old time sake. Hugs & prayers, Melanie

Hi all, I know, I'm so bad for not posting for so long. Quite frankly, I'm rather surprised to still be here. I stopped all treatment & went on hospice some time ago now (when I last posted). I have some good days & some bad. It's really a strange feeling though when you have a new or more intense pain & wonder if this is the one that will do you in. I want you all to know that I still do my daily 5's. Pretty cool that even at this point, I can still find 5 new things every day that I'm thankful for. I wanted you all to know that during my "good" times, I've been rather busy. I'm setting up a foundation to help educate people on the dangers of this sneaky disease. How it hides from the tests & imitates other things (especially for women who may be nearing menopause). The foundation will also ultimately (hopefully) be able to help people in my position. I recently found out that I'm hanging on too long for my own good. On October 6th. I'm going to be fired from my job because the time I've been on disability will be longer than the length of service. At that point, I will lose all of my benefits & most of my income (as well as my life insurance - gee, you think anyone else will insure me now?). I am teaching my husband how to set up fund raisers & benefit events. I did many of these in my healthy days. He is finding it a great comfort knowing that he will carry on the foundation for me when I pass. My sister & several other relatives & friends have already jumped on the bandwagon. The main hurdle at this point is to get the fund raisers rolling & donations rolling in so that the public education can begin. (If anyone out there is looking for a tax write-off, please let me know!) Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know that I'm hanging in there & what I've been up to. I think the strangest part of all of this is that even in death, I am still educating & working my tail off all the while wondering if this is my last day. I want you all to know that you are all in my daily prayers & that I miss you. Hugs & prayers, Melanie The Melanie Russ Lung Cancer Foundation

Hi Donna, I'm Gale's sister. I'll answer the ?? for Gale since I'm not certain she knows the diff. (Gale, sorry if you knew...) I have stage IV NSCLC. Was dx at stage IV (adenocarcenoma) the beginning of June last year. Hugs & prayers, Melanie

Hi all, I wanted to kick this back up to the top because my sister just joined the community & I wanted her to find it more easily. Thanks for your understanding. Hugs & prayers, Melanie

Hi Sis! Good to see you have joined the group! Hey everyone, this is really my big sister! I hope you find as much cumfort & support from this site as I have. I don't post near as often as I used to dut I try to hop in as much as I can. See you Sunday. Much love & prayers, Melanie

Hi all, When I saw my onc todayy, we decided to do hospice for noww. If I get stronger, I can stop the hospice & go on the chemo but in thee mean time, we can really use the help from hospice. This is really gettiing to my Hubbie. The onc agreed that I really wasn't strong enough to take chemo right now. He said he doubted the benefits would be worth the drawbackss. Take care all. I'll keep in touch when I can. Hugs & prayyers, Melanie

Congrats to Beth!! I'll havee ice waterr with a little lemonn please. Hugs & prayers, Melanie

Hi all, I amm scheduled to startt chemo again tomorrow. They want to try Gemzar. I don't think I am strong enough to take itt. I have a feelinng I may be going the hospiice route sooon. I just really don't think I can do the chemo right now & the tumors are growing & spreaading. I wanntt to thank you all for your prayers & kindness. I'll let you know when I can if I do start the chemo tomoorroow. I seriously doubt iit thoough. Hugs & Prayerss Melaniie

Hello everyone, As MelanieM said, what a nice surprise! Thank you for thinking of me even thhough I am not up to posting a lot lately. I can still read the postings pretty well but typing takes forever. To MelanieM, your posting was beautiful. I wish I could have been there,, I was in teears just reading iit. Hugs & prayers,, MelanieLR

Dear Cindi, Hi sweetie. You could be a victim of plain old stress. With the sale of the house & all that is connected to that, heaven knows you have plenty of stress on your plate. Years ago I had a strange double vision episode that lasted several days - they admitted me into the hospital, ran every test known to man & sent me home with valium and & dx of stress. Please do have it checked but in the mean time try not to worry. That could make the situation worse. Hugs & prayers, Melanie

Dear Frank, I'm so sorry to hear you are feeling so poorly. I can understand how the doctors may be concerned about the Cyberknife. Especially since you've already got radiation damage to the previously healthy tissue surrounding the tumor. When they did the Gamma Knife on my brain tumors, I was bolted down like an amusement park ride to make sure that I didn't move. May God guide your doctors in their decision. My prayers are with you & Connie, Melanie

Sorry, I put the wrong date. It's hard to keep up with the right date these days. Hugs & prayers, Melanie

1.) That I'm back down 2 sizes after going off the steroids. 2.) That I sewed a wardrobe in about 6 different sizes as I gained the weight while on steroids - otherwise, I's be naked! 3.) Cousin came over to cover my plants to protect them - we got one doozy of a snow & freezing rain storm. 4.) Got new pictures of my new great nephew, he's getting so big & handsome. He was wearing some of the clothes I sewed for him in some of the pics - that does a lot for my sense of usefulness! 5.) That my Grandmother taught me how to sew when I was young. She really gets a kick out of seeing things I've made knowing that she's the one who taught me. Melanie

Qhat a beauty. You've got to be busting your buttons with pride! Hugs & prayers, Melanie

Dear Cindi, So glad everything worked out with the sale of your house. Not knowing what is going to happen next with your home while going through all the crud with cancer is just too much. Ley us know your next move, ok? Hugs & prayers, Melanie

Dear Fay, That sounds just awful. I have a tens unit myself & right after I was sent home (same day as surgery - lovely HMO's), the thing malfunctioned. I know how badly the thing can hurt when it is not operated properly. You are very lucky that no permanent damage was done to your spinal cord. Thank God for your strong will. Hugs & prayers, Melanie

Dear Cathy, So sorry to hear about the mets. I know from experience, the spine mets are NO FUN at all. I'm glad to hear that they feel they are treatable. Hugs & many prayers coming your way, Melanie P.S. I love your picture with your "kids".

Dear Starry, I have visited this disease from both angles. First as a caregiver for both of my parents & now as the survivor. Take it from one who knows first hand. Your job is way harder than your Mom's. I've told my Husband over & over again, I wouldn't trade places with him for all the money in the world. My point here is, don't feel bad about worrying about yourself when your Mom is going through the treatment. One thing is for certain. If you don't take care of yourself & your needs, you can be of no help to anyone else. You've received a lot of great advice from everyone & I'll be praying that God may take your hand & direct you in your search for the right job & home. I really believe He'll help you & guide you if you just let Him. There are so many times in my life when I got so wrapped up in what was going on here on earth that I forgot to take His hand & allow Him to lead. My prayers are with you, your Mom & the rest of your family, Melanie

Dear Jody, I'm so sorry to hear about the difficulty in getting meds & treatment where you live. And here we are complaining about the side effects. At least we can get the treatments to be having side effects from. Just want you to know that you & your Mum are in my prayers. Take care, Melanie

1.) Love - the warm fuzzy feeling of truly being in love & knowing that the feeling is mutual. 2.) All of the kind support from the wonderful people i've "met" on this site. 3.) One of my cats has taken to sleeping on my lap while I am napping in the recliner & my Hubbie tells me I am always smiling in my sleep when Callie is on my lap. She just makes me feel so unconditionally loved - I can't help but smile. 4.) Gabby (another one of my cats) has bonded with Hubbie. It is so wonderful to see them together. 5.) Last but certainly not least, Shadow (my first cat). He has always been my "health cat". He's been with me to soothe me through all of my surgeries & what not. He always seems to know when I need a little extra T.L.C. & he seems to instinctively know where not to step on me when something hurts. His love has carried me through a lot. Hugs & prayers, Melanie

Dear Karen, Good luck. I know when I moved into my current home, I cried when I was finished because I was so happy. I knew I had moved for the last time. I am so happy with my home & I pray you find the same. Hugs & prayers, Melanie