Donna G

Great news Dave, the weather is great also now, so gather some friends and hit the course. It is a wonderful reason to Celebrate!

Last December I celebrated lasting 5 yrs since diagnosis. February I celebrated 5 yrs since they were able to remove the tumor. In April I celebrated 5 yrs since I finished the last of the chemo Now I just want to celebrate that my CT this month showed NO CHANGE

I know our guest "BUFU (Guest User)" is ignorant. I hope he stays with us and gets educated. Here we are trying our hardest to survive, and people tell us we tried to kill ourselves. That does not make sense. Because it is well known that polutents particularly smoke causes lung cancer, he thinks we all smoked, not true. He thinks by his statement that smoking is the only polutent that causes lung cancer, not true. Many of us were led to believe that if we quit smoking, even years ago, that we were not at risk for lung cancer, not true. If we ever smoked, that is history. We are fighting for our lives and don't need to have to spend our energy defending ourselves from that type of attitude. If he stays , he'll find we are great people, neighbors, friends, relatives, teacher, nurses, priests, ministers, doctors, bankers, moms, dads, sisters, brothers, daughters,sons, good people.

Large hospitals on the east coast and west have done studies on prayer and its benefits as far as illness , wellness. They have done double blind studies. One study was done on victims of heart attacks. They assigned people to pray for some and not for others. The group that were prayed for had fewer complications and survived longer, and had less reoccurance. The group that was prayed for did not even know they were being prayed for. Most hospitals have chaplains, if not, all of the nurses I know have been taught that part of a patients care is providing physical , emotional and "spiritual" care. People with spiritual "health" do better.

Sara , your little baby girl is beautiful. She was so well behaved through our meeting. We all loved her. You say her next surgery is either June or July? We will be praying that is goes very smoothly for her. Donna

Wonderful news , we are all excited. We will all be with you so feel all our hugs.

I am so happy that you are celebrating that first year . The next Thoracic Onocology meeting is in September. I do believe that you, having experienced lc first hand could give quite a lecture to the group. I know I have a new perspective since going through all this. I see so many now at the hospital going through lung cancer especially those first days when you are nearly in shock after hearing "you have lung cancer" believe me they are really suprised when I confide with them that I had lung cancer. I hope that the Lord gives you many more years before he calls you home, for we need you . Donna

When are you going? How long will you be gone? How will we know what is going on? Are you going to keep us posted or do we wait til you get home? So many questions I pray that they have a new idea up there sleeve. We will try to be patient until we hear exactly what happened. Have a safe trip. Donna PS When you leave feel our hugs and kisses wishing you well.

Carol Burnett has chosen to work with the American Lung Assoc. "Freedom from smoking" program.

Listen, if you are getting CT scans every three months and it is growing , you are telling us it has been at least 3 months maybe 6 months and they are telling you it is GROWING . Do you have some very serious lung disease that would make the doctor hesitate to treat you? Like severe COPD? IF NOT please tell him to biopsy or go to some one else. Early detection is the key to fighting this disease. When you say it is GROWING that makes it very serious to me. I would have to know what I was dealing with. Good Luck. Keep us posted.

You should go to chat room for a chat.

Sounds like she was informing you that sometimes they have to put in a chest tube after a biopsy because air gets in the space around the lung and that doesnt let the lung fully expand, so they put the tube to get it out.

Lots of Walleyes here in Minnesota lakes. Season opener is coming up soon

Well I had better move to northern Minnesota. It can be very cold though in Duluth. We went camping up there one July , visiting my mother in law and I woke up freezing in the tent- IT WAS 32 DEGREES !

Did any one hear her talk this am re that she will be at Revlons Walk tomorrow. She says they have raised $27,000,000 for cancer research the past 10 yrs. They expect 45-50,000 participants tomorrow in New York. To dream some day we could be so successful raising money for lung cancer screening , research,and treatment

Perhaps Sam, our resident MD can answer about the blood clots. I just wanted to say if you quit smoking at 22 years of age I can't imagine your smoking caused your cancer. I hope you register and find friends walking your walk here, and hope.

I think ports are a great idea especially for someone with "poor" veins. Chemo is very hard on veins, very irritating, and when you have chemo it follows that you have a lot of lab tests. The ports can be used for blood draws too. I had good veins and even still I have scars on my hands where the needles were.

I found out I had lung cancer because of pain. They told me it was because the tumor was pressing on nerves that pass through the apex ( very top) of the lung. It was larger than 2 cm. So far I am doing OK. Of course I went through about 6 months of treatment to get this far. I finished treatment 5 yrs ago. We all know it is a terrible shock to be told you have lung cancer. I know I really cried . I was really afraid. Please let us help in any way we can . We have been there. More of my story is archived general, 3/27/03

I don't know where you live or where the tumor is in your mothers lung or how big it is. You did not mention that she has had any chemo or radiation. She may be one of the lucky ones that would qualify for a VATS Lobectomy if the tumor is <5 cm, not near or wrapped around a major vessel, and she has not had chemo or radiation. Here in Minnesota we have a surgeon that takes out lobes or lungs by a scope. It is like comparing the old gallbladder surgery to the laproscopic method. They do not break ribs or make a big incision to do the surgery. They only make a small incision for a scope. No major pain after surgery , no permanent nerve damage. Home in comfort relatively quickly. The surgeon here is Dr Michael Maddaus. He is at the University of Minnesota Medical School, an associate professor in Minneapolis. There are only a few Doctors as yet trained to do it this way. Perhaps one is near you.

Go for it! There are programs for people with Emphysema if you have that problem but also after lung surgery . One of the founders of ALCASE wrote on rehab after lung cancer surgery and I got a copy. His work was brought up at doctors conferences. I got a copy through ALCASE. He also said that water exercise is really good to build up lung capacity. Look at David . He rides in bike races with one lung, obviously he has built up some lung capacity.

Tommy I hope you can use the new translation into Spainish option that we just got. It would make it a lot easier for you . You say you had surgery in January? So it has been 3 months. I imagine you had an open thorocotomy where they break a couple of ribs and cut into the nerves that run along those ribs. At this point I would guess that it is those nerves that are the problem. Please be sure also that you have good range of motion in the shoulder on the same side as the surgery. Some people guard so much right after surgery , trying not to move that they end up with a "frozen shoulder" that also could be a problem . An orthopedic doctor or physical therapist might be in order. For the nerve damage some people take antidepressents , they seem to help. Any one else have any Ideas? Also WELCOME TO THE MESSAGE BOARD. YOU ARE AMONG " AMIGOS."

Congradulations. Does he have a paper route yet? He's a big boy!

In Massachusetts I believe you can sell your house to your children for $1 but the state can still take it if it happened within 5 yrs of your death. meanwhile they owe taxes etc. My mother had to go through all her assets while she was in a nursing home before they would take over paying for her , that included selling her home. Believe me Medicare only pays a matter of months, then it is so expensive it does not take long for you to go through all your money. They only let her keep enough money to be buried.

Hello John, I went to a thoracic onocology lecture last October given by the University of Minnesota. Dr. Michael Maddaus lectured on the "Current Status of the Molecular Substaging of NSCLC." The search for a more accurate means of staging is entering a new and exciting phase ushered in by advances in molecular approaches that have increased the capacity to detect metastatic disease through the use of oncogenes and other oncogenic factors. These molecular tools, which include immunohistochenical (IHC) and nucleic acid-based approaches, have strongly impacted our sensitivity of detection of micrometastatic. Small numbers of micrometastatic cells not previouly appreciated by routime pathological analysis can now routimely be identified in the lymph nodes, blood and bone marrow of surgically resected patients. When I asked him if these tests could some day be used as a screening tool , the cost etc he said perhaps , they are relatively inexpensive . The research right now is aimed at making more accurate staging because many are told they have neg. lymph nodes etc then 6 months down the road find out there was metastasis that could not be seen by the pathologist at the time they had surgery. With more accuracy they would know who needs chemo etc.

Peter, did you have your surgery by VAT? (video assisted thorocotomy). I went to a thoracic onocology seminar recently and a thoracic surgeon spoke. He showed us a video of him taking out a whole lung through a tiny slit, - no big smiley incision. He said so far only a few surgeon know how to do it this way although most can do biopsies using VAT. The recovery time is much shorter , less complication, less permanent damage to nerves and ribs ( they do not have to break your ribs) He also said that it has to be someone who has not had radiation or chemo prior and the tumor has got to be easy to get at , not wrapped around something etc. But for those that fit the bill boy it is great. Well tell us ! Did you have surgery by VAT? Is that how you got over it so quick?