Donna G

Thanks for posting this Rich, this is good news from Bean Town. God loves you and may want you to continue your example and inspirational work for the rest of us. He also gave us free choice and that includes choosing to be positive, happy, and fruitful with what life gives us. You are doing a great job! Donna G PS Boy I would like to go back to Boston in November!

I remember him well. I know he is looking down and happy that you wore the shirt! It is good to remember the happy memories too and celebrate his life. DonnaG

I wish you much happiness on this your Birthday Connie. You are such a great friend. May you have lots of hugs today. Donna G

Connie B started the first lung cancer support group here in Minnesota, Now there are 4, I believe. I went to a cancer support group when I was first diagnosed and it was weird. Most all had breast cancer and somehow their concerns were not mine. Donna G

Ray , welcome. I know what it was like to get the diagnosis, horrible, nightmare! the good news is I was not early staged either but yesterday I celebrated my 60th birthday, years ago I thought I would never make 51! when you find out, give us somemore details, what the plan is and keep us posted how you 2 are doing. Donna G

The good thing about this vertual pub is you can order and drink all you want, never get a hang over, never get arrested for drunk driving, and still share fun with our friends here at lchelp.org. DonnaG

Boy it better not be closed! I have been sipping Bailey's Irish Cream for hours over there in the corner. Just now the phone rang, at 4:50 am. Turns out it was the night supervisor, I was just put "on call" so I guess if anyone is here, could I have another Baileys? Donna G

I'M HERE ! Can someone pour me a Bailey's Irish cream over the rocks. Thanks. I'll just sit over here in the corner with my pink hair a sip on it. Donna G

Thanks everyone, Jay and I not only share the same Birthday but the same WEDDING DAY, (39years 9/8 ) Home from work and heading to the Bar, see you there. Donna G PS: sprayed my hair pink today and went to work! It's OK to have fun on your Birthday , don't you think?

We watched it all on TV all evening. It is just unbelievabe that a huge bridge like that would just fall, no earth quake, not hit by a barge, that it would just fall . Thank goodness it had some lanes closed so there were less cars on the bridge than usual. Opera had a show yesterday about heroes. Boy there were a lot of Heroes at that bridge last evening! Donna G

Boy with all the sad news , continuous news- no TV shows, here in Minnesota , it has popped my birthday balloon. It is difficult to believe such a busy, huge bridge on 35W spanning the Mississippi River just folded with the evening traffic driving across. There are some imazing stories of survival also. Imagine 60 children in a bus on the very edge of falling into the river, all safe! Donna G

This is wonderful. My dogs Rocky and Sally can come to my birthday party! Rocky is 5 years old, he is my athlete, he catches a tennis ball that I have thrown with a chuck-it before it hits the ground. He is 1/2 border collie and 1/2 Australian Shepard dog. His "little" sister Sally just turned 3. Her Mommy was a Border Collie, her Dad a true bread mutt. They are both black and white. Sally is a big kisser, lick lick lick so be ware! Donna G

Can we have a party, I make the big 60 on Saturday, and considering that I have to work this weekend, drinks on line may be the only party I can go to and not have a hangover at work! I plan to go and buy some lime green or strawberry hair dye today and plan to wear my shirt I bought at Curves that says "I love my Curves" on the front. Donna G PS: 10 years ago I never thought I would make 51!

Good luck, bring a tape recorder, and I don't think I can add much to "Rich's list" Keep us posted. Donna G

Hello. Glad your Mom is doing fine. Just wanted to ask if they plan to use radiation on her brain. SCLC patients have this as a recommendation because it tends to spread there and this prevents big problems. I know Janet also ( that Connie talked about) and she had it done. Donna G

Added chemotherapy improves lung cancer survival Thu Jul 26, 2007 6:11PM EDT A course of chemotherapy prior to standard treatment, known as "induction" chemotherapy, appears to improve survival in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the most common type of lung cancer, according to a report in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics. Concurrent treatment with radiation and chemotherapy, referred to as chemoradiation, is the standard therapy for NSCLC that cannot be surgically removed, the authors explain, but whether induction chemotherapy should be added to this treatment remains unclear. Dr. Ritsuko Komaki and colleagues from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston compared the outcomes for 265 patients treated with or without induction chemotherapy prior to concurrent chemoradiation. The 2-year survival rates were better in the patients who received induction chemotherapy than those treated with chemoradiation alone: 49 versus 34 percent. This was also true of the 5-year rates: 25 versus 12 percent, the authors report. Subjects treated with induction chemotherapy survived for about 1.9 years, while those treated with chemoradiation alone survived for 1.4 years. While patients in the former group were just as likely as the latter to have the cancer spread around the lungs, they were less likely to have it spread or "metastasize" to distant parts of the body. According to the researchers, this finding explains the improved survival seen. Induction chemotherapy was the strongest factor associated with improved survival, the investigators say, but having less advanced lung cancer and having twice-daily radiation treatment were also associated with improved survival rates. SOURCE: International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, July 1, 2007. .

Connie, I have known that you lost your Mom, Dad, and sister to lung cancer before you were diagnosed, but I didn't realize you were so young when you lost your Dad. So sad. Donna G

12 years , hurray You are a true survovor and you have taught us how to survive. So happy you started a support group in St. Paul and I heard about it! Donna G

That is sure a novel approach! Donna G

If their bodies are close to ours anatomically, I wonder if any one has looked into whether people with large noses are less likely to get lung cancer than those with short noses? Donna G

just found this. IX. Lung Cancer Lung cancers are fairly rare in dogs though the number has been increasing. It is not known, however, whether the increase is real or a result of improved techniques to detect lung cancer in dogs. Male and female dogs get this cancer at roughly the same rate. There may be a slight increase in risk associated with living in an urban area. Short-nosed breeds exposed to cigarette smoke in the home have twice the risk of getting lung cancer as medium- or long-nosed breeds exposed to a similar amount of cigarette smoke. This is, of course, the inverse of the nasal cancer findings and again speaks to the more efficient nasal filtration system in long-nosed breeds. Cancer of the lining of the lungs (mesothelioma) is associated with exposure to asbestos in dogs just as it is in humans. The owners of dogs with this type of cancer were more likely to be exposed to asbestos at work or in their hobbies. Donna G

Kasey I thought I would just google lung cancer in dogs---well would you believe there is a web site like this - http://www.dogcancer.net/forum/ never even thought of looking on the web when our Airedale got cancer of the splene/ Donna G

Sorry, not for sure. Web site says it is located on more than 5 acres in downtown Minneapolis, Eliot St. Donna G

It is on all the newscasts here in Minnesota. She was born up north in International Falls, Mn. She met Jim Baker in Minneapolis as a teenager at Bible School. Donna G

John , the good part of this is your Dr. is right on top of it! The fight continues. Keep us posted , waiting to here another battle won. Donna G