Donna G

How about dancing for exercise. We could write a new song " Dancing with NED, dancing with NED" Sounds like fun to me! Great news, keep it up! Donna G

Glad you are better and home, There's no place like home! Donna G

Have not been to a cure forum but have been to the San Diego Zoo. It is the best Zoo I have ever been to! Hope you learn lots and come back and share. Donna G

I love it! What a wonderful web site. What a great idea to make a "ribbon of lights" for the month of November, Lung Cancer Awareness. Many of us have lights we put up for Christmas! Great job! Donna G

Best wishes and prayers going up for a successful surgery and speedy recovery . Donna G

Here is a link to lots of pictures they have already put on the dog park web site. http://www.alimagnetdogpark.org/DDS05_photos.htm Donna G

Saw this article in the St. Paul Pioneer Press FRONT PAGE! http://www.suntimes.com/output/health/c ... een14.html Recent lung cancer news spurs stampede for new test August 14, 2005 BY MARILYNN MARCHIONE If a simple, painless test can find the world's deadliest cancer when it is smaller than a pea -- and such a test does indeed exist -- shouldn't people who are most at risk have one? Surprisingly, the federal government, American Cancer Society and a raft of cancer specialists say the answer is "no." They are waging an uphill battle as frightened current and former smokers rush to get a special kind of X-ray that other physicians are urging for lung cancer detection but that has not yet conclusively been shown to save lives. A huge federal study is under way to see if it can, and answers may come as soon as next year. In the meantime, it's generating a "can't wait for science" stampede. The clamor rose last week with the deaths of newsman Peter Jennings and "Dallas" star Barbara Bel Geddes, and the news that "Superman" widow Dana Reeve has lung cancer. Patricia Dowds and her husband, David Byrom, psychologists from Long Island, are among the many former smokers who voted with their wallets and had the $300 test Friday. Peace of mind vs. false positives "We do it for our own peace of mind," Dowds explained. No one disputes that the test, called a spiral or helical CT scan, detects lung abnormalities as small as 5 millimeters -- less than a fifth of an inch. The argument is over whether that's a good thing. For every cancer these scans detect, many more "false positives" occur -- harmless bumps and lumps leading to painful, expensive and unnecessary biopsies and surgeries. Complications can include lung collapse, bleeding and infection. "The concern that we have is false positive rates," which range from 25 percent to as high as 60 percent, said Tom Glynn, the cancer society's director of science and trends. "What we don't want to do is create even more anxiety" by backing a test that is so imprecise, he said. Even when cancers are found, experts argue about whether that's a benefit or a risk. No one knows how many of these tumors are so slow-growing that they pose less of a health threat than the surgery, radiation and chemotherapy used to treat them. Screening proponents say there's no mystery about how deadly the disease is, and that survival improves the sooner it is detected. About 172,570 Americans will be diagnosed with lung cancer this year, and almost as many, 163,510, will die of it. A large-scale, randomized screening study commissioned by the National Cancer Institute will compare regular chest X-rays to CT scans and see whether either improves survival. AP

We had a great time! Dogs did dancing, fast ball races, police dog demonstrations. We ate hot dogs. They had music. The guy asked if we had any requests and I said "How much is that doggy in the window" and he said if I sang! So Rocky jumped up on stage, I had to lift Sallly up and we SANG! with a microphone! We gave out prizes for the dog with the longest legs, the shortest legs, the best dressed, the best singing dog ( a siberian Husky named Yoda won ) and the best tricks. It was a gorgeous day, partly cloudy in the 70's. Lots of fun and laughs, all good for us. Donna G

Welcome to our group. I hear Dana Farber is suppose to be a great place for care. Do they suggest another round of chemo? Does he have a pleural efffusin? Keep us posted. Donna G

So excited. Sally and Rocky and I are going to "Dog Days" at the dog park today. Should be lots of fun. Of course they think every day is a good day to go to the dog park! I post this because I think it is related, my dogs are good for me! http://www.alimagnetdogpark.org/ Donna G

Boy, being Boston born and raised, would I like to be in your walk! Wish you had had one in July when I was back east for my nieces wedding. Keep me posted on your plans, perhaps I can get one of my relatives to walk. Would you walk on the Boston Commons, or the Boston Gardens? or along the Charles river ? November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month, but Breast cancer has something every month, and considering more women die of lung cancer why can't we have something every month? Here in Minnesota I am on a committee planning a Cancer Awareness event in October at the Burnsville Mall October 6th. I figure it will be an awareness the November is coming up next. I have asked our lung cancer group to come and man a table for lung cancer. We hope that will put us in the public eye. Wishing you luck. If we all do what we can, we will be a voice that is heard! Donna G

Here it is, needed the http part. http://www3.caringbridge.org/tn/jamie/ Donna G PS I don't know where that 3 came from after the www but it works for me!

As you may have read on another ribbon, August the sun filled month is great for lung cancer surgery and survival! So happy for you. So much to celebrate! So happy to know you as a fellow Pancoast Tumor Survivor! May we celebrate 15,20 25 yrs etc of survival. Donna G

Jen sending best wishes and prayer. Can you ask to get your tank topped off ( unit of blood)? Donna G

Wow , am I a lucky cookie. I had my surgery mid February in the dark of Minnesota winter! I bet I owe my survival and Vit D to the fact I had a tri-colored Collie named Mitch at that time who I walked faithfully twice a day. Mitch was getting old and had arthitis , needed the exercise. He seemed to "loosen up" as we kept walking. I had surgery on a Monday and came home on that Thursday. My husband said "well it's time for you to walk Mitch". That walk was SO HARD but it did get me right back to my routine. Now I have another reason to be greatful that I had Mitch. He was such a sweety! Donna G

Very interesting. I am off this Sunday, hope I remember to "tune in" Donna G

Welcome to our group. Glad you found us. Hope we can help. We all know how devistating it is to be told you could have lung cancer. Are you saying it has been 3 months and you have not had anything done? Have you had another Pet Scan or CT scan? To compare if it has changed. Some Non Small Cell tumors double in size in 3 months. The way you decribe your tumor, in the center on the lung, it sounds like you could be a candidate for a VAT surgery ( video assisted thoracotomy.) This is like comparing the old Gallbladder surgery to the new Laproscopic surgery. You would have to find a thoracic surgeon who has been trained in this new less invasive type of surgery. Keep us posted. Donna G

Above is how this article was headlined in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Filtered out by cancer? Lung cancer, linked strongly to smoking, is on the rise in under-50 women who never lit up or smoked little BY RONI RABIN STAFF WRITER August 11, 2005 The day after Dana Reeve's diagnosis was made public, Dr. David Johnson treated 10 lung cancer patients at his morning clinic at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville. Of the 10, five were women. Of the five, four had never smoked. The oldest was in her early 50s. "Ten years ago that just wasn't the case," said Johnson, deputy director of the cancer center and one of several experts nationwide. He is convinced lung cancer is rising among younger women and those who never smoked -- as is the case with Christopher Reeve's widow. "Now we're seeing young women who either never smoked or were light smokers, and they're as young as their 30s, sometimes you see them in their 20s, but that's rare, and most are in their 40s or 50s. ... It's a real phenomenon." For years, the aggressive campaign to eradicate smoking offered a seemingly straightforward message: Avoid lung cancer -- don't smoke. That point was driven home by Sunday's death of anchorman Peter Jennings. The vast majority of lung cancers are triggered by smoking and former smokers continue to be at risk. But about 15 percent of the 172,570 lung cancers diagnosed each year develop in patients who never smoked. Doctors still attribute the increase in lung cancer among women since the mid-1960s to the rise in tobacco use among women decades earlier and say the health benefits of quitting smoking are indisputable. But a consensus seems to be emerging that nonsmoking women may be more susceptible to lung cancer than nonsmoking men, and some theorize that hormones may play a role in lung cancer, the top cancer killer of both men and women. "The numbers suggest that 20 percent of lung cancers in women are unrelated to smoking, compared to 10 percent in men," said Dr. Scott Swanson, chief of thoracic surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan, who is also treating younger patients. "That's a two-to-one difference between women and men. The obvious question is why." Nonsmokers and women do tend to respond better to new treatments, experts said. Swanson, Johnson and others said that while there is insufficient data to prove that the number of young, nonsmoking women being diagnosed is on the rise, experienced clinicians like themselves have noticed the trend and are beginning to document it. For smokers, the disease usually took decades to develop and the average age of diagnosis was 65. "It's not uncommon now to see someone in their 30s," Swanson said. "Fifteen years ago that would have been something to write up in the New England Journal of Medicine." Other experts agreed. "We're seeing more and more people who have never smoked," said Dr. Roy Herbst, associate professor at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

http://politicalgraveyard.com/death/lung-cancer.html

Did you know that you are more likely to get breast cancer if you don't have many children, and/or don't breast feed your children. Do you hear this as a first response to someone getting breast cancer. No. You hear, "O no, I am so sorry!"I suppose that's all we want also. Instead we get "Do you still smoke?"Donna G

They had an area where you could figure your chance of developing lung cancer. I put to info from when I was diagnosed. It figured if I quit smoking then I had a < 1% chance of developing lung cancer. If I continued smoking I had a 2% chance of developing lung cancer. Well with all that said, for me it was 100% chance for I had lung cancer already! So much for the theory and formula. Donna G

I am so sorry for your losses. You are welcome here. many have been working on your interests. Donna G

Just saw on ABC piece on Memory. (Any of us who may have had chemo blame our memory searches on "chemo brain") They said to take the test on their web site. http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1024995&page=1 I took it and I am having a "bad day" I hope it is because I have worked the past 5 days and the last 2 I only got 4 hours sleep. I had better take a nap today and catch up on my sleep! Donna G

It is interesting the article says of those diagnosed with lung cancer "only 3% are under 45 years of age". Well I figure .03 X 172,570 people a year is about 5,177 people. To me that's a lot of people! Also , that is only in the USA, imagine if you added in all those all over the world! The news this am on TV continues talking about the sad news of Reeves. It is also saying that even non smokers cancer is caused by cigarette smoke, done passively by inhaling family members smoke or working in a smoking environment. They said only a small percent is caused by Radon, aspestos etc. All this talk, we still need early detection and better treatment. Donna G

Happy Birthday my friend. Hope you had a great day! Love ya. Donna G