kdgmom6

for your loss. Julie

It is comforting to know that so many of you are out there (I wish none of us had to be here) knowing the pain that goes along with this disease. I feel like I have a place to grieve.

Mom passed on August 15th. This is my first post and visit to this site since then. It's been very painful. We had our camping trip (minivan of O2 and all) two weeks before. She planned 5 trips and we made all of them. She passed home here with me and my family as planned. I can't go into detail it's to hard. I miss her very much. She put up a great fight. I do thank God that I had a warning of her passing. I got to thank her for making me who I am. I am blessed that I had a chance to say everything that I wanted to. We even had a girls sleep over and we all got to say our peace. My heart and prayers go out to all of you that battle this disease directly and indiretly everyday. Julie McCann

I have been reading and not really posting. Mom is officially on hospice starting tomorrow. She is not doing well. Chemo was stopped today. She is staying with my hubby, 3 children and me. We are caring for her at home with the help of my sister and family members. She is in a great deal of back pain and my heart is breaking. I love this board but by the time I catch up on reading the post I'm to tired to post myself. I wish everyone well. Julie

I'm so happy that I came to the board tonight. I swear to God that you and I are twins. I am going through the exact same thing as you are right now. I would really like to talk to you. I think that we would be great support for each other. I don't think that I can post my email in this reply but if you check my profile you can find it there. Please send me an email and we can talk. Julie

Hi it's been a while since I posted. I have been viewing. Is anyone familiar with this: My mom had a 10 day hospitalization 4 days ago. The complication seems to be radiation phnumonitis. She is on 5 liters of oxygen and being treated with high doses of stelroid. She seems to be doing pretty good. I have her staying with me for now. It's easier for everyone if she is here. I have 3 small children so I don't have to travel back and forth, its just easier. We have a trip planned for Saturday to go camping in ME for a week. I have not had her out with the portable O2 so it's a little nerve wrecking. I will be taking 50 lbs of liquid oxygen and multi portables, air tight portables, oxygen concentrater, etc. She is very determined to make this trip. So I'm going to try everything in my power to get her there. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and God Bless you all. Julie

I'm so so happy for you. I believe in the power of pray, it clearly worked for you. Enjoy your buffalo. Congrats! Julie

Well mom and I had a great time. She had a bad seizure Tuesday before we left on our trip. The Dr put her on an anti seizure med and she did fine. She is now in Toronto watching the Red Sox for the next few days. She met w/ the doctors last week and I guess the news was not very good. The chemo isn't working so they are switching her to a new one. There is new growth. I know my description in vague. She won't give me much detail and I try to respect that. I don't want to push her. She is feeling good. The doctors are now saying that she has both non small cell and small cell. Please say a pray for her. God Bless you all Julie

if so you can take it. I'm pretty sure that you would qualify. If not maybe a regular leave of absence so you won't have to quit your job. I'm so sorry that you have to go through all of this. You sound like a really strong person. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

I am so happy for you. I loved reading your post. God Bless you,

I can't belive it. After 7 mths, 20 brain radiation treatments, 22 lung radiation treatments, 4 rounds of chemo, loss and regain of her left arm and right leg, and a severe bout of phnemonia were off to Aruba. My mother is amazing! Seven mths ago I had a Fellow at Boston Medical tell me we would be lucky to have a few mths! I'm so thrilled that we have been given so much more. Even better we will be away together for Mother's Day. I get to hog her for myself for 5 days. Screw stats! Were going to have Margaritis!

this might get long. My MIL died 3 years ago from lung cancer. Nobody wanted to talk to her about it. My FIL got very upset if any of us spoke to her about the C-word thus none of her children got to say what they feel was a proper good-bye. My SIL now goes to ever medium/psychic, etc. to try and contact her to speak to her. She won't admit it but I know it's to tell her all things she wish she had when she was alive. Please talk to your dad, tell him your fears, how much you love him, how much your going to miss him. Don't pass up the chance. Many people lose loved ones w/out warning. We should all be somewhat grateful that sadly we are granted a heads up and let our family and friends know how much we care for them. As far as taking him home, I'm sure that you are going to have some difficult days. I'm a Nursing Assistant and I do feel that the best care is care giving at home. If you can and your up to the task I suggest you take him home and try your best. What ever the decision is you need to make sure that it is okay with you first. You will have a lot of precious and private time with him that most skilled nursing facility cannot provide. I pray for you both. Julie

flying to Aruba on Saturday! She was diagnosed 7 mths ago. She has had whole brain radiation, fought a 4 wk battle with phnemonia (24 hr antibotics via port) and has multi brain mets. The whole thing sucks. She had finished her 4th round of chemo last week. She has overcome loss of use on with her left arm, and loss of use with her right leg. Both are working pretty good right now. We have opted to try to take a trip per month. For now all is going well. I don't have an answer for you but please, please all of you live for the moment we don't know what the future holds. Get out when you can with your loved one and enjoy the time you have left. My thoughts and prayers are with you, Julie

I'm so happy for all of you.

I'm so happy for you. Give's me hope. God Bless Julie

I'm so happy for you. Give's me hope. God Bless Julie

My mother would not eat anything or drink. I went to see her and she was in awful shape. She had 1 yogurt in a week. She lost 16lbs. I was very concerned and I hounded the doctors to hopsitalize her and give her nutrition. They did hospitalize her. We found out that she had pnomunia (sp?) and she is getting the care she needs now. I also advised them to prescribe marinol (pot pill), small amount of dexadron (steroid) and megase (appetite increaser). She is finally getting an appetite and started to eat again. I swear if my sister and weren't such a pain to the healthcare team we would have buried her this week. Julie

God Bless

she's not eating at all and drinking very little. Her vitals are awful. She hasn't started regular chemo yet. I can't imagine they would start with her vitals being so crazy. We meet with the doctor tomorrow.

to many changes here's some; I'm not a cryer and I could fill an ocean, obsession about trying to find information on this disease, patience, the sense of feeling out of control, my head I always have a headache, but the biggest change is that I always thought that I could talk to my mother about anything and I can't seem to talk to her about this. We all know that it's there but we don't say anything. It kills me!

Hi, I have a question regarding sleeping patterns. My mother has finished radiation w/ lose dose chemo (radiation booster) about 1 week ago. Her Dr. said that the radiation will remain in her for approx. 2 more weeks. My issue is that my mother just wants to sleep and not get out of bed. Her SO is caring for her and he is giving her a really hard time about staying in bed all the time and she is getting very fustrated with him. We spoke with the doctors and they say to encourage her to get up when she feel like it. My question is should we just leave her alone to sleep, how often is everyone else sleeping? Her vitals are awful bp 80's and heart rate 150's. Thank you in advance.

Thank you all for your words. I find this board very helpful. I'm going to visit her this week. I'm just going to pop in and not call this way she can't tell me no.

Hi, I'm new here and feel blessed to come across this board. I'm not sure where to start and my thoughts are so scattered. Please bear with me as I try to tell my story. My mother was diagnosed with Stage IV NSCLC the end of November. She has a large tumor on her left lower lung and 2 on her right lung. The cancer has spread to her brain. They have already done 10 treatments of whole brain radiation and 24 treatments of radiation/low dose chemo on her left lung tumor. She is now having difficulty with her heart. Her heart rate is high (158 per min). She is seeing a cardiologist and having more scans done tomorrow. I'm not sure what all this means. She is in great spirits and wants to fight but she is very tired. She has been hospitalized for dehydration. She is home now but still not eating/drinking much at all. She sounds awful on the phone and really doesn't want my sister and I to visit often. The three of us have always been so close and I feel a little shut out. I know that she is just trying to protect us but it's killing me. I have spoke with her doctors and they just try to encourage me. I have been cleared w/ mom and doc to have any info that I want. The doctor told me that her time frame could be grim a few weeks to very hopefull many many months maybe years. I'm not trying to be negative but isn't that a little odd? Everyone else seems to get a normal time frame. I feel that the doctor isn't being straight with me. I lost my brother during the past year to testicular cancer this road is to familiar. Thank for any info/comment/suggestion