natalie

Shelly, I am so terribly sorry. My stomach has knots in it as I read your post. I can't imagine the heartache you must be feeling. You are in my thoughts and prayers. I remember on one of my birthdays we had to visit my grandmother in the morturary and prepare for her burial. It was the worst birthday of my life. Declare your birthday on a different day and try to do something special with your husband. You have had to neglect yourself since February...you give yourself a day to take care of yourself.

Jenny!!! What great news! I'm am truly happy for you! Go out and celebrate!!!

Donnie and Sophia- I pray both of you receive great results from the scans! I know how anxious you are both probably feeling about now.

Mike- Call, get a second opinion from Dr. Lynette Wang, neurological surgeon at the Kaiser in Redwood City. Kaiser will pay for the second opinion if it's within their group, a doctor from the Kaiser in SF will have to write a letter and then Dr. Wang can look at the scans to see if she can conduct any type of surgery on any of the tumors in the brain. My mom was having the exact symptoms and in my eyes, really saved my mom or at least relieved her from a lot of the pain she was having. My mom's brain is free from cancer right now and it's due to the surgery and radiation...now we get to concentrate on the lungs. Don't let Kaiser control this situation. Tell you mom about my mom's brain and tell her to hang in there.

It doesn't sound like that doctor is up to date on things. Definitely get another one...he sounds like a royal jerk. I'm happy to hear the good news of your dad. Enjoy it and celebrate! There are always clinical trials too.

I can't imagine what Connie is going through. I will definitely say some special prayers for her right now. Thank you for the update.

Ray, my mom had over three cancer lesions in the beginning of all this...none of them appeared on the PET scan yesterday...and my mom also had 14 sessions of treatments just like you. Out of all the treatments my mom has had, radiation seemed to be the least invasive or damaging. Don't forget...the radiation worked on Ginny's husband too. When treatment is over, remember that the radiation continues to cook for a couple of months after....radiation is going to work on you too...so you hang in there!

Hi Everyone- My mom's latest PET scan showed that there are no signs of cancer in the brain now. PHEW! Her lung tumor is the exact same size as it's been...wish it had shrunk, but at least it hasn't progressed, but boy am I am relieved about the brain. Now I'm able to research some more clinical trials and given more options. It's strange, my mom has no cancer in the lymph nodes, just the left upper lobe and it mestasized to the brain. The doctor said it's like seeds that produce weeds...the cancer just plants itself somewhere and it's never the same for everyone. I'm wondering if my mom would be a candidate for lung surgery now. For those of you dealing with brain mets, keep your chin up....radiation does work!

I've read about it too and wondering the same thing. I know they are conducting it at UC Davis. Anyone have any info?

Today we have a meeting with the oncologist to find out results from CT scans from the abdomen and lungs and a PET Scan from the brain. I guess at least we deal with it all at one time, but I am so extremely anxious today. My mom has been sleeping 24/7 for the last three days and this whole thing is really hitting me. I don't even hear what people are saying to me, I forget to do things, feel run down. I am hoping so much to have some positive results today...but deep down I know to be prepared for bad news because that's all we seem to get over and over again. I am such a normally optomistic person...but this lung cancer really challenges my positivity to the extent. I feel like I'm running on empty. Anways, i'm asking for prayers for my mom and that we find some positive results in her scans. I've already been begging and bartering with God non stop. It's actually crazy...if I go to the store, pick up an item and decide four aisles down that I don't want it anymore, I go and walk back down the aisle I got it from and put it in the exact place. I've been doing this with everything. If there is a homeless person on the corner, I've been lately making sure I give a buck to them. I feel bad if I couldn't find a way to give the homeless person any money because the light turned green before I could give him to him...then thoughts run through my head, should I make a U-turn, or tell him I'm sorry as I drive off? I figure if I do anything negative in the slightest that karma will rare it's ugly head on me. Am I going crazy?

Sophia- You deserve a pity party! Geesh! You are going through so much and you are staying so strong. I feel like I'm going to lose it any day with just the stress of being a caregiver to my mom...you have so many additional things going on that I can't believe you have to deal with. Make sure you take some time out for you. Take Care

Teresa, what about if the whole brain radiation was already done? I understand WBR can only be done once. Can anyone help me on this? My mom had WBR and now they think that either there is scarred tissue in the brain, radiation defect or cancer is growing back (I will find out today) and I'm trying to be proactive. The doctor said that the tumor is too big for Gamma Knife. I hope so much for this to be scarred tissue or a radiation defect otherwise I don't know what else can be done as my moms doctor seems to think after that there is nothing she can do.

Hey Kerry, I would like to hear more about your father. I'm glad to hear that your father lived 5 1/2 years after being diagnosed with Stage 4 and want to know what steps you took in his care. Did you conduct any alternative treatment? (Sorry to run this on your post Ada, but Kerry isn't set up yet on this website so I thought I'd respond to her posting)

Is she taking Antivan or Xanax? Steriods cause a lot of anxiety and with antivan or xanax, they may help to calm her down. My mom was like that the other day, just pounding hard on my Dad and I about things, nit picking, etc. I had to take a lot of deep breaths and stand outside for a few moments. She was really testing my patience. She's usually funny, sweet and relaxed. I thought someone took over my mom's body! She's been okay most of the time though and I think the antivan really helps with that. Can she get new doctors? Her current ones sure don't sound like they care all that much.

Thanks Michael and RayRoy! Michael, I'm going to call a clinic that conducts the therapy today. There's one in Santa Rosa which is about 2.5 miles. I'll let you know what I find out.

My mom was tired and lost most of her hair. That was about it. She has been having memory loss lately, but I think it's from the chemo and vicadin not radiation. It's not severe memory loss, she just forgets appointments and what pills to take when, but seriously, I can't remember all that either! Thank God for pen and paper!

Ada, you are such a strong person...I love your attitude. Please know that I admire you and will pray for you. I believe a cure is coming soon. I've mentioned this before... my husband's manager was given a 15% chance to live and his only hope was a clinical trail. Well the clinical trial worked and he has been in remission/cured for over 10 years.

Consider it done! I've been thinking about you.

Michelle- I'm so sorry to hear about your loss. With his last words, it sounds like someone was waiting to greet him on his flight to heaven. I will pray for you and your family.

Ask the doctor about Marinol. They offered Megace to my mom, but she reacted bad to it. It was too "milky" for her...so someone recommended Marinol (marijuana in a pill form). She hasn't started taking it yet, but it is suppose to help with nausea and also increase appetite and give the patient an overall better feeling.

Carleen- When I read your post, I felt your pain in my gut. I will say so many prayers for you and Keith tonight. I honestly think there is some progress being made with LC. We can't give up hope...we just can't. Maybe it's good that Keith has had this mini break so he can regain his strength to continue the fight. He is a fighter. I told me mom I was going to get the Christina Aguilera song "Fighter" and play it when she feels down. It's going to be her "theme" song. I refuse to let my mom succumb to this disease. The one saving grace was their buying the house out here by me. It gave my mom a distraction. She started focusing on what to decorate with. It may help you and Keith to have the distraction of building the home. Give him something to change his thoughts too. The mind has healing power and we only use about 5% that our mind is capable of...just think of what the remaining 95% of the mind could do. Pick a theme song and when you feel down, play it so it whips you back in shape to fight this thing. Get mad at the cancer and tell it you are going to kick it's butt. I'm thinking of you and feel for you Carleen. You shouldn't have to work more than 8 hour days right now. Your work should understand that. You have some legal rights you know. i am taking a lot of slack too at work. No one is able to do my job while I'm gone so it sits waiting for me and stresses me out. Then I come back everyone dumps things on me. We can only do what we can...ultimately it's our managers responsibiltiy to figure out who's going to pick up the pieces when we can't keep it together. I've had people yell at me because I haven't called them back...I just plain tell those people what I'm going through and wow, magically they are humbled and their situation seems less important to them all of a sudden.

Hi Glo- I just instant messaged you since I'm in Sacramento too with my email and phone number. I recommend Dr. Gandera at UC Davis, we met with him and he is a lung specialist. If you want to go to Sutter, a heart/thoractic surgeon I know at Sutter recommended Dr. Paul Rosenberg at Sutter Cancer Center. Hope to talk to you soon. Natalie

I'm not sure what state you're in or what your state offers, but in California there is a Bill 37 that passed in 2001 that Medicare is suppose to pay for items that provide treatment. Give a call to 1-800-4-CANCER and ask them about insurance questions. They really helped me with questions I had. I read that if you challenge things such as this, usually the patient wins. Good luck.

Hi Donnie- I just got my mom a prescription for maritol which they said helps with nausea and appetite. My mom just finished her 3rd round of Carbo/Taxol and she's been ok with the nausea as long as she takes everything when she is suppose to. She takes Azemet day of and two days after chemo and then compazine from there on once every six hours. She doesn't skip a pill once. (it says to take it when needed, but once you have the symptom it seems to get harder to get rid of...so I recommend to take the doses even if not needed at the time)

Do any of you have any knowledge on Insulin Potentiation Therapy? Do you think it could be legite?