MsC1210

JT I am so sorry I missed your first post! Let me just say hello and welcome to the site a bit late! Randy gave you some excellent information on dehydration issues and I just want to say that having seen first hand how horrible dehydration can be, I can attest to how very important pushing those extra fluids is. Please keep us posted and know you and your Mom are in my thoughts and prayers. Warmly Christine

Jim, CONGRATULATIONS!!! What wonderful news!!! I am so happy for you! Warm Hugs Christine

Lillian Thoughts and prayers for you today, as always. Christine

I received this in an email this morning from CancerCare.org. I thought it might be helpful for some of you. Warmly Christine Caregivers and the Holidays http://www.cancercare.org/get_help/tew_ ... lendar.php Friday, December 12, 2008 1:30 2:30 ET Holidays, special occasions, birthdays... all of these times can be stressful for caregivers of people with cancer. How can you cope? Find out when experts discuss ways to beat the stress and handle the holidays in this FREE teleconference. For Caregivers: Coping with Holidays, Special Occasions and Birthdays, Throughout the Year Sign up for this Telephone Education Workshop now. Topic: Emotional Concerns Cancer Type: Other Date: December 12, 2008 Time: 1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. ET Presented By: Stewart B. Fleishman MD, Director, Supportive Services, Continuum Cancer Centers of New York, Beth Israel Medical Center, St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Guadalupe R. Palos RN, LMSW, DrPH, Instructor, Clinical Research Faculty, Assistant Professor, Division of Internal Medicine, Department of Symptom Research, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Dominick Bonanno MSW, Program Coordinator, CancerCare Presented in partnership with: American Cancer Society American Pain Foundation American Society of Clinical Oncology Association of Clinicians for the Underserved Association of Oncology Social Work Black Women's Health Imperative Cancer Patient Education Network Education Network to Advance Cancer Clinical Trials Gilda's Club Worldwide Intercultural Cancer Council Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer National Center for Frontier Communities National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship Pathways to Prevention Research Advocacy Network Vital Options International & The Group Room The Wellness Community This program is made possible by: This program is made possible by support from Roche. This program is approved for: 1.0 Contact Hour to social workers by The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, an approved provider through the Texas State Board of Social Work Examiners, provider #CS4607.

((((Lillian)))) So sorry to hear you've been so sick! Glad to have you "back" although I am so sad to read this news about your cousin. Please know you are all in my thoughts and prayers and I hope you will be able to guide Ruby to us so we can help her. She has a wondeful advocate in her corner with you! Many hugs and prayers Christine

Hi Marci If you'd like some information quickly from previous posts here on this site, just go to the search button at the top of the page and type in Taxotere. It will give you lots of posts with info about the treatment. Sorry I cannot offer any first hand advice but hope this helps. Warmly Christine

((((Ann)))) I'm so sorry to read this. Of course you are all in my thoughts and prayers. Many hugs Christine

Thanks for the update Randy.. continued prayers for Mitchell

Randy, Thank you for letting us know about this. Many, Many prayers for Mitchell. I truly hope this is nothing too serious.. Christine

I'm so sorry Denise.

Hi Jackie I don't know if the tumour or the chemo is causing the fever but the chemo does kill off everything, including good cells. Patients on chemo are much more susceptible to infections as their immune systems are compromised from the treatments. I am glad Mom got to the hospital and on the IV antibiotics. Make sure she is getting plenty of fluids too as the fever as well as the chemo can lead to dehydration and THAT is definitely not fun. Keep us posted and let us know how things are going, Hugs Chris

I'm so sorry to read this. Prayers are with Millie Christine

Hi Jackie, I am so glad to see your post this morning and hear that Mom is doing well so far with the Chemo. Sure sounds like she is handling things well and if the mild reacion is all she has had then that is great! I am sorry about the situation with your grandmother. You have enough to take care of with your Mom and yourself and that precious baby you are carrying. It sounds like you will have to stand your ground with your grandmother. It is not an easy situation but it is necessary. As far as the numbers and what your grandmother told you, IGNORE IT. Your mom is not a number and she is not a statistic. She is a unique individual and will react to the treatments and meds differerntly than anyone else. There is NO WAY to predict how long ANYONE has on this earth. Remember, there are people here on this site who have been fighting and surviving and LI VING for many, many years and there is no reason to believe that your Mom will not be the same. Please keep us posted and let us know how Mom is and how YOU are, too~ Much love, many hugs and lots of prayers for you all Christine

Thanks Sandra and welcome back.. The site is www.cancergrief.com and the stories are all on the home page. ~Christine

As November and Lung Cancer Awareness Month come to a close for another year I would like to thank those of you who were kind and gracious enough to contribute your stories for posting on cancergrief.com’s home page. I had contributors from this site as well as a couple of others and I want you ALL to know that your stories touched many people from many countries. I have had messages thanking me for enlightening people about lung cancer’s causes and how a diagnosis has a domino effect and touches so many people. I had people contact me to tell me that they had no idea that lung cancer affected such a wide range of people, young and old, smokers and never smokers, men and women, etc. and that the funding and awareness is so lacking for this cancer. In that respect we made a difference!! THANK YOU. The bottom line is that all of my efforts to get you to help out with this project DID pay off. NOT FOR ME, but for EVERYONE who has been touched in any way by this disease. As I said from the onset.. I was never doing this project for myself but to help all of YOU. I hope to be here again next year and doing a similar project. I hope that in between now and then more of you will see that no matter how you feel about me personally, I am working and putting my own heart and soul into this for all of you regardless. Again, thank you to all of you who contributed. You rock! Much love and many blessings to you. Christine

I've been a member of this community for some time now and have finally gotten around to posting MY story, which would be better entitled My STORIES I suppose. I hope that this will give you all a bit of insight to me and my reasons for being here on LCSC and why I am so passionate about supporting others who are facing Lung Cancer. Obviously this is an abbreviated version of things but it is what I am up to being able to share. To this day I still feel the loss of Brad very deeply and of course having just lost Jerry this year, things are still very raw, very painful and so hard to articulate. Christine’s Story My first true experience with Lung cancer was just over 3 years ago. My best friend, a guy who was a vision of health and fitness, someone who took such good care of himself and his body was diagnosed with what turned out to be advanced lung cancer at the age of 31. He had never smoked in his life. The initial diagnosis was on September 14, 2005. When he told me about this, I just could not believe it! No way could this be happening to Brad. NO WAY. Unfortunately, it was happening and there was nothing that he nor I or any of the doctors could do. He fought, we fought together, investigating every possible avenue of treatment available to him in Canada. After numerous treatments, constant nausea and vomiting from the chemo, constant pain and fatigue, numerous blood clots and hospitalizations, numerous failed attempts at trying to at the very least slow the cancer down, it became clear that there was nothing left to do. He saw a specialist in Calgary who went over his records and told him how terribly sorry he was but the only thing he could do was advise Brad to get his affairs in order. That was November of 2005, the week of Thanksgiving here. Over the next few days I was acutely aware of his pain, of the sadness and the fear that he was living with. I did everything I could to keep his spirits up and to be there for him. And amazingly, through all of this, he continued to work and did his best to keep things running smoothly from his office. On December 9, 2005 we talked for the last time. He asked me to please never give up, to please continue to do what I could to help others who are touched by this horrible disease, cancer. He made me promise to do all that I could.. I promised him that I would. On December 10, 2005 Brad lost the battle with lung cancer. He was 31 years old. I lost an incredible friend and confidante, and the world lost an amazing and talented engineer, an outstanding athlete and a completely wonderful and purely good human being. My life has been forever changed for having known him, for having walked the road that cancer took us down and in the end, for having lost him. I had a very hard time adjusting to this loss. It was actually the first true loss of a peer for me as well as my first real loss to such a miserable and cruel disease. I did find solace in an online grief support group and then began work on my web site. Life got back to some kind of peaceful routine and was going smoothly….. And then it hit again…. ~~~~ My step father had not been feeling well for some time and had been hospitalized for a heart problem. It was during this time that a multitude of testing was done and a suspicious spot was found on his lung, This was May 13, 2008. Jerry was 71 and had smoked all of his life. During the next weeks we fought with the V.A. hospital in an effort to get a diagnosis in order to begin some kind of treatment. We had been told that there was no doubt that it was lung cancer but until a biopsy was done, we would not know the type or stage and no treatment could be done. It was a very, very frustrating and infuriating battle as we watched helplessly as Jerry continued his steady decline and the doctors were doing nothing! This story is chronicled here on the site so I won’t go into all of the gory details again. Jerry remained in the hospital for the better part of a month, finally getting a diagnosis of non small cell lung cancer which had metastasized to the kidneys, liver and into his esophagus making swallowing and talking nearly impossible. Finally the oncologist recommended radiation to the tumor in the esophagus to ease the pain and difficulty swallowing to be followed by chemo. Jerry opted to sign himself out of the hospital and go home under the care of Hospice. This was an acceptable plan as he would be more comfortable at home in familiar surroundings and he was going to be on Tarceva which is a pill that he could take at home with no need for IV infusions. We got him home on July 25 and he was as comfortable as we could make him. He had oxygen around the clock as well as Hospice nurses checking in frequently. He was still not able to talk due to the tumor in his airway but he communicated as best he could through whispers and gestures and we knew he was happy to be home. He had one good day where he ate and drank and was very much at peace. That was Friday, July 27. Saturday was sheer hell. Jerry could not breathe, he was in pain and so restless. He did not eat or drink. We called the nurse and she told us that he was in the last stages of life and had begun the dying process. He died in my mothers arms in the early morning hours of July 29th. As was the case with Brad, it was almost 3 months from the date of diagnosis until his death. I am haunted to this day by the similarities in the two losses. And, again, my life will never be the same…… Lung Cancer. It seems that when you tell people about the diagnosis the first thing they want to know is whether the person was a smoker. In my cases here, one was, one was not. Many people who have never smoked are diagnosed with Lung cancer and regardless, nobody, smokers or non smokers DESERVE this disease. We need to work to erase this negative image, the ugly stigma that is attached to this horrid disease and raise awareness that this cancer kills more people every year than many others, including breast cancer, combined. Lung Cancer does not discriminate. It does not care if you smoke or not, if you are tall or short, rich or poor, heavy or thin. It strikes all walks of life and does not care. We need to raise awareness and fight for more and better research, earlier detection and better treatments and not stop until the cure is found. Brad and Jerry? I won’t stop what I am doing and your deaths are not and never will be in vain. Thank you for reading this and I pray that NOW there is a better understanding of me and what I am here to do. ~Christine

((((Leslie)))) No words, just hugs and lots and lots of understanding. Warmly Christine

Debi WOW.. thank you SO much! What powerful words! Hugs Christine

((((Gabby)))) I am so sorry to read of the loss of your father. My thoughts and prayers are with you at this most difficult time. We will continue to be here for you in the days and weeks ahead. Warmly Christine

Randy If you are ever up here in the Berkshires let me know and I will give you the grand tour of ALL the places Arlo sings about in Alice's Restaurant.. " You can get anything you want, at Alice's restaurant....." The church is now owned by Arlo and is a non profit organization. Stockbridge is still just about the same, lol.. Officer Obie included!!! I could go on and on but it's late lol Happy Thanksgiving my Friend.. Chris

CONGRATULATIONS!!! What a wonderful Thanksgiving gift!!! Warm hugs Christine

Denise I am so sorry you had need to find a site such as this but I am very glad you have joined us. There is no easy way to deal with what you and your family are going through but just from reading your post here it is obvious that your father in law is and has been surrounded by family who love and respect him and his wishes. You can't possibly do more than that, especially now. The best advice I can offer you now is to make the most of each and every day, leave nothing unsaid and cherish the times you can spend together. Please keep us posted and let us know how we can help you. The Path Less Travled Forum has some wonderful posts that may be hellpful as well. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. Warmly Christine

I wanted to take a moment before things get hectic here and for many of the members here during this busy holiday time to wish each and every one of you a very, very happy and blessed Thanksgiving. We all have so many things to be thankful for and although there are rough days and weeks and things are not always harmonious between us all the time, you are all very special and wonderful people and I am so thankful to be a part of this online community with you. We don’t all always get along and we don’t all always agree or see eye to eye but in the big picture we are all here for the same reasons, to give in whatever ways we can and to offer love, acceptance, support and hope. For all of this and so much more, I am so very, very thankful. May your day tomorrow be filled with good food, family and friends and much love, peace and happiness. And I mean that sincerely and from the depth of my heart... Warmly, Christine

((((Ann)))) and ((((Randy)))) Thinking of you both.... Much love and many hugs Christine

(((((Sarah))))) Thank you. Wishing you and yours a wondeful and happy Thanksgiving AND a truly HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Warm hugs Christine