Remembering Dave
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Good news!! Congrats on day 2. See it's not that bad. You can make it, I know it. That decadron is wicked stuff, I hate it. And yes, by the way, a good looking brood you have there. Beautiful photo. Day 3 to come and after that it will be old news. Chemo days were special to me because I knew that what they were putting in my veins was killing the cancer, I helped it along with Shostakovich's 5th Symphony through my headphones as I was getting my chemo. Kill the cancer, kill the cancer. Hope you sleep better tonight.
David C
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laberl, Great news indeed!!!!!! I am sooooooooo happy for you and your mom. I know what you mean, there have been several people here who's passing has had a great impact on me personally and on my posting habits. I try and post as much as possible but with going back to work full time and a 2 year old it is hard to get the time to get on the computer much less reply with my lightening fast dial up connection and 2 finger style of typing. Please keep us updated.
David C
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HAPPY 45TH ANNIVERSARY!!
I sincerely hope that Dave and I make it to that milestone - you're an inspiration!
God Bless,
Karen C.
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I carry an Inhaler with me everywhere I go and use it almost once a day, sometimes more depending on how active I am and if I am working outside. I also use the Advair Diskus which helps as well.
David C
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Oh, yeah, did we mention the potty training? Mandatory for the two almost three year olds at Faith's "school", it's potty training boot camp. The put a diaper on them for nap time so Faith's new trick (this kid has gotta outsmart you whenever possible, I think it's how she survived in the orphanage), anyway, her trick is to hold her bladder until nap time, then when they put the diaper on her she empties her bladder into her diaper. Yesterday she had one accident, filled her diaper at nap time, but never pee'd in the potty despite numerous times sitting her down on it. We have so much other stuff going on right now I'm just keeping her in pull-ups at home, I don't have time for this, and they understand that at daycare.
I just had a two hour code of conduct training and my lack of sleep became noticeable in there. The room was hot, the subject was boring (although the instructor is a friend so I felt her pain in teaching the class) and I nodded off several times.
Karen C.
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Deb it is not unusual to have to have a transfusion, I had to have one. Hope all is going better. You and your husband will be in my prayers.
David C
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I had carboplatin and VP 16 and do not remember having headaches. They gave me something for quesiness too, in IV prior to the chemo. One thing they heavily empasized was to drink, drink, drink and then drink some more!! Extremely important to stay hydrated. I had a quart plastic bottle I carried around with me EVERYWHERE filled with water and made myself take a drink every couple of minutes or so. They also emphasised to eat a lot of protein. The chemo was poisoning the good cells as well as the bad cells and the protein would help the good cells rejouvenate quicker. Hang in there the journey is just beginning. I had great results with chemo. Don't let it worry you, you can do it. A lot of us here have done it. Just make the best of it and picture the chemo coursing through your veins killing all those bad cancer cells. You will be in my prayers.
David C
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Ditto from Karen - how're ya doing?
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I just talked to my Mom this morning, her surgeon had just come to visit her with results of her pathology from her colon surgery on Friday.
As a recap, when the surgeon went in to remove the section of the colon containing the tumor he saw a metastasis on her liver, he took a biopsy of it then "burned the hell out of it". He told us that in RARE instances a colon cancer can physically jump over to the liver without going through the lymph nodes. Well, guess what, her lymph nodes were clear!!! Yipee!! So they are pretty sure that her liver just has/had the one spot on the surface with no other spread anywhere else. They are presenting her case to the "Tumor Board" this morning to decide the best line of treatment but more than likely she'll still have surgery to remove that part of her liver and chemo.
Gosh, as long as Dave's bonkitis turns out to be just an infection and not a mets, then I think we may, once again, actually have beaten the beast back in all of us!
My Dad continues to be 110% after his heart procedure last week.
Now, if I could just get some rest . . . . but yes, am looking forward to Aunt Margaret's cooking and Uncle Wade's biting sarcasm (no, he's a great guy).
Karen C.
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Places to go, things to do, and people to see. Never forget it!!!!!!!!! As always Sandy, my prayers are with you. Let us know what happens/happened.
David C
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Happy belated Anniversary!!!!!!! Sorry about the pain, I hope and pray all is better by now. WOW 45 years!!!! Awesome!! Heres to many, many more.
David C
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Hello all, Another update. Things are getting better. Iam scheduled for surgury tomorow, Thursday at noon, to get a bone biopsy to see if it is an infection and see if my sinus is blocked and drain it and roto rooter it out if necessary. I went to the hospital yesterday and got more CT's, xrays and blood work and did the pre-op registration. Monday the doc called me and said to come to her office on the southside of Richmond (approx 20 miles the opposite way from home from where I work, which is 35 miles from home, geeze) and see her for the pre-op doc check. I did not mind since I knew the ball was rolling. When I was in the hospital yesterday I went up to see Karens mom and she was doing great, well as great as she could be a couple of days after surgury on her colon. They had her up and walking the halls, she had had 2 good meals, her first food in 5-6 days and she could drink fluids so she was in a pretty good mood. They are going to do a CT scan on her today and then release her and let her go home. Her Onc. wants her good and healed and strong before she starts any treatments for her Colon Cancer. Her sister and her Husband (Aunt Margaret and Uncle Wade to Karen) will be coming over to help her during her recovery time at home. They are pretty neat folks from W. VA., Wade loves to fish on our river and Margaret fixes some mean Catfish so I am sure we will get some good meals while they are here. I came home yesterday and mowed our entire place which is 7.8 acres and I mow about 3 1/2 acres.........not a good idea but had to be done and I certainly wont feel like doing it anytime soon after my surgury on my eye. Also got the poontoon boat all ready to go. My sister and her family from Northern VA are coming down for the July 4th weekend so we are all set for a merry 4th on the Mattaponi River, my eye allowing.....hey thats what pain pills are for.....right? They tell me I will be all black and blue like I got punched in the eye and will have an eye patch. Good Pirate material. Anyway, things have calmed down a bit around here and the course has been set, now all we have to do is what needs to be done. That and pray as always. I am sure Karen or I will update y'all on my surgury. Until then Thank you for your prayers and support and God bless us all.
David C
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Doin' the 3mjig!!!!!! Way to go.
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Come on folks theres not a thing wrong with HOOTERS. I am kinda partial to the T-shirts myself although Karen would never let me have one. Theres just something about that Owl.
Great photo of the gang. As you can tell I am a firm believer in changing out the photo's. The more the merrier. Keep the family photo's coming T-bone.
David C
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OK, Ginny, now THIS is the kind of thing we want to hear! Sounds like the oncologist is a half empty glass kinda guy and the radiation onc. is a half full glass kinda guy!
Hang in there, you guys are terrific!
Karen C.
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Andrea - I'd like to share resources with your paralegal if at all possible - have you been able to talk to her? Is there any information about it you can share with us?
I guess we really won't have enough info to do much research until she gets some scans and stuff to see if it's gone anywhere else, and the results of the pathology from her lymph nodes, but I want to get a head start on it.
thanks!
Karen
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Jane, from the Chapmans, thank you so much for donating the money to get the site back on-line. I think it is a wonderful tribute to your brother and the love he left behind.
The Chapman Family
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I briefly did a search yesterday but just came up with the usual ACS and something else similar - and they were sooo general they weren't all that helpful.
I need to find out as much as I can on this monster.
I'm am so exhausted this morning it isn't funny. My Mom is doing well, she has a epidural so she can't feel anything around her incision or lower which is good and helping her rest. The incision is only about 4 inches long, blows my mind they can do all that work in your gut through a four inch incision. she's all bruised and swollen a little down in our groin and thigh where the cardiologist did the cath, it looks worse than the gut incision.
The surgeon didn't think she'd be up to hearing about her metastasis until Monday but he popped in to see her last night around 8 pm and she was doing so well he told her. She took it so well, just said, well, I'll just do what I have to do and not worry about it - Dave just went through it and he did fine.
She is such a strong person and I never ever thought she was, well, after her breast cancer diagnoses I saw it but she is one tough bird now.
well, off to try to get some more laundry done and clean up our tornado stricken bedroom (I literally can't find anything to wear) and clean up the kitchen. Dave has done an awesome job running things at the house and taking care of Faith this week while I've spent all my waking hours at work or the hospital.
Thanks for the support everyone, and if anyone has any good internet suggestions on colon cancer resources, especially mets to the liver, please PM or email us with it or post it here, thanks.
God Bless us all,
Karen c.
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Hello all, This is a continuation of our Bone Scan posting. Just to sumerize--Karens mom went to the emergency room last Sunday and recvd 4 pints of blood due to low counts and has been in the hospital ever since, Karens dad had a heart catheterization on monday (at a different hospital) and stayed overnight, he had 2 blockages 1 90% blocked and 1 99% blocked, the put stints in and he was released on Tuesday, He went home grabbed his keys and went back to K's mom's hospital, Tuesday K's mom had a colonoscopy which found colon cancer, Wed. she was moved to the hospital K's Dad was in because it is a much better hospital and she had a heart cath there, it was the fist time the cath lab had a husband and wife in the same week, her cadiologist wanted to make sure her heart was OK before she went under the knife, it was, and Thursday they started cleaing her out for her surgury to remove the tumor. OK I think that was all in the Bone Scan posting. Well Friday they operated on her and found that it has spread to her liver. None of us really know much about Colon Cancer or the spreading of it yet. She will have to go through some chemo and they mentioned surgery on her liver in the future maybe. Karens mom is being very strong and is in amazingly good spirits, she said--well we will just have to do what isnecessary. I think she will do fine, she is a strong individual and has a positive attitude.
As for me.................
Karen and I were getting really pi**ed at my ENT Doc because we never heard anything. I even called her office about 3:00 on Friday and they said my tests did not come back yet.....but they would call the lab. I never heard anything else, I was at work, I tried calling at 4:40 but the office closed at 4:30. I decided I was going to start taking some Cipro I had laying around since all the docs seemed to not want to give me any Antibiotics but kept telling me I had an infection and probably needed some-grrrrrrr.. Well Karen was at the hospital so I picked up Faith and played Mr. Mom, as I had all week, and we went home. Let me tell you that girl loves her vegetables. Karen had a pot roast with potato's and carrots and onions in the crock pot and Faith all of her plate and then ate 1/2 the vegetables off of my plate, I started getting scared she was going to explode she was eating so much!!! She really has been an angel all week. We went to see Karens mom on Wed. night and she was so well behaved in the hospital and we have had a lot of fun this week, just her and I. ANyway, when we had finished eating dinner at about 20 to 6:00 I saw we had a message, I checked it and it was the ENT Doc. she gave me a number to call her back and nobody answered when I called. I did the dishes and was going to take a cipro pill when the phone rang and it was the doc.. She said the lab tests came back and I did have a sinus infection and she was calling me in an Antibiotic and that I would be having a biopsy of the bone over my eybrow which covers the sinus to see if itwas cancer or a bone infection. She did say that on the list of possibilities cancer is very, very low on the list just because of where it is located. They will cut from the inside corner of my eye up and around the underside of the eyebrow and take a piece of the bone and also see if my sinus cavity is plugged (possible reason for the sinus infection-possible side effect from PCI). there is something deffinitely going on with my bone up there and if it is a bone infection I may have to go in the hospital and get IV Antibiotics for several days depending on how bad it is. I must say my faith in the ENT Doc is restored, calling me at 7:15 on a Friday night. We still do not know when the biopsy will be done, I will have to have a special CT done and an xray before it can be done. The scheduler told us July 1 o July 8 is a possibility. Of course I want July 1 but don't know ifI can get the CT scan done by then. I will have to call early Monday and get them rolling on that one. I am sure Karen will call to. She has a Take No Prisoners attitude towards the medical community which usually works, ha,ha.
Well keep Karens mom in your prayers and either I or Karen will update as soon as possible. As always, you are all in my prayers.
David C
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I've been wondering about them myself.
Karen C.
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Ok, let me see if I got this straight:
1. Rick and Katie use their own time, their own money, and their own expertise, to build a website for lung cancer victims and their families and it is absolutely 100% free for anyone to access and use; and
2. When it goes down for a few days (no matter the reason, they are doing all of this voluntarily) people actually get angry at them because they're cut off from the free thing being GIVEN to them?
3. That just don't add up.
Katie and Rick, all the moderators and members of the board of directors - THANK YOU for what you do. I feel like a total loser because all I do is use the board ALOT.
I'm talking to Dave as soon as we get a minute to spare about sending you some money.
Please please please to those of you who sent the hate mail, please tell me you didn't KNOW how much of their own time and money these two put into this and you didn't mean it? Please?
Karen C.
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Thanks, ya'll, but last night I thought the cracking was happening. ugh. all is better with me now.
all of this and one boss at work hassaling (sp?) me about taking time off for yet another family crisis. he actually reduced my raise b/c I didn't apply for FMLA for the time I took to care for Dave last year. told me I didn't protect myself. what a jerk. and I took nothing but my own vacation time and three days off without pay THAT HE APPROVED. anyway, I asked for the FMLA package and HR told me I shouldn't need it becuase I wasn't taking that much time and besides, it was my time to take (vacation time). I insisted, got the package, and told him I was in the process of protecting myself, ha, but my other boss heard this from me for the first time and "spoke with him" so hopefully this is nipped in the bud. long story behind it all of the usual psycho co worker and office politics. I honestly don't care I told him I was sorry he felt that way, I had no clue he felt that way, but it didn't matter because I didn't care how he felt and my husband was far more important to me than a lousy job and I could always go back to my old job which is very true.
Ok, prayers that my mom's colon cancer had not spread yet AND that Dave's biopsy comes back clear. then, as I like to say, we will have once again gotten away with it all!
thanks for the support everyone, glad the site is back up in time for my online therapy.
Karen C.
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Andrea, you can kick one boss's butt. He was being a typical weinie (who's going to open my mail? who's going to send my faxes? who's going to hold my pathetic weinie hand????) so when my other, cool, female boss told me to "don't worry about this place" I said, now, how am I supposed to not worry about this place when Mr. Weinie is whining about it to me? I then told her that if he didn't back off I was going to look into getting my old job back at the law firm. So she went over and told him to leave me alone. He had to send one more whining email about whether or not I was taking care of something that I told him four times already I was handling so I replied and told him that I thought it was unnecessary to ask me about it again when I had repeatedly assured him it was being taken care of and I didn't want to discuss it again.
So, yes, come kick some lawyer butt, you lawyer you.
Ha, I feel better already!
Karen
Bonesacn and mri results
in SCLC GROUP
Posted
Prayers coming your way. I hope your dad responds to the radiation and chemo.
David C