Remembering Dave

Shelly, I have idea what you must be feeling right now. Please know that we are all here for you as you have been for us. This has got to be very difficult. I pray that your father gets well soon so that he can begin to fight. Please know that my prayers are with you and your father. David C

OK, my first reaction to this was anger. Especially at him giving you cigarettes - wrapped as a gift, for pete's sake?????!!!! when you are trying to quit? how destructive is that? My knee jerk reaction is DUMP HIM, he's got to be more harmful to you than just THAT, if he did THAT. Then I read Dean's post. OK, I totally agree with Dean, especially since he's been there, done that, and as well as SEEN others quit in similiar (or worse) circumstances. So I say, "what Dean said". Except if the relationship remains destructive despite it all, then maybe you do need to get out of it. My opinion. I care about you, whoever you are! God Bless, Karen C. (David C's wife)

Yeah, Aunt Becky for joining the board! And yes, THANK GOD for "only" bronchitis. We just have to make sure it doesn't turn into pneumonia. Thanks for everyone's support. It got scarey pretty fast. And I didn't realize how bad he felt until Sunday or so. We were focusing more on Faith recovering from surgery. Which is why, I suppose, her pediatrician suggested last year we get through Dave's treatment and get him stable before preceding with her surgery. Karen C.

Retha, by now I hope you have some sort of answer from the docs. But if not, let me tell you how Dave's SCLC was diagnosed. He had extremely low sodium levels which, in his case, were causing extreme muscle spasms. Turns out that SCLC tumors can sometimes put out a hormone that makes sodium levels drop. Did they do complete blood tests on your Dad? maybe it's something like that. I would imagine low sodium levels could mess with your brain as well as your muscles. Keep us posted. Karen C (Dave C's wife)

TBone, a belated welcome aboard to you and your family. I really cannot add much more than what has already been said here. I hate Decadron-period. It is an evil drug, albeit a necessary evil. I have to agree with becky in that you can have some really wicked dreams on Ambien. Hope all is still going well for you. David C

Tracy, welcome aboard, Sorry you have to be here but you could not have found a better place. Please listen to Becky, do not get caught in in the statistics game, taht is the worst thing you can do. We will all be here for any information you may need and all the support you may need. Know that there will be many prayers said for you and your dad. David C

Hey Sis!! Welcome aboard. I have to warn you there are some nuts on here (Rochelle!!) you have to watch out for but I think you will have fun. Everybody here is going through the same thing weather they are the actual fighters or caregivers or family members. Thanks for all your wisdom in advance, I feel you have been led in your career to be here just for me and for all of us here. David C

Happy New Year!!! Have a wonderful week and my prayers for good results on the scans. David C

Hello everybody I am finally home!!! Happy Martin Luther King Jr Day!!!!! Well after spending all day in the emergency room I have good news and great news. Good news is I have Bronchitis and a prescription for antibiotics and cough syrup with codein. The great news is that they did a full CT Scan from tip to toe, so to speak and everything is clean. I was scheduled to have the CT's done Feb 3rd but my Onc said to go ahead and do them while I was there. It added about 3 1/2 hours to our day but well worth it since I did not have to wait for a couple of days to find out the results. Everybody at the hospital was wonderful. Faith is at Grandma and grandads for the night thankfully , It would have been a difficult day for her. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers and goodnight. David C

Hello everybody I am finally home!!! Happy Martin Luther King Jr Day!!!!! Well after spending all day in the emergency room I have good news and great news. Good news is I have Bronchitis and a prescription for antibiotics and cough syrup with codein. The great news is that they did a full CT Scan from tip to toe, so to speak and everything is clean. I was scheduled to have the CT's done Feb 3rd but my Onc said to go ahead and do them while I was there. It added about 3 1/2 hours to our day but well worth it since I did not have to wait for a couple of days to find out the results. Everybody at the hospital was wonderful. Faith is at Grandma and grandads for the night thankfully , It would have been a difficult day for her. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers and goodnight. P.S. Thanks Sis for your post letting everybody know about me. David C

I am on my way to the emergency room. My Onc. Nurse, who is very good BUT very, very stuburn, thinks I have the flu and I need to go to my Gen practicioner who is not available today. I have been coughing for over 2 weeks and it has gotten so bad that I feel as if I may break a rib from coughing. Now I don't think it is the cancer, I think I may have some kind of infection since I am coughing up mucus when I do cough. So instead of going to a gen practicioner I have never seen who may or may not be familiar with lung cancer issues and who would more than likely just order some tests and an x-ray, Karen decided I need to go to the emergency room so at least they can take some x-rays and maybe a CT if I can convince them to. Keep us in your prayers. David C

Thank you, Thank you, THANK YOU!!!!!! David C

Prayers are there. David C

COOL!!!!!

I would say spending time with your grandson (good looking kid by the way) beats the heck out of howling at the moon. Hope everything goes well for you tomorrow. My prayers will be with you. David C

Dean, you are an amazing individual. You are caring, compasionate and you deffinitely have the gift of eloquence. Your words mean a lot to a lot of people here. Keep on pluggin and give your wife and daughter a big hug and a kiss each and everyday. Remember we are here for you too. David C

MO, Boy do I know what you mean. I am going to my Onc. tomorrow and hopefully get some good drugs. I have been coughing all weekend. I am stuffed up in the nose too so I am sure I just have some kind of infection or cold or such but I WANT DRUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ha,ha. Maybe if I can get some cough syrup with codein I can really feel good and stay up and howl at the moon. What do you think? Want to join me. David C

Hi Paula. Not sure how much dosage of radiation the cobalt gave your mom but the PCI is a low dosage from what I was told due to it is soley a preventative measure. I guess the dosage would be higher if you had mets to the brain. I had PCI, I did not hesitate to get it. I had a little brain swelling which was controlled immediately by medication. Other than that I have just had some fatigue problems and very minor problems with forgetting small things, like I was reading to my daughter and there was a picture of a butterfly and for the life of me I could not remember what it was, you know it was just at the tip of my tongue but could not get it. I have a pretty analytical day job and it has not effected me there. I would say go for it, it only increases your odds of survival. David C

I have a port and am so glad I got it. It is in my upper right side of my chest and does not hurt a bit. It does hurt if you get hit there like my 2 year old can do. The only problem I had was that the catheter floated up into my neck and I had to have a proceedure done to pull it back down to where it was supposed to be but that was not that bad. David C

GRRRRRRRREEAAT NEWS!!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations. Go out and celebrate. David C

Hey Bruce, sorry so tardy here. Hope you are feeling better."tis the season, I feel kindof crappy myself, runny nose and lots of coughing, chest congestion. David C

Good for her. The people at SSI are nincompoops in my opinion. We had nothing but attitudes and problems with them until we got our congresswoman to help us out, then there were all kinds of appologies. Sounds like Marsha is going to do pretty good for herself. David C

Great photo's. Digital photography is wonderful, instant picture. She really is a good looking little girl, almost as good looking as our Faith, ha,ha, just kidding of course. Keep 'em coming. David C

Congratulations!!!!! David C

Wonderful news, I am with everyone else--celebrate. David C