Remembering Dave

Ray, hey man, glad the caught the clot!!! Great news on the scan too. I too am scheduled for a CT on Feb. 3rd. We will be the 2/3 brigade for excellent, clean scans. You must have a strong wife because I really don't think my wife could give me shots!!! Hang tough and keep the Faith. David C

I was told that the only way to know for sure if you are cured of SCLC is if you are alive in 5-10 years. Until then scan, scan, scan......and don't smoke!!! David C

Dean, here is hoping your wife can get the job done. I just hate the governmental administrations sometimes. Get in touch with your congressperson and beg them to help. I wish I could buy you the d@#!scooter myself. My prayers are with you. David C

Shellie, jeeeeeeeeze!!!!!! You were not kidding--Good news, bad news. I hope the antibiotics do the trick and do it quick. My prayers are with you. David C

Judy, sorry I do not have any experience with the chemo combo. . Hang tough. You can do it. David C

This post is simply so that you can all reply and tell us how beautiful our daughter, Faith is. As you can tell she needs all the sympathy she can get from everyone. The surgery on her hand has really hampered her ability to have fun, as you can clearly see. David C

Jennifer, My prayers are with you, your family and you Mother. David C

Berisa, this has got to be tough on you and your father. As said before I hope this was a GOOD MISTAKE. Pray and trust in the Doctors. Our prayers are with you and your father. David C

Dave those research hospitals sound like the way to go. Glad you feel so comfortable with them, that means a lot I think. Try the Tiger Woods game. My prayers are with you. David C

I had pneumonia while going through treatments and it did take a while to get over. I know it is difficult buttry to be be patient. My prayers are with you.

Add our prayers Sandy. David C

Hi, this is an exhausted Mama Karen. Faith was amazing. When they say kids are so resilient they ain't kidding. I had no idea what that really meant. Like Dave said, she was such a trooper, and seemed to completely understand and even appreciate everything going on. We are so tired, she didn't sleep all night, just in two or three hours spurts, and half of that in my lap. We didn't have a private room - in fact, when they practically require a parent to stay with the kid, why aren't the rooms private? Her roomate was a four year old girl who shattered her elbow climbing. She whined alot and her mother SNORED all night long! The little girl would wake up and scream for her mama but the lady kept right on snoring. sometimes it would wake Faith up and she's say "uh oh" and start calling for the little girl's mama, too, which was kinda funny. The lady also liked to chomp ice cubes and chips very loudly with her mouth open. OK, this is my humorous look at the whole thing - makes me really appreciate being in our own humble little home in our own humble little beds! I couldn't be more thankful for such a good doctor and for such a brave little girl. She's been asleep since we got home - about four hours now, a well deserved rest! God Bless you all for thinking of us! And Dean (and the other adopted post, can't remember, was that Ann?) thank you for your words, but I believe God put us through infertility for a reason. He led us to our Faith (thus her name) so we can't take credit for adopting her, but I am so thankful for the experience. God Bless you all, Karen C.

I agree, get a new Onc. who will fight as hard as you two are. David C

Hello all, this is Daddy reporting in. Faith surgury(s) we3nt just fine. She is a little trooper. We got to the hospital at 6:00 am and got all registered and went to the waiting area with her and she was fine while we were waiting. She started getting a little antsy, probably getting thirsty, and there was another mother whose daughter was getting operated on also and this lady just took Faith up in her arms and Faith calmed right down. Shortly after that the docs came in and took her temp. and blood pressure and Faith just stood there and did a great job, nopt crying at all. She did start crying when they took her but the really wisked her away quickly and then immediately put her under, so she did not cry for long. At about 9:30 am the Doc came out and said she did great and explained what all he did. She has a semi soft cast on which she will have for approx. 3 weeks. He did have to put a pin in to support the remaining thumb and tennon he had to work on so they will put her under to remove the cast and the pin in 3 weeks. Her scar on her hip he said was a piece of cake and it should be less noticeable as well. We got up to see her at approx. 10:30am and she looked like the cutest little drunk you have ever seen in your life, ha,ha. She was still coming down off the anesthesia and they pumped her with Morphine as well. The only time she got a little fussy was around 2:00 when the pain medication began to wear off. The nurse gave her some more and she calmed right down. She did not go to sleep at all during the day so I held her in my lap most of the time and she was fine with that, just would not go to sleep!! I just got home from the hospital a few minutes aqgo and called and Faith had finally gone to sleep. I bet she sleeps all night since she did not have a nap all day. Well, I need to get to bed since I have to be back at the hospital to pick them up at 6:00 in the morning and the hospital is about 50 minutes away, ugh. Thank you all for you prayers and support. God bless us all. David C

Wonderful news!! Sounds like you are in a wonderful place-physically and mentally. Remember to drink, drink, drink (non alcholholic, sorry) You have to keep hydrated. Keep us updated. David C

That is GREAT NEWS!!!!! David C

Just wanted to let everyone know that our precious little Faith is having surgery tomorrow to remove the extra thumb she was born with, and also to repair a big ole' nasty scar on her hip she came to us with from China (not sure how she got that, but it is pretty big, I can't imagine her going through that as a small baby). She (and I) will be spending the night in the hospital. Dave will be there with us through the surgery and as long into the day as he can last. We wanted to do this surgery sooner after returning from China but Dave's treatment had priority. Now that he is somewhat stable we decided to get it done before Faith got any older. God Bless you all, Karen C. (Dave's wife, Faith's mama)

All I can say is - you go, Duke and you go, Ginny! I'm hoping that he can stay stable on Irressa and enjoy life now, he certainly deserves a break and to live his life a little. He sure is lucky to have you, Ginny! God Bless you both! Karen C. (Dave C's wife)

Tom I am so sorry. A few days after Christmas my friend's father passed away as well. I'm glad your Mom got to do the things she enjoyed and lived her life to the fullest. I really admire that. It's so easy to just lay down and let yourself go but she apparently had great spirits. God Bless you, Karen C. (Dave C's wife)

Hang in there, and you can get lots of support here. If you boyfriend bailed on you NOW, then perhaps you'll be better off without him around? Doesn't sound like he'd be able to handle it or be very supportive. Cindy made a good suggestion - about a church family to help. If you don't currently belong to a church start visiting around. Church folks are always eager to adopt a new member and be there for you. Your boys sounds like good kids. Hang in there, and keep us posted. Karen C. (Dave C's wife)

Paula, My husband, Dave, had PCI. He had six chemo treatments 3 weeks apart each, concurrently with chest radiation, I think 30 days of that. After successfully finishing both, a CT scan of his head was ordered to make sure there were no brain mets. There weren't, so he "graduated" to PCI. It seems to us that if you get to PCI you've done pretty well, they do it if the initial treatments appear to be successful. It is done because chemo can't always get through the tiny vessels in the lining of your brain but cancer cells can, so it is to kill any cancer cells that might have sneaked in there. He had some side effects but nothing awful. After just the first day he had an excruiating headache. Turns out he had brain swelling from just one treatment. The radiologist put him on a steroid, Decadron, to help with the swelling. The headaches did get better. He had lost his hair from chemo and it hadn't had a chance to start growing back so he stayed bald (he had PCI in September and since Christmas he's started getting some peach fuzz). I will tell you that he had and still has some short term memory loss, gets a little impatient and anxious, tires very easily still. But again, nothing awful, nothing that is stopping his life from going on. And we decided that no matter the side effects, it was worth it to stop any brain mets and LIVE. Hopefully he'll read this and add his two cents worth or correct any detail I might have gotten wrong. I'd say if your Mom is doing well and is fairly healthy otherwise I'd encourage it. Things have improved since the 1970's! God Bless, Karen C.

Denise, I hate to say it but welcome aboard. You have come to the right place for info and support. Family and friends are the most important things. Gather them around and do not hesitate to ask for thier help and support. You have travelled a rough road already but you are a fighter I can tell. You can beat this, keep telling yourself this over and over. We are all here for you. God would not give you anything you cannot handle Oh, yeah, remind me never to Pi$$ Shelly off. My prayers are with you.............and your EX-boyfriend if Shelly ever gets a hold of him. '.nn..lnl,nl,ln,,n,nmnmnmnnnnnnnnnnn That was from our 2 year old named Faith. Seriously you will be in my prayers. David C

I had a CT scan 1/2 way through my chemo regime to check how the chemo was working. Ask your Doc about scans. I will be Praying for good results. David C

Tom, I am sorry to hear that you mother lost her battle with SCLC. You are right, this is a horrible disease. It is so good that she had a chance to go to NYC, and Atlantic City and enjoy herself. That is the secret I feel is to live life to it's fullest while fighting. My prayers are with you and your family. Remember we are all here for you. David C

My sincere condolences go out to Sams Family. Sam was always there to answer mine and everyone elses questions. He was truely a friend to everybody here. He will be greatly missed. My prayers go out to Sams Family. David C.