Remembering Dave

Great post, the type we like to see here. Thank You!! Congratulations and Happy Anniversary!!!!! Welcome aboard, we are all here for each other. David C

Hi, this is Karen, David C's wife. He must not have seen this post. Our oncologist referred him to a clinical psychologist to see, if he wanted to, at the beginning of his treatments back in late March/early April. We went to her just to see what she had to offer (since mentally, Dave was doing great) and she told him about visualization techniques. You put yourself in a meditative state, and visualize in some way the cancer going away. Lots of people, especially men, invision an army marching through their bloodstream and attacking and killing all the cancer cells, etc. Turns out Dave had used this type of thing for years in his trumpet playing, so it was easy for him to do. He had a certain symphony he listens to during chemo and other times - I can't remember the composer right now. The psychologist told us of several different successful cancer treatments where the patients (patients of hers) used visualization. Dave had 6 weeks of radiation starting in April and after that and four rounds of chemo, a CT scan showed his tumors to be gone. So it probably did at least help. That, combined with lots of prayer, a strong will to live and beat the cancer, and excellent doctors and nurses helping him. Hope this helps - maybe Dave can add something.

Yippeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!! That is wonderful news, I agree with everyone else, GO CELEBRATE!!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!! David C

Hello, I am sorry I cannot help you with any of your questions. I would call and insist on an appt with the doctor and not let him leave the room until he/she has answered all your questions. That seems like wonderful news but you have very, very good questions which need to be answered by the doc. My experience has been that the docs do not mind answering your questions. Good luk and I am praying the NED is correct!!! David C

Alright folks, no West Virginia Jokes. My wife was born in West Virginia but we live in Virginia. Just wanted to clear that up even though West Virginia is one of the prettiest places I have ever visited some of the jokes do hold true. Keep up the good work David. David C

Big prayers for the Big R!!! David C

Dave, that is great. Best of luck to you. I think it is an awesome way to get the word out. You are an inspiration!!! David C

Carleen, I had rad. to my chest but not the neck area like you are describing. The radiation added to the fatigue in my case. Hang in there Carleen, you have to keep the faith. My prayers are with you and your husband.

Good question. Thanks Ray. David C

Donna, hang in there. Carleen is right that SCLC is very responsive to chemo. Keep the Faith and never give up. This is a great place to come whenever you are feeling down or as if you need some support. Don't hesitate to let us know what is happening, we are all in this together, none of us is alone. My prayers will be with you and your family.

Welcome aboard Mark. You are correct in that cancer is a disease which needs a cure, I am going for a complete cure to my cancer and so far so good. Sounds like you are doing pretty well yourself, over 2 years out from diagnosis. CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Keep it up. David C

Hello, Colleen, your parents and your family are lucky to have you there. Never give up hope. Keep the Faith and keep us informed. My prayers are with you and your family.

You can count on my prayers!!

Rana, I am so sorry to hear the news. Hopefully her Doctors will be able to stabalize things and put your mind at ease enough to get you well needed vacation. My prayers will be with you and your family. David C

What a post!! I can tell that you are in serious pain, I am truely sorry. Families, especially stepfamilies can be a very difficult situation to deal with no matter what the situation but throw cancer into the mix and, well it is just so much more harder. You are stronger than you think, you have been there for your mom through her illness and you will be blessed because of it. Beware of the realtor, he may or may not be correct but you need to realize he wants a commission and will tell you you need a townhouse to get his money ( I am a Mortgage Underwriter ). An apt may be best at this time considering the situation you are in......even with the mortgage rates the way they are. It sounds like you love your mother and your little sister greatly. Look very hard for some insurance for your mom and also check out social services and any public health insurance options you may have, keep looking and research all your options. If your mom wants to be away from her current hubby then she should not be compelled to stay due to insurance. Financial situations are always difficult. Decisions about what you want as opposed to what you really, really need can be very difficult to make. Do you really need a $20,000 car to get from point A to point B or will a 10 year old toyota for $2,000.00 work just as well? Getting rid of your car payment may pay for the private insurance your mom needs. You are in a difficult situation and there is no right or wrong answer to what you need to do. Don't hesitate to ask for help. You also must figure out how to live YOUR life as well as being there for your mom. Maybe counseling will help, maybe your pastor can help. One thing that I have found is that you must ask for help, it is not a sign of weakness to ask for help, to the contrary, people who do ask for help realize that they cannot handle situations on thier own and are strong enough to ask for help. Trust in God and he will show you the way. I will be praying for you and your mom.

Thank you to everyone who replied to my post last week. I saw my Onc today and told him I WANT MY PROCRIT!!!!!! Unfortunately he said I could not get the procrit until next week due to the Anaresp still in my system. MAN!!!! He did say that from everything he can see I am in remission!!!!!! We will do another CT Scan after all my treatments are over. He said my counts today were lower than they have ever been and he doubts that they will be up enough to have my last chemo as scheduled this coming monday-wed. , hopefully I will prove him wrong, I am ready for chemo to be over and done with. After that I have the PCI (brain radiation). I had a pretty good 4th holiday weekend. My sisters family came and stayed the weekend (my folks have been here since I was diagnosed in March). We had a cookout and they all went to Warsaw Virginia for the fireworks. I did not go due to the fact that I was totaly worn out and Karen and I had to leave at 6:30 the following morning to go get a new puppy. Yep, we got a puppy. We got another Chocolate Lab to replace Miles (my smoking buddy and the best dog that ever lived who ran away 1 month prior to my diagnoses). I think I am crazy. He is 7 weeks old and has peed inside more times than I can count. I have caught him everytime (I think)and have taken him outside to finish. Hopefully he will be potty trained soon but actually it is good since he is giving me something to do and I have been more active in the past few days taking care of him (and cleaning up after him) than I have been in a while. I sure hope everyone has a good week. Keep the Faith and fight, fight, fight!!! David C

Hello everyone, I have not been posting much lately, I feel so bad. It has to be the cumulative effects of the chemo. Also the docs switched me from procrit to some other drug (anarisp-?) and I really do not think it works as well as the procrit. They said it is supposed to work as well as Procrit and you only have to take it every other week. I am going to ask for the Procrit next time. I have been feeling so bad for the past 2 weeks which is when they switched me. I just don't have the energy to do anything and I ache all over. I go into town for an hour and it takes me days to reciover. Good news is only one more round of chemo to go and then PCI-not sure how I feel about the PCI. I did go to a wedding of a good buddy which was held at a marina on the Chesapeake Bay this past saturday-3 days after my 5th chemo round. I saw a bunch of old friends which I had not seen in a long time. I only lasted untill 9:30 but had such fun.......I am still paying for it physically. We got a room at the hotel so we would not have to drive home that night and took a nice liesurely drive home the next morning stopping at a state park on the Rappahonnock River and enjoyed the morning. We left our little girl with my folks so Karen and I had a much needed time alone together. Faith, our 21 month old girl, is starting to really try and talk. She is such a blessing. Life is going pretty good but I am just tired of feeling like crap. It is oh so hard to keep a positive attitude when you feel so bad all the time. I WANT PROCRIT!!!!!!!!!!!!! David C

Carleen, This is Karen, David C's wife. I must tell you that I have suffered in the past from some pretty bad clinical depression. It happened after several miscarriages and infertility treatment. I had weekly therapy with a good clinical psychologist and went on an antidepressant, Celexa. With some work I was able to come out of it. Anyway, long story short, I think that experience sort of helped me when Dave got sick, I still take the Celexa but after talking to my family doctor upped the dosage when Dave was diagnosed. But I think that experience helped me with learning the danger signs of depression, I can nip it in the bud when I feel it coming on, etc. Anyway, one thing I did do as soon as Dave was diagnosed was go to our family doc (she is wonderful so we're lucky) and had a long talk about keeping me healthy so I could take care of Dave. During that visit she noticed a funny looking mole and again long story short, I had a Stage II melanoma removed about a month ago. A potentially life threatening thing nipped in the bud. My point is, you must take care of yourself right now, emotionally, mentally and physically. You cannot wish for God to take you if He takes your husband, because that is probably not God's Will. God and your husband I am sure want you to be healthy and happy and STRONG. My advice to you right now is to take the steps you need to take care of your heart problem and be thankful it was diagnosed, and to find a medical profession to talk things through with and also yes, get on a good anti-depressant. If you need to talk privately let me know and I will get our phone number to you. And know that you are not alone in this. God Bless, Karen C

Shannon, This is Karen, David C's wife. I am so sorry to hear that Mike is gone. I don't know you at all but Dave shares all your posts with me and I must tell you that you have been quite an example to me as we go through Dave's cancer treatment. Honestly, I strive to be the wife to Dave that you have been to Mike, and thankfully, so far, he hasn't needed what you've had to give Mike, but if he does, I will keep your love, devotion and loyality as a guide. I wish you a happy life and please stay in touch through this board if you can (it might be difficult for you) because I believe you can continue to help others, even if we cannot do anything to help you.

Shannon, I am so sorry to hear about Mike. My prayers are with you and your family. Dvaid C

Connie, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!! I go for my 4th round of chemo today and have been in a real funk even though I got good news from my last scan. Your post was the best thing that could have happened to me today. Again, Thank You and God Bless.

God works in wonderous ways!!! My prayers are with you!!!! David C

Shannon and Mike, you are some of THE strangest people I know. Strong people fight. Do not give up, fight hard and ignore the naysayers however well meaning they may want to be. My prayers are with you and Mike. David C

Wonderful news. Here's to more results like that for a long, long time to come. David C

Whew!! I can see why you are exhausted!! Hang in there, you will be in Tulsa before you know it. My prayers are with you and Mike every day. David C