Judy-OK

Tanner here are more prayers headed your direction. Hoping to see a post from you after your trip to the doctor. I had a PET today and not results to Friday. The waiting could quite possibly have a lot to do with how your wife is feeling. I vascilate between wanted to drink gallons of wine or take an extra ativan from time to time. I hope all goes well and she feels better soon.

Hello Leslie and Adrian and my best to you dad. Sounds like he has the family behind him and that is worth more than mere wors can imply. I had the carbo/taxol but unlike enrol who said the benadryl knocked him out ... it wired me up BUT the liquid ativan they had in my chemo cocktail hit me with the slurred speech and not really caring what else was going on around me. Chemos of today or so much more "user friendly" than they were years ago and each one of us responds differently. The most important things is the intake of lots and lots of liquid ... water being the best thing for our bodies.. he must stay hydrated and my onoclogist told me to eat whatever appealed to me; hence, I manage to put on about 25 pounds. Let us know how his treatment goes.

Welcome Steve and be sure and tell Kathy she can come out and play with us as well. This is great group of folks when times are good and when times are bad. Let us know some more info on Kathy because you will find tons of support.

Welcome aboard a great message board for support and understanding. Take some deep breaths and get thru what I am sure is currently a terrifying situation. If it is confirmed to be cancerous and they start him on radiation/chemo/surgery or whatever they think will be in your dads best interst ... just know that once treatment starts there is a type of peace that settles over a person. Now having said that ... realize that I was the patient and not a caregiver. I did not feel bad or panic again until they quit the chemo and the radiation. Now I play the every 3 month waiting game and try to maintain some normalacy and sanity to my live. Keep a good attitude because attitude and sense of humor can bring a person through some really tough trials and tribulations.

These topics come up at just the right time ... I went to my friendly gyno a week ago today and when she mentioned the dreaded mammogram I told her NO WAY would they get me to have one. I can not imagine having one following surgery because I have pain from radiation that keeps me from going. I told her I have a PET scan coming up on May 1st and could they not detect what they need to know from that and she said she did not think so but she would check. Then she said not to fret that she would order an MRI if the PET scan would not suffice. The last thing she said was if I had not heard back from her office in a couple of weeks to give her a call. Now I am thinking I will definitely wait until after my Onocologist appointment on the 4th of May.

Before I received the dx I was always reluctant to spend any money on myself. I saved for retirement or so I would have something to pass on to my son. A few months ago I treated myself to a one hour massage. Since that time I have continued to have a massage a couple of times a month and do not feel the least bit guilty about the money I am investing in my mental well being because after many years of working and worrying I finally realize that I am worth it. And now this conversation has convinced me to toss out the dusty, dirty mini blinds and go out and buy myself some curtains. Thanks to you Lily I am going to go shopping this weekend.

Bless you Missy!!! You and your family are in my prayers and thoughts.

This is the kind of post that makes me wonder why I check the Family Members/Cargivers topic. Not a great way to start my day. I have an only child "son" that someday I am sure I will have to depend on for my well being. Jane I hope you do find some help for yourself as well as someone to help with your mom. It breaks my heart to imagine that someday I too could become the burden you are describing and that is when I can get down and wonder what I can to avoid this type of situation. I will say an extra prayer for you and your mom and to you I will say pray, pray, pray for the strength to get through the difficulties. Best wishes.

From what I have heard it varies greatly from state to state as to the degree of difficulty in getting approved for Social Security Disability. Myself and two friends of mine were approved on our first attempt without being sent to one of their doctors for a check up. My cancer was deemed inoperable, one friend has lung cancer as well and it was removed surgically and the other friend had breast cancer and got a mastectomy. Someone who posted ahead of me mentioned the "filling out" of the forms by both your mother and her doctors. I truly believe that this is of utmost importance that it be very thorough and specific. Best of luck to you mom.

One more loud shout for KEEP the pup. Had I known a year and half ago that I would be diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer I may have not purchased the current "love of my life" a 110 pound german shepherd named Hunter. When I was unexpectedly hospitalized on 2 occasions due to collapsed lungs my friends and neighbors pitched in and saw that he was taken care of. I live out in the country by myself with my cat and my dog. I have made sure that provisions are made in the event of my demise regardless of what brings about the end. I have chosen two friends that I would approve of as homes for my pets and both of those friends know who they are and have said they would be happy to take one or both of them in. Hunter got me through way to many radiation and chemo ups and downs for me to let him go before I absolutely have to.

All of this again leads to the words I live by. Life is terminal and NONE of us are getting out of this alive. I love everything listed and most of it is even better if it is charcoaled. But I will also join in the snickers bandwagon. LOL

Hi Kelly you hang in there. I am sending prayers straight up the expressway to heaven as well as the Oklahoma expressways to help your moms pain and to comfort you.

Great news Don!!!!!!!!!

Flowergirlie you are my latest message board HERO!!! Having just endured what you and your family did and then seeing you back on the board so quickly trying to help others in need truly shows what a kind and caring person you are. I believe there truly are angels here on earth and my bet is that you are one of them.

I also had chemo and radiation at the same time. Radiation was MOnday-Friday for 7 weeks with chemo every Friday. Like the all said before it was doable but wore me out. I did manage to stay by myself and take care of of my 5 horses ... it was tough but truly think knowing I HAD to feed them kept me going on a day to day basis.

Hip-Hip-Hoooooray for you!!!!!!!! To this day when I face a truly stressful situation I stop and say to myself .... if I had a cigarette, what about the situation would change. NOTHING!!! Besides I quit when I found out I had inoperable cancer WHAT could be more stressful than that??? You have kicked the physical part and now the battle with the psychological self starts .... that was always the hardest for me. I would tell myself that I have not quit smoking for the rest of my life but just for the next 10 minutes. I have piled those ten minutes on top of each other long enough to make it 11 months now so DO NOT give in and you will be a hero to many.

Lilly .... I rarely get so see my grandson because he or someone in there household, there are 6 of them, is usually sniffling or sick with something. In spite of that I still managed to get a nasty infection that of course settled in my lungs but manage to battle it away and get back off of oxygen 24/7. That being said. while I was in the middle of treatment a rumor started where I used to work that I was on my death bed and had some folks staying with me that would not allow me to receive phone calls. Well once I heard that I made some phone calls and set it straight and told them to ALWAYS ask me if there were any questions. I live alone and might have enjoyed a few call or visits but the rumor mongers had spoken. Hand in there you can do this and come out shining on the other side.

I have a dear dear friend that had a lumpectomy and radiation treatments for breast cancer about two years ago. She did not receive any chemo. Today she is on her 4th week in the hospital with a cancer that they have yet to declare primary or secondary. The removed her ovaries, drained liters of fluid from her stomache area, has blood clots in her lungs. They found more cancer in her when the did the hysterectomy but said it was more than they would be able to remove so they have now started a very aggressive chemo that she receives once every three weeks. I am sure she will ALWAYS wonder if she had received chemo following the lumpectomy if this would be happening to her now. Does no good to second guess and all I try to do is keep her spirits up. Have I mentioned that I HATE cancer???

Kaylei ..... from one Okie to another welcome to this wonderful site. I, like Kasey, have not figured out the my space stuff yet but I do check this site out daily. I had a friend that had gamma knife done in OKC will have to find out who her team was ... I do know she just loved them. Judy

You are doing great and don't let this get you down. I have a neighbor that is still thinking she is going to quit smoking but keeps finding justification not to do so. She is admittedly jealous and resentful of the fact that myself and another neighbor did manage to quit the habit. If your Aunt is a smoker then it is probably best that you do not go spend a lot of time in that environment until you have more quit time under your belt. A lot of things I did before I quit I literally steered clear of until I had a good handle on what would trigger me and how I would deal with the craves when they happened. Hang in there .... this can and will be one of the best decisions you have ever made.

I am doing the "happy dance" for you. You have embarked on a difficult but very worthwhile trip. Here is a link to a site that you may want to check out. http://www.quitnet.com/ As some one else said take it one minute or second at a time, drink lots of water, and do NOT give in to the stories the Nico-Demon will try to tell you.

Muriel the more the merrier we will trade in the hand held umbrella for one of those great big beach umbreallas if we need to. LOL

I am going to hunker down and stay under the umbrella with Trish if there is room. My oncologist likes to leave them in for a year or two. I actually asked the surgeon that put mine in if I could just keep it forever (they did collapse my lung when they installed it). He said that I could as long as I kept it flushed. My sister passed away last October and had the same port in place for over 10 years.

I have a very dear friend that is currently in the hospital with several blood clots in her lungs. They have her on cumadin and put some sort of filter in so if or when the clots break loose the filter is supposed to break them up. I do NOT understand all of what is going on with her. As far as I know she does not have lung cancer but is a breast cancer survivor and has now been diagnosed with cancer because of cells in fluid they drained out of her stomach. They did a hysterectomy on her a week ago and then started chemo last Friday. I do not think they have told her what causes the clots in her lungs but they continue to do different tests, x-rays, ultrasounds, etc. Best of luck and you have my prayers.

Flowergirlie ... you have been in my thoughts constantly of late. I pray you find peace and comfort and remember you did everything you should have. Please take care of yourself and your kids and continue to come to the board when you can to help others. You are a truly wonderful pereson.