peacelover

OH MY GOODNESS CHAR what INCREDIBLE, DELIGHTFUL ,WONDERFUL BLESSED NEWS I am grinning from ear to ear and hope your mom and family are too! I am happy beyond words for you-thank you for sharing Continued Health and Peace- Melissa

My mom hated this med-she could barely choke it down and it did not make her eat but it did make her vomit. I don't think that it is a desperate attempt to make your husband eat-the docs just know that you need nourishment so your body can fight. My mom took 2 doses then started drinking a ton of ensures and smoothies with protein powder instead-she put on 10 lbs in a month and they were happy. Sending you and hubby strength and love! Melissa

Lori- God Bless Your Momma-she sure sounds like she has a fightin spirit and I send you all the best. I am praying for you all... how are you????? Here to talk if you need an ear,,,,sending you blessings! Melissa

Andrea- I don't have much by way of advice-just wanted you to know I understand. I get crazy from the doctors seemingly 'carefree' attitude sometimes...right now, her right lung is filled with fluid and it took her 8 days to get the doc to call back to tell her that they are not going to do anything about it because it would cause more harm than good...8 days! Me and My sister both have gone thru the 'panic' mode more than once-after all, we had no clue my mom had cancer when she was diagnosed so sometimes that can feel a bit helpless when it comes to our own ailments. I took zoloft for a while because my anxiety was so great I was convinced I was having a heart attack....at age 32 I just try to remember to trust in that higher power i cannot see....know that what you are going through is normal and that all conditions are temporary sending you calming thoughts and big cups of warm cocoa to soothe your soul. Peace-Melissa

Hello Spirithawk-What an awesome young man you must be to research enough to find this board filled with awesome souls. I only just got here myself and wished that I had known about this place at the beginning of my mom's journey with LC. I echo the sentiments of the others here-DO NOT listen to any of the time frames they give you, there are so many variables and no one can put a number on your dad's fight and strength. Do some research on essiac tea if you can, it helped my mom a lot with side-effects of treatment. It may be a good option for you. I send you my heartfelt prayers and please let me know if there is anything I can Help you all with. Peace and Blessings! Melissa

Thanks for the Heads Up Katie- I just spoke to Lunar pages my hosting service and some hacker got in and is defacing index pages-intermittent problem they expect to have resolved soon...what a shocker to see that stuff... Anyway-thanks to all of you for the warm and kind welcome-I am certainly humbled by your shared journies and am grateful to have found this place.. Talk with you soon and those of you that requested pics they are in creation now Hugs to all Melissa

Hey Char- First of all please know I am sending you hugs and strength-cancer effects everyone and this is a tough time for your whole family i know. My mom has had three seperate instances of brain metastases and all have caused some degree of abnormal behaviour. The first 16 lesions when the original tumor was found had her doing things like, adding extra zeros to the checks she was writing, having conversations with me as if I were my sister although I was sitting right in front of her and things of that nature. Radiation took care of these and all symptoms stopped. That was 8 years ago. The second 4 tumors were positioned so that they put pressure on the places in her brain that control movement and speech and cognitive thought process. We first saw these when she was in remission from the LC and it freaked us all out. Her especially-she would be walking and suddenly stop and look at me and say-'it seems as if my brain cannot remember how to take the next step Melissa can you help me out' or that she would be in mid-sentence and forget where she was at in the sentence, shake her head and start over again. Reversing words in speaking, reversing letters in her writing that sort of thing-PET confirmed the new growth and she underwent cyberknife surgery which killed all the tumors. That was 2 years ago and again all symptoms stopped after surgery. In March of this year she started with it just seeming as if she could not keep up with the conversation-it taking a while for her to respond and actually looking as if she was having a hard time processing information. Then started with the forgetting where she was at physically or why she was there. We thought this was just years of treatment taking their toll on her mind and body until she started having moments of partial blindness and stumbling while she was walking, not being able to coordinate her limbs to get up off the sofa-MRI confirmed 3 new tumors-laser and chemo and these are gone now too.... I am not sure about your moms docs-my moms docs said that at least a part of it was from the pressure the tumor put on that area of the brain and the extra fluid accumulation around the area. Another option was a side effect from chemo and rads and just being plain tired from all the treatment. Mom still has 'tired brain' she calls it where she has a hard time keeping up with fast moving conversations even though her tumors are gone, docs say this is from so much treatment and once her body rests she may overcome this, may be that so much rads damaged some vital piece of brain matter too-there is no way to really pinpoint it. Talk to the doctor and be patient with your mom. Encourage her by letting her know that this and all conditions of treatment are temporary. Let her know that it is okay to have 'tired brain' given everything she is fighting and that this new symptom will pass...we all have a sense of humor about it now and this seems to help us too.....if your mom is willing to try something new look up essiac tea online. It seemed to help my mom-I made it at home so don't spend tons of money on it-the herbs cost about 5 bucks...anyway, mom's chemo and rads symptoms were relieved by this tea. Not much advice sorry, just wanted you to know that you are not alone-I wholly understand your freak out factor. It is upsetting to see your parent not be your parent and it feels even worse to not be able to help them-it can get better! Strength to you Char -Melissa

Prayers for you and your family. I know so much 'bad news' is hard- I would like to encourage you, your family and your mom to not let anyone put a 'time limit' on her life. The docs are only giving 'probability' not 'fact'. You have to find some small bit of something positive to celebrate and focus on each day.no matter how small those small things can lift you and change the quantity and quality of your moms life. Tell your mom that when my mom was diagnosed they gave her 4 months-that was 8 years ago and while there is a new type of normal in her life she is functioning, working, loving-LIVING! Is it hard, well yup-but it is not unbeatable- As hard as it is to believe SHE CAN BEAT IT! Sending your mom some positive and healing thoughts at this crazy time and you the strength to keep her lifted! Melissa

My name is Melissa and I have been reading all of the incredible stories on this board for a few days. I wanted to introduce myself and wanted to applaud you all for your strength and tenacity in fighting this disease and for the awesome way you share hope with the others on this board -YOU ARE ALL INCREDIBLE! We received mom's dx of NSLC-Stage IIIB 8 years ago. A 'tickle' in her throat was the only outward sign that she had...I do not have to tell you all about this roller coaster it is more treatments than any human should have to endure and for sure, it is a ride we are all on. Now, mom is doing pretty well-her last PET in May showed the 3 previous Brain Mets, thyroid and adrenal gland mets are gone. While the original tumor appears 'dead' there are others in both lungs now, the docs are having a hard time telling the diff between scar tissue, fluid and tumor in her right lung...my mom has never topped smiling and is not using her O2 much at all the last few weeks-her 'memory' has come back(guessing because the tumors in Brain are gone)and she is going back to work after taking a 6 week leave on Sept 20th. I am so moved to see you all bless each other with support, hope and love, this is what life is about, helping each other-I would like to bless each of you as you have blessed others if you will allow. I am starting a non-profit org to donate paintings to chemo centers and would like to make an offer to everyone on this board. Can I send you each a painting with an inspirational message on it? Take a look at my website-I am at www.artforyourheart.org Or www.artforyourheart.com You can read more about why I started this project, see my work and more about my mom's story on the Mission Statement Page. I have donated to mom's doc, and 2 other cancer tx centers in dallas as well as the ronnie mac house for kids here The only string in this offer is that you continue to share your brilliant light with the world! The world really needs it! I will cover postage etc and would consider myself blessed to give you this gift...just PM me or email me thru my site and I will get to work on your painting! Rainbows of healing light and Brightest Blessings to all! Melissa

I just wanted you to know that you and your sister are in my prayers-I am sending you great thoughts for positive results... I also wanted to add that if your sis is on any drugs to help lower cholesterol tell her oncologist- they INTERFERE with Tarceva-explanation the oncologist gave us is that they are designed to target and filter from the blood large particles and Tarceva is in that 'large particle' category. My mom was on Tarceva and having GREAT results then her regular doc put her on Lipitor and Tarceva stoped working. My mom is on Alimta now and it is working wonders, she also had great results with Iressa before that .. anyway-sending you love and peace and tons of hugs! Melissa