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Ralph, We all have those feelings. When I start to think that way I remember a bible verse and weather you are a believer or not this just makes good sense: MATHEW 6:27 "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" Stay positive, Ernie

Welcome Giulietta, Avastin has worked well for a lot of people. I took Tarceva that is similar and I am cancer free. Let’s pray that Avastin works for him. Stay positive, Ernie

Welcome Tracy, You have come to a good place for info. My cancer was nsclc, but there are others that have ha sclc here that can help. Stay positive Ernie

Mike, Sorry to hear about your mom. All cancer is treatable and there are a lot of survivors. There is new treatment every day. It's too early to tell about your mom's treatment till you get some reports, but it is not too early to start thinking about a second opinion. I would get a second opinion no matter what the first reports are. I had stage IV and Now cancer free and all I had was chemo. I went to Sloan Kettering for a second opinion. Stay positive, Ernie

Sorry to hear about your dads cancer. When doctors say no cure, that's only an opinion. I was told there was no cure, and now I am cancer free. Your dad may be a good candidate for the drug Tarceva. The side effects are not as bad as chemo. In my case I had no bad side effects from chemo or Tarceva. I would ask about Tarceva. For financial and other help, you might try your local social services. Go on to some of the top cancer sites you will find info. If I can give you any more info let me know. Your dad can be cured. There is not a cancer that someone has not beaten. Stay positive Ernie

Welcome Bill, I had similar chemo. I had no bad side effects. I was allready taking Citrucel. I had to increase it to 8 caplets a day 4 with breakfast and 4 with dinner. I also try to drink a lot of water and I have oatmeal for breakfast. This did the trick for me. Let me know if you want to know of other things I took. Ernie

Amazing! This is why all of us should get copies of every x-ray, CT scan, PET scan and MRI. I have them put on a CD and keep them. Then I have them for a second opinion. I am sorry you went through all of that with no treatment. Let's pray that you can get treatment now and beat this. Ernie

Welcome Donna, Sorry to hear about your dad. He sounds like a fighter and I am sure he can beat this again. Some of the new drugs with chemo are pretty successful. I only had chemo and it worked for me. Ernie

Welcome Joe, I also had cancer similar to yours. Tarceva was part of my treatment. I had no bad side effects from the Tarceva or chemo. Maybe there is something I did that could help you with the side effects. Let me know. Ernie

Just a few things that got me through and still keep me going. 1. Ignore statistics they don' apply to me. 2. Exercise, I think exercise keeps you from getting tired. 3. Believing, Believed that I would be cured 4. Having fun at chemo. This is probably is one of the best. I took a DVD player with some funny flicks, packed a good lunch. I would sit and have a picnic while I enjoyed a couple of movies. It really was enjoyable. There is more but that will do for now. Ernie

That's great, 5 years going on 50 sounds good to me Ernie

Guy, Welcome to the site. There are a lot of clinical trials with new drugs that come out. Check them out and see what your oncologist thinks of them. The only trial that I would not consider is one that I could get the same meds without the trial, unless I was guaranteed of getting the drug and not a placebo. Stay positive Ernie

Hi Laverne, I had stage IV and had Carboplatin and Taxol plus Tarveva 100mg day. Tarceva and Avastin have help a lot of people, you might ask about them. I had no bad side effects from any of my chemo. I take a lot of supplements and drink lots of water. If you have any questions let us know. there are lots of us here to help. Stay positive. Ernie

Welcome Marianne, It sounds like you are on the right track now. I had stage IV and now like you I am cancer free. I say cancer free because I like the sound of it better than remission and I don't expect it to come back. There are a lot of friends heare for you to talk to. Keep us posted. Stay positive Ernie

I take a lot of supplements, herbs and certain foods. I have no idea how much help they are to me. Many people have their own things that they like. I check out every thing I take with my oncologist. I also do as much research as possible. A good place to look up herbs and supplements etc. is on the web site below. This is maintained by Sloan Kettering, so I feel that it is impartial. If you would like the list of what I took during chemo and what I take now, e-mail me and I will attach the files and send them back. Ernie Sloan Kettering Herbs and Supplements http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/11570.cfm

Tracy, I have been taking Tarceva for over a year. I take a lot of supplements and herbs. There are two simple things that effect my reaction to Tarceva. I really have no bad side effects. Occasionally I will get a soar throat in the morning, and it is because I slacked off the day before on my water. I try to drink an 8oz glass of water for each hour that I am awake, and when I do I am not bothered by the soar throat. I never get a rash, but once in a while I will get a slight itch on the lower part of my legs. I found that if I miss my aerobic exercise a couple of times this happens. As soon as I work up a sweat the itching goes away. I exercise 6 times a week, three aerobics and three with weights. I also go in a hot spa every night 102 degrees. I think this helps also. I hope this may help you let me know. Ernie

jheese, I forgot to mention to you about quality of life. The new drugs they give with chemo have reduced the side effects for a lot of people. I went through all my chemo and never had a bad day and did not loose my hair. Most people are not as fortunate as me, but there is a chance and I think it is well worth the risk especially since that is the way you give yourself a chance for many years of quality life down the road. I would ask about Tarceva at your second opinion it helped me a lot. Ernie

You can also contact Angel Flights, they provide free airplane flights for patients and family to and from treatment and sometimes they can provide the ground transportation from the airport. Just Google angel flights and you should find the chapter in your area, if you have trouble let me know and I will find out from our chapter who to call. We are all here to help you and your mom. Ernie

Welcome, you can not pay too much to what doctors say about survival, because they really don't know. There are many survivors that have gone way beyond what doctor thought, I am on of them, and believe me I did not believe they knew what they were talking about. I was told that there was no cure for my cancer. I had stage IV with a pleural effusion. They told me the fluid would not go away by itself and that the best we could hope for was to slow it or if we are lucky to shrink it some. Well the fluid did go away and everything else is gone. I have been cancer free since November 2005. So the best thing your mom and you can do is decide that you are going to prove them wrong. Those forecast about me came from Sloan Kettering and it is the same as I heard locally. It' just these dumb statistics they put out. Forget about them and start your journey to beating this. Ernie

I keep hearing about statistics and I finally wrote what they mean to me. I gave a copy to my oncologist and I think he will use it for some of his patients that are stuck on statistics what he tells people are you are you, the statistic do not apply. He will tell them there chances are a lot better with treatment. Below is the statement. Copy it; save it most of all remember it. They do not mean diddly squat. You can stick your own filters in place of mine and come to the same conclusion and that is statistics do not apply to you. I had a lot more I could have added, but this is sufficient. Ernie Statistics what it means to me Definitions: 1. (used with a singular verb ) the science that deals with the collection, classification, analysis, and interpretation of numerical facts or data, and that, by use of mathematical theories of probability, imposes order and regularity on aggregates of more or less disparate elements 2. The subject of statistics can be divided into descriptive statistics - describing data, and analytical statistics - drawing conclusions from data. When it comes to cancer the data that you read about is based on fact of what has actually happened over a period of time. It is history. To take that data and project it into the future is drawing conclusions. Let us take a hypothetical example and some hypothetical conditions. A particular cancer has a statistic of a five year survival of 5%. This is based on fact of what has happened in the past. That means that at the end of five years out of 100 people there was a survival of five. One in 20. Does that mean my chance of survival is one out of 20? The answer is no. There is a statement made in a lot of stock offerings that states: Past performance does not guarantee future profits. Past performance of cancer patients will not necessarily be the same for patients today. We can not change the statistical past, but I believe we can change the chance of survival. Three of the things that I believe effect your chance of survival is: 1. The type of condition of your cancer, type of cell etc. and there reaction to treatment. We can not change this fact. 2. The treatment that the medical profession administers. This is definitely a variable. 2. What we do and believe as a patient. This we have complete control of. Now let us take those 100 patients and narrow down the field. 1. How many patients continue to smoke? Say 2 that leaves 98. 2, How many patients do not believe the prognosis, and believe that they can beat the cancer. Let us say 48 do not that takes away another 50 and leaves 48. 3. How many are in good health physically? Maybe half of the 48, that leaves 24. 4. How many watch their diet and eat healthy. Say 14. 5. How many of the 14 exercise at least 6 times a week with the idea of improving their body and health? Maybe 4. So now we are down to 4 people in a field that I would be in. The question is what the statistics are for these four people. The answer is they do not know because they have not done this study to my knowledge. The survival could be anything from 0% to 100%. If I add to this how many took Tarceva along with Carboplatin and Taxol. You come up with zero for the number of people in a category like me. So there are no statistics that apply to a patient like me. A big plus How many believe that God has the power to heal them? I do not have the answer to this but for me it means a lot.

Hi aholler I had my second opinion at Sloan Kettering, I was very satisfied. I could only be treated with chemo and I am now cancer free with just chemo plus Tarceva. A second opinion is good to get and worth the travel to another city. Keep us posted and stay positive. Ernie

Elaine, I had stage IIIb/IV nsclc. I have never met a survivor that does not believe. He may not believe in God, but he does believe. Some put their faith in their doctor, and medicine, and themselves. I put my faith in all of those and I rely on my faith in God to work through them. I don’t force my faith on anyone, but I feel obligated to tell people about what helped me the most to be cancer free since November 2005. I was given Tarceva along with my chemo and you fit the mold for Tarceva results a lot better than I do. If there is anything I can do to help let me know. Keep the faith. Ernie

I just want to thank all of you that have responded. I want to try to chat with each one of you. I am trying to learn all the ways on this site. I just want to encourage as many as I can. I try to share all of the things that I did and still do in hopes that they will get the same results. Going through all the chemo and test and never having any bad side affect has been mind-boggling. I just thank the Lord for each day. Stay in touch. Ernie

Petscan, Your mom's cancer is very similar to my own. Mine was stage IIIb/IV nsclc inoperable and they could not use radiation. I have been cancer free since November 2005. Any way I can help let me know. Keep positive. Ernie

Hi Morgan To have a chance of beating this disease you have to believe that you can. Your mother-in –law would have to start helping herself to beat it. Sometimes hearing about other people beat it helps. You can not believe what the doctors say is your prognosis. Each of us is different. There are no statistics out there based on each one of us. The things we believe and the things we do can out weigh what some doctor quotes from past history. H. R. Bloch was given 3 months to live. He died 24 years later from heart failure. I would read her stories or let her read them and watch for a change in her attitude. Stay positive. Ernie