Debi

I am so sorry to hear of your father-in-law's death. Please share my condolences with your wife.

You rock Stacey!!! Can I say overachiever?? Not only are you walking, but you're hiking up mountains??!! What's next year, Mt. Everest????? Anyway, I did live in Arizona for a year, so its close to my heart! If you need anything, just PM me.

Lori, You were a wonderful daughter to her. My sympathies are with you and yours.

Just a "ps" to Ry's post- I also have mailed or had my donor mail in checks directly to LUNGevity with the offline donor form and they have been credited to my page and the walk. Kelly, I will email you the form so you have. A question to Ry, Rich or any of the Bostonian organizers- I have had 2 offline donations sent, and the money has been added, but the names of the donors don't scroll when it is a check (thank you Linda & Pam! ). Is there any way to get their names up there with my other donors or is this impossible? Oh and just an aside- Christy (Rogfarm) and I are both on Team Oklahoma and in case no one has seen, we are currently in the #1 team spot for Teams on the Boston Walk site. I know we are all in this together, but I think its really cool that Team Oklahoma has managed to at least temporarily, hold the #1 spot!! Another note- I had posted on several lung cancer boards (I received 2 donations from one of them!), explaining what I was doing and 2 of the boards actually deleted my post. I'm pissed.. its not like I was asking for money for me for crying out loud.. I won't put which boards but I want to.. And for those of you still thinking of doing the satellite walk - please join us - there has never been a better time to do something than right now.

I too will miss Jimben. His steadiness and calm strength in the face of diversity was amazing. When all else was not going well, Jim celebrated the simple joy of being able to fish. He was, and always will be, an inspiration to me.

Don, I consider myself a very lucky person to have met this special woman who you have brought to us through your posts for so long. I too will never forget her graciousness, her gentleness and the love that I saw between the two of you when we all met in Dallas. Wishing I could make it easier for you and yours but knowing that I can't. My heart is with you all.

Don, I have been trying to check the board all day from work to see how Lucie is doing. I am so sorry that things are not looking up, I continue to hope with all my heart that Lucie pulls out of this.

I feel so terrible- I missed this post last night.. Don, if anyone can get through this, your Lucie can- she has continually amazed us time and time again with her strength and ability to keep fighting. My thoughts are with both of you.

Hmmmm thanks for the coordinates to where you live, Frank. The chicken cult can now spring into action...

I'm going for May 13th which I think is Mother's Day this year, only because I think that would be sort of special. Congratulations Val!!

Joanie, How easy it would be for her to just be wrapped up in herself right now with the wedding and all! You must be real proud of her!! I'm proud of her and I'm not even related!!

Gail- I love it!

I walked in work and someone told me they heard that a plane had just hit the WTC. I called my daughter who had just moved to OK, my son-in-law answered the phone and I told him to turn on the news. As he was on the phone with me, the 2nd plane hit, neither one of us could believe it. To make it worse for him, his mom and stepdad work on Wall Street and his best friend was working right near the WTC selling cell phones (he wouldn't find out that all were okay until later that evening). There was a sense of surrealness at work, reports started coming in of the Pentagon being hit, the plane going down. We take calls from customers all over the country at my job, and many of them were giving erroneous reports -the Space Needle in Seattle was hit, the mall in Minneapolis was a target, on and on. I am lucky enough to have a private phone on my desk, so I was able to get calls and call people to get updates to give to the employees, to stem the panic that the entire country was under attack. It was this way that I heard about the collapse of the tower. I went in the conference room where a couple of the other managers had set up a TV with terrible reception to hear about what happened. Just as I entered, I watched in horror through the TV snow as the 2nd tower collapsed. I felt like I was in shock. As much as everyone was in shock and horror at what happened, I never felt so far away from home as I did that day. Every bone in my body wanted to be back home, I was a New Yorker, and although this sounds corny as hell, those were my people and I felt this, all the way through to my bones. I wanted to be there, not halfway across the country. I had only been in OKlahoma for 10 months-this wasn't my home. I felt so distant. I actually made it to work on Wednesday, but called in sick on Thursday and Friday- I couldn't function, all I wanted to do was hear about what happened, talk about what happened. I watched CNN 24/7, I had to somehow come to grips with what happened, without being able to read Newsday or the Daily News with front to back coverage. After 4 days of basically laying on the couch watching the tv, I was able to get it somewhat together.

Ellen, Of course its a good thing that Len has an appointment Wednesday but try not to worry too much especially since he has a history of vertigo. I recently was dizzy for 3 days straight, not so much dizzy but feeling that the floor was tilting, etc. Of course, I think immediately of brain mets, especially since lately I have a hard time focusing on stuff also. I luckily had an appt with my Onc, and he didn't seem at all concerned when I told him I didn't have any sort of headaches, he gave me motion sickness pills. The following day, Saturday, I ended up going to the ER because I couldn't stop the feeling. They did all kinds of tests, including a brain CT, and nothing. Verdict= Vertigo I've had this happen annually it seems the last few years, and it is always around the time the seasons change whether from allergies, whatever. Perhaps the impending autumn has triggered Len's old vertigo problems. I know its easy to say not to worry, but I hope the vertigo possibility decreases your worry somewhat. Best wishes..

One hint Nancy- if you decide to whine on here you need to do it loudly, to drown out the rest of us whining at one time or another.. Am sorry that you are not having the easiest time. I think of you often and will keep wishing you well.

Rich, thank you and your committee for organizing your walk or we wouldn't have anything to satellite off OF!!! Anyway, I am really excited about the next couple months for all of us....

WOOO HOOO Christy!!!! So that's THREE from Oklahoma!!!!!!!! Oh and RY???? Good thing that I happen to sign on from work for a minute - just in time to see you rooting for the boys- I see what happens now!!! How much are they paying you?

The one person that came to mind that I need to forgive is my old boss, who basically did all he could to destroy me and damage my career, before he transferred. I know that sounds really dramatic, but without going into all the details, its true. Although I was next in line to the top position, he managed to fast track someone that wasn't. My only crime was that I was a strong woman, and he didn't like strong women, or managers that wouldn't go along with whatever he said, without question, even if it meant bullying people out the door or harassing them in the workplace, just because he perceived them as some sort of threat. Working for him was like living with an abusive man. He was an evil man, and I don't really call people 'evil', but he was. So before I go on and on and end up typing the whole boring 'woe is me' story, I guess in this case I am not a forgiving person because if I fantasize about running him over in the parking lot, I find myself smiling. The depth of the damage he did to me- career wise, money-wise, most importantly emotionally, was immense. So I have no game plan for forgiving him, I just feel that some things cannot be forgiven, nor should they be.

Thank you all, I just spotted this, I'm real sharp, huh?? Anyway, thanks for all your well wishes and Ginny.. how the H did the AARP find me?? They are like the friggin KGB or something, about 3 weeks before my birthday I get this welcome envelope in the mail. I dropped it like it was burning hot when I saw where it was from- I do NOT want to get mail from the &$*%^#^$ AARP. Next I will be getting a birthday card from Denny's saying I'm eligible for their senior discount. Yeah, I'm not happy at all about this. But I AM happy that I'm here to gripe about it...

Shoot, I had to come in here and check this out. When I saw the title of the post, I thought you were talking about me.

Cheryl, I think of you often. Am glad to see you!

Joanie, It's almost like you had a feeling this was going to happen - your posts before this happened just seemed like you were so doubtful that all was well.. I know that when you get out of there and back home and back to us, you will be 100% fixed, and this will ALL be behind you. You are a strong woman Joanie, I think of you often, and look forward to your release from the hospital.

HAH! See, you are so smart, its good you ARE a teacher!!! Well, now that someone noticed , I turned 50 on August 19th. Bruce usually alerts everyone but he must have been dreaming of Dollywood or something.... So I managed to slide on by.... (Glad you're feeling better today!!)

Sorry for the length, and it probably doesn't belong in General but I wanted everyone to see... Okay, so I wanted to do something this November but don’t have the time to organize anything in my area and basically, nothing is getting done in Ardmore Ok for lung cancer unless I do it. I knew that I have friends and family, and friends of friends and family, that would donate if I had a donation webpage like those on Rich’s site and it annoyed me that I couldn’t tap into that to raise money for research. I wanted to fly to Boston to walk in Rich’s walk, but really didn’t have the money to spare. And then I had a thought, and with the advice of several people including Rich and Katie, this is what the end result is: On November 11th, at 10 am, the same day/time as Rich’s walk, I’m going to walk in absentia, in Ardmore Oklahoma. I won’t really be walking alone, because on this board, we have learned that we are together, even though we are spread out all over the country (or world!). So even though I am physically walking my walk alone, I certainly am far from being alone, because in spirit I am with my friends in Boston (and I believe that the NY walk is the same day?). In fact, although I haven’t heard the final word, I believe that 2 of my Oklahoman neighbors are walking in their cities as well, so that will be 3 of us in Oklahoma ‘satellite’ walking for lung cancer. So basically, I am on here to reach out to those of you who always want to do something, but don’t have the time to plan an extravaganza. THIS Is something anyone can do. Rich already has his Boston Walk website set up. All you have to do is register on his site and tada – you have a donation webpage with YOUR name on it. This is mine- I haven’t sent emails out yet, am still trying to find a picture that doesn’t scare people! https://secure.campagne-online.com/regi ... ionID=9396 Then you can email your friends and family for donations and leave flyers around your area, what you can do or want to do is as big as you want it to be. I am going to leave flyers around, in my doctor’s office, at work, etc to let people know that I am ‘satellite’ walking off of Rich’s walk and they can donate online or by mail. I plan on going for a 3 mile walk here but you can do a mile, a few blocks, whatever you are capable of doing, it doesn’t matter. It’s all about spreading the word and using the walk to do it. I am also planning on contacting the local media, to let them know that I am satellite walking for lung cancer, and hopefully, that many others are doing the same. Lung cancer is the invisible disease, so the fact that I am walking by myself here, calls attention in a way to that fact. We have NEVER had huge “relay for life” type of events for lung cancer, but that’s okay, we don’t need them. All it takes is one person in one area, to spread the word. Having a bunch of people, in all different areas, would spread it even further. If you have questions on how to go about it, I will share what I am sending out in my donation email, and what I am putting in the flyer (still a work in progress as we speak). You can email me or pm me off this site, or email me at debi@bostonlungcancerwalk.com. Anyway, I hope that at least a few of you would find this something you would like to do. Especially those of you who feel like you need to do something every November, but are at a loss as to what like myself, let’s do this!!! As we all know, WE need to do something to raise awareness and funding, no one else is going to do it for us!!! How cool would that be, a bunch of us walking that day and then getting together here that night to share our experience?

Gail, I didn't see the show, but I am sorry that you were upset by it and the position that you feel put in. Just to let you know - when I look at teachers, I am awed. In first grade, my son's teacher had asked me to watch the class for 5 minutes while she ran to the office, and by the time she came back, I had 2 boys holding the closet door shut with 3 girls trapped inside, one boy on top of a desk and the rest of the class in various disarray. There is no WAY that I could do what you guys do. Just the fact that you can keep somewhat control over a classroom of these ruffians we call our children AND deal with the parents, and somehow TEACH them stuff, makes you a most likely underpaid superwoman in my book. Like any system,there are most likely opportunities for improvement I'm sure and there are people in careers that may not be the best one for them. But your profession IS a noble one Gail, and don't let anyone take that from you. Anyway, here's to therapy!