Debi

Just wanted to share that tomorrow is kind of an anniversary...it will mark 6 months since my surgery. Hard to believe that it is 6 months!! Thank you all for the support you have given me and the friends that I have made here. Oh, and also, tonight is 6 months from my last cigarette.... 6 months ago to the hour, I was sitting in the smoking lounge of the cancer treatment center chain smoking. Gosh, lots of milestones this week!!

Thanks guys...I will fill out the form and then take it from there as far as what happens.. And Bob..I find it VERY hard to believe that EVERY position in your company is taken...........

First, I want to stress that I agree 100% with what Judy says...I know from posts what she has gone through and everyone needs to be sure that the pain is not from a reoccurence. That said, this is what my surgeon told me after my surgery. Since there are so many nerves cut through during this type of surgery, pain will continue for quite awhile. He only gave me pain pills for up to 2 weeks post surgery. He explains it like this, kinda like Judy wrote ..the Phantom Limb pain... In the months after surgery, your nerves send impulses to your brain continuously saying that there is something wrong..help..something wrong (that would be my nerve talking). Its kind of like banging your finger on the edge of a table for hours. It starts off hurting, gets real painful BUT if you keep doing it, eventually it stops. In the same way after surgery, the brain starts ignoring the impulse that the nerve is sending. (Probably the same theory why people can sometimes cut off their own arms and stuff and feel no pain). That is how my surgeon explained it..finally after daily pain, the brain says to the nerve..okay..I'm done..I'm sick of you and stops responding with pain. In other words, what my surgeon said was he would only give me pain pills for 2 weeks after the hospital because otherwise he would have to give them to me indefinitely since I just had to get through the part and come out at the other end. He told me that chances are the pain of the nerve damage would never stop...my brain would just have to learn to ignore it. Anyway, I don't have pain anymore and haven't for a long time. I am numb, and uncomfortable at times...but no pain. Again, I would definitely have tests done to make sure all is well...but it is possible that my surgeon was actually right....go figure!!!

Anne, I am so sorry for the loss of your mother.....

Hey Laura!! I agree with all that's been said and I have to echo DeanCarl!!! Your husband may, at least subconsciously, be afraid to go but give him a push from me! I had pain in my back around my right shoulderblade...not really pain but more like an ache...and a cough. My lung cancer was caught early and I was able to have surgery. The fact that I'm a Stage 1a means that I have an 80% chance of survival. Even though its still terrifying, if I had waited longer...my odds wouldn't be that high. Chances are your husband is fine. It will only take an xray to prove it! Good luck to both of you....

Not sure if anyone can answer this for me.... My disability at work has switched over to another carrier. We had this big meeting about the sign up period for our insurances and the representative from our new disability insurance was there. They are offering the "buy out" insurance so that if I am out of work and sick, my short term disability will actually be 60% of my salary rather than $152 a week like after my surgery. I had asked the representative if we could get this, even if we had had an instance of using short term disabilty on the other carrier in the last year. He said that because it was rolling over, all we had to do was sign up for the buy out, we would not have to prove evidence of insurability. I even emphasized his answer, and he said the form is all we needed to fill out, we would be covered. One of my coworkers had ovarian cancer 2 years ago, so she was happy too. Forms have been sent in to our Corporate Headquarters and now, every one that signed up for it has gotten an email from HR, saying that we need to download and fill out the Evidence of Insurability. I went to our onsite HR person (we hate each other ) and asked her to double check since the rep from the insurance company had said, right in front of the VP of HR, that we did not need it. She checked, and the girl in HR in NY said that her and the VP (the same one that had attended my meeting here) had discussed it and decided that everyone needed to fill out the form. Okay, so now I'm in a dilemna. The guy from the insurance company would not give his card to any of us when he was here, and we just know his name is Bob. I do not want to fill out this form if I don't have to because this is my financial future if something happens and I cannot live on $152 a week again. I am pissed that it looks like the HR department of my company made this decision independantly...asking for the Evidence of Insurability. On the other hand, I do not want to pis_ off the VP of HR in Corporate by continuing to question his judgement. Everything is chain of command..I can not just pick up the phone and call the VP and say...Ron, don't you remember what the guy said??? I have to do everything through the shrew here in my office. And IF I don't fill out the Evidence of Insurability, they will not send my application to the insurance company. Any suggestions????

Karen, Glad you posted...was worried about you! I second all the advice above that you need to get a second opinion. My Pulmonary Specialist was probably the most instrumental person on my "team" before my surgery. He pretty much was the one who made the decisions. As far as something showing on the PET and not during the bronchoscopy.. I'm not sure where the area is in your lung but my specialist had told me that a bronchoscopy would not help me since my nodule was in an area where it would not reach. Of course that was the 2nd Pulmonary Specialist, the first was more than willing to do it even though his hands shook like Katherine Hepburns!! I think sometimes the procedure is a way that they can make a quick buck. But then again, I don't trust doctors for the most part! Anyway, my 2 cents is to gather up your PET scans and other results and find a totally new doctor, a Pulmonary Specialist..you need to see someone experienced in what is going on in your lungs. It's only a second opinion but it will put your mind at ease!

Thank you Katie then!

Agreed Rick!!! You rock!!!

Thanks for posting Cary!! I'm going to start sending my emails tomorrow!! Don't forget all to mention this website in your letters!! Let's rock and roll!!!

Karen, I am so glad that Friday is finally almost here and you will get your results!!! Please post them as soon as you can!! Wishing you good results...... And by the way, do you have any idea who this Ry person is??

Jason, Am so sorry to hear about your dad....... My sincere sympathies...

I definitely agree with the "hook" being this group and how we have all met up. It would be, at the very least, a personal interest story if we get the right ears..or eyes! Its more than just "another sick person's story". No matter what we all send, our own words or a form letter, the fact that we are all together and sending SOMETHING, will be amazing!! Whoever reads the emails for these places will have to take notice when there are 30, 40, 50 emails or more about lung cancer on the same day. What a great start!!!

Barbara, I wanted to let you know that I can relate with your struggles to quit smoking. I know that alot of people write that they quit the minute they were diagnosed..hell..that was more reason to smoke for me. Talk about stress!!! I even smoked at the Cancer Treatment Center the night before my surgery...I sat in the lounge chainsmoking. The ONLY reason that I was able to quit is that I had the morphine epidural thing happening for 3 days after surgery and all the drugs going into my body helped me to "detox" from the nicotine. They tried to put the patch on me but I told them not to...I knew this was my only shot of getting the nicotine out of my system...going cold turkey while drugged!! Alot of days it is real difficult for me not to smoke. Today, at work, I almost took a drag off someone's cigarette but stopped myself from asking. I have these bad moments but I really don't intend to start up again because if I do, I don't think I will ever be able to stop again. Smoking is a terrible addiction for me, and one that has been virtually impossible to stop in the past, even after I knew what it had most likely done to me. You have total empathy from me and I wish you luck in your future attempts to quit!

Heather, I don't need any insurance help right now, but where were you about 5 months ago when I was getting my $79,000 hospital bills?? Seriously, that is so wonderful that you are willing to help. I know for myself, needing medical insurance for something more than the flu was an eye opener!!! Thank you for being here and I am glad that your mom is doing great!!!

Dave, I appreciate you sharing your experience with us and I know that you have been active in the cause. My way of living life is to be tenacious and I have met many big boys who weren't ready. To be perfectly honest, my feelings are that rather than back down from them, there is a need to keep yourself in their sights.. because like everything else in life, there will come a time when they are ready! I really would like to climb on board with Rick and his letter writing campaign... and maybe take this weekend to email the sites that Cary found. Next week we can do different ones..and rotate if necessary. All we need is for ONE person to find something in ONE of our letters that they respond to. Of course there are things that we can do on a local level. It is great that people are out there in the "trenches". AT this time, I have no spare time to do anything locally..but I do have the time to send emails. This is why, right now, this is the course I am choosing to take. If people want to email, there is no harm done after all. The worse we can do is change the world! I think Cary has a point about posting in General. If you guys are still for this...lets do it!!!

Great work Cary!!! Is everyone up to writing this weekend??? I think if we write them, it will need to be the same time period so we stand out. I'm game..nothing to lose, thats for sure!!! Next week we can do the talk shows!!!

Becky, I'm with ya girl.... Shows like 60 minutes, Dateline, 48 hours..... if we could get their email sites and everyone write to them...tell them our stories and how we all meet online for support, and have become friends through this website. If enough of us write them, on the same day for instance, we WILL get noticed. We just have to make our emails good enough to interest them in our cause and us!!!

It is so sad to see that Greg is gone..and like others have said, how fast it seems to have happened. This is never fair and there aren't enough words to type to express that. My condolences to you and to his children...

4 reasons not to mess with a child 1. A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales. The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it was a very large mammal its throat was very small. The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale. Irritated, the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible and that was the end of it! The little girl said, "When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah". The teacher asked, " What if Jonah went to hell?" The little girl replied, "Then you ask him". 2. A Kindergarten teacher was observing her classroom of children while they were drawing. She would occasionally walk around to see each child's work. As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was. The girl replied, "I'm drawing God." The teacher paused and said, "But no one knows what God looks like." Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing, the girl replied, "They will in a minute." 3. The children had all been photographed, and the teacher was trying to persuade them each to buy a copy of the group picture. "Just think how nice it will be to look at it when you are all grown up and say, 'There's Jennifer, she's a lawyer,' or 'That's Michael, He's a doctor.' A small voice at the back of the room rang out, "And there's the teacher, She's dead. " 4. The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples. The nun made a note, and posted on the apple tray: "Take only ONE. God is watching." Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies. A child had written a note, "Take all you want. God is watching the apples."

Gimme a minute Ry...I'll get to the chickens as soon as I'm done loading the sheep on the truck!

Am so sorry to hear....

I know someone said that she had mentioned that she may off the board for a month, but hasn't it been longer?? Does anyone know how she and Buddy are doing?? Anyone have her phone number??

You reminded me Becky of one of our seasonal associates from last year. She always had an attendance problem but one day she came in about an hour late. When asked why she was so late she said that she had run her ex husband over several times with her car, he wouldn't stay still, and this had made her late. We weren't really sure how to take it.. we have heard stranger reasons.. until the police showed up later for her..... Good news is he was alive and had minor injuries...

Carleen, Glad to see that things are looking up for you and Keith and so happy to see how much better you are feeling.... I have a feeling you guys are going to have a wonderful holiday!!!