Debi

Well, if he doesn't have a carrier pigeon, he may have a few chickens he can work with soon. Go ahead Bob, send her the number!

I first went to this doctor because I had an overwhelming sense of fatigue most days. The type of fatigue that you have when you are pregnant..where your mind may be alert but your entire body is drained. I also had had a croupy cough for some time and a pain in my right shoulder blade/back that I had had for what seemed like years. My previous doctor had given reasons for both of them (allergies and muscle spasm) which I assumed was the truth, but after my surgery both those symptoms disappeared so I guess that was all connected. Anyway, I didn't even tell this doctor about the cough or the aches..just the tiredness. He sent me for an xray and the rest is history.

Bob...don't do it!!! Listen to your instincts...Take the bird and run......

Lori, I hope that you somehow find some comfort in our messages of sympathy. It is so hard to try to find some reason in why this happens, its just not right. My thoughts are with you and your two little boys...

I am so sorry for your loss...for our loss.... This is never fair.

I'm not sure why David...but this frightens me.

Just to add my 2 cents...I agree with everyone above. When my nodule first showed up, it was 11 mm and in a place where it would be impossible to get a biopsy. It was also in my right upper lobe, deep in the lung. I went for a Pet Scan and nothing lit up...but I was told that due to the size of the nodule, that it didn't necessarily mean that it wasn't cancer, it might be too small to show. Since I had no xrays to compare, my doctor suggested that I wait 2 to 3 months and get a CT. He didn't want to unnecessarily have me go to surgery if it was scar tissue, or something else. As it turns out, when I went 10 weeks later, the size of the nodule had increased. On a side note, and very wierd, when I brought my Pet to the Pulmonary Specialist months later after the 2nd CT, I told him about how the doctor had said that nothing "lit". He told me that was incorrect, that the scan showed an elevation around the nodule. So basically, I could have had my surgery 5 months earlier (since it took that long to get it done). AS long as your mom keeps going for the scans, and I believe they will be CT scans, not Pet scans, I think it will be okay. I'm sure the doctors will take action if it continues to grow and it does sound like the best course under the circumstances. Wishing you the best....

Hey Greg.. Some men will do anything not to help cleaning up after Thanksgiving dinner!! Seriously, sounds like you are feeling better...hope to see you get out of there soon!!

Francine, Hang in there woman!! I am sorry to hear about the latest but you can do this!! We are all here for you as always.....

Cathy, I will be thinking of you on the 2nd. Hurry and get back on the boards...we will be here waiting for you!! Wishing you the best of luck...

Dean, I am glad that you finally got the answers that you have been searching for from your doctor. AT least now, you know what exactly you are dealing with and the steps you have to take. That's alot better than a big blank question mark!! I have seen people who have beaten and are beating their cancer on this board. If anyone has a chance to do the same, I would have to say it would be you. Make sure to keep us posted (excuse the pun ) and I wish you lots of luck in your journey ahead.

Don, I have been waiting for you to post and just read your other post where the Onc's phone lines were down!! Thought I would have to wait longer for the results so was glad to see this... So glad to hear that Lucie is doing so well!! Both of you deserve to have some happiness...and it couldn't be a better time of year for it! Best regards to both of you....

Nothing to add Fay, that hasn't been said!! Just wanted you to know that I'm wishing you the best too........

Okay, of course I have to add my two cents here. I think the most important thing for a GP to remember is .. don't be afraid to admit that you do not know something. I am old enough to know that doctors cannot know everything and nothing has made me respect my GP more than the fact that he'll admit he doesn't know the answer to something..but will find out for me. And the bottom line is, I owe my life to this man. I had been going to a doctor here for a chronic cough and he kept prescribing mucous enhancers and telling me to quit smoking. Lucky for me his marriage plans didn't work out and he hightailed it back to Denver. In January, I went to the medical center and saw a brand new doctor..only reason I went to him is he had the first appointment open. I went because I was incredibly tired all the time...had the fatigue that I always got when I was pregnant. He had the lab take blood work and then they sent me to xray. I was surprised that he was having a chest xray taken since he hadn't said anything to me and I didn't mention a cough at that time. He hadn't even asked if I smoked. THe rest, of course, is history. However, this doctor has impressed me so much because he has never been afraid to say that he wasn't sure of something. After my Cat Scan which followed the xray, he spent the evening sitting at the hospital with the radiologist to look at my CT and to debate the steps that should be taken next. All along my doctor has sought other opinions, whether from radiologists, his old roommate who is now a Pulmonologist and the Oncologist who treated his father. And each time, he has not hesitated to tell me that that was what he was going to do because he did not have the answer, or wanted to make sure that he wasn't missing something. I've always felt like we were in this together! When I couldn't figure out what to do about adjuvent chemo and 3 doctors were telling me different, my GP is who I went to for advice. And he scratched his head and said he didn't know what I should do and he understood how I felt. He then placed a call to his dad's Oncologist to get HIS advice because he said he was the best Oncologist he knew. And just as important as all the above, my Doctor has never made me feel that there were other patients waiting and has taken as long as I needed to take. A few years ago this doctor was jogging with his friend and an 18 wheeler hit them. His friend died and this doctor supposedly spent a long time recovering. I sometimes wonder if that is what made him such a compassionate doctor....his understanding of how it is to be the patient.

Hebbie, Well, I saw my doctor today and I asked him about the mushroom supplements and received the same blank stare I have grown to know and love NOT . He basically said the same thing as yours..that they wouldn't hurt me...I should take them if I think that I should take them. So much for his insight!!

Shauna.. Welcome girlfriend!! Am so glad you made it here and are posting! As I'm sure you can tell, this site is just a tad bit more optimistic than the one we met on ! Sounds like the Iressa may be working for you...keep us updated and feel free to email anytime.

Thanks all...I'm not sure of even half of what I was trying to say made it on the page but I guess enough did! Reading it back, parts of my post sound like a bad Mickey Spillane detective story! I like what David W. said also.. kind of startled me... but I cannot get that song out of my head now! Have a good rest of the weekend!

Debbie, At this point, I would not try to interpert anything he is thinking, other than the fact that he is being thourough and wants to check into the areas where the Pet Scan showed there may be a problem. I don't think at this point that he is thinking anything more than that. He is still using diagnostic measures to find out exactly what is going on. I wouldn't stress needlessly (easier said than done, I know!!). I have seen enough posts on this board where the Pet Scan "lit up" and then after additional tests, it proved to be just an infection or something. Try to take it one day at a time and know that whatever is going on, your doctor sounds efficient enough to handle it!!! Keep us posted and I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!!

I don't have much advice for you but I noticed that your post was "buried" in the pile and wanted to make sure to wish you and your mother-in-law luck on Monday. I know in my situation, I went through the whole fiasco...xray, cat scan, Pet Scan. And then Cat Scan again 2 months later to see if the nodule was growing because the Pet Scan hadn't really shown anything malignant because of the size of the nodule. It was crazy!!! At least they are giving her the Pet Scan on Monday and one way or another, you will soon have your answers. Again, I wish you lots of luck and will be looking for your updates!!

Wow Sam...it sure does sound like your heading in the right direction! What a difference from one of the last posts I read from you...am so thrilled for you that things are improving!!! What a great way to start my Saturday! Glad you posted...

David, I am SO glad that things are looking up and its wonderful that your head CT came back clean!!!!! Glad the whistling when you speak is gone, it was starting to get a little annoying in chat.

Cathy, I can't help you with any of your questions but I just needed to answer your post. I want you to know that I'm sorry you have to go through this again. It's just not fair, is it? But it sounds like there's a solid plan in place and that in the long run, things will be okay. Wishing you all the luck in the world and will be thinking of you!

I'm not sure where to begin this story and how to keep it from being ridiculously long... but it's something I want to share... I took my friend to the Greyhound station here in town last night to pick up his friend who was coming from out of town. The bus was supposed to be there at 7 but it didn't get there till 9. Its a small town and the Greyhound station is this small building that has definetely seen better days. It has 3 metal chairs sitting outside and a pay phone...the parking lot is made of dirt. The whole area is dark..there are no outside lights and the building is locked up after 5. It sits on what the town calls a highway and what a city would call a country road...the cars come by but one at a time. It's what you would imagine, if you needed to imagine a bus station on a week night in a small town in Oklahoma. My friend Charles and I sat out in the car on the side of the building, talking and making jokes..laughing about our situation and the fact that we were sitting at a bus station in a small town in Oklahoma. Just in our line of vision was the only other person at the bus station... a young guy... sitting on one of the metal chairs with his wheelchair beside him. At one point, we drove up to him to ask him if anyone had gotten off the earlier bus. He was personable and on closer notice, you could see that he was using oxygen, and had the bottle on one of those carts. He was tall and skinny...and couldn't have been more than 21. He said he was waiting for the bus and had been there since 4 pm. When we backed up to park again, I told Charles..watch..this kid has cancer...I can't even get away from it at a damn bus stop with one other person!! I can't escape this crap even for one night!! We drove up to him again, about an hour later..we were going to McDonalds and asked him if he wanted anything. He said no. When we got back from McDonalds and parked back in the spot, he painstakenly made his way to the car dragging his oxygen tank over the rutted parking lot. He told us he had called Greyhound, and the bus was coming shortly. He said he was cold, and I invited him in the car. Normally I wouldn't invite strangers in the back seat of my car... our almost 2 hours of waiting in the same lonely parking lot had made us friends. In addition, there was something about the boy... he seemed larger than life... He got in the back seat with his oxygen and told us that he was frozen to the bone. His heavier coat, along with 3 other oxygen bottles and his food were locked up in the building, the bus driver would have a key. The oxygen that he had with him only had 45 minutes left...if the bus didn't come by then, he had no idea what he was going to do. He had no money, someone had wired the bus ticket to him. At that point, I knew that we couldn't leave even though we had been about to... it was like finding an abandoned puppy along the street and picking it up... it was now your responsibility and you couldn't just set it down again. In no way am I comparing the boy to a puppy...but well, you know what I mean. All of a sudden the night had more weight than just waiting for a man to get off a bus... While he sat there he told us that he was on his way to hospice.. that he had liver cancer and less than 6 months to live. I just nodded because I already knew... my friend Charles kind of had a hard time with it...was like..nah... you'll make it. The kid didn't say it with any negativity..he said it because it was fact and because he had accepted it. It was just part of his conversation...he was funny and warm and full of energy, in spite of his oxygen and bleak future. He didn't sit in the backseat long...the bus came and he went to talk to the bus driver. Turns out the bus driver was pretty pissed off that he had to load a wheelchair into the bus and didnt want to take "the kid" as we had dubbed him. This was told to us by Charles' friend who had gotten off the bus finally, heard the driver and didn't know that we had developed this emotional attachment to "the kid". Evidently the bus driver only wanted to give him a hard time because he said he would take him but he had to break his chair down himself so it could be stored under the bus. We watched as "the kid" wheeled his oxygen and tried to push his electric wheelchair across the parking lot to the bus. Charles, as much as I love him dearly, is the most selfish person on the planet and wouldn't help his own grandmother carry grocery bags. Before I knew it, he had sprang out of the car and was helping the kid. This is just an example of the power that "the kid" had...I have known Charles for over 3 years and never seen him move that fast. The bus driver still acted pissy with him but at this point was a bit reserved since he saw "the kid" seemed to be with friends. By this point I was at the bus too and Charles and I were just waiting for an opportunity to blow up at this ridiculously insensitive bus driver. We joked with "the kid" about a couple things while we waited for the bus driver to get things ready and at that point, he told us he had been in prison twice and pointed to the tear tattoo by his eye that I hadn't noticed while he was in the backseat of my car . Finally, we helped "the kid" load his wheelchair and watched him get on the bus. Before he left, he shook our hands and wished us well. After I dropped Charles and his friend home, I was filled with this strong sense of peace... I don't know why or how...but I know it came from this kid at the bus stop whose name I don't even know. This kid, who probably just got out of prison so that he can go to hospice, with no money and with less than 6 months to live, touched something in me that nothing else has. He had something that I want to have, especially if I ever end up in the place where he is. I tried to analyze it and figure out why he made me feel the way I do, and I can't figure it out. Maybe the fact that he is so young..and has had so much tragedy in his life...but is still okay with it all. Or the fact that he is so young..and I have lived so much longer..whatever it is..I still have that warmth, that sense of peace today. I know that he will always remain one of those people you meet briefly in life, but somehow don't forget. I wish I could thank him.

Norme, How dare you have a party without me??? Geesh!!! I am so sorry for the latest news of Buddy but I am sure he will skate through....he has already been through so much ... you both sound like a couple of tough birds!! Missed you on the board and was worried like all of the above !!!! Understand the "crawling under the porch" feeling...like has been said before, I think sometimes we all need to do that for a bit. And sometimes we just have nothing left over to give to anyone else and need a break. Glad to see you back!!!

Congratulations on the clear chest CT!! Way to go Hebbie!!! I see my doctor next Tuesday...will post and let you know what he says!!