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Alyse

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Everything posted by Alyse

  1. I have finally found the strenght to get on line and tell all of you wonderful people that my husband Richard passed away on September 23rd, 2003. He fought a long, couragous battle for 15 months with this horrible cancer. He died the day before our 15th wedding anniversary. Fortunately we had renewed our wedding vows the Saturday before. Our daughter Andrea (10) and I would have never made it without this board. and all of you strong and wonderful people. I want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for giving our family the strenght to fight this terrible illnes. May god bless all of you. Alyse
  2. Need to vent...went to the doctor on Monday and found out that my husbands cancer is spreading. We thought for sure things with going great. As Rick told the doctor, "if I could just get rid of the fatigue I would feel great". The doctor at this point said that we could try Etopiside (VP-16) but really thinks that we need to look at stopping treatment if this does not work. As you can see below Rick has done a lot. This darn cancer. How can people be so sick and not feel that way. Am very grateful that my husband has no pain. Now over the last 2 days, he has been put on oxygen and has a walker. This is very hard for him since a year ago he was a very successful engineer traveling around the world. All this at 51 years of age. Thanks for listening and if you know of any trials at this late stage or something that has worked for you or a loved one please let me know. Our 10 year old daughter keeps asking us what more can be done. Thanks for listening, Alyse
  3. Michelle, No words...just heartfelt thougths and prayers coming your way. God Bless you and your son, Alyse
  4. My husbands cancer has spread to the lynph nodes in his groin/pelvic area. You can feel a huge mass on the left side. Is back on chemo, but when I asked the doctor if we could remove it he just said no. Have seen a couple of postings that it looks like some of you have had surgery for this. I would be very gratefull hearing from you about what you have had done and what the results were. I am getting for the first time the feeling that since there has been new growth, he is being blow off since he is Stage IV. Thank you for your input. Thank you for this site. Alyse
  5. We had great news last week when it came to my husbands MRI. After originally having 3 brain mets, there is no longer any sign of tumors, scar tissue, etc. in his brain. We had a good week until today. Today we got the CT scan results. Phew, not only is the Iressa not working but now the cancer has spread to his lymph nodes in his pelvic. Walked from the doc's office straight to the Gemzar needle. If anyone has had this expereince would love to hear what it has been like and what treatments have been done. He has been on Taxol/Carbo. As always, our 10 year old daughter has handled it like a trouper. She did ask if this was ever going to stop. Just venting...am so greatful for this board over the last year. Would have been lost without it. Thanks for being there. Alyse
  6. Mary, Am sorry to hear about your sister. Wanted to let you know that my husband has NSCLC with 3 brain mets. Did full brain radiation and then carbo/taxol. Had very good results for a while. Two of the tumors in his brain disapeared and the tumors in his chest shrunk. Then after 6 rounds of chemo we started to see the one tumor in his brain grow a little as well as two tumors in his chest. Went to have the gamma knife done (we are in San Francisco and went to UCSF) and he was also put on Iressa. We will know in 1 more month after getting MRI's and CT Scans if it is working. He had no side effects from the gamma knife and has no side effects from the Iressa. However, the only side effect that he had from the carbo/taxol was fatigue. He has been very lucky. Hang in there and keep pushing for the things you want from your doctors. We fired our first oncologist for he just wrote my husband off. Found someone new who is in the ring with us. Prayers to you and your family, Alyse
  7. Veronica, In the beginning we too did not know what answers to ask. Then when we would leave the doctors office we would go "we should have asked this and that". THe shock of all of it was just too much. And we were so upset that are daughter was going to be without her father. After 2 visits with our oncologist, we realized that one of the reasons that we were not asking the questions we wanted to ask was because this doctor basically had written my husband off and wanted to be in complete control of what he did. Did not want us to ask the questions or discuss alternative treatments to go with the standard treatments. We changed to a new doctor who basically gave us the same info but his passion to keep my husband alive and fight this battle with us is what kept us moving forward and able to deal with any and everything. When we found out that a couple of tumors started to grow again, he was right back in the ring with us fighting. Will know in 2 months if we have gotten though this round. The one thing I learned from the books I read (the one from ALCASE is my bible) is that you have to be comfortable with your doctor and be part of the process. We finally found someone who said "let's see about making you the first STage IV Lung Cancer Patient to Survive. Best of luck though this journey. You will make it. Lots of prays coming your way. Alyse
  8. Kathy, Boy did you bring me back to last June. When through the same thing with my husband. No signs of anything, never been sick. Found out about his cancer by accident when he went into ER for something completely unrelated. Was Stage IV NSCLC, with 3 brain mets. Is 51 years old. Could not believe what we were told when he asked how long he had. I'm here to tell you that after brain radiation treatments, chemo, Gamma Knife, and Iressa, he is in better shape then the rest of us. His attitude is very positive and he stays involved. He is coaching out 10 olds girls basketball team just as he has done for the last 5 years. Don't believe all you read when it comes to stats. They lie and there are people living out there with this nasty cancer. Stay positive and stay on this board. It has saved my life. Alyse
  9. I am so excited. My husband had the Gamma Knife done on Tuesday and the doctors came back saying that the tumor had had no futher growth and that it appeared to be very superficial. He is feeling great. I want to thank all of you on your imput when I asked about the GK. I really pushed for it when we heard that the tumor was starting to grow again. He starts Iressa today. He know seems to be in better shape then the rest of us. We have been so blessed. My heart, thoughts and prayers are wtih all of you each and every day through this journey that we are on! Alyse
  10. We have just come back from the oncologist office and are trying to process the news we just recieved. My husband has stage IV lung cancer with brain mets. We had exceptional results over the last 7 months. Two of the 3 brain tumors are no longer appearing on the MRI. The tumurs on his midumstinum has shrunk 50 to 95%. Now 5 weeks between MRI's and CT Scans, we are informed that the tumor in his brain has grown 50% and 2 tumors in his chest have grown 50%. We were reallyl taken by surprise. The have always told us that surguy was not an option on his brain but now that are talking about using a gamma knife. Please let me know what you know about them and how they work. Thank you guys for always being there. Alyse
  11. Tania, My husband NSCLC Stage IV with mets to the brain too. Found out about it in June of 2000. It was quite a shock for us since he had not had any problems or signs. We have a 10 year old daughter. I can say to you to stay focused, positive and look into alternative meds. He has had radiation and chemo and has done unbelievably well. Has had no further growth. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your husband. Hang in there. Alyse
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