JB

welcome val. You'll finds tons of support and advice here. So many caring people as well. Just have to keep up with the treatments and keep battling. Let you kids be your focus through all of this. Many prayers for you and your family.

good news...good news. Prayers for continued speedy recovery and more good news.

Col had 15 consecutive days of brain radiation as a follow up after her tumor removal. She had hair loss and the normal fatigue, but nothing out of the ordinary. Some fogginess with memory, which cleared up some. It would be hard for us to blame radiation alone for some of her issues like "chemo brain" cause she's had so much going on. Best of luck.

Thanks for the update. Glad the surgery was successful. Praying for a full and speedy recovery.

Colleen swears that our neighbors dog Stormy knows. Whenever she is down there, even befor DX Col would say how Stormy would just come and lay with her. She's a very loving dog, but it was a different kind of thing, almost like the dog had pity in it's eyes and comfort in its heart. I believe it 100%. There was alos a thing on local news here in Philly that said sun may help prevent LC, by producing vitamin d (i believe it was d). And that 15 minutes of sun a day can be helpful, just not excessive sun so as not to bring Skin cancer into the equation. They also said sunny climates have lower rates of LC. Never heard it before, but who knows. I'm working on damage control right now, as moving to Arizona, or paying for year round tanning for Col was not in this year's budget.lol.

Connie, praying for zero road bumps and a speedy recovery.

Col's had the rash since she started Tarceva. Nothing has made it go away. Through trial and error, she's found some stuff that works when it really flares up, but for the most part we've resigned ourselves to the it is what it is kind of thing. The doctor said it wouldn't hurt to take a break for a weekend to see if it calms down, but neither of us are interested in a break. Breaks, we don't need no stinking breaks. Besides, we think it would just come back. Best of luck, but all signs point that the rash is often indicitive that it's working.

Hang in there Jackie. Prayers you get out of your funk quickly, unfortunately it happens from time to time. Remeber my theme. let it in, acknowlege it, and kick it out.

I agree, call the doctor see if there's something else the can do. And dehydration is a very likely possibility, so watch out for that as well. In addition each chemo treatment seems to get a little harder, but hang in there, once you get through it all you'll start to bounce back. Wishing you the best of luck, I hope you get back on your feet soon.

I too missed this, but it is great news. I'm telling you guys we're building momentum with the bulk of the good news I've been reading lately.

Ok, first let me get a late bid in on Pat. You need a more normal climate with 4 full seasons. Not MI where 6 are freezing, 3 are kinda warm, and 3 are warm. You need to come to PA. We have four seasons of equal time, and we progress gradually into and out of them. We haven't had any snow to speak of to date, however the rain is hanging around this week. As far as your little pod town you guys are all dreating, it's starting to sound more like a cult than a pod town. Next thing you know It'll be like Big Love on HBO. But i'll hold judgment on that until after it is built. Anyone else looking for a new home let me know. Col and I bought more bedrooms than we've had time to fill since this stupid disease started, so we've got plenty of room. Wealthy, I'm looking at you. I need someone to kick my butt and keep me in line.

Has been posted here many times. I, like wondermom, used to be an offender in this area as well. i'm not proud of it. Connie is right, it's a lack of education in this area, or in my opinion, often misinformation, as I feel we are often told that smoking causes LC. I will say that I never meant it to be judgemental, and hopefully your business friend didn't either. All that being said, It's irrelevant what someone has done or hasn't done, no one deserves this disease. I don't care if you ate absestos for breakfast everyday of your life, you don't deserve it. I try my best to inform the uninformed on this subject everyday. As far as it getting easier, I hope it will for you, because I doubt the question will stop popping up. Review the old post, as there are many great comments on how to handle it.

Kyle, thank you for your update and wonderful tribute to your firend. I'm very sorry for your loss, and our thoughts and prayers are with you and his family and friends. I agree, he wasn't given time to fight this. Time which, in my opinion, he deserved, and everyone deserves. It's a terrible disease, but it should at least give us five minutes to fight it instead of sucking punching people. Please start a new post somewhere here and let us know if there is anything we can do. ESPECIALLY helping his wife and newborn child. I know many times funds are set up in the officer's honor to assist the family. Please let us know how we can help.

This one just gets to me on so many levels. Prayers for everyone involved. It's just not fair. I think angry John is about to come out. I'll leave it at that. Many condolences to everyone.

Good news good news good news. Let's stay on a roll here group.

Great news Max. Get back to doing what you were doing before this whole mess as soon as you can, and don't look back.

Grateful to start a new three month stretch of just Tarceva for Col, due to the good report yesterday, which I am super greatful for.

Colleen has bone mets as well. Initially they did nothing outside of the chemo and radiation for them, but then again, they weren't really causing any pain. No that she's on Tarceva, she gets Zometa once a month. The reality for us has been that since they are just "there" and not really causing any additional pain or problems, we pretty much ignore them. Best of luck.

Oh geez Bruce, do you really want to ask that question on this board. From our experience, I'll add my two opinions, and God I pray it's the first one. Could just simply be chemo brain causing the issues. second, and I am praying as I type that this is not the case, but it could be a brain met. YOu know how we are, always thinnking the worst. Colleen was SEVERElY emotional for months leading up to her DX and had become another person. Please look into it, as it will set our minds at ease that this is not the case. i wish I could sugar coat it, but I can't, and if it gets you to the doctor for a MRI, then I'm fine with that. And when you write us all and tell us it was nothing, we'll be even happier. We wish you all the best, and I'm sure this is nothing, and pray you get back to "normal" soon.

Congrats Jamie. Besides being an inspiration like so many here, you are a tv star too. Thanks for everything you do.

Alright, I'll be the first guy to respond to this . That's a great gift from him, better than any you've ever gotten, better than any you will ever get. Wish I could be as thoughful.

Great pictures, thanks for sharing. I would have a whole football team worth of kids if someone would let me. Kids are AWESOME.

I have so many favorite humor stories I can't recall them all if it wasn't for that Col and I would have lsot our minds by now. My favortie to date was one I relayed before, but i'll say it again. COl and I were at 50th bday party for my friends wife. The youngest couple there by about 20 years, we found a little corner near the beer and just hung out and chit chatted with one another and anyone brave enough to talk to us. In typical Col fashion, she was lookin super cute, and wearing nothing but her crew cut. The hosts introduced us to another couple, about the hundreth people they introduced us to, and we shook hands. when col shook the other woman's hand, the woman said, my Colleen your hands are cold, why are they so cold. well, I just started giggling uncontrollably and had to run to the beer coller to grab another one just not to embarass anyone. Colleen, bald and beautiful, simply responded it's becasue i'm holding this soda I jsut got out of the ice. When I returned, Col asked me what was so funny. I said that I thought it was brave of the woman to make a perfectly innocent observation to a bald woman about having cold hands. How funny would it have been if you would have just screamed as loud as you could, BECAUSE I HAVE CANCER YOU MORON. WHAT DID YOU THINK I WAS BALD FOR FUN. IT'S BECAUSE I HAVE CANCER. Well, she too thought it just as funny and we laughed about it the entire night. You really had to be there, but our sick sense of humor has gotten us through a lot. If I ask her right now why her hands are cold that's the response I'll get. TOO FUNNY.

Prayers on the way Ann. please hang in there, I know how difficult this can be. My previous job was awfull for me. Career wise going nowhere, hated what they had me doing, blah blah blah. basically, It was making everything WAY worse, if that's possible. It just added a million more minutes of stress. I thought I was stuck there for a while as Col continued her battle, just so that we would have health care and one of us a job etc, and I thought switching jobs would be even tougher, may not be able to get health care, would the money be right etc. Then, one day out of the blue, a very good friend called me. Her BF was lookiing to hire a tax person. Next thing you know, everything fell into place and boom there I was. Happy then ever in my professional life. Bottom line is just when it seems bad, something will come along and work out JUST RIGHT. Hang in there, we're thinking of you.

Heather, I'm not sure anyone has an answer for that, as I think it depends on the person. Col's hair is SLOWLY coming back, and she's almost a year from radiation. It grows heavier where the WBR had less focus, and slower where she received more direct hits. Don't know if the Tarceva is effecting it or not. Sorry I can't be of much help, but we're not all that concerned about her hair, she wears her hair (lack there of) as a badge of honor. Good luck to you.