JB

Nothing specific for the liver, but so far so good on the Tarceva for Col. Wishing you all the best.

That's great. It really is nice to know that people you know well, and people you barely now can help out it so many ways. Colleen and I were truly blessed with many gifts from friends and families. I swear they sent us enough pre-cooked dinners to last us a year. One in particular sticks out. It was last Christmas, and we were still new to this whole thing, and frankly still had the thoughts of would this be our last christmas. Someone sent us a series of gifts, in the true meaning of the season. Sayings like you ahve to believe to recieve, with snowman blankets for Jack, gloves and coats for Jack, a hat for Col, a very nice coat rack to hang on the wall. I can't even remember what else. It was all sent anonymously, and to this day, I can't figure it out. I've had my suspicions, and even asked one or two people, but no one wants to take the credit for it. All I want to do is thank them and tell them how much it meant to us. Just the thought. We didn't need new gloves and jackets, but it was great to get them, and their gift benifited more than us, as it meant that some other less fortunate children were able to get new gloves and hat's that we had already bought for Jack. Couldn't give the ones we received as a gift away, they meant too much, so we gave the ones we bought ealrier in the season away. So many people benefited. But what it did for our spirits was and still is immeasurable. I still try to mention it as often as possible, in the hopes that the people who did it, get the satisfatction of knowing how much it meant.

Best of Luck with everything Connie. We'll get started on the extra special prayers.

No one yet that I've seen. But the day after Thanksgiving, everyone will ahe something out, and they'll all be yelling at me to get to work. I hate putting up lights outside. Funny one of Colleen's biggest pet peeve's is to see someone in February with their lights still up, and if they're on, foget about it.

These dates are SOOOO Much better than birthdays aren't they? Way to go Geri, congrats.

Hi jean and welcome. I'm glad to hear that the WBR appears to have gotten rid of those Brain mets. They can cause some troubling issues at times. Before Col's dx, I was actually convinced she had lost her mind. Turns out she didn't it was just being squished by this big old brain tumor. Luckily they were able to remove it all and she did 15 WBR after that, concurrent with her Chemo for eveything else. Fortunately, you have found a great place for support, many people on here have been through what your experience is. When you get a minute, update your profile to let everyone see where you are on the journey, it helps people better taylor their answers. What is you husbands chemo regimine? Col did 6 rounds every 21 days of Carboplatinum and Taxol (sp?). You would think after bieng through all this I would know how to spell these stupid drugs, but I don't. I only care about what they do, not how they're spelled I guess. This is a very scary time, I know. Probably wondering about everything, and it is SCARY as hell. All I can say is hang in there, and let the treatments do their work. Col's post DX over a year now, 13 months to be exact, and doing a million times better than any statistice would have told us 13 months ago. Oh we still have a long way to go, but in our world, I consider stable progress. There are many, many people on here who are much further along than 13 months. Please hang in there. Come here for support, questions, to vent your frustrations, whatever you need. It will help immensely. I wish you and your family all the best.

Colleen's was a piece of cake, and convenient. Can't see hers at all, even in those low cut shirts I try to make her wear.lol.

At work, it's a corner full of Jack pictures, jack and me pictures, and one family portrait of the three of us. I have 10 pictures framed and jammed into this little tiny cubicle.

Awsome pics Bunny. Those are great times. Seems like just yesterday we were waiting for jack to do that. Now at 3, we're trying to keep him from climbing on everything. I love the name Levi as well. Had a good friend growing up with that name, and always thought it was unique. Now, please tell me how to post pics, in my posts and in my profile. I had to ask Katie B for help just to get out avatar up and running.

I have only had to deal with slight exaggerations, Col's never claimed to be cured. But if the Onco said 15-20% better, everyone else was told 25-30% better. If that's what makes her feel better, from my perspective, I'm fine with that. If anyone asks me I tell them what I heard. In-laws were the greatest exaggerators to date. If i was around when in incorrect statement was made, i simply said, that is not what the dr. said. I never try to be a downer, but i want the people who are in the pits with us daily helping fight to make sure, one they actually are hearing things correctly, and two if I like to prepare for a bigger fight is than is neccessary. I believe that if I'm overprepared, I'll have extra energy to celebrate the win at the end. If someone came to me with misinformation, I would gently tell them that it's not exactly correct so in your case my response would be "well, that's not entirely true. The one spot he had is gone, and the main tumor is stable. Still good news, but we still have a lot of work to do" Something like that. I would address it with Col, in a positive manner, only if was going to effect something serious. Fo example, if she thought that she was cured and needed no more treatments or something similar. I wish you the best trying to figure it all out.

Sally, I have said before that after Col's dx, i walked around in a fog for almost 6 months. I mean a fog. Just went through the motions. I graduated from the fog to limbo, and have been there ever since. It still feels not real, however it is our "new normal". On the days we can pretend it's not there, we do, and on the days we can't we rest and recover, cause tomorrow we'll get to pretend it's not there again. I would certainly agree that I have a different "state of being" than I did a year and a half ago. I would venture to guess that no amount on hospice experience, or even any medical experience even oncology can prepare you for when it hits you home. At the end of the day you were always able to remove yourself from the situation. You knew what they were feeling, but you weren't feeling them. It's a whole different ball game now, at least in my opinion. I wish you all the best throughout your journey.

Barbara welcome to the "did anyone get the number of the truck that just ran us over"club. It sucks that you have to be here, but there is a lot of good advice from many people who have been through this. There are many people here to help. Your situtaion is similar to ours, as well as many others here, so you should be able to find support from people who have been through the emotional ride you are on. At 29 I would hope that your husband realizes everything that he has ahead of him, and will decide to fight this with everything he has. It is certainly something that I would not want to wait very long, however, I'm certain he needs some time to get his head around the DX. Fortunately Colleen and I have always been on the same page on her treatments. Read her profile below the post. Brain surgery to remove a huge tumor, 6 rounds of Chemo, and now Tarceva. Tarceva is a bit of a "breeze" compared to all the stuff before it, so we're hoping it continues to work it's magic for a long time before we have to look for other options. If you ask her, she'll tell you it sucked, and she felt like mud, but she'll also say she'd do it all again to be where she is today. I wish you, your husband and family all the best.

Happiness is fishing on the Dauntless...Don't know why I can never get that phrase out of my head. Me and two buddies took a fishing trip in college in cape May NJ, and that was the name of the boat the Dauntless. And Happiness is fishing on the dauntless was their motto. In REALITY...Happiness, is me, col, and jack together doing anything or nothing, just together.

Welcome first son. Very sorry to hear about you loss. You will find many many supportive people on here who have been through exactly what you have.

Don't know for sure. Many on here have talked about how a tumor will sometimes die from the inside out. Hopefully someone here will be able to better explain. Best Wishes

Do not pass go, do not collect $200. Go directly to someone who'll give you answers, and opinions. At the very least contact the oncologist they originally referred you to. IMO we all need answers ASAP at the beginning. There are many many options, but you have to find the right Dr. for you. Please do so quickly. A well laid out understanding of what EXACTLY you are dealing with and a treatment plan is a great peace of mind at this stage in the game. Knowing and understanding the DX and the treatment options will truly allow you to better understand everything. Wishing you all the best.

Col had WBR and chemo. Her hair is growing back. It seems like it is doing so at a snail's pace, and it grows more where there was less radiation and less where there was a more concentrated radiation. But it is growing back. Hope this helps, and Hopefully everything works out for you.

Ann, let me know if they find a drug that blocks fat in the stomach...That's what I need. Healthy eating is not one of my strong points. Unless you consider my previously mentioned favorite meal of steak, cooked medium, with a side of steak, and for desert I think I'll have the steak as healthy. I try though, it's just tough. I try to pay attention to what I eat, mainly because, family history on my dad's side leads me to believe that they will have to eventually cut a hole in my house to get me out. In fact tomorrow, I'm going back on Nutri-system. That actually worked well the last time I did it, although, if you see their food, I'm not sure that's healthy either.

I think Welthy said it very well, and explained everything. All I can add is some personal experiences to try to help, and I'll use Debbi's ideas as jumping points. Meds. Nothing wrong with meds. My mother in law started taking them shortly after Col's DX and they have worked wonders for her. I forget what she's taking, and i can find out if you're interested, but wow, what a difference. She was always high strung, but during those initial days, she was jumping all over doctors and freaking out and I truly believed she was going to loose her mind or stroke out or something. The meds have worked wonders for her, i tell her she's calmer now than she was even before Col's DX. Humor. Oh my word, where would I be without humor. I'd venture to guess drunk in a gutter somewhere outside of the loony bin that I just escaped from. Humor is what saves me. Cancer can and will get a hold of you if you let it, so Col and I laugh at it. I'll give you a prime example. We were at a friend's 50th b-day party on Sat. That puts us at an avaerage of 20 years younger than everyone else there, so we hung out by the beer and talked all night, it was good to just be out somewhere talking. Well we were intorduced to like a million people, but one stood out. Col was holding a soda, and her hand was really cold, and when she shook the lady's hand the lady was like wow Col you're hand is so cold why is your hand so cold. Col said that it was because she was holding the soda. But I pretty much started giggling right away and after the lady left Col said what's so funny. I said Oh I don't know you're standing here all bald and beautiful, and this lady just trying to be nice asked why your hand was so cold. I said how funny would it have been if you just freaked out and started yealling it's because I have freaking cancer dumby. I'm standing here all bald and all the heat escaping my head and your asking me why I'm cold. Well she started laughing histerically. We both laughed for a good 5 minutes one of those uncontrollable laughs, that you think you're done and then you start up again. And to the mud slinging. If anyone was ever going to be struck down it woould be me. I had a night about a month ago where I had a complete meltdown. I am outside yelling up at the sky, calling out God, my dead grandparents, my uncle who passed away from LC, two of my parents closest friends who passed away from LC everyone I could think of got called out that night. And it wasn't pretty. It wasn't like I was like dear pap, I love you dearly can you help me out...OHHHH No, I didn't call any of them by name, I just called them names, very very mean names. Questioned the existence of everything I was taught, and told them I'm done believing until they give me a reason to. Now while none of this worked to solve our problems, I sure as heck felt a lot better when I was done. So if yelling is your thing, I'm really good at it, then have at it. As far as being the strong one, you may not feel like it, God knows I don't, but you are. The patients seek strength from those they love, not because they perceive you as strong, but more so because they love you and you love them, and that love gives them strength. God know's I'm tired, COl doesn't, but God and just about everyone else does. I find that happening more and more now. At some point everyday here at work, I stop and say man I'm tired. I'm tired of cancer, I'm tired of Col being sick, I'm tired of just having to live with this stupid thing hanging over our lives. I'm tired of going from June of 2006 and having our lives totally figured out to being thrown into something heartbreaking in July and trying to get through it and then to have this STUPID cancer thrown onto her in October. In FOUR months we went from having life figured out, I mean really figured out, into the battle of our lives. Oh yeah, I'm tired. But mostly I'm tired of worrying about what the next scan will show, tired of wondering when the next shoe will drop, and just how many damn shoes they have up there to keep dropping on us. Then I think what the hell I'm I so tired about, and if I'm tired, how tired must Col be. And some days we're just tired together. But not for long cause we have to get back to the fight at hand. Oh and sometimes, when you're writing a post to try to offer support to someone else, you find a way to vent and get over being tired, just like I did in this little tirade. Sorry about that, but hopefully I was able to get some situations across to you that have helped us out tremndously throughout. Most importantly, you will always find great support here from all these wonderful people. I never knew you could care about and love people you have never met before so much. But they are truly remarkable, and I am thankful they are here.

Winter on the way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Think everyone has been answered so far except barbs. Larry the Cable guy is from Nebraska and is a HUGE blackshirts fan, so pretty sure you could have met hime pretty easily...Git R Done. I'm thinking the triplets, just to rare. Cool if true, but too rare to believe. As for me...I EASILY FOOLED YOU GUYS. Set you all up with my previous posts, and the threw one past you. SO here are MY answers. I do watch Sienfeld almost nightly...Jack loves him too. In 15 years of Golf, i have hit every part of the hole, including hitting the front of the cup, bouncing off the flag, and landing one small half inch from winning me a brand new car. All that said, I have NEVER had a hole in one.... Which means that I do watch grey's anatomy religously...Not afraid to admit it. I do it. Every Thursday I'm there. I, Like george, am in love with both Calley O'maly and Izzy at the same time... Oh boy am I going to take the abuse for this one.

Col used the eucerin for the skin reactions, she said it wasn't terrible, just like a bad sunburn that the cream helped. The swallonwing thing was a problem for her, but they gave her this "magic mouthwash". Lydocaine, benadryl and water maybe??? It kind of numbed her throat so she could swallow easier to eat and stuff. Wishing for all the best.

Cool evenings around a campfire.

Game Over...lol...not literally, just all I could think of to go with game.

WARNING:::::: For those of you who haven't tried texting yet...DO NOT START. It is highly addictive. I started last year when Col went into the hospital. Easiest way to disseminate information without having to talk to people, which I wasn't always in the mood for then, but I have not stopped. I text her, my brother, my neighbor to come down to play playstation, I am addicted to texting, and I'm older than 13. When my neighbor does the play by play of the local HS football games, I'll text him about 100 times just to make fun of him. I can not stop. I may have to start a support group. I'll call it AATT. Adults Addicted To Texting.