sherriot

Thank you everyone for your kind words. You are all so right! It is important for me to give back to the community. I hope to be able to do so soon. Anyway, you are all great and your kind words have helped me more than I can say. Thank you! Sherri

I am afraid that I mostly took more than I gave with this board. Sometimes I'm just too private of a person to share my own story, but I have kept up with all of yours and prayed for everyone of you. thank you for allowing me to be part of this special place! Anyway, My dear sweet Mama passed away on Thursday morning April 28th-very peacefully with my sister and I each holding a hand. Thanks to all of you I knew what to expect and it it was a "good death". An extraordinary life as well, but-much too short!. Bless you all! Sherri http://legacy.com/cjonline/LegacySubPag ... Id=3481670

I think that you asked about this earlier, but my Mom was also taken off of Iressa in January because it stopped working after 19 months. She's now taking Tarceva and it is working. Sherri

Katie was my cousin. I wanted to post something but it was just too hard for me. Thank you for your post. I just want to add that she was only thirty-one years old and left behind a five-year daughter,devoted husband, and many many family members who will miss her very much. Here is a link to the article a local newspaper published the day after her funeral. http://65.71.165.235/xta-asp/storyview.asp?viewtype=print&tpl=story_print&vpath=/xta-doc/sj/2004/04/01/news/26377.html She never smoked. Sherri

I was wondering if anyone might have a similar experience? My Mom has been doing very well for the last several months, in fact her last PET scan shows NED. Unfortunately about a month ago she started having severe pain in her right hip, which shoots down her leg. It has progressed to the point where she can barely walk. We have now had a bone scan, MRI Cat scan and Pet scan and the only thing we know for sure is that she has some compression fractures in her lower vertebra. They haven’t been able to even curb the pain. She has had a bad reaction to hydrocodone and duragesic. So now she is taking duladid and amitriptyline and has had an epidural but is still in pain. The bone scan lights up all over the fracture areas, the MRI is inconclusive and the Pet scan shows no areas of increased uptake so we don’t know if we’re dealing with bone mets or not. The area has been previously radiated so that may be part of the cause. Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks so much! Sherri

Peg, My Mom had bone mets very similar to Bill's. She had twelve radiation treatments for "pain" in June 2003. All of her subsequent Pet scans show no sign of metastatic disease. These treatments were to be palliative-not curative-but she has had great results. Her first oncologist patted her hand and said "you don't have to take treatment if you don't want to" as though she should just go home and wait to die. Thankfully my sister and I dragged her out of his office and found someone who provided hope and optimism. What a difference that made! My prayers are with you and Bill. Sherri

Genasense (Oblimeren) is derived from salmon and blocks the production of a protein named Bcl-2 which is believed to contribute to a tumor's resistance to chemotherapy. It is supposed to make the chemotherapy agent work better. Here is a link to the trial. http://www.emergingmed.com/pub_search_t ... e_sys_id=0 Sherri

Peg, That is truly exceptional news! You an Bill are an inspiration to all of us! Sherri

Hi, Your situation sounds very similar to mine so I thought that maybe I could help. My mother was diagnosed in in May stage IV. As you said the first month was pretty awful and we were all feeling pretty hopeless. We chose not to ask the Dr. about prognosis-with the thinking that each person is different and no one knows how they will respond to treatment. (Although I knew from researching on the internet that it wasn't too good). In my mom's case she has responded remarkably well and is doing great right now. When we had the first test results that indicated the treatment was working, she seemed surprised by everyone else's excitement because her feeling was "of course it would work". I don't think that this is a bad thing. My mother didn't really know how bad her situation was either, but I think it's important not to worry too much about the future and how people react then, but to have hope and faith that everything will work out. I feel happy too-and enjoy my mother's company because it is very precious to me now. It is important for you to continue with your life so that you do not feel overwhelmed. I'm sure that your mother wants you to be happy. I also live close enough to mine that I visit her almost every weekend. Sometimes when I stay home to be with friends-I feel guilty, but my mom wants me to have fun and not worry about her all of the time because that makes her feel guilty. Anyway hope this helps! Sherri

My mother's oncologist has been very excited by the new drugs in the pipeline. He also said there were several being considered for approval in January. Unfortunately the only one that I can remember is Avastin? I believe it is similar to Herceptin for breast cancer. I will ask him to write down the names the next time I see him. Sherri

Kristy, My Mom started Iressa right after radiation treatments because her Oncologist was worried about her low hemoglobin and didn't want to start chemo right away. The Iressa did shrink the primary tumor considerably. After a month, the oncologist felt like she could handle a round of Carboplatin/Taxol administered in the same way as Bob described. He has now started alternating two months on Iressa, one month with chemo. She is doing very well right now-we are hoping for a complete response. I think that her Dr. put it very well when he said that his job was part science and part art. Every patient is different-it's finding what works. I would question the use of Iressa concurrent with chemo however-the data does not support any additional benefit. I will pray that the Iressa works as well for your Mom as it has for mine. Sherri

Hi , I have been "lurking" on this board for sometime and since I have some good news, I really thought that I should share it with you. My Mom was diagnosed in May Stage IV adenocarcinoma with bone, spine and brain mets. She had 12 radiation treatments to the mets with no treatment to the primary lung tumor which was large, over 8cm. After radiation, her Dr. started her on Iressa although it is usually prescribed as a second or third line treatment. Well she immediately started to feel better. After two months on Iressa-he did a round of Carboplatin-Taxol and now another two months on Iressa. A PET scan last week showed no evidence of Mets and the primary tumor has reduced dramatically. She has had very few side effects-just a little diarrhea. She hasn't even developed a rash. Iressa has been amazing for us so far. I pray that it will be for your father as well.