Bud Baker

Big congrats to Tom!

Congrats on 5 years, Jackie!

Welcome, Mary. I am another 5 year survivor of stage 2 squamous cell NSCLC, so hang in there! Sorry to read that yours got into your ribs. From everything I've seen, that always makes for some serious long term pain. How are you doing?

Congrats, Janet!

I think the link between food and cancer is way underestimated. One of the things I've concentrated on, to try and help my odds of staying cancer free, is improving my diet.

Thanks, y'all. It was a crazy week. I felt fine last weekend and even did a 76 mile bike ride on Saturday. But in the middle of the night, Sunday night, I got a fever with chills, body aches, and the whole bit. My fever broke by Monday morning and I went to work. But it was back by early Monday evening. This pattern just kept coming back, a fever in the night but ok during the day. Wednesday evening was the fourth day in a row, so I took the time to go to the Dallas VA hospital ER. My symptoms so closely matched that of TB patients, and the chest x-ray, which showed something in what remains of my left lung, couldn't tell if it was TB or pneumonia, so they admitted me to the hospital. They did a TB test, then a chest CT scan. It takes 2-3 days to get a result from a TB test, but the CT scan showed pretty conclusively that it was pneumonia and not TB (there was no cancer, either). It seemed very strange to end up with a pneumonia diagnosis when I didn't even have a cold or anything else wrong beforehand. They call that "community acquired pneumonia", when otherwise healthy people get pneumonia. It may be that my surgery damaged left lung will always be prone to this kind of stuff. I'm back home with antibiotics now.

Congrats, Diane! Great news!

I think the pulmonary rehab speaker should take an audience volunteer through a demonstration of a pulmonary rehab visit. I don't think most of us know what goes on with pulmonary rehab. I'd be interested in observing.

Congrats, Lysa, and welcome. I remember the party we had on my one year survival anniversary. It remains the largest gathering we've ever had at our house.

Janet, so sorry to read about how rough things are going for you. Going through a stretch of really bad quality of life is one thing if there is clearly light at the end of the tunnel. It's quite different if it's not certain that all the treatments causing the bad quality of life are really going to help. When I had cisplatin as an adjuvant after my surgery, it became obvious to me that 4 rounds was going to cause long term problems for me, so I quit after 3 rounds, in spite of my doctors' protests that 4 rounds would give me a better chance at long term survival. That doesn't begin to compare with what you are going through, but I think it shows which way I lean on the scale of quality of life. I say justifying things to yourself has to be first and foremost. Then worry about everyone else. Best wishes, I hope things get better.

Congrats on 8 years, Kasey!

Congrats, Bruce!

Welcome, Sandy! My story is similar, not that large a tumor, but a cancerous lymph node made it stage 2, so I had chemo after surgery. I've been cancer free for over four and a half years now, so my dark cloud is getting smaller. Here's wishing you many cancer free years, too!

Big congrats on 5 years!

Congrats, Nonni! Glad you're still doing great!

Sorry to read this, Donna. But it sounds like he and his doctors are on top of things. Best wishes for you both.

Good morning, everyone! It was 63 degrees when I got up this morning. Forecast high is 89. Summer is coming. I gave my COE pass a workout yesterday. First, Rose and I got out and did a 28 mile ride on our tandem bike, riding down to Rocky Creek Park at Lake Benbrook, and doing a loop around the park. We did an easy pace recovery ride, it being a day after our first 50 mile ride on the bike. Then when I got home, I hauled the boat to Rocky Creek Park, launched it at the ramp there, and spent the rest of the day visiting a few of Benbrook's crappie.

Good stuff. I would just add that I think the best way to exercise regularly is to find an activity that you really like. For me, it's cycling. For many people, it's an activity they can do with a friend or group of friends. I think you just have to try things until you find what you really like. I don't think you can overstate the benefits of exercise.

Good evening, everyone! It was great seeing LCSC people that I had met last year and meeting new ones this year. Very, very cool! Janet is right, it's hard to describe how great it all was. I'm still digesting all of what happened. Like Alan, I didn't get to talk to nearly everyone. I was enjoying visiting with the ones I had met so much that I didn't make myself take time to introduce myself to everyone else. I must do better next time.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Congrats, Diane! Stable is great!

Wow, congrats, Kasey!

That's great news! Congrats, Carol!

Good afternoon, everyone! There isn't much going on in my neck of the woods. My shoulder keeps getting steadily worse and my orthopedic consult is still a couple of weeks away. I'm hoping the surgery wait isn't long. I've still been managing to ride. Rose and I have quite a few miles on the new tandem already. Sara, good luck with your new treatment. I hope it works great for you. I'm looking forward to seeing you and everyone else in DC. Here's sending positive thoughts for KW Judy. I hope she's better soon.

Welcome, Susan! It sounds like you've been through a lot. Glad to see you're doing better now.