Don M

Happy Birthday Fay. Don M

Good luck Jim Don M

Darci: it sounds like things are on track to me. I hope you fil doesn't stay mad at you for long. Don M

VickY: Hopefully the waiting won't be so bad now that you have spoken to Moffit. Don M

I hope Gary's chemo continues to go well. Don M

Hi Linus: I don't know how high the suv goes, but I know that 2.0 is considered marginal for uptake. You and your mom have my prayers. Don M

Hi Manda: Shellie has given you good advice. The only other thing to add is that some people take a tape recorder to the doctor appointments. That way you can pay attentioon and ask questions whenever you want and not have to scribble down notes. For now, you should learn all you can about your daad's disease. It does sound like the doctors are on top of it in terms of monitoring his blood count. The next time your dad goes to see the doctor, you or some one else should go with him and ask questions. One important question is to ask the doc what the strategy is.. or what the next step is if the platelets are low. You have not mentioned chemo. Find out what or if chemo is going to be used. You will feel better as you get more information and arrive at an understanding of what your dad is dealing with and what the oncologist's plan is. Don M

Hi Mandi: I am sorry your mom has to go though this stuff. I am surprised too about the tarceva. I thouhgt it was a second line treatment following something such as gemzar/carboplatin. I hope your mom's cancer stabilizes and that she can feel good again. Don M

Thanks everybody; this for Betty; I used to work for the U.S. Forest Service as a Forest Technician. I have 29 years and 11 months of Federal Service. I wanted to wait a few more years to retire, but I could not effectively do the physical aspect of my job anymore. I used to be able to huff and puff cross country right up steep hills, but now, no matter how much I suck the air in, it is not enough. A buyout opportunity came my way, and so I took it. It will pay down my debts enough so I can make in on my retirement income. I intend to enjoy it. I feel good about it. I can still hike on trails. Don M

This is the first day of my retirement. i view it as a very long weekend. Don M

Great News Cindi. A "simulated round neoplasm" is better than a tumor any day. Now you can relax a bit. Don M

Welcome Nikki. Don M

Yum! Don M

Jamie: Happy birthday to you darlin son. Take lots of pictures. Don M

Janet.. I am not a caregiver and have no experience with end of life issues. But, my thought is that your mom may have untreated depresssion. I took antidepressants and it helped me as it has many others. Don M

Gail: Congratulations to your dad on his 5 year surviorship..and having a good life. Don M

I am glad to hear he is doing better. Hopefully this a turn-around. Don M

I hope the tarceva works well for your mil. I have been watching people's ecperience with avastin, and it seems to help a lot of people when used with a platinum based drug and taxol or gemzar. I would try the tarceva first. You all have my prayers. Don M

Fay: so I guess you are always the optimist. Your relatively good news makes me think about my second cancer, which apparently was actually a new primary. It was morphologically different than my first cancer. Take your good news and enjoy your soon to be birthday. Don M

Hi Cindi; I don't think it's cancer either. It appeared too suddenly and grew too fast. But it is still nervewracking to see stuff in your films that should not be there. I am praying for you. Let Monday come fast. Don M

Hi Ellen. Welcome. Say hello to Henk for me.

Eppie: I think pamidonate is for bone mets. I have read that one should not do tooth extractions when using bisphosphonates and pamidonate is a bisphosphonate. Here is a link that talks about possible bone loss as a possible side effect of using bisphosphonates. Pamidonate is not specifically mentioned, but it is a bisphosphonate. http://www.myeloma.org/main.jsp?type=ar ... =0&id=1223 Don M

Bunny/Suki: I hope the tarceva is gentle and EFFECTIVE. Don M

Fay: I certainly hope these guys are not purposely misreading your xrays. I hope it is just simple incompetence. I like the idea of reporting it to a consumer complaint thing like Kaffie was talking about.. get it on a tv news segment. For myself, I have confidence in at least one my local radiologists. I learned the name of the best one there. He was able to pick out a possible nodule on an xray when it was only a few milimeters in size. A ct scan 3 months later identified a possible nodule when it was 0.9mm. My oncologist does not look at the films with me. My pulmonologist does. I think he is very good at it too. Did you get the ct scan done somewhere else? Maybe you should forget about the local hospital. I guess it would make me angry and I would do something about it. I am sorry you are feeling sad. Don M

Jim: too bad you could not do this one. I am sure your onc has someting else you can try. don M