gerbil runner

MO, please at least call your dr! Low blood counts and swollen lymph nodes could be infection. Please, God, grant MO renewed strength and health...

Hi and welcome (though sorry you need to be here). My mom has sclc, not nsclc, but diagnosis was not easy for her, either. The met to her pancreas closed down her bile duct, which is what sent her to the dr. Her dr. and the first onc. who saw her believed she had pancreatic cancer (which her sister had died of 10 years ago). If you think lc is grim, look at the stats for pancreatic cancer - moves fairly fast, hard to diagnose early and not very responsive to chemo. A pulmonary dr. who was consulted voiced his opinion that it might be lc spread to the pancreas, rather than pancreatic cancer spread to the lung. The first bronchoscopy resulted in my mother needing a ventilator due to bleeding - but no diagnosis other than "atypical cells". Four days later, after transferring to a bigger hospital, another bronchoscopy also failed to give a dx. Oh, and then there were the tests on sputum which were inconclusive as well (which were done before the first bronchoscopy). Finally, a CT-guided needle biopsy of the pancreas confirmed SCLC. It took 19 days in the hospital to get the dx. Sometimes the samples just don't give enough info. And a correct dx is crucial. If the first onc. had stopped at the pancreatic cancer dx, my mother would not have been given proper treatment, and probably would not be here today. As hard as it is, try to be patient while the dr. figures out the true diagnosis. Hopefully there will be good treatment options to go with it! Oh, and BTW, ignore the stats. Only God knows your uncle's future.

Peg, I am praying Bill will gain strength and health with the new treatment. Also praying for personal strength for you and your family.

Deanna, I'm so very sorry to hear your mom has passed.

Janet, I can't begin to imagine your shock...I'm so sorry. My mother had bronchitis and clean x-rays in Feb 2003, and then diagnosed in November with extensive sclc. It moves with deadly speed. I think we narrowly avoided tragedy ourselves...the first onc. my mom saw thought she had pancreatic cancer, stage IV (which her eldest sister died of 10 years ago). Had the pulmonary dr. not pressed for a bronchoscopy which eventually led to the correct dx., she would not be here now. I hope you will begin to find some peace.

I think I need to go far far away....

Dear God, please grant David and his family a good prognosis.

I can't help but wonder - did those Brits really think they'd find a naturally-occuring frozen bird?!?!

My mom has extensive sclc. From what I have learned on this board, I would say make sure your dad's onc. is as aggressive as your dad wants. And encourage him to be a bit of a hypochodriac. The bad stuff that can happen, from chemo reactions to recurrences, happen really fast. Any new symptom or significant change should be checked out. Radiation, according to my mother's dr, will increase chances of survival. However, with ES SCLC, there is a balance between possible benefit and quality of life. Radiation was not brought up for my mother until it was discovered she had an excellent tumor response to chemo. Then they recommended radiation to the lung and her pancreas met. It's tough for the patient, though - mom is very tired. If your dad's onc. is anything like my mom's, then the first set of scans after starting chemo will be very important. Hang in there - your dad could be one who does very well. And the fact that he has quit smoking will help him stay strong for treatment. Encourage him to enjoy each day he feels well and keep him golfing! Keeping a positive attitude is important.

Chicken Engineering at Its Finest In a recent issue of Meat & Poultry magazine, editors quoted from ''Feathers,'' the publication of the California Poultry Industry Federation, telling the following story: It seems the US Federal Aviation Administration has a unique device for testing the strength of windshields on airplanes. The device is a gun that launches a dead chicken at a plane's windshield at approximately the speed the airplane flies. The theory is that if the windshield can withstand the carcass test impact, it'll survive a real collision with a bird during flight. Apparently, the British were very interested in this and wanted to test a windshield on a brand new, high-speed train they were developing.. They borrowed the FAA's chicken launcher, loaded a chicken and fired. The ballistic chicken not only shattered the windshield, but went through the engineer's seat, broke an instrument panel, and was imbedded in the back wall of the engine cab. The British were stunned and asked the FAA to review the test to see if everything was done correctly. The FAA reviewed the data thoroughly and had one recommendation: ''Use a thawed chicken.''

Elaine, think long and hard about a second opinion. Or just fire the d*mn oncologist who gives you 6 months. If you want to fight, find an onc. who is willing to help. Your children NEED to know what's going on (and I speak as the daughter of an LC patient). Give them the address of this site so they can get a helpful education. Not all doctors are created equal. Extensive SCLC is pretty grim, but the doctors working with my mother have made it clear that there are many treatments available, and they will help her fight as long and as hard as she wants. All patients deserve that option. I know NSCLC is less receptive to chemo, but it tends to move more slowly. Some patients surprise everybody - you could be one of them.

TAnn, I've never had a chest tap, but I can tell you not everyone takes well to novocain. It takes a LOT of the stuff to work on me, and I get nauseous with it, too. Anxiety does make pain worse, too. My mom is tough to draw blood from, so when she was in the hospital, anyone who came near her with a needle got asked "Are you REALLY good at this? It's not going to be easy, so if you aren't the best, we need whomever is." We found when techs were properly forewarned, they seem to do beter.

Whew! Big sigh of relief here! Glad you're feeling better.

Berisa, I hope your dad will improve over his stay at home. Sometimes it takes a while for the "fog" to lift. It's hard to face the posibility of losing a much-loved parent. My family is still at a very hopeful point, but I sure do remember the scary way it all started out for us. You and your dad are in my prayers.

Perfect! Reminds me of advice I got once: "Never say anything in public you wouldn't want your pastor to hear".

Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. So glad you're reposting some of your "best".

The feeding tube probably sounds worse than it is. Getting nutrition is so important...after a week you're wise not to wait any longer. Hope it goes well. Prayers going out that your dr finds (and FIXES) the problem.

Snowflake has the right idea - let's hope it's a bad med reaction! Prayers going your way.

What wonderful news! Happy Birthday, Lucie! And many more.

Mom met with the stem cell transplant team today for a preliminary interview. They want to test her heart and lung function, as well as liver and kidneys. Gave her lots of info on the procedure, as well as ideas as to what else they might try if she's not strong enough for stem cell or if she has a recurrence down the road. She was very pleased with their attitude of doing everything possible to give her a better chance for survival. It sure wouldn't be a walk in the park - 4 to 5 weeks in the hospital. I may be called upon for some kind of cell or marrow donation if she can't have stem cell (we have the same blood type). My response was "Where and when do they want to test me?" Not yet, but maybe in the future. Roger Williams apparantly does a great deal of stem cell transplants. Her insurance would cover it without a problem, and the hospital is near enough so Dad and I and her sister can visit. She definitely wants to do it if they'll take her. She is starting to feel the effects of the radiation - very very tired, some pain, a little difficulty swallowing. Mom has 11 more treatments to go, I think. Also, her primary dr. saw her today and thinks she looks a bit jaundiced. She had a stent put in her bile duct back in November when they first thought she had pancreatic cancer. The stent was meant to be temporary, replaced with a metal one in a few months, so maybe the stent is collapsing. Tomorrow's blood tests will tell more. It's a tough journey, and promises to get more interesting real soon. But Mom is proving to be tougher than many gave her credit for.

A woman was enjoying a good game of golf with her girlfriends. "Oh, no!"she suddenly exclaimed. "Look at the time! I have to rush home and fix dinner for my husband! He's going to be really ticked if it's not ready on time." When she got home, she discovered all she had in the cupboard was a wilted lettuce leaf, an egg, and a can of cat food, and she didn't have time to go to the supermarket. In a panic, she opened the can of cat food, stirred in the egg, and garnished it with the lettuce leaf -- just as her husband walked through the door. She greeted him warmly, then watched in horror as he sat down to his dinner. To her surprise he seemed to be really enjoying it. "Darling, this is the best dinner you've made me in forty years of marriage! You can make this for me any old day." Needless to say, every golf day from then on, the woman made her husband the same dish. She told her golf partners about it, and they were all horrified. "You're going to kill him!" they exclaimed!!! Two months later, her husband died. The women were sitting around the clubhouse one day when one of them said,"You killed him! We told you that feeding him that cat food every week would do him in! How can you just sit there so calmly knowing you murdered your husband?" The wife stoically replied, "I didn't kill him. He fell off the windowsill while he was licking his butt."

Kids aren't the only source... In my high-school French class, we were using a vocabulary book which was divided up by common places, i.e., a school, a kitchen, a bathroom. The bathroom had a bidet. The translation for "bidet" is "bidet". This meant nothing to small-town bunch of high-schoolers. "What's a bidet?" someone asked. Our somewhat prudish teacher turned about 6 different shades of purple as he attempted to explain it, and was met by stunned silence. I still remember being horrified by the idea of a toilet flushing upwards .

My mom is doing both chemo and radiation now - but has had to skip a round of chemo due to low platelets. They're coming back up, so she should do chemo again next week. It's very hard on the body to do both - I think the dr. may believe waiting for the radiation is a safer compromise.

What a great birthday gift!

Ry - God seems to have a warped sense of humor somtimes. Hope your stay with your mom has some "quality time" in there.