Andrea

Angie, My mom had similar side effects with chemo. It scared the begevas out of me. When she was on chemo, she knelt on the floor at home to get a container out and she was on her knees and she could not get up She was too weak. I can laugh about it now knowing it was normal, but lets just say I didn't find it amusing then

Heather, Ditto everyone else. My dad's report said the same thing, it basically means aging and we all age, even in our 20s and 30s! I just wanted to throw in the ditto b/c the more dittos the better, especially when it is something good to ditto :)

Denise, I would tell that person to get a second opinion from a top place. I had something similar 2 or 3 years ago. I had a CT for gallstones and it showed an infiltrate in right lung. I was told to follow up every 3 mon ths to make sure it was not growing. I was like uh no, get me to a pulmonologist NOW! I was not waiting for it to grow. So I went, I hada follow up chest ct and infiltrate was gone. Somehow it moved to the other lung, so I had to follow up again and it disappeared. The pulmonologist was 99.999% sure all along the infiltrate was nothing, and especially when it disappeared and was in teh other one, and even if it did not disappear, he was doing nothing but have me come back in 3 months. Sometimes breathing can even show up on scans as little spots I was told

I have an extra t-shirt, I got 4. Is XXL ok? Give me the address. Go Dean Go! I would have loved to have gone to your Relay, but I am popping by the Relay up North in Los Angeles taht weekend that my mother in law is involved in. Relay is addicting!!!! Brian doesn't know it yet, but we are popping by the Irvine CA one June 5 also

Nina, I cannot find it right now, but a few days ago, someone posted with the subject how important is CEA and someone responded witha link. Here is my li mited knowledge:) CEA is a "tumor marker", it is a blood test basicaly for cancer, but it does not show up in all cancers. If CEA is elevated, good chance there is cancer. Mymom's was elevated at diagnosis and with treatment the number kept going down and down to n ormal range. Howevert there are many people with LC whose CEA always remained normla, I think it depends on the tumor. Hopefully that made wesnse

Becky, Not a surprise trip, I apparently agreed and talked about it and everything. My mind!!!! Old age heehee

I have no new news to report, except to say what transpired on our oncologist visit today. I figure it will bore those who have been there, done that, but maybe inform those who are about to come to where we are and know what to expect. So many people on this website, everyone at different points of treatment, and I personally find and found it helpful hearing about people's updates to know what to expect when my mom had surgery,tehn radiation, etc, etc. Brief recap: Diagnosed 11/03 IIIA, chemo 11/03-2/04, Surgery 3/04, Radiation 4/04-5/04. Done on Tues. My mom is TIRED, she describes it as being more tired than any other point of her treatment, even after surgery. The onc told us today that this is normal, she is at the low point of feeling icky having finally finished the three big treatments. She has lost weight, but not too much, and it is good for her diabetes b/c she was fluffy to begin with. She is coughing a lot, expected as normal part of radiation and lasting a month after. Codeine cough medicine constipated her and made her out of it, so she got a prescription for a non-narcotic one today. Port-cath is coming out next week. I asked the dr if it was better to keep it in, almost not to jinx any potential recurrance. He said he does not anticipate on using it and if he does, it just goes in other side. Since it is a foreign body, it could be infected and better to take out. CEA is 0.5 which is good. She is going to "recouperate" and "rest" for the next 3-4 weeks until the next dr visit. Then we will set up new scans two weeks from there. After scans, we will decide on further treatment. G-d willing no deamons come back and it will be either a clinical trial or Iressa. The original clinical trial he wanted her to go on is now closed, but he is going to a conference this week for a new clinical LC trial which looks promising. That's all folks Again, sorry if I bored you, but if I did, hopefully you didn't read the entire thing

How do the hall passes work? Do we vote? Is it a majority or plurarity with Ry having final say? What is a plurarity anyway? Hey if we charged 25 cents for a hallpass and $10 for a violation for not requesting one and making people worry and each person kept track and turned in every 3 months, we'd have instant fundraising! I just came up with that now. My vote is to allow you a hall pass on two conditions 1) if you promise to promptly post upon return from the chaos or e-mail someone to post for you and 2) if you send in your proxy for my hall pass next week. Did anyone know I was taking a trip with my inlaws to the grand canyon next week? Just curious b/c apparently I did know, I have Thurs and Fri marked on my work calender, but yet it came as a complete shock to me when I found out last night I am getting on a plane Wed night

Don, six years without a donut? You deserve a prize! Wow!!! I did bypass one todaya nd ate my little can of tuna Jamie--when is your dad's test and dr appt? I just got all confused

Adriana, Hang tight. This is an awesome amazing place to come for support. There are others on this website who have dealt with breast cancer and then lung. I am sure respones will be coming your way shortly.

Great news taht surgery is coming!

Ready to reach for a donut at work? Or a mini twix? Envision this---my arm I guess I never saw burns up close before. You know how like if you sometimes forget and put plastic in the microwave, the plastic kind of bubbles up and gets all melty looking? That is my arm! If I had a digital camera, I'd save you lunch calories. Heehee. Just had to share as a I nervously cover up. The burn reaches my hands too. I am meeting my parents at the oncologist in an hour and my dad can't know about this sun burn incident b/c I will get punished at age 31 Ok, this is my nervious anxiety, off to oncologist. Not sure wh y I am nervous for today, this is just a follow up since radiation ended last week, no scan results or anything. I think they are first drawing the CEA today.

Great pics! Are you selling those bracelets? I love them! You can actually sell them throughout the year as a fundraiser for your Relay team from next year. Some people fundraise all year round

Sharon, They always have to check, but oftentimes it is a simple polyp or even hemmoroid (I cannot spell that). A few times they fo und occult blood when my dad had his yearly stool tests and it was just hemoroids on the colonoscopy. Deep breathe!

Speaking of bracelets for fundraising, I bought a cool bracelet at Relay for $15. It was like a black leather band and there were rhinestone letters and symbols. So I got one taht said HOPE with a ribbon. Then for my friend's little girls, I got one in pink that said JEN with a ribbon and the other one wanted just a J. It was really neat and fun. Great way to get money fundraising!

Yes ladies, it counts PM or e-mail me your addresses. Or post here. Whatever works best I have to share this, I really do--I officially hereby crown myself IDIOT OF THE MONTH. My official prize? An increased risk of skin cancer, pain, and discomfort. Yes, I forgot my sunblock at Relay. Yes, I was just at urgent care. Yes, I have second degree burn on my arms with lots of sun blisters (that has not happened since 1st grade) Yes, I saw my dr at Urgent Care and he got a great chuckle over it. Haha Ginny--it makes sense that you used the word pocketbook, you are from the east coast. Did you know that in California pocketbooks are called purses? Like lets say you go to Gucci or Fendi or Coach, what do you buy? On the east coast (I am from NY) they are pocketbooks. Here in California they are purses. Wierd, huh? Also, Reeboks, Nikes--in NY they were sneakers. In California they are tennis shoes. OK, time for Brian to put Aloe on my arms. I am not sure if he realizes yet that today is our 2 year anniversary from when we met

want to see pics, want to see pics. repost link please

I haven't seen a post by Fay A recently. Fay, if you are lurking, hugs and kisses.

I haven't entered the new millenium yet--no digital camera. But I have black tote bags that look identical to the t-shirts at LCSC Store with the "lung cancer may be only a breath away even if you never smoked logo" and it says www.lchelp.com The lettering and ribbon are white on the bag. If you would like a tote bag, it is as easy as 1, 2, 3! 1. Send a donation in any amount to Katie for LCSC--it can be 1cent up to 1 million dollars! Anything over 1 million dollars, PM me, I want to talk to you 2. E-mail me at andreascheff@cox.net your name and mailing address or PM me here. 3. Wait a few days and wooola, a tote arrives

Yay Ray and Tbones family!!!!!!!! We could have used some ice cream at ours, it was soooooo hot. I still am in awe of it all, the luminaries, how everyone was there for the same cause, etc. I can't wait till next year.

I forgot where I heard it, it could have been here, but I once heard that Frogs are goood luck, Fully Relying On G-d

Excellent question! Where is Laurie???? And sister Natalie--I am sooooo anxious to hear how your Relay went. Post or write

Phyllis, I don;'t know much about social security, but i do k now that if you have problems, there are lots of lawfirms that specialize in just helping get social security. Binder & Binder is one I have seen used in some cases, that is all they do As for the chemo, I am not sure, but I think chemo is suppowed to try to hit all tumors everywhere GOOD LUCK!

I don't have experience, but I would think the thoracic surgeon would be a good judge of whether surgery will work. Maybe get a third opinion to balance the two? Or if you are comfortable with the surgeon, go for it. When my mom was diagnosed, surgeon wanted to go in immediately for medisatonoscopy, pulmo said no and called s urgeon and got into an argument wit h him. We ultimately went with the surgeon b/c he came highly recommended adn we wanted an aggressive approach.

Wow Shellie, I am so sorry. I hop;e your dad has a fast speedy recovery from this accident. It is amazing what parents do for their kids. Please let us know when he comes home.