Andrea

Elaine, I don't have a full answer, but I was curious about that awhile back and did some investigating. Apparently it all depends what lymph node is involved. Our body is made up of tons of lymph nodes. Who was it, I think John, someone gave me a great website awhile back that explained how stages go depending on which lymph node is positive. So Stage II has just the immediate lymph involved, where as Stage III has more lymphs involved and more in the medestienal (middle of chest area). The surgeon's office told me that they dont know 100% until they go in which lymphs are positive b/c PET scans can give false positive on lymphs near the tumor just b/c they are inflamed. So basically, since I forgot all of the lymph node names and all of that, it depends on the location of the lymph node as to what stage and whether surgery is an option. Often times they now do radiation and/or chemo with surgery b/c if a lot ofl ymphs are i nvolved, there can be microscopic cancer cells that they try to kill. Can you imagine being an oncologist and understanding all of this with all the different types of cancer?????? So confusing

I just want to say welcome and tell you that your daughter is absolutely beautiful!

SECOND SECOND SECOND SECOND OPINION IMMEDIATELY! I have learned and have been told taht surgeons think different from oncologist and all doctors disagree. Do not hop off of the cloud 9 just yet. And don't go to a valley. PIck a platue instead I was in your same exact boat. I remember responding to one of your posts before and saying my family is a few months ahead of your family timewise line. So here is what happened which sounds just like your situation. At diagnosis we saw a well-respected pulmonologist who said there was no hope; my mom would not tolerate surgery; surgery was impossible; the best we could do is some chemo. His first step was a needle biopsy and sleep apena tests to see how she could tolerate being put to sleep. My boss at work was like no no, and hooked us up with a surgeon at Cedars. We went to see him and it was like a total reversal. He was like we can probably shrink it and then cut it out. He wanted a mediastonoscopy. He was positive. I politely called the other dr and said we were going with this one. He threw a FIT, he called the Cedars dr after I asked him not to and ranted and actually told me he did not think my mom would live after teh procedure. Got over the dr anger, realized each dr is different, went with the second opinion and surgery was a success I have heard of false positives, but not negatives, although I guess it is possible. I heard of false positives b/c sometimes the lymphs get inflamed and angry, but not cancer. And one thing also I learned is that they don't know for sure until they get in there and look at the lymph---at the mediastonoscopy they took out some positive ones and they thought a few more were positive. Either chemo got rid of it or it was never positive. When are they doing the biopsy? Oh, and one more thing Cedars told me b/c I was confused, they typically tend to "overstage" at first to be cautious, but they really don;t know till they go in.

Guilty as charged. I talk about everyone all the time. When my mom was tired the other day, I said "yeah, Mo has an elephant on her back too.". Everywhere I go and everything I do, I think of people here. It is an addiction, almost an obsession. It is like must post, must read. I HATE it when I am busy during the day and can't read, I feel lost. I love everyone here, so Jamie you are not alone. I always want to post. Shellie---I was so excited to hear about your husband Heather (Hebbie)---her scans were clean and I actually went around my office telling people. It is interesting how we all feel this way.

I once was looking for my glasses when they were on my face. I could have sworn I had seen on this website a petition to print out? Does anyone know if there is one? I am doing final prep/ideas for Relay tomorrow and still have not figured out if I should do like a guessing game of a fact to raffle off a prize or something else. I thought it might be neat if I could have petitions printed, have people sign it, and then they are automatically enrolled to win a blender. There are some creative teams for Relay by the way. A big issue is teenagers and tanning beds. A local high school team is having skin cancer as their mission and they aer selling squirts of sunblock for 25 cents. Isn't that so neat????? Each team is supposed to do something for awareness. One team is having 3 Lakers girls come to sign autographs. I am not sure what taht is an awareness for except to make me aware that people can have perfect bodies Heehee I heard last year the testicular cancer both was the most interesting design. Hmmmm, I am curious to see that Thanks all

Heather, GREAT GREAT GREAT NEWS!! You need to post this under Good News so more people can see. I am so excited for you! Yay. What relief!! And kudos to your husband, I should consult with him so we can exchange detective tips!

Thanks so much for the suggestions!!! It has gotten to the point where she says to me on the phone "you talk, i can't speak" b/c of the cough. I never even thought about swallowing and chewing gum. There are these hard sugar free candies I know she likes, I am going to have her try that. THanks everyone

I have no clue who they are I just did a search on the internet and I was like oh, free material to hand out, cool

Cheesecakes? Do they transport through e-mail? Kelly--please feel free to PM me if you want to talk about medical stuff and don't want to go publically yet. I will share a story with you about myself which I am not sure if it relates. When I was in my 20s something was wrong. I was in law school and I was told I was depressed b/c I was overweight and most law students are depressed. I was convinced something was not right. I had a low grade fever constantly, my body felt off. I kept fighting the dr. They did blood work, my sed rate was high which is non specific but means something is wrong with your body. I went to every dr imaginable and had every test imaginable. There were theories of cancer to MS to lyme's disease. End result was a misdiagnosed kidney infectionand stone. The point is, unfortunately it takes a lot lot of digging and the only thing we can really do is get our yearly exams and be proactive.

Cheryl, Your courage and strength are so admirable. Wow, what a year for you. And then you had Jack's heart attack. I will never forget coming on and seeing that post. Thank g-d he is doing well now and thank g-d for you. You are a true figther and just an inspiration. I bet you are the office role model.

I think each Relay in each city is unique, but in case other people doing Relay are part of "Mission Delivery" and have to hand out lung cancer stuff, in addition to the LCSC flyer I am going to put out, I found a website that allows you to print out LC information under "Education". It is a cheap and easy way to put something out if you need to. Booklets can be expensive. And it beats making up your own info sheets http://www.lungcancer.org/champions/fs_become.htm

You should do what David did and dress up like that and post it. Heehee. Snowflake goes Biker Chic! Hey did anyone have coughing issues from radiation? My mom is fatigued, but she doesn't do anything so that part is not as bad. Meaning she does not have a child at home to take care of, etc. She calls herself a lazy bum Obviously radiation knocks the crapola out of you. Her cough though is driving her INSANE.

We all get offended and hurt at times. And with our emotions right now, it gets worse. How about if anyone posts something offensive and does not realize it, a PM to that person explaining how you feel. If the writer agrees that what they wrote was not inadvertantly not appropriate, that person PMs Katie to take it down. I honestly to the bottom of my heart never realized I was saying something offensive. If I knew, I would want to delete it. So perhaps that would be a good solution

Here is hoping for just emotional exhaustion and stress

Kelly, You have strength! Please keep posting. You will see that we really are just a bunch of funny loons who are fighting together and truly love each other like family members. You will find yourself hearing say to yourself "hey, so and so feels like that too" when either dealing with yourself or your mom! As for screening, I just went through this with my dr. Apparently there really is no hereditary link with lung cancer. I asked him what harm there is in chest ct scans every two years besides the cost. He said radiation effects. I am honestly not sure what to make of it. In NY my parents had yearly ch est xrays, in CA they didn't. Hard to tell if it would have caught it earlier had she gotten one. I would just ditto what everyoine says and tell your dr everything about your history. Also, be proactive, if you feel something is off, it can't get hurt to get it checked out. How old are you? I am 31, I was just sent to a breast surgeon for cancer mgmt due to my mom's lung cancer and paternal grandmother's breast cancer and maternal grandmother's ovarian cancer. They felt around, did an ultrasound, and all was well. I am a huge advocate of yearly exams. That is my two cents worth

I am so excited, I came home from work to a colorful package. I opened. It was the T-shirts I ordered from this website. I have to say, thank you Katie for choosing such a nice t-shirt that fits and looks good! You saved me from embarassment, I had NOTHING to wear to Relay for Life. They gave committee members red t-shirts to wear. Well an XL simply does not fit, I was like oh my goodness, what will I do? They did not order many larger sizes. Well problem solved, Brian will wear the red committee shirt for me and I can wear the LCSC shirt!!!!! This is going to be my weekend summer staple. Chubby people like me will understand this---the t-shirt fits so nicely. The material is not thin like many t-shirts where they cling to you. And it is short sleeves, but not TOO short like many t-shirts where the flab hangs out. These shirts are a MUST BUY!

Thanks Becky. I am going to c heck into it. I thought about it today particulary b/c of Iressa cost and cost issues a family friend is having with his lymphoma treatment. It is so disturbing that when fighting for your life that you have to fight insurance companies to get treatment. My co-worker and I were in tears today--it is the wierd connection where it is her best friend and Brian's family's close friend. He NEEDS radiation. He was told that if he does not get it immediately, spinal cord effects may be permanent. Yet the insurance company won't pay for his transport cost and each day goes by and he needs it so he can walk again. I suggested that we just pay for radiation to get it started, but it is like thousands and th ousands of dollars for a treatment. Somethings I will never understand

More prayers are needed for Robert. Things were looking up, all set for stem cell transplant and then boom, a tumor in his spine Now he is paralyzed and going through rehab And the worst part is insurance---he cannot be in rehab and radiation at the same time, they won't pay for his cost and it is a mess b/c each day without radiation means teh damage could be more permanent. The good news is that the tumor is the same lymphoma tumor, so if we can get that gone, he can get stem cell.

Awesome! That just led me to another thought. Are there any organizations around where we can donate money to people to use whose insurance companies don't cover the costs of certain drugs? Or whose insurance companies don't let them get the treatment necessary? Hmmmm.

Actually Rochelle I am just temporarily giving you the hall pass. I talked to an amazing woman yest at teh breast center and I honestly have no idea what triggered it, but I decided to plan a honeymoon finally That actually was what my mmo wanted for mother's day. I figured out I can plan a trip and get trip insurance in case things need to be changed. It was really wierd, it was like common sense was knocked into me yest.

Angel, I hate that you had to find us I am in a similar situation as you, I am 31 and an only child. First, has your dad seen a second dr for another opinion? It is really amazing what different drs can do, I have seen it first hand. The first dr told my mom she was not going to have any chance at all, and now she is fighting and we have hope and a chance. Second, I know it is soooooooo hard as an only child and your mom suonds just like my mom. I live 20 minutes away and she hardly wants me over there, it is like they don't want to burden us and they want us to be happy. Of course, we will probably be the same way with our kids. One idea if you want to go down is to say that you really want to be there for the next oncologist visit to ask your own questions. This way you get down there, and see first hand how they are. Hopefully you wll be pleasantly surprised that things are not as out of control as you thought. I honestly did wierd stuff at diagnosis--I shopped for hospital beds thinking my mom would not make it up the stairs, I called private ambulances to have them on call, I had no clue. THank g-d it was not that bad and chemo was ok. I think that ifyou go down for an oncologist appt, you can get more answers and see for yourself. If you ever want to talk to someone from the prespective of an only child, I am around and Natalie who just lost her dear mmo is an only child.

Oh who am I kidding, I try to stay away and I can't. I am asking everyone for a favor, I can be blunt, I can be quirky, I can be a nut. If I upset you, please talk to me about it, ok? I really don't bite and can be a nice girl at times I truly am sorry for anything. So the news is---my mom got her PHD in radiation!!!!!!!!!!! Yup, her diploma says PHinally Done!!!!! We see onc on the 19th to see what is next. The one thing that is bothering her, the darn turquoise does not want to come off and seh cannot scrub the area Meanwhile the same day she finished radiation, my dad got his MRI of the cervical spine back and it showed a lesion, so he had a bone scan today to make sure it is not a hotspot. I thought about stalking for teh results, but decided against it.

It is interesting you mentioned burping, my mom was burping a lot at diagnosis and with chemo. She kept apologizing and we were like who cares, burp away. However, she was never a big burper before.

Deb, I can give you lots of real examples. My office manager also told me a couple of days ago that her uncle is on Iressa and he has been battling Stage IV for 5 years now. He was put on Iressa last year and he is back to work and normal, they forget about it. She mentioned it to me b/c she is new to the office, and I introduced myself as the office anxiety nutjob and I mentioned LC. 2nd chair opposing counsel in the trial I just had--his father had an entire lung removed 17 years ago for cancer and couldn't be more active now. Golfs, runs, practices law, etc. Also, I think I had posted this, I found out that my great aunt, who was a great aunt and my favorite, was diagnosed in 1980s, had part of a lung removed and was fine, she had the rest of that lung removed in 1995 due to a recurrance and still was fine. This was my favorite aunt and I never knew she had LC at first, she kept it quiet and did not want the family to know until after. I do remember spending every holiday with her and that she was in the hospital for lung surgery. However, she was a go-getter and was always more active and moblie that my own grandmother. She lived in Brooklyn and walked everywhere, went to Atlantic City by bus all the time, etc. She ultimately passed away in 2002 at age 75 b/c of a recurrance. However she did refuse to quit smoking so it did not help matters and she survived about 20 years. I don't know the stage, but with a second recurrance, that has to make it advanced.

Hi. I am going to be more of a lurker, and I promise to be careful in what I say, but I just had to share this b/c I thought it might interest people. I was reading a pamphlet called Living With Lung Cancer last night. I honestly did not know that that all of these new chemos are only about 5 years old. It said that gemzar, taxol, and a few other ones associated with lung cancer which I have written down at home, have only been on the market for 5 years. If you think about it, 5 years was 1999, that is like yest in my mind--the past 5 years flew. Now imagine what the next 5 years will bring. Also, I was at the breast center yesterday and I met a woman who used to post on this board, but she found herself getting to "obsessed" with cancer and had to break away. Her mom is Stage IV, she is on Iressa and is completely stable for two years. She said her mom lost function in one lung, so for a month she had trouble breathing b/c the other lung had to adjust being the breather and they thought it was the "end". Then she bounced back and now she goes to yoga and goes shopping and is moving into a new beach house. It was nice to hear. And she has experienced zero side effects from Iressa.