Andrea

Thanks everyone for your comments!! Brian had the same concerns about time, etc b/c last time I was stressing out a bit. However I believe this time things will go much smoother b/c hindsight is 20/20 as they say. This time I KNOW what I am doing. Last time, I had no clue The first book did great, we laid out about $3,500 to publish it, quickly recouped it, and raised $3,000 profit for LCSC (I am rounding numbers) And should I get pregnant my dad agreed to help with all the packing and trips to post office, etc. I will definately be calling for volunteers once this gets underway. I am off to the post office now to mail a shipment and will set up a new pobox.

I don't have an answer to why, you have more than any one person should have to handle As usual Snowflake wrote so eloquently, I could not top her advice, so I am just going to say "ditto" on what she said.

The problem with an expansion is that it would only be good for those who have the original. A new version would be able to be given as gifts/sold to people who never had the first. The second version would have totally new recipes of course.

Should I consider doing a second cookbook? Here is a poll for it

Lots of anniversaries, what great news!!

YAY!!! Time to celebrate!

Happy Anniversary!!! You rock!

No input but hoping to hear good news that he is feeling better soon!

Praying for NED!

B/c you were at work I would have laughed and said "unfortunately lung cancer does not discriminate, I know plenty of poeple with it who never smoked." She probably did not mean harm, people just don't think. It is sort of like when we hear that somone had a heart attack, a question comes to mind "was he/she fat?". It happens to both fat and skinny people, but people just ask

Also sounds like fibromyalgia type of stuff, just general pain with no explanation. But again, check it out for peace of mind

I agree with Connie to get checked. I myself had some chest pain on and off, if you do a google search for "chest wall pain" you will find that it can be common and just be costochondritis which is inflamation and not serious and common in peole your age. However never ignore it, make sure you get thoroughly evaluated and tell your dr you have a family history of lung cancer, for peace of mind you want a chest ct-scan.

I am so sorry I can imagine how difficult it was seeing her home town and the cemetary. My parents moved here from NY in 2000, they lived in NY their entire lives and my mom said the only thing she would want to go back for would be to visit her parents at the cemetary. I am supoosed to go back for her at some point, I just haven't been able to emotionally muster up the strength to head back to Ny where I lived and see people and places and things. I think you wouod be abnormal if you didn't feel blue.

I am so sorry you have to go through this Keep writing away as much as you need. We are all here for you

Thanks everyone for allowing me to vent. My boss told me that I have a right to be frustrated b/c these things are not just "in my head". My head can't make atypical cells, and many of the other "worries" I recently had. I feel that most of my friends don't understand and do think I am always paranoid (which I am). However, when you get a report that says atypical and you know what we know, panic is normal. Anyway, Nicole the wonderful phyisican assistant called back and said that Dr. Barth (mom's onc) agreed with the urologist's assessment, I can do in-vitro, but keep a close watch and get re-tested in 6 weeks. Still not comfortable with the whole biopsying possibly while pregnant (like I will even get pregnant ), but since Dr. Barth agreed, I will let it go until my next test in 6 weeks:) I see the fertility dr July 31 to see when we are a go. That's it for now, at least until the next incident I do get blood work back on Tues for the endocronologist, so you never know (3 months ago those results led me to cancer blood tests too

That was awesome Val. I am only sorry that I sent the summer update on the "lioness" last week to our family/friends (my mom is a lioness since she seems to have 9 lives with the lung cancer, pulmonary embolism, brain anyerusm and triple bypass recently). I would have loved to include this link to get people to shut up I am sooooooooo tired of being scolded for my attitude. I never was a positive "all will be well" type of person and I never will be that way. If I were, I wouldn't have insisted my mom get a chest xray for a cough. I got into quite a few debates/arguments about my attitude. So I am glass is half empty type person most of the time, big deal, it is who I am, take it or leave it. I bookmarked the link so I can send it to people when I am in a bad mood and tired of hearing about my "attitude" and how if I thikn positive things would be different. Like when someone says my mom is cured, I feel compelled to remind them that remisssion is not a cure b/c I dont like to jinx stuff. Ok, babbling. Thanks againi for the link!

I am so sorry

I didn't even post about this round of drama b/c I figured people were getting sick of me. Maybe I should have b/c I might have jinxed myself not following tradiation of posting tests. (I can be superstious) I followed up on the red blood cells in the urine and had a cystoscopy today which looks into the bladder; and I had a urine cytology which looks at urine under a microscope for cancer cells. The cystoscopy was normal. However the cytology showed: "A few small clusters of degenerated, mildly atypical urothelial cells are present. In the absence of a history of prior instrumentation (or lithiasis), a low-grade urothelial neoplasm cannot be excluded". The urologist said I will get it re-tested in 6 weeks then a biopsy if it is not normal. However I am scheduled for in-vitro in two weeks and he said I can still get pregnant, this would be very early since it is not visible yet. I just faxed it to my mom's oncologist. He has been so kind to me in the past with this stuff, I hope I am not bothering him. I just want to confirm that I can go ahread with the in-vitro. Suck a duck, I am tired of this. I know I can't complain b/c nothing bad has happened yet. That is why I am posting in the Family Member section. But I will allow myself a few minutes here at work to cry and de-stress

Love you katie!

When my mom was diagnosed she had a PET scan which showed the cancer light up in the chest and some lymph nodes. Then they did the mediastonoscopy where they biopsied the lymph nodes to make sure it was not a false-positive. For my mom, if the lymph nodes were negative, they were going to remove the lung tumor right then. However since the lymphs were positive, they closed her up, sent her home for chemo, then she had a lobectomy 4 months later.

Before I read the responses by others, sleep apnea popped in my head. My mom has it. Just FYI, at first she was sooooo resistant to the c-pap mask at night, now she can't sleep without it.

Cindi--I don't have answers, but wanted to share that my mom was dealing with low hemoglobin for a bit, it was unexplained. When it got to a certain level she was given a shot (I think it was arenesp, but not sure). It made her more tired and SOB too. Now her hemoglobin typically runs low (but not low enough for a shot in awhile). No explanations or anything given to her.

YAYAyAYAY!!

That was just a wonderful poem. You should hang it in your office, it will make people think. The old saying, don't judge till you walked in the shoes yourself

I am sorry to hear the news Keep us posted