Andrea

One of my friends had a breast biopsy yest and she freaked out b/c the dr asked her "how old are your kids". She took that as a bad sign. Results today were negative, but I thought of this post when she told me that yesterday

Are we twins????????? I would have had the EXACT same reaction as you!!!!!!! And I also try to buddy up with them We are way too much alike. I bet there are others just as CRAZY as us who are still in the closet

Hello all I still may not be posting a lot, but please please please keep the recipes coming so we can start putting everything together. I apologize for not posting much, I do read, I just have been in a mental abyss with my mom and now I have to go for a breast MRI next Firday (I thought I was done with that stuff for 6 months) because they want me further checked before I get pregnant. And then work and fertility doctors and house hunting, blah blah blah blah blah. Did I say blah? Heehee One recipe in particular I am looking for--my mom wants to make fruit smoothies at home with a blender. But we don't know how to do it Love to all! And thanks for your help with recipes!!!!

Thanks so much for asking She is doing well. She gets tired, but takes it easy like a beautiful queen :):) It is just shocking that last week she was about to be put on a ventilator and today she was strolling through a furniture store with me She still has more dr visits coming up, but she is hanging in there

cut and paste again Hi everyone, Well my mom, the lioness (you know, big female cat with the beautiful coat of hair with 9 lives) just got out of the hospital. We have lots and lots of friends at Hoag! The lioness said she is glad it was her in the hospital and not me or my dad b/c she would not have handled it. So here is what I survived: ICU, being told she may not be ok, being told her hospital stay would be a few weeks at least, watching her gasp for air saying she cannot breathe and observing nurses and doctors rushing in, being told an emergency team was called in to put her on a ventilator, being told it could be the cancer, being told she had congestive heart failure (she doesn't), etc, etc. Bottom line: My mom has 5 lives to go because 1)she survived lung cancer so far; 2) she survived a fatal pulmonary embolism from chemo in 2004; 3) she survived a brain anyerusm and 4)she survived Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, ie drowning in her own lung/heart fluid, approximately 20lbs of it! What exactly happened may never be known. There are lots of theories floating around about what happened, but I won't bore you with the medical mumbo jumbo as most people are not as fascinated by it as I am. All I know is that my mom is a lucky lady as everyone at the hospital said! Sue will be playing lotto this week with numbers my mom picked Getting her discharged today was a 5 hour process because each doctor had to sign off and the neurosurgeon, radiologist interventionist, hospitalist, endocronologist, oncolcogist, pulmnonologist, and cardiologist all had to be called It was a big party, lots of doctors involved. Each in awe and shocked and pleasantly surprised by the recovery. Now she has to take it easy. She can't exercise or do much. She has to follow up with lots of doctors in the next few weeks. And of course she said the first thing she had to do when she got home was exfoliate her face and put on her Chanel face cream. Thanks to everyone for all the love and prayers!

Do NOT feel hoggish!!! Scan time is ALWAYS scary! And the oncologist needs to be cautious and do scans. Try to remember, we all get wierd aches and pains that linger. I KNOW, so much easier said than done not to worry. Sort of like pot calling kettle black since I always worry But hang in there, it is most likely nothing but natural aging

My mom is no longer "drowning in her own fluid", as she was over the weekend. Yes, you can drown if your lungs fill with fluid. A special team was about to get ready to put her on a ventilator on Sat and everything. She is out of ICU and in a regular room. Her chest xray is clearer, but still some fluid. This does not appear to be related to the cancer at all. We do not have any answers yet on what caused this, there are many possibilities. We also do not know if she will have any permanent damage. More tests were d one today and we should get results tomorrow. She still needs oxygen, they hoped she would be off it by now. She did get to use the bathroom on her own today finally. Today was also the first day she was allowed to get out of bed, her tushy was killing her from laying there. And once again tomorrow's chest xray should indicate a lot. Still not sure when she can come home. My dad has been sleeping at the hospital, he is holding up well, probably better than me b/c he does not ask as many direct questions out of her earshot like I do I am ok, just tired. I also have to see a breast surgeon on Thurs for a likely needle aspiration to make sure a nodule is ok. Thanks for all the e-mails and calls and prayers!

I am such a cheat cutting and pasting what I e-mailed out---Thanks to everyone here for the prayers!! Cut and paste below: Still in ICU. A bit more stable today breathing wise because they got rid of a lot of lung fluid so she was feeling better. We know she has to feel a bit better because she looked at me and said "I think you need to get your eyebrows professionally tweezed". All we know is that she has Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, known as ARDS. The next step is to figure out why. Still no clue what is causing the lung fluid and infiltrates. Still has not been allowed to get out of bed. A cardiologist was called in tonight because some emyznes are out of whack. I guess more tests tomorrow. I will return to the hospital early in the am. Thanks for prayers

Hi everyone, Still no answers. Her chest xray showed no improvement today. They expect her to be in ICU for a long time. My mom is on a bypap machine which is a huge oxygen mask. They were inches away from putting her on a ventilator today and tapping her lungs, but they gave her massive amounts of a drug called lasix which is a diuretic, inserted a catheter and basically she urinated out a lot of the fluid which helped her breathing numbers just enough to prevent a ventilator. The doctors are great. I decided to have them call her oncologist to update him and to our pleasant surprise, he is now overseeing everything and consulting with the ICU dr and the pulmonologist. The neuro people are done with her since the anyerusm is "cured". The intensivist (ICU doctor) told me his biggest concern is that we do not have a diagnosis and they do not know what is causing the fluids. Therefore, they can't tell me she will be ok b/c it is still a guessing game what is going on. Today they did noninvasive tests like a heart ultrasound. They had hoped to get a phlegm sample but she has not coughed up enough. So they may have to induce it which is pretty invasive. However they want her more stable for that. I have no idea what tomorrow will bring or what they will do. The chest xray will tell a lot. I got kicked out by my parents b/c I guess I look like I am about to fall over from exhaustion and nothing more is being done tonight. My dad is spending the night again. My uncle Sheldon is flying out tomorrow. And I will be back at the hospital at 6:30 am to stalk the doctors as we never know when they make the rounds.

Thanks. My mom is not doing good, they dont know what is wrong. still in ICU

Cheating again, another update i juts sent out Hi everyone, Just another quick update before I head back to Hoag. Boy is it hard to type with a dog on your lap. My dad shewed me out to go to his house to walk the dog so he can stay at the hospital later. Ok, well anyerusm wise she is perfect, coils stayed in place per head xray this morning. From a neurological standpoint, they could have discharged her this morning as planned. Unfortunately there is a lung issue. To quote one of the doctors, her chest xray looked "terrible", and is worse today than yestreday. So another night in ICU Her oxyten levels are low so she has not been allowed to get up yet. They just dont know what happened. They are having trouble determining if this issue arose after the surgery yest which was 6 hours of anasthesia with a tube down her throat or if it was pre-existing. It is pretty frustrating that no one can give us an answer. Of course our question--is it cancer related. No one knows. And each doctor has a different opinion. I hope to have better news tomorrow!

Wow Thanks everyone! I posted an update in general. The west coast time makes it harder to keep everyone updated

Thanks everyone for the e-mails and PMs Here is an update I just sent as a mass mailing to family/friends. I am "cheating" by cutting and pasting Hi everyone, Forgive me if I don't sound like myself, but I am mentally exhaused. Bottom line--anyerusm coiling was done, she is in ICU overnight. However there are some unexpected lung issues which need to be looked into so we are not sure if she will be coming home tomorrow as planned. Details--What a day! We were not aware until today that there was only a 50% chance of getting the procedure done! They had a specialist drive up from San Diego to be there also who scrubbed in but could not touch her for liabiity reasons since he is not part of the hospital. His job was just to advise. This procedure is so new that Hoag Hospital has only done it twice!!! Other hospitals like UCLA do it a bit more, like 5 a year. Wow! Talk about scary. After 3 1/2 long hours they could NOT do the stent, but somehow, just when they were about to give up and tell her to fly to San Francisco to see a specialist for the major surgery, they managed to do the procedure with just coil. Phew!!!! Turns out it was in a tricky area of the brain. Recovery was another 2 1/2 hours, slower than expected b/c of breathing issues. They also heard a rattling in her chest.What scares me is they heard wheezing before the procedure too. They did a chest xray in ICU, there is fluid on the lungs. They don't know why. She could have aspirated from the breathing tube, OR as you all know, she is a lung cancer patient...........So tomorrow morning they will do another chest xray at 4am and we will go from there.............I am getting up at 6am to get there before the dr sees her to get more answers. Pray that the fluid is not the big "C" and goes away. My mom doesn't know any of this, she is barely lucid since the procedure was so long Thanks for teh prayers!

Addie---yes, there is an appetizer section :) Keep them comign!

We are all nervous since this procedure is only two years old and they haven't done it much, but we are hoping for the best!

I know that this day is so hard on you. I can only imagine your pain as I have yet to walk in your footsteps. I just want you all to know, my dear sisters, and others who have lost their precious moms, that I am thinking of you all today and wish I could take your pain away.

Rick, (For those lost, check out Katie's post in Spirituality) We hereby demand that you return home from the hospital early tomorrow morning with a clean bill of health so that Katie can have one of the best mother's days! Do you understand? Well, fine, we will let you have allergies, general run down from overworking/stress, and maybe an ear infection with a simple 1 week course of antibiotics, but that is all you are allowed! Thank you in advance for your compliance with our demands

Thank you all Uncle Dough said we can incude his recipe.

Hi. Here is what I have so far, we are doing good. Appetizer 23 Breakfast 7 Soup 6 Sides 40 Salad 18 Entrees 60 Dessert 59 These are approximations I will be needing not right now, but like in a month when we are ready to go, some volunteers to help format the recipes. I have things in Word, so I need volunteers who are knowledgable how to format Word type documents Thanks! And keep them coming

Connie, I dont think you gave me any. But I could be wrong I can do a search on Sat when I try to go thro ugh and do a count of what we have

Hi. As many know, we are putting together a recipe book as a fundraiser for LCSC. Please please send me your recipes, I am planning on counting what we have, see how we are doing, and very shortly I will be posting a deadline. You dont want to miss out seeing your name in print, do you? Thanks! You can PM or e-mail me at andrea@lchelp.org (or my personal e-mail address that many of you have)

Awhile back, in early stage, Debi posted a topic called "Flying Pigs & Fairies" talking about tempting fate and I totally related. Well I am worried I tempted fate. Brian and I just signed the acceptance of the counteroffer to purchase a new home this morning, located 1 mile away from my personal assistants/servants/parents I am now worried that something bad will have to happen during my mom's anyerusm procedure next week b/c there can't be too much good. Or maybe something bad will happen to me or Brian. The reason I am posting my fears is b/c I know from Debi's post she shares them too, and maybe others who read this have the same fears and will know they are not alone.

Betty, Thinking about you daily. Wishing you peace.

Hi. One of my best friend's mom was just diagnosed with ovarian cancer. They want to put in a pic instead of a port cath for chemo b/c they said there is less chance of an embolism and does not require anasthesia. My own experience is from my mom and her port cath. I know she liked it. I am just curious if anyone here has a pic for chemo; or if anyone has knowledge of the difference. Thanks!

I don;t even know what to say, this is all just so horrible Thoughts and prayers with your family