Andrea

Nat, Even though you may not want to go to the wedding, and I don;'t blame you, your mom would say "go nat, be beautiful, smile, laugh, and dance". It is whawt she would want you to do. I can only imagine how hard that day will be for you. I am not where you are at yet, but even now, I find myself crying at ocassions like that and feeling jealous that people can enjoy things carefree without such burdens as cancer lurking. Ready to laugh at me? I was in my sister in laws wedding recently and cried only d uring parts of events where I thought of my mom and she was there. So oh my gosh girl, bring the xanax to sedate yourself and that should help you go through it. You are strong You are my inspiration!

Slowly but surely there is a lot more activity in Activism forum and lots of ideas for fundraising and awareness. Please check it out.

Bump. Love the idea. Also makes a good gift!!!

Love it. We have fleeces???

Nat, excellent idea. My mom's office used to do that. I wish I could, my law firm will NOT allow it. I asked a zillion times!!!! I was like at my last job I could wear jeans on Fri and did not need to wear a suit durign the day. My boss is like that is not a real law firm. I said YES IT IS. And I work MUCH MORE efficiently when I am comfortable

I am the one with the limited brain cell, I typed too fast without thinking Ok, this can go two ways. First, we can do this on the website and post it and people here can participate. Second, for those who are interested in sending it to family and friends, we can put it in a Word document so it can be sent out to anyone via hand delivery, snail mail or e-mail. I know one problem a lot of people have is that their families and friends already recenently donated to cancer events, and it is hard to keep asking for donations over and over. It would start out by saying something about how we need to Count Our Blessings and there would be instructions on how to fill it out. Like $1 for each tv, 50 cents for each radio, add $5 if you took a vacation longer than week this year; subtract $5 if you have had no vacation for two years, etc. It is a point game and then at the end it is added up and the amount left gets donated. Nov is LC awareness month and Thanksgiving, both times to Count Blessings.

I understand that it is hard to keep asking family and friends for donations for all of the cancer events we participate in. It gets old for them, but of course not for us. So, do you think this is a good idea or a bad idea that could be offensive? I was thinking we can do a "Cout Your Blessings" game here on the board in November to raise money for LCSC in honor LC Awareness month. If anyone is interested in giving it to family friends, they can and either donate the money here or to another cancer charity. I can put it together, but would like to collaberate ideas with one or two others. It goes something like this for example "Donate $1 for each tv you have in your house" and you add money and subtract money for a whole bunch of different things y ou have or don't have. So it is like a game and then you donate the amount at the end. If this gets good feedback here, maybe we can introduce the idea in General where more people read

MJ--my mom threw up every other day on Iressa. So your mom is not alone on the nausea!

that makes sense---if you PM me and would not mind if I posted your reply anonymously let me know.

Ry, I will pay my fine, I need to order more of the LCSC t-shirts anyway, mine are all faded from everyday weekend use Thank you!

Since Angie, one of my neuoritic twins is back , I can take my hall pass. I am not going anywhere, but just wanted to let you all know I am thinking of you and love you all. I will be lurking and answering or PMing if it is something I can help with; and I also will be monitoring Activism and trying to get some things going; but I have to take a break from actively posting and reading for awhile. I guess I am not as strong as I'd like to be and I have a few issues going on that I won't bore anyone with that I just need to take care of. Love to all!

If anyone has gone for an infertility workup, would you mind letting me know what it entails after the initial blood work? You can PM me instead of posting publicly. Thanks!

I am not sure at all, I am thinking that Iressa and Tarceva are similar in the way that like Gemzar and Taxatore and other chemos are similar. Some people here get treated with Carboplatin, some Cistoplatin. Some Gemzar, some taxatore, etc. They are all simlar, but somehow differnt. We have been told that thet side effects of Tarceva may be mroe tolerable for my mom. I hope it hits the market soon!!!!HURRY UP FDA!

Dr Joe, I skimmed the responses quickly and I disagree and agree with some of the things. Here are my thoughts: My mom is the one with cancer, there are a few things I sometimes want to know that I may not want to ask in front of my mom, ie statistics, etc, and I expect the oncologist and all doctors to answer me b/c my mom does not want to know and does not need to know. One way to resolve the issue is on your incoming patient form, ask the patient to check "Do I have permission to speak to anyone about your condition without your consent? Who?". Then yu will know how the patient feels. I think it is im p ortant to be upfront and truthful. My mom's oncologist said he is not g-d, so he cannot tell her statistics, etc. He did tell her chemo can kill her and if she did not exercise every day and do as he says, he wo uld not treat her. His scare tactics worked We saw the head of thoracic at a major LA hospital--he was confident and full of hope. His younger associate was also confident, he said to us that they don't make the patient sick with chemo if they don't think there is a chance. BUT he did give us the statistics up front. I liked both approaches, I dont think there is one way to necessarily do it.

Beth, You hang in there and get better real fast!!!!! I am so sorry that you are having such a rough time! I can't wait to see you back on here and hope you go home real soon.

Well my mom smoked, but stopped 25 years ago. She also lived on Long Island, I heard of a few other nonsmokers passing away from lung cancer, one was a seamstress where we used to shop all the time. Our oncologist also told us "bad luck"

we paid for him and we are picking him up within the week. http://beaglesandbuddies.com/index.php3?topic=adoptme Look at Marshall whose new name will be Buddy Marshall. Why the name change? My mom is Marsha and so if my dad called "Marsh", they'd both come running :)

Go heather, go heather!!!!! I will check CA when I get home later. You inspired me

To all of the Jewish families on this board (and to everyone in general), may this new year bring us all peace and happiness and most importantly good health. (For those who may not know, the Jewish New Year, a holiday called Rosh Hashanah, begins at sundown tonight and goes through Thurs and Fri)

Bruce hurry back!!!!!!!!!!

Bruce, You wonder why you are slow at the mall? My dad can go on the treadmill for hours, but the mall is like torture. I agree you should get checked out, but just FYI--my mom gets the same way with no r hyme or reason

I am sitting here at work, my cell rings and I see it is Marla, my best friend who was my matron of honor. I knew something was wrong and I actually answered "what's wrong?". Her mom died in the middle of the night in her sleep, she was 61. Actuallly it was her mother-in-law to be technical, but same thing. I am just in shock. She was such a lovely lady. My parents are in shock too. I am like here I am obsessing about cancer and you never know if you are going to wake up in the morning no matter what.

Thank you. I think Dean Carl is our mascot of bravery and lifting of spirits.

My goodness, so many new young members! I hope that NED stays with you for the rest of your life!!!!