ts

Sara, Congrats on the throw - does that mean your catcher is part of the team? I look forward to meeting you in August - I think some of your family was at the Race for GRACE? I didn't find them. So now I have to ask, since I am aware that John R. was local, is he your relation? It looks like he is CT based these days. A celeb. Too many to respond to individually today - that's the problem being at the tail end of the day. Got to tend to dinner now.

Please tell Dottie that she has a pile of hugs and wishes for light piled up here. And prayers to send them on their way.

Eric, Sure looks like I will be here for the Seattle Breathe Deep Walk. That's often the social weekend of the whole summer. My birthday celebration included. Lots of weddings, outdoor parties, etc. Just after the long SeaFair Festivities end and life gets back to normal. The pirates disappear along with street parades and other intrusions into our quiet lives. Seattle is far from the rainiest city in the US (especially this year!) We just tend to get it slowly over much of the year. "The bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle" (so goes the song.) A brolly will mark you as a tourist. You know the locals as they walk upright and unconcerned by the sprinkles. Current forecast is drier than usual and cooler temperatures. Let's see if break 90 this year. We've barely hit 70 so far.

Shoot - Judy in KW and Janet - I sure wish we'd met in DC. Next year, okay? Randy - you too. Janet - how was graduation?! Congrats to the boy. Thanks all. I'll update after the doctor's appointment.

I could not work around the glitch yesterday - Bud, you are pretty clever. I ended up hosting brunch. Made a leek and asparagus quiche, M made fruit salad, I made cinnamon rolls - from a tube! I lost to the impulse to buy them at Trader Joe's. Good to have them for company. Not as good as homemade, but not bad. Homemade yogurt and decaf coffee too. Discussed what to do with my Dad as my brother and sil move back to Southern California. He lives in an adult family home. We will ask him his preference tomorrow, but wanted to work through the options. Does he stay or does he go? Take this WWII vet out for lunch! It was suppose to be rainy yesterday, but it was beautiful and not too hot. M worked in the yard in the afternoon and I sat on the couch and read, with our "not" lap cat on my lap! We were both in the sun. Our cats just keep changing their habits. Today was suppose to be the good day, but it is gray and cloudy out there. Lily and Alan - thanks for opening the air this morning.

I finished my 6 cycles of carbo/alimta/avastin on May 2 (without carbo on the last round) and celebrated at the Hope Summit in DC (thanks Katie!) Came home to a scheduled scan. March 2011, after 3 cycles - 72% reduction of the liver met May 2011, after 6 cycles - no further reduction, but: "No evidence of mediastinal or hilar adenopathy. No recurrent lung mass. Essentially stable liver lesions. No new abnormality identified." I'll see the doc next week to discuss whether to stay on Avastin or just watch and see what happens. For now, we are very happy.

It's the day, to celebrate your life...happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday K_a_t_i_e!!! Wishing my friend could sing that you to you, but she is off on a silent retreat.

Judy in MI - I think you are confusing Ginny with Libby. We need a program to keep everyone straight. Ginny - no storms interrupting you golf games? Katie - what's wrong with a gardening program? Make flowers not fights! Hopefully he will see the police as peace officers. Judy in KW - sounds like you need us to all come have a stupid tv night with you. What's on this evening? Top Chef Masters! I was just at Trader Joe's and bought crunchy snacks for M, and sweet ones for me, so I have plenty to share. Lily - I know the feeling - the microwave door latch is broken and the big element on the stove doesn't work right. Time for the car tabs, but I need to get an emissions inspection first. Health insurance increases start in July. Little things are adding up around here and I am feeling paralyzed by what to spend money on first. Repairs seem to cost as much as replacement. Bruce - could you take a couple of days of our rain? This is festival weekend and the forecast is not so sunny. Paulette - your own pool? Annette - just a hug for you - you've got the sharp end of a stick right now. Bud - thanks - really glad we weren't leaving out of Baltimore - looks like some folks had quite the delay getting home (not from our group.) Eric - get everything tuned before your trip - you'll want to avoid the healthcare system here if you can!

We arrived home, just a little late, last night. Made for a long day. DC was such a nice change of scenery and I got to meet some of my LUNGevity pals, and fearless leaders. And hope that we did some good for next year's Summit. After our day of discussion, I retired to my room until 8 pm, crawled out for dinner, and called it a night at 9:30. Good thing I did not try to go to the concert! Still in my pj's and it is 1 p.m. here in the other Washington. Cats appear to have forgiven our absence. As Katie said, Sara, we will be thinking of you as you start chemo. May it do its duty and leave the rest of you alone.

Full on rainy day. Kind of cold. Hoodie plus fleece jacket cool. How's that for a business wardrobe? Bud - I was a practicing architect for about 20 years (I got a late start). We usually just keep practicing till death do us part, so my retirement is pretty unusual. I mostly worked on residential projects, both single family homes and multi-family developments, but small scale with lots of intent to be "better" than the cookie cutter stuff. Also, a fair amount of pretty high end work. There was a little commercial work too, mostly restaurants. The design part is such a small part of the process - it is mainly about the relationships, and the paperwork - reading, comprehending, and production. Started back up with Qi Gong today. New instructor as our previous is out with her pregnancy (all-day morning sickness and teaching are not a good match.) I got a complement on my form from today's instructor - not bad since I haven't been doing my homework. Eric - retirement is not bad at all, as long as you don't get too cut off from everyone. I don't think that will be a problem for you. Judy - I volunteered at the local zoo for years - events, not animals. About 8 years in, they started insisting that all volunteers go through training and buy uniforms, etc. The volunteer group that pretty much ran the events I was involved in gave them the stink eye and they backed down and grandfathered us in. We were way too valuable to mess with. If I hadn't moved to the other end of the city, I would probably still be doing that job - this summer season looks like great fun.

I made asparagus and leek quiche tonight, but put a pan under the pie plate just in case there was any overflow (there wasn't) so no fire alarm. It was yummy - and we had a drop in guest to share it with. I really liked that, though she was a bit timid about stopping by just at the dinner hour. I also went to visit my old job today and was greeted with lots of "You look great!"s. I still fumble with the "Thanks." My old projects are under construction, or about to start. Homes for people who don't have much money, earn much money, or were homeless. Kind of makes you miss working, but not the meetings, deadlines, project budgets, and city/county bureaucracies. Full day today. And sunshine.

Hi De, I was at a conference a year ago and there was this tiny woman there too. I wish I could recall her name, a real spitfire, from NYC. She was quite a bit older than you - older than me even. She had one lung, and had gone back to running. She had to leave the conference early I think, in order to run a marathon! Not everyone can manage that much conditioning, but I've heard of more than one. Another woman I know had one full side removed - she is another fit spitfire. She feels those stairs, but she is always in motion, works, advocates, travels, and forgets that she was once a patient. Don't beat yourself up, but do push. There are some organizations that really promote exercise after cancer recovery, and can provide some resources to encourage you in your pursuit of fitness if you are interested. Do you mind sharing where you are located in case anyone has specific organizations to suggest? Bests.

Mine died in 1983, lung cancer. M's passed this year - his first as a motherless child. She had only one lung, but lived most of her life that way! Not lung cancer. She lived to 91 years of age. We visited my Dad, went out for dinner and saw a movie. But the day seemed particular quiet.

Still no good at the time changes, but it must be close to Eric's birthday by now. Hope it is a splendid day!

Make sure he is getting lots of water. You can read the posts on constipation on CancerGrace - to better understand the mechanics. http://cancergrace.org/cancer-treatment ... stipation/ Senna (pills or tea) is good to create an urge, but tough if there is already a block. Call the oncology nurse - this is one of their favorite subjects and critical in care - really.

Hi all, Took myself out for breakfast at 11:30. Could only eat about half of it, tasty as it was. Just not much of an appetite this week (but I tried!) Went to stand up and almost fainted. Oops. Drank water, took some deep breaths and drove home carefully. Not sure what that was about, but really glad I did not try walking to the cafe today! Ate a little bit of fruit, yummy cubed potatoes, and a freshly made biscuit with scrambled eggs with cheddar and fresh tomatoes. Half of it anyways. A latte too (too much caffeine perhaps?) Also brought home a pecan sticky roll. A very homey little cafe. Neighborhood joint - oh, for Eric, this was almost $12 plus tip. And we tip around 20% in Seattle. (Our sales tax is 10% in restaurants, yikes!) More on restaurants for Eric - eating in ethnic restaurants (Mexican, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Ethiopian, but not Japanese except for ramen houses) will usually cost you less than anywhere but maybe some fast food places (I don't really know the cost of those.) Counter service gets you out of tipping, even if they have tables - though there is almost always a tip jar by the register. Happy Hour at nice restaurants is a great way to go especially if you don't mind eating early (or very late - some have a second HH close to closing.) You can get some high quality food at low prices and sample a few dishes. Prices in big cities will almost always be higher than in the country. But a lot of nice restaurants are now opening second more casual places that are worth finding. Do you want to another forum to join? There are a bunch of food forums that operate nationally and internationally. Many are old and tired or tend to have diners who are not very reliable, but I like Mouthfulsfood.com (do not leave off "food" or you get a nasty surprise, so I've been told.) Others to explore include eGullet, Chowhound, and Yelp. There are also regional ones. And then there is just asking when you get into your towns. When we cycled in England, we found our best B&B's and places to eat by asking at bakeries - and also got to try lots of bakeries that way. But that was a long time ago - before the internet even!

Well, unfortunately, Stage IV means treatable, though not curable. At least not yet, they are working on it and things are considerably better than they were 25 years ago. There are occasional patients that are seen years out from diagnosis with no evidence of disease (NED) after treatment(s). So he can be one of those if he is very lucky. I'm guessing your Dad received some steroids with his infusion - dexamethasone is typical. And maybe has been given some to take for a day or two after as well? Those are interesting drugs that help quell nausea and other side effects, but he may experience a crash as they wear off. So don't be surprised if he does not feel so good in a few days. Try to get him to take it easy, but some daily activity, even light exercise, can really help his spirits and his overall health.

At least here it was a beautiful, glorious day. I hope her passage was peaceful and wish her friends and family comfort in knowing she took this journey as she wanted. It was so good of her to come say hello (on-line) so recently. Thank you Bruce for letting us know.

Beautiful morning - sun and blue sky. Happy Race for Grace Day! But I still need my fleece jacket.

Hi bumbino, Your Dad is lucky to have a caring kid at his side. Chemo infusions tend to be long, boring days - depending on which drugs are prescribed. Two things that really help - if they prescribe anti-nausea drugs, he should use them as recommended - best to not wait and feel sick (tho most of us have that temptation) and second - both chemo itself and anti-nausea drugs can cause constipation. That you really don't want him to suffer from - in addition to the obvious discomfort, it can make him feel nauseous and also reduce his appetite. He wants to maintain his weight while receiving treatment. Some gain, some lose, and some of us eat ice cream to maintain. Here's hoping his chemo is without side effects and that his cancer is very responsive!

Ouch - just burned my wrist on the cast iron pot handle! Baking bread and just flipped the thing onto my wrist. Cold water, aloe vera...it does not look pretty. Should have gone swimming instead. Don't get me started on pink wash. Or ACS. Not all non-profits have crazy salaries, especially when you get below the top three people or so. If you are interested, the top 10 in each company, earning more than $100,000 (I think it went up to that) are listed in public filings and can be accessed by anyone. The sad thing about breast cancer is that the amount of money spent on research for metastatic breast cancer is very small and the survival stats have not changed much in years - very similar story to lung cancer. All that $$$ for awareness, support, early detection ends up helping people (mostly women) who are able to become long term survivors (and donors, advocates, etc.) What they don't know is how many are survivors after 5 years out. Do they get recurrence or new cancers? Did they need to have treatment originally or would they have done as well without so much intervention? Are the stats so good because they are treating people who may not have really needed treatment in the first place? Okay, getting off my soapbox and getting out of the house for a bit.

I did catch that there is a new baby animal (calf) named Stephanie. That's a lot of name for a cow. Y'all are making my 5'2" feel downright tall.

I wasn't around to offer congratulations on successful treatment, marriage, and grand babies - but boy did you make my day.

I decided to delay my next chemo a week - and will get to see my primary oncologist - who I have not seen since January. After 10, or was it 11 days down from the last infusion, I wanted more good days. This will also let me be "well" for the Race for GRACE on May 1. Chemo on May 2, assuming the blood work says so as well. An old friend invited me to a light dinner (happy hour!) and a play tonight. It's a musical, Vanities, about women and the phases of life or some such. I hope it is more funny than poignant. Yesterday I walked to the local grocery and back AND made dinner. That's a full day's work, right?

Nice work Bud. Your grass looks like ours in, well August. M just cut it after I pulled weeds (dandelions with 12" tap roots) and I think it was a lush 8-12" tall. Still damp. I used to like weeding, like a meditation - for hours at a time. But these days, with my limits, it isn't so fun. Never get to the weed free, happy flowers and vegetables place.