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This is a Level II Soaring Crane Workshop. Had to go from suspending disbelief to believing. As my guy says, fake it till you make it! We shall see.

Hey sleepy heads, wake up! Or is it summer has got you out and enjoying sunshine? We've got overcast, with forecast for rain. I had to open early (for me) to remember the dream I had this morning. Was dozing and listening to the radio (NPR) but dreamt I was watching tv. Guess what was on? It was live from the Dallas Cowboys' locker room where they were interviewing Eric about his trip across the US, and he was wearing his kilt and LUNGevity t-shirt! I was confused because he wasn't suppose to be in the US yet, but they mentioned he had started his trip early and gone to Mexico first and was headed north through Texas to begin the US part of his trip. I am headed to a Qi Gong workshop this afternoon and all day tomorrow. It's a busy weekend in Seattle and I'll miss it (except the traffic, most likely.) There are a couple of Pride festivals, the Rock N Roll Marathon, and a car show that closes the commercial street in my old neighborhood. Mostly hot rods and collectible cars from the 40's thru the 70's, bad music, and little street food. It was fun when it was walkable, but I wouldn't bother to go now.

Do you have one? I had the weird experience of having my oncologist and my infusion nurse ask about this Monday. I did a search here and see that Eric uses the term occasionally. My answer, is that I don't have one. I must have been really selfish before my dx. Even though I worked way too many hours at times, I did a lot of what I wanted - ate good food, gardened, volunteered for good causes, did good work, read, made friends, travelled (of course, there are still lots of places to go, but there always would be.) Surprisingly, since it happened so late, I even met a good man (and has that ever come in handy!) Always say I did not need the wake up call to make big changes in my life. Maybe I already understood the impermanence of life and was living in the present? I am still happy to be here to eat the first strawberries from the yard, to see the flowers bloom, and to enjoy the rare blue sky. What about you?

Hooray!

Sara, May the radiation do its thing and get you back in your best form. Stephanie

Bud - a great story, as always! I was just thinking about stuff like that this morning. Sometimes, just paying a little extra to get something completed is worth the dough. Well, that might not be the moral of your story, but it is close. Hello all you airheads. Happy Solstice. The sun is out and I feel much better today than yesterday (anyone else react to Avastin infusion alone?)

Congratulations Cindy. Yes, sometimes our distractions are not the kind we would chose. Best wishes to your Mom as well.

The easy one - having an oncologist look at my scan and tell me I showed no evidence of disease, then when I asked a question and he looked again, he realized it was not the most recent scan - and the new one showed recurrence. Oops. Well, he apologized, but it was hard to have a lot of confidence in him. Or there was the oncologist that wrote the wrong calculations for my chemo - the nurse caught it since it was pretty far off from the one 3 weeks prior and weight based. "You didn't gain 20 pounds since we last saw you did you?" Same onc. wrote the wrong weight down the following time, but had the right calculations, so the nurse just adjusted that chart a bit. Third time, the post infusion orders were wrong in a couple of ways and it took almost a week to straighten them out, so my shots were a week late. I've decided I don't want her for primary oncologist, or my substitute one either, even though she was pleasant in person. But my favorite story was from my post surgery time in the hospital. There was this old nurse on duty and a young one in training. The old one was insisting on giving me a shot (or was it a pill) for blood pressure, high blood pressure. Since I typically have very good to low blood pressure, I was surprised by that. Also since my blood pressure had been low for a couple of days post surgery and they had declined to give me this medicine post surgery. I told her no, and that I needed to hear it from my doctor before she could administer the medicine. He backed me up! The high blood pressure? It came from her sending the training nurse in, unsupervised, to take blood, and she messed up and I was shooting blood out all over the room until another nurse came by the doorway and did something fast to stop the fountain. Training nurse was so upset I felt sorry for her, but when she came in to do another round, I asked that she practice on someone else. Upshot? We called for the nursing supervisor (and got half the hospital supervisors) and old nurse was banned from my room for the rest of my stay. I got some really good nurses from then on, and wonderful personal care assistants. And I felt like I had a teeny tiny bit of control over what was happening. Priceless.

Looks like there were a few more guys this year. Those cowgirls scare me!

Taco terrier? Chihuahua and the Toy Fox Terrier cross? Too funny - and should be great company. Waited too long for tomato starts this year, so we are stuck with 3 early girls, a better boy, a super fantastic, and a la roma. Just what was available. I usually go for more unusual heirloom varieties. Oh, and we have the 4 self started ones, if they do anything. No idea what they might be. We split our first strawberry yesterday! They are late this year, like everything, but the plants are full of flowers and berries and look healthy. M cleared a new area by the house - we're thinking just a cover crop this year - fava beans? But maybe get in a couple of rows of shell beans first. Seems like we eat a lot of beans - last night was yellow eye beans with bacon, rice, salad, and freshly made biscuits.

Sunny day, so I washed my car (first time since November I think - and it stays outside all the time.) So, of course, it is clouding over. Put the tomato plants into their outside pots and took some self seeded starts and put them into a bit of ground. Not a lot of faith that they will yield fruit, but I couldn't destroy them. That's a full day for me. Hope someone else is making dinner. Is "moderator" another word for old-timer who likes to talk a lot? We need some non-mods to post here and let us know how your day is going!

Welcome Dom. I'm tired just looking at all you do. My understanding is that sclc is staged as limited or extensive and since yours has spread to the liver, that would be extensive. It is great that you are without symptoms and healthy and fit - it serves you well. Since last week was the 30th anniversary of the first diagnosis of AIDS, it was very interesting to read the statistics and the amazing progress that has been made towards a cure. We can only work to make such things happen for lung cancer too. Still looking to make advanced stage disease a chronic and manageable condition. One of my favorite stories on this site is from Don - he was dx with extensive sclc in 2003. He's still very active, training horses, etc. Here's a link to his post: viewtopic.php?t=18395 That should make you smile. Try not to worry about doing well - enjoy it. The pathology of each person's cancer varies so that we have no way to know how well anyone will do on any treatment. You've done a lot of work to create an extremely healthy support system with all that you do to maintain your health. As you have read, plenty of otherwise healthy people get lung cancer. For many, doing something in the awareness/advocacy area helps with the "guilt". Or reaching out to others.

I liked that video as well but the wise counsel at Grace has indicated that it is an old idea that is not getting traction. The foundation was created to perpetuate the idea rather than coming out of any serious advances in the practice. Too bad. "Meanwhile, he runs the Angiogenesis Foundation, so it makes sense that he's conveying an idea that angiogenesis is incredibly important, even if those of us who aren't tied to the concept for a living now realize it's not the key to everything. He started the Angiogenesis Foundation when the concept was full of promise and not yet well tested; even if the concept hasn't realized all of that early promise, he's not going to downplay the role of angiogenesis as the leader of the organization he started to highlight it."

I think I am a lucky girl. Not only has M been great about what I need, he goes to a group for Caregivers so that he can see and hear what others are doing and dealing with. A rare man? I express my thankfulness regularly (and baked him sugar-free blueberry muffins yesterday.)

Nice.

Patti LaBelle "New Attitude". Great news!

Just want to say hi to Snappy and say I also noticed how quiet the NSCLC thread is (since I've become a moderator on it!) I think part of it that it so specific - more medical in nature, and more of that type of discussion tends to occur on CancerGrace? I'll try to revive it a bit.

Cathy, That all sounds excellent. Both cancer itself and chemo seem to contribute to weight loss in some patients. I've lost about 25 pounds since this all started despite the gallons of ice cream consumed. I could afford that loss and it has been gradually enough to not be a big issue. I just hope I can keep it off - things have been stable this year (well, up and down depending where I was in my chemo cycle.) Without chemo making me sick for a week, no more yoyo weight. Las Vegas? Okay. Lots of good restaurants there too, if you are interested. Have fun. And let us know how you and your Dad are doing over the summer.

Oh such a good idea - ship the nephew to Scotland to keep an eye on Sally while Eric is in America! Oh wait, who looks after the two of them? Sara - I buzzed M's head a week ago. He just wanted a clean head for the summer (or the future?) I never lost my hair, so it wasn't out of solidarity. I've never cut hair before (except a doll's when I was a little girl.) It was kind of scary, but I did not hurt him. Used his beard trim kit, maybe not the best tool for the job. Windy here - woke me a few times in the night. Nothing much rain-wise yet. Predicted high of 60. So much for yesterday's shorts and lemonade.

Delighted!

Oh Christine, thank you for posting. I was sorry when Patti stopped posting here and missed her company. I remember how much she wanted to see Nick graduate and I am so happy that she was able to do that. My condolences to Nick and family, and to her family and friends that must have such a large hole in their lives. Peace to all.

I too am surprised that a surgeon has kept seeing you after you began seeing an oncologist. Surgeons like to operate and typically have little case load that isn't in the chute. As much as we liked my surgeon, I would have been surprised to be followed by him once I was healed from the surgery. (He did take out my first round port and boy was that an adventure! Actually, his resident/intern did. And I did run into him in the hospital cafeteria once. But I didn't get billed, so I don't think that counts.)

This string is too long for me to respond each and every one of you except that I wish us all a great day. I had a quiet day yesterday - the sky was blue and it was hot by my standards. I did a few errands, but mostly read. Today is looking similar, but I see some light overcast coming from the south already, so it will probably be cooler. Top out in the mid 70's.

Up and dressed so early (hey, 8 am my time!) as we had an appointment to go see a guy's business for an article M is writing. Just got a call that the guy is sick, so I may have to go to breakfast since I am up. And maybe to the Art Museum after that. There is a show closing after the weekend that I want to see. Nick Cave, if anyone wants to google it and have a laugh. Sunny day with white fluffy clouds. Predictions that the next 3 days will be nice - and we may hit 80! I might have to water outside.

Wow - never underestimate the power of healing. Or forget the gratitude. Have a great celebration.