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Elaine

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Posts posted by Elaine

    Good and Not So Good Results

    in MEMBER UPDATES

    Posted

    Well, I don't know, much as to your questions. But I do know I have been thinking of you both all day long and I am relieved to hear from you.

    Did I ever tell you I hate cancer? Well, I most certainly do. How can it be that a person has brain mets, bone mets etc and has so few symptoms?

    Of course I am GLAD your husband seems to be mostly asymptomatic, but you must admit that IT IS scary to know that that mets can be and often are silent.

    Go tell my Dr. Skinny that, since I don't know where she leared anything. She must have missed a lot of days of med school.

    I think fibrous tissue is kind of normal following radiation--I think it's a kind of thickening of the lung due to inflammation from the nukes.

    I think it is often insidious, so it can occur some time after radiation has stopped.

    Geez, I sure learned more on this board than I ever wanted to... And I may not be right, so......

    I pray for wisdom for your husband's Drs and strength for the both of you. And also some happy holidays.

    love and fortitude

    elaine

    Just Wondering

    in LUNG CANCER 101

    Posted

    I am working on an article, well, mostly today I was thinking about it, which is a kind of work.

    Anyway, I read that up to 95 per cent of cancer begin in the lining of the bronchial tubes. Earlier you told me that CT scans aren't reliable as to masses in the respiratory tree.

    So,,,,,, my question is this: Mighten there be a better screening for LC than a CT? Maybe one of those newer bronchosopic (is that a word?) procedures such as virtual bronchosopy or one of the ones that put some kind of substance in the tree that highlights dysplasia?

    Or is it that most masses begin further down in the tree and so they more quickly spread to the lung?

    What would be the best CT slice to best view the airways? Would it or should it be with contrast?

    Thanks

    elaine

    update on Tim's intolerance t o morphine sulphate

    in NSCLC GROUP

    Posted

    Cyndy

    I am so sorry, but I keep hope alive that once Tim's pain is managed he can regain strength. Pain knocks so much out of person.

    I wish you peaceful days ahead. I hope you know how many friends you have here, and I for one wish I could be closer or do more or know the right thing to say or do.

    Just follow your hearts.

    love and fortitude

    elaine

    Round 3

    in SCLC GROUP

    Posted

    Betty,

    I saw this yesterday, and I just stopped cold...I kept asking my feet for a little happy dance, something. But they just kind of stood there, barely holding me up...

    I bet yours were and maybe are a little reluctant, too. But, I know that you will dance, more happy dances. I will too, in spite of myself.

    You are so, so dear and so, so strong. It kinda sucks, being thought of as tough, but it's kind of invigorating, too.

    I am rambling, I know. But you are ALWAYS in my prayers.

    love and fortitude

    elaine

    I've got the proteins!!!!!

    in GENERAL

    Posted

    So you have the proteins!!!! Now all you need is the vegies, the grains, the fruits, and in my opinion the desserts, and you have a whole meal!!

    I think it's great that you are doing this. Stage I or is it Stage II trials are so important to cancer fighters of the future.

    You are paving roads, Cheryl, and may you build a terrifically long road for yourself, too.

    love and fortitude

    elaine

    Help me make it through the holidays.......

    in CAREGIVER RESOURCE CENTER

    Posted

    Angie,

    I need help, too. So let's hold each other up, awhile.

    I know your Dad is trying to help you come to terms and trying to help himself come to terms, too. It's a hard term to come to, for all.

    But he may need to do this, before he can go on-- fighting if that is what he chooses.

    I don't have words to help you, really, but I do know that your dad is being his dad self. That's all he knows how to be.... and THIS dad self, who can't do all the "Dad" things he once did, like take care of everything and help ease the ouchies, is feeling a little unlike himself....

    So he is asking you to be his arms and legs and whatever else he is asking you to be... He is asking you to be the woman he raised you to be. And a fine one, at that.

    I think that is a VERY hard thing for a parent to ask of a child.... Well, I know it is. Your dad is older than me, but I don't know if that makes it easier or not.. I have been thinking about that a lot. Wondering, if it would be easier for me if I were older.

    I bet he just wants to help you and at the same time he wants to know that things will be taken care of....

    So it may not SEEM to you that he is trying to help you, but that is what he is doing. Christmas may not be in his mind the way it is in yours....

    For me, Christmas is seeming so bittersweet, and I am not sure I can handle it. I don't know what it is for your Dad.

    Angie, your love for your dad and he for you have carried you through many things, and especially through these past months.. .. It will keep carrying you, I swear it will. I swear.

    love and, of course, fortitude

    elaine

    Question about Cigarette ODOR

    in GENERAL

    Posted

    I received a PM asking me if I think cigerettes should be illegal.

    Yes, I do.

    Recently the drug, Vioox, was taken off the market because it may have caused a couple thousand deaths and I don't know how many heart troubles it may have contributed to.

    Lawsuits are gearing up, as prehaps they should, depending on the knowledge and/or premeditation of the drugmaker.

    I could go on and on about other substances taken off the market because of their risks.....

    I am certain there would be a black market like the black market of illegal drugs. So be it. It would save lives. It would put people in prison, a lot of people in prison, so many in fact that there would not be enough prisons and then maybe this country would rethink its "cure" of addiction and STOP putting addicted people in prison and villifying them...

    Instead, we might help them and their families lead more productive and happier lives.

    People who do drugs do so for this main reason: they want to feel better. And at first drugs do make them feel better. Just as cigerettes at one time made me think I felt better...

    Maybe the government could tax money spent on counseling and rehab if it needs money that badly.

    Perhaps, we could spend more money educating people to be compassionate human beings and less money on prisons. Maybe we could help families torn apart by whatever it is that tears them apart.

    There are lots of things we could do beisdes build prisons and tax people who are likely killing themselves...

    I would rather be a counselor than a prison guard. Anyone who has raised children knows or ought to know that the prison guard method of teaching kids responsibility fails, too often. Instead loving counsel and a providing a safe place for a young adult to fall, as young adults will fall from time to time often works. People do not need to be judged; they need many other things....

    Maybe there could be a better world, and yes, a smoke-free one, too.

    Save judgement for your God.

    elaine

    Question about Cigarette ODOR

    in GENERAL

    Posted

    After reading over the posts, all of them--I see no one defending smoking nor denying that it is the cause of most lung cancers.

    I will speak again to my post. What I am defending is empathy and support for people with addicitions.

    However, my humanity is going to disallow me empathy for your attitude Bo. I hope I can overcome it, not for you, but for myself. I truly understand where Heather is coming from, as my original post attests.

    I have trouble having understanding or empathy for your attitude.

    Your attitude promotes stigma and probably causes a lot of radical smokers as I and Justakid once were. Not the sole cause, however, since I do know that my own denial and stubborness and weakness and addictive personality played a tremendous role.

    I am sorry that this is probably going to cause another disappearing thread because I do agree with you on one thing. The issue of smoking and smokers and addiction is an important subject.

    I don't think any post prior to yours did anything to diminish Heather's original question.

    I hoped my post promoted understanding of all people including a deep understanding of Heather's concerns.

    I want her to live a long and healthy life, free of as much fear as possible. But fear IS inevitable, especially for one Dxed with cancer.

    I want that life for Heather's workmate, who may well be addicted beyond the addiction you had, Bo.

    If you read the literature on nicotine addicition you will see that there are several ways nicotine and smoking are addicting. The more ways a person is addicted, the harder time one has of quitting, especially if one lives with a smoker.

    I wish the same long and healthy life for you, Bo.

    I don't care a hoot about hurting the coworker's feelings. Smoking is hurting her more. I just don't agree with YOUR attitude toward her, Bo. That attitude won't do much to protect the smoker or Heather from the known effects of smoking.

    This is surely going to anger you, but the fact remains that if no one smoked, lung cancer would still likely exist--certainly not to the level it does now, but it IS clear from research that there ARE other factors.

    This will anger you more: If I purposely fed you food tainted with tiny bits of many poisons AND ADDICTIVE substances so that you would crave the very food I was killing you with, I would be a murderer.

    Add to that this fact: let's suppose that I was also SELLING you the very food that was killing you and making a tidy profit from it--and I did this in a premeditive way--what degree of murder would you call it?

    What culpability would anyone or any organized group have who knew of my actions, profited from my actions, and allowed it to happen when they could have prevented my actions?

    From your post on this thread and on others, I see that you believe that you, the eater of the food would be the one to be solely responsible

    And why? I guess because, I, the maker of the food was smart enough to put a label on it that said it was dangerous-- at the bequest of the organized group who also profited from my actions and could have prevented my actions.

    I say: it's a shared responsibility. That is where we differ, Bo.

    That said, I am pretty certain that I wouldn't have LC if I hadn't smoked.

    My friend wouldn't have died had he not woke up one morning, gotten in his car, drove to work, and at precisely the time when someone ran a red light he arrived at that intersection, blinded a bit by the sun.

    My own mother wouldn't have died in her 30s had she not had another form of cancer. People in some parts of Africa wouldn't die of starvation as children if there were more equity in the world. Etc. Etc.

    I tell myself often what Fay A once posted--a long life is not a reward. And a short life is not a punishment. Millions of billions of people do not and will not live as long as I will.

    elaine

    Question about Cigarette ODOR

    in GENERAL

    Posted

    I don't think anyone's reaction to being dxed with lc or any other life threatening illness is wrong, nor do I suspect Cindi thinks so either. I truly believe she wants nothing but the best for Heather, as do we all.

    There are 6 question words in the English language: who, what, when, where, why and how. Humans are questioning beings--all the way back to the Garden of Eden.

    As a smoker I know the large part of the "what" that caused my cancer. So, when I ask questions of myself in my innermost and sometimes outer language, I have a tendancy to focus on the "why"--as in, why was I one of the 10-12 percent of smokers who get lc. "Why" was I one of the 5 per cent who got lc under the age of 50. And the "why" after repeated attempts at dxing the cause of some clinical signs, did it take so long to be dxed.

    If I were Heather, I may well be asking the "what" caused my lc questions and doing what I could to avoid any other of the unkown "whats" around me.

    I have a feeling all of us who are dxed or have someone dxed who is close to us also focus on one of the 6 question words to some degree-- or even a lot of degree, lol.

    We advise many people here to seek counseling, and many do seek it.

    I think if I were fearful or any other adjective of being in the same room with a smoker (and as the post says, a smoker, not someone who IS smoking a cigerette) I might want to discuss that fear with someone.

    On the other hand, I am fearful of several things that have limited my life, and I can tell you that nothing really has done much good at stopping these fears. A fear is an emotion that can't readily be reasoned with. When a fear is founded, it is life protecting, when a fear is unfouned, it is life limiting.

    I wish I HAD been fearful of cigerettes.

    As far as being bothered by someone else's life "choices", that's a different story. Many things could "bother" me about others and do if I let them. It bothers me when people repeat the story of some mundane (what I call "mundane") event, but I wouldn't tell them to be quiet, though my mind might sometimes wander while they are speaking.

    I truly do not believe it is possible to get lc from smelling a smoker. I do believe, like the article states, that you can be inhaling some miniscule amount of unpleasant chemical. I think it can smell VERY bad, especially now that I can smell it.

    Now, what I wish someone would do is come up with a dog or even a smell that a person can distinguish that would signify a child molester or a rapist or even a person who has a proclivity to murder. THAT would be a useful smell, a smell that would truly help us discriminate that which is evil.

    I think we need to LOVE smokers, love them enough to help them save their lives and prehaps the lives of their loved ones. Like Justa, I was a radical smoker.

    I didn't become a radical smoker until it became the "norm" for some people to express hatred toward smokers. ( I am NOT saying that Heather HATES smokers).

    Before that, I was either a very young person, like many young people, who had no concept of being immortal or a shameful smoker, and the smoking I have done past and during the months of Dx has been shameful smoking. Shame is something one imposes on oneself. Can't say "shame" helped me quit either, but ....at least, a shameful smoker TRIES to quit.

    My point is: it's an addiction--a medical addiction. We give alcholics and those addicted to drugs, 30 days off from work to enter treatment. Sometimes it works IF the will is strong and there is enough love and support surrounding him or her. Sometimes it takes several 30 day tries.

    We throw smokers a patch or a box of gum and "oddly" enough insurance companies don't pay for it or even for Zyban if the true nature of its RX is given.

    I have been up most of the night. I know better than to express my opinions here or most places, but get me sleep deprived and I am likely to do it anyway, lol.

    So anyway, like many ills, love is the cure.

    In the meantime, I haven't a clue what to do about the co-worker.

    elaine

    Dr. Visit

    in JUST FOR FUN

    Posted

    ELAINE, my butt!!!!! :shock:

    Sounds more like something nurse FRANK would do!!! :D:D

    By the way, have you had a sex change operation, Karen??? :shock:

    You are supposed to be on our side, as in the ladies!!!

    lol.

    Thanks for the smile; I sure needed it tonight.

    elaine

    Daddy is home....

    in GENERAL

    Posted

    Sharyn,

    I am so glad that you received a sign from your dear father. It has certainly brought you comfort, and in fact, gives us all comfort.

    Please hold on to your memories because that is another way your father lives on.

    love and fortitude

    elaine

    Mom went Home

    in GRIEF

    Posted

    Shannon,

    My heart goes out to you in this most difficult of times. Hang on to the good times, knowing your mother lives on in the memories of her loved ones.

    love and fortiutde

    elaine

    I don't usually ask, but . . . .

    in GENERAL

    Posted

    Peggy

    I am sorry I am late in responding. I am whimping out lately, wanting to cry at every post.

    That doesn't mean I am not praying for everyone, and now special prayers are going to you and your husband.

    You have always been here for me and so many others. Lean on us while you wait.

    love and fortitude

    elaine

    7 degrees

    in GENERAL

    Posted

    Not that cold here, but like a dummy I forgot to leave my water running and the temporay line froze--eek! I don't know if it will warm up enough to thaw today or not. So without water, once again.

    So I will sit here and pray that where you are and where I am thaws nicely. And of course that you get great advice and greater news from the new pulmonary doc.

    I will try to call later. Let me know when.

    love and fortitude

    elaine

    NSCLC Questions

    in NSCLC GROUP

    Posted

    I am sending prayers that the hot spot is hot for some other reason. Thank you for raising money for lc and for bringing much needed attention to the disease that has kept so many hidden over the years.

    love and fortitude

    elaine

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