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Elaine

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Posts posted by Elaine

    More on Frank and the Bear R Rated

    in JUST FOR FUN

    Posted

    Three things: First, I DID NOT EDIT THIS JOKE. I FOUND IT AS-IS.

    Second, I hope it doesn't offend anyone, but I couldn't resist.

    Third, now we know why Frank stopped to put on his sneakers that night in the tent, ROFL.

    Frank was excited about his new rifle and decided to try bear hunting. He travels up to Alaska, spots a small brown bear and shoots it. Right afterwards, there was a tap on his shoulder and he turned around to see a big black bear. The black bear said, "That was a very bad mistake. That was my cousin and I'm going to give you two choices. Either I maul you to death or we have sex." After considering briefly, Frank decided to accept the latter alternative. So the black bear has his way with Frank.

    Even though he felt sore for two weeks, Frank soon recovered and vowed revenge. He headed out on another trip back to Alaska where he found the black bear and shot it dead.

    Right afterwards, there was another tap on his shoulder. This time a huge grizzly bear stood right next to him. The grizzly said, "That was a big mistake, Frank. That was my cousin and you've got two choices. Either I maul you to death or we have rough sex." Again, Frank thought it was better to cooperate with the grizzly bear than be mauled to death. So the grizzly has his way with Frank.

    Although he survived, it took several months before Frank fully recovered. Now Frank is completely outraged, so he headed back to Alaska and managed to track down the grizzly bear and shoot it.

    He felt sweet revenge, but then moments later, there was a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to find a giant polar bear standing there. The polar bear looked at him and said, "Admit it Frank, you don't come here for the hunting, do you?"

    http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:YR ... lr=lang_en

    microwave ablation for treatment of lung cancer

    in LUNG CANCER IN THE NEWS

    Posted

    I probably should have posted this in New Treatments.

    Anyway, I was wondering if anyone on the board has any experience with this especially in regards to using it on masses that are not candidates for surgery or RFA.

    I am assuming that some of the same limitaions that are used for not doing RFA would likewise be the case with Microwave Ablation--ie tumors on or too near certain structures?

    Marianne? John? What, if anything do you know?

    Wondering also if anyone has had this.

    NEVER KNOW WHO IS NEXT

    in NSCLC GROUP

    Posted

    HI

    Are you still on the Iressa? It's not clear from your profile. I do know that others have reported fatigue while on it (off the top of my head, I can think of Andrea's mom) and I don't know how long it lasted once she was off.

    Glad things are going well.

    love and fortitude

    elaine

    How can I be honest and yet hopeful?

    in CAREGIVER RESOURCE CENTER

    Posted

    Peggy

    Your post has made me question mine. That's a good thing, I think!

    You are right, there is no ONE answer. And I do wonder: Could your husband's treatment have been as successful IF he had known his disease, as of now, is not cureable. One thing I am sure of is that it spared him some painful thoughts... at a time when he didn't need them.

    As for you not telling &&&& You know him better than anyone. You asked for guidance. I am sure you knew that if he did understand the meaning of the brain mets, fully, that he would have chosen to do exactly what he has done, thus far.

    So, basically, I am left doubting my original post concerning honesty. I think that it has put a heavy load on you, but God must know you would hande it. The more I think about it, the more I think I would have done exactly what you have done.

    I don't think anyone should give timeframes unless death is likely eminnant(sp) without treatment as is often the case in some late stage SC and some lates stage NSC. It's the cureable or not question that has me still wondering.

    I fear Dr. Joe, as you have probably already come to find out, we aren't going to be able to tell you the "right way" because there is no "right way" that will fit like a blanket over all of us. The best I can come up with is that it would be prudent for someone in the family to know, and you will just have to use intuition to figure out who that person is.

    As far as the man with testicular cancer. I think in a situation that you have described, where the family seems to have taken over to the point it seems to have, someone, you or your partner, a social worker or the hospital chaplain needs to have a talk with the patient. It may not be easy, but if the line between "do no harm" is close to being crossed or has been crossed, someone needs to talk to the person it matters most to. Ultimately, it is the patient you serve and not the family.

    When my Dad was sick, the only Drs who I didn't really like to see coming were the ones who didn't talk to my Dad but instead seemed to want to address us (whatever family member was at hand) especially when it was bad news. I think they thought that since my Dad was in the room that he, too, was listening to them when they spoke to us, so I am not blaming them, it just seemed disrespectful to me at the time.

    Boy, this is tough. I can't even imagine doing what you sometimes have to do, Dr. I hope there is enough joy and success to overcome the difficulty.

    love and fortitude

    elaine

    SEARCHING

    in NSCLC GROUP

    Posted

    Wow Melanie,

    There are several others on here who were treated for thyroid. I think it's too many to be called a coincidence!

    As far as the fumes, I also think that the fumes combined with the smoking, the thyroid treatmen and perhaps genetics and of course bad luck can all be a factor.

    I don't know what I would do, Melanie. But I pray you find the best answer for you!

    love and fortitude

    elaine

    How can I be honest and yet hopeful?

    in CAREGIVER RESOURCE CENTER

    Posted

    I have prefaced many a post the way you did, Joe

    I wrote a response to this earlier, but then didn't post it because I wasn't feeling well enough to endure any fallout or since a recent poster pmed me telling me of the secret underground list sent to him when he was a new members, I didn't want to have to imagine it. But your response gave me the courage, I guess.

    Here is a part of what I wrote:

    I guess this is the night for unpopular posts--StandforHOPE thinks she just posted one.

    I keep coming back to this thread and wondering what people are seeing that I don't see. What is the indication here that the Dr is not doing his or her best to treat this patient? The answers don't even seem to be addressing this poster's question.

    She is saying that her husband is not hearing that he very likely has a terminal illness. Hospice has been called in whether or not any one of us would call in hospice or not. This poster is asking totally different questions than what people are replying to.

    All treatment for late stage IS palliative. Sure remissions can and do occur sometimes for long periods of time. There may be "cures" that I am not awared of. But look at this board and you will see that it is most often not the case with late stage. The people who die are not anomolies.

    One thing I have noticed is that Drs seem to use language that symantically blames patients ie "The patient failed to respond to ....."

    On the other hand, patients and caregivers/ family members seem to blame Drs when they aren't hopeful enough even in the light of a situation that may well not be hopeful, long term. I think that we all want to hear what we want to hear. Myself included. But I also think that we can eventually find someone who will take our money--and give us little in the end and also the worst there is of the standard medical treatments.

    I also know that many of us arent going to get the best that the medical establishment has to offer. I think that is wrong, as well.

    I remember Mr. Ry's Dr telling them that he didn't want them coming back later and saying, "Why didn't you tell me?" I have to agree with that. Even though as it turned out , quite happily, that the Doctor was very wrong about his prognosis.

    This reminds me of the field I was in. The blame game. Is it the student's fault that they aren't more successful or is it the instructor's fault. I have sat in room's in too many meetings to even count where the lack of virtue and the hoplessness of students is bandied about. Or the failure of the high schools. High school teachers blame middle school. Middle school blame grade school. Grade school blame parents or pre-school etc. etc. Parent blame schools. Students grow up, go to college and blame instructors.

    ( I took out a lenghty example of a student who was smart but because of a learning disablity could not write ONE word and who was getting ready to graduate with a certificate in building trades, but had not passed my class after three times enrolling in EN 101. I refused to pass him. He was "advised" to take someone else who passed everyone. He refused. In the end, he did graduate without the class and a new class was created for certificate students in fields not likely to require writing tomes, lol.)

    It boiled down to what would preserve HIS dignity? Continuing to lie to him a bout something he knew already. Further, for all those years, nothing was done to address his real problem, which could have been addressed had people been honest. (He could have gotten a machine that would basically write what he said.) After all, he WAS smart. Very smart.

    It also boiled down to what would be the best use of his time? Sitting in classes that he knew he wasn't going to pass, making him feel badly about himself, making him devise ways to hope he could pull another one off, after all he had done so in the past, or hoping someone in his family or school administration would pressure someone--since for years and years NO ONE was addressing his real need--how was he to even know what that real need was?

    He and I did work on getting that machine after the day I first saw his writing sample and talked with him about it. But by then, the wheels of the state move much too slowly.

    Though it never was an intended result, lots of blame got thrown around before a solution was devised--one that did not help his writing but may have helped others--I don't know.

    I hope people can see the analogy with many of the details taken out.

    All I know is that HE was happy that someone had done something to address the issue that HE had. He finally had it from the professionals that he WAS NOT DUMB as it had been assumed, something he furiously attempted to prove -an even longer story.

    Thus, the inital question of Bill's wife also leads to this: what DO people with a terminal illness need? I assume that people with an often short term terminal disease need many things and not all people need the same thing. Each of us has a different set of "final affairs" to get in order. It's not all just about wills or final arrangements.

    Honesty is hard to come by. We don't want to hear it. Oftentimes, I don't want to hear it. But without it, how can ANYONE make an informed decision? How can the patient make a decision if it is only the family members and doctors who have the information the patient needs to make a decision? Who is protecting who, I often wonder.

    I can't begin to tell you of the Pms I have received from caregivers who feel devastated that their medical teams have continued to treat their loved ones aggressively from the time of DX to their demise without really one good day of quality of life. They don't often post that--fear?

    I can't tell you of the Pms I have from survivors who feel they themselves have failed since treatments haven't worked for them. They don't understand why the treatments are not working. I don't have a clue, other than some pathology is more aggressive than others and that bodies differ. They don't often post that--fear?

    I can't tell you of the PMs I have gotten from family members who feel bad that they believe, in the end, that they forced their loved ones to endure treatment after treatment until just days before their demise. They don't often post that-- fear?

    Some day I may have to write my story. The story I don't post.

    I may have made the wrong decision, since the last two weeks have shown a rather dramatic decrease in my physical abilites. I now park at 7-ll, the space closest to the door and hope my legs are able to withstand buying cat food. The grocery store looks formidable. I have some decisions to make. Again.

    All I can hope for is the strength to both face the decisons and the consequences. The emotions are fragile when the body is weak. I forgot to account for that.

    To answer the original post. Hospice has social workers and clergy that can help decided what to do and in some cases they will help you by doing it or by being with you. YOur husband may know more than he is letting on. He may hear and by presuming not to hear, be telling you that he is in the fight. He may also be in denial, which is the mind's way of readying itself until it can better cope. In any case, pls consult with a professional about this. None of us can presume to know what is in your husband's mind.

    I extend my empathy for you and your husband. There are no good answers that don't lead to more questions. Nothing on this road is cut and dried. It's complex, heartbreaking and hopefully both a learning experience and a time where triumphs outweigh defeat once we are able to see beyond a set definition of either.

    I'm not sure of anything.

    elaine

    TravelNow.com

    in GENERAL

    Posted

    I recently noticed the travelNow.com advertising and link on the LSCS pages. Does LCSC get any money if we link to the site and make travel arrangements? Just wondering as my husband travels on his job and this could be a way we could help out.

    elaine

    Dyspnea: I feel so stupid

    in GENERAL

    Posted

    KIm

    I got a PM from Theresa on here who says that they are the same thing, so I don't know but I read on several sites that dysnpnea is shortness of breath or discomfort while breathing. I am confused! Anyway, when I go upstairs carrying laundry, I get out of breath--like labored breathing after running. Otherwise it's just this breath holding thing. My sats were fine about 6 weeks ago. This other breathing thing has been going on a long time and my SOB has not changed significantly really since DX. Maybe some but not a lot. It could just be stress causing the breath holding. My FEV and FET were abnormal but not significantly so at DX. Ten months before DX they were 90 plus and had dropped to the 80s.

    Thanks

    i'm glad to find all of you

    in INTRODUCE YOURSELF!

    Posted

    I know this is not where you want to be, but because you have the need, I am glad you found us. Here you can talk to people who understand what you are experiencing, find answers and get support. I hope the surgery and following treatments work wonders! That was a horrible birthday present; so sorry!

    love and fortitude

    elaine

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