kayd

Our daughter continues to smoke although her father is fighting the beast every day, We have tried everything we know to get her to quit, but until she is ready there is nothing any of us can do! If watching her father die slowly from this miserable disease doesn't wake her up to the fact that ciggarettes was the cause of his lung cancer ,althought he and I both quit 9 years ago. There is NO HOPE for her or any one else that is addicted to the damn things. Most people think they can get away with it and that cancer is something some one else gets. I could go on and on about the dangers of smoking, but what good does it do, No one could have told me that quiting was the thing to do, my addiction kept me smoking, my car didn't run with out them ,nor did the phone work unless I had one hanging from my lips. Now I am one of those nasty EXSMOKERS that can't stand the things, the thought of trying to smoke one gags me. I figure if I can quit any one can. I thought life wasn't worth living without them. Now is that stupid or what, OR was it just the addiction at work?? Kay

Our daughter continues to smoke although her father is fighting the beast every day, We have tried everything we know to get her to quit, but until she is ready there is nothing any of us can do! If watching her father die slowly from this miserable disease doesn't wake her up to the fact that ciggarettes was the cause of his lung cancer ,althought he and I both quit 9 years ago. There is NO HOPE for her or any one else that is addicted to the damn things. Most people think they can get away with it and that cancer is something some one else gets. I could go on and on about the dangers of smoking, but what good does it do, No one could have told me that quiting was the thing to do, my addiction kept me smoking, my car didn't run with out them ,nor did the phone work unless I had one hanging from my lips. Now I am one of those nasty EXSMOKERS that can't stand the things, the thought of trying to smoke one gags me. I figure if I can quit any one can. I thought life wasn't worth living without them. Now is that stupid or what, OR was it just the addiction at work?? Kay

When my husband was on Iressa he was nauseated 24 hours a day, he also had a rash from the top of his head to the feet, and had dirrhea all the time. He took it for about 8 weeks and said to hell with it. I told him he had to call the doctor and tell him he was stopping it, which he did and the doctor couldn't understand why, Ray had only been telling him for 8 weeks that it was making him sick, So he said talk to the wife, I told the doc. that we felt that quality of time was more inportant that quanity at this point. Ray feels and I agree that if your going to be sick all the time you have left then you might as well be dead already. KAY

DOCTOR JOE, On the first visit if you give too much information, it isn't going to stick with the them,By the time they leave your office they won't remember half of what you tell them, It seems to me the mind has a way of shuting down when the stress gets to large to handle. I can honestly say that I remember very little from the first visit, and I doubt that My husband remembers much either, we were so devastated from the dx. that nothing was registering. I personally think that most of us want to know, is it curable? if not, what is the best course of action? Most familys just want as much time as possible to be together. I only found out recently what stage my husband's lung cancer was when first found, At the time of Dx. it would have done no good to tell me as I was too freaked out and telling me would have made it worse. only now ( after a year) do I feel I able to handle it, This is a learning experience in progress, each turn is different in this on going disease! I think if the family doesn't ask don't tell them, if they ask, don't lie, they will learn to adapt. I am amazed an how much my family has grown through all of this. KAYD

The only answer I can give is the doctor told us that it is a blood barrier thing,which I sure don't understand, there is a drug called Temadar that does break that barrier, but I don't think it is very effective, My husband took it during one round of Chemo and was terribly sick, it didn't keep the mets from showing up later in his brain, he had to have WBR for 5 new small mets. KAYD

Hello all, I just have to share this good news with all, Ray, my husband had a cat scan this a.m., seen the onco. this afternoon and everything is looking good, all the spots that he could see before the chemo and radation are gone, the lung tumor has shrunk, the Radiation is still working and he is now possibly a canidate for the cyberknife. I called Boulder this afternoon and they said to send the cat scan from today and they will look at it again. When I contacted them in Feb. Doctor Martin said it was still a bit to large to treat with the CK, but to notiffy then again after he finished the Radiation. We am very hope that he wil be accepted this time. KAYD

Hi, My husband had hiccups the entire time he was on chemo, I always thought it was from the decodron and Kytrel that he took for the nausea. He would hiccup in his sleep, and sometimes it would cause what he called wretching. He hated it, but nothing seemed to keep him from hiccuping. Kayd

Hi, Just thought I would jump in here to tell you that the white count is low because the chemo supresses the bone marrow , that is probaly why your husband is so tired and wants to sleep, also the chem dehydrates you and that could be the reason for him thorwing up. Is he taking Kytrel? That is for nausea, also decadron, my husband took the two of them together. He still felt nausated at times but never did thorw up, he was also cold all the time. KAY

could you get the doctor to give you Kytrel and decodron for the nausea? My hushad took both and it did help some, he was still a bit nauseaed but not to the point of being down with it. I know this effects everyone different and there is not much worse that I can think of as being sick to your stomach 24-7. It makes like a real drag. But hang in there in will get better as time passes. Kayd

Melinda, Ask your mother in laws oncologest about the gamma knife or Cyber Knife. These two are used for brain mets. I would consider these a better option that the total brain rad. My husband had one met to the brain and he had the gammaknife, it worked wonderfully and the checks ups so far have been great. Hope this helps and good luck which ever way she chooses to go. KAY