Katy66

Sorry to hear about your Mom's prognosis. Maybe the advice on the pain meds will help.

Hi everyone, haven't had a lot of time to post but hope all of your are doing well. Gene started back on his chemo Tuesday (carbo / taxol). He slept most of the afternoon and a good deal of the day yesterday but was pretty sick later in the day. He went on to bed after a little chicken broth. Says he is feeling better today, just a bit dizzy. I went for my first counseling appt today, it went well. I feel like I'm a pretty self aware person but I just need that third party to process with. Told Gene the diagnosis was that I wasn't crazy, just a control freak Better run get to work. Take care

I have to say that I agree completely with Ned and UneasyRider...Facing this, even as a caregiver, makes you much less tolerant of the pettiness and BS. I find myself at work thinking they just need to stop their whining. Half the time I want to tell them that in the big picture of life their issues are minimal ... if anyone should whine it should be me. I'm the sole caregiver for a cancer patient and a 6 year old.... lets see you make that work guys.. The other half I wonder what they have going on in their personal life that is contributing to their state of mind. I can be pretty judgemental and I've always know that about myself but I think I'm much more aware of it and trying to correct it now. You never know what you will do when you walk in those same shoes. My biggest pet peeve right now is people telling me that I need to "make Gene do this, or make Gene do that". First off, he is the one with cancer and only he knows how he feels and what he is able and wants to do. Secondly, he is a 53 year old man, how do I make him do anything? Everyone is saying, oh he needs to get out more, he needs to do this more, he needs.... How the heck do they know what he needs? They don't have cancer and even if they did everyone copes differently. Okay, I realize I just went off on a tangent....can you guess that I had a bad weekend with family????

Judy, I think you were the one that said to me...Don't kids have a wonderful way of putting this in perspective? Keeping you and everyone else on the board in my thoughts and prayers!

Gene and I were the same, we talked about getting wills and health care power of attorneys completed but didn't do a thing until his diagnosis. Then we BOTH did because like I told him, he may be the one with lung cancer but he could still out live me. It does give you a peace of mind though. Now we can focus on living!

Gene's medical team warned us early on that his immune system would be extremely low and that we should be vigilent to make sure he isn't exposed. We followed one nurse's advice and put a sign on the door like the do at the hospitals...if you have these symptoms please do not enter. No one has been offended, they completely understand and you know what if they were it really wouldn't matter.... they don't need to come anyway! We have a 6 year old daughter and we talked with her as well about the importance of washing hands, covering coughs and sneezes, not using Dad's cups so he doesn't drink after us and get our germs. She has taken this as her personal mission... our drinking glasses are labeled to avoid confusion, there is hand sanitizer throughout the house...etc. Your kids might enjoy taking charge of this as well. It gives them a way to feel involved and like they are helping with your Dad's care. My sister and brother in law were planning a week long visit back in early May but ended up with colds just prior to their planned arrival....they rescheduled. So I would say for your Father's Day visit just use common sense. If everyone is okay then by all means visit and stay with your Dad but reschedule for the next week if anyone isn't feeling well. Oh, another thing is that they say not to clean up waste after cats and dogs while you are doing the chemo... I've taken over that wonderful job with some help from dear daughter:)

Hi, glad you found this site. It has truly been an inspriation to me. My husband (53) is battling stage IV NSC and brain lesion. We are seeing some progress and the survivor stories certainly give me hope. We have a 6 year old daughter so I do understand the complications that having young children adds to dealing with the diagnosis but I also believe that gives you a little more reason to fight! I know that our daughter is the only one on my husband's bad days that can make him smile.... and why wouldn't you fight as long as you can to see that child grow up, graduate, get married....it is possible!

Thanks guys, he is still eating some...just very soft things and liquids. I'm becoming a pro at smoothies and yesterday he actually had some clam chowder for lunch and said it tasted great. Again, I'm sure you survivors understand but I'm amazed at what this has done for his outlook!

Gene and I met with the oncologist yesterday. The results of his CT scan "are better". The cancer in has not spread anywhere in the chest or abdomin; his lymph nodes now look good; and the lung tumor has shrunk by a 1/3. This after just three doses of chemo (stopped because of brain lesion) and one week out from radiation. The area on the right side of his chest where they thought they felt something is completly clear on the scans and to the touch. It wasn't even in the line of radiation. They didn't check the brain lesion yet because it wasn't far enough out from the radiation BUT we are thrilled to finally have some positive news that things are moving in the right direction. I can't tell you what a change it has made in him, his outlook is about 100% better. He gets a 2 week break to finish recovering from the radiation and then we are back to chemo (once per week for three weeks; off a week; and then three more on). Now if we can just get him eating again. The esophigitis (SP?) is HORRIBLE! Round One in this fight goes to Gene!

Dana, I told him I thought bald guys were sexy, I've had a crush on Chris Daughtry since he was on idol Funny that mentioned that your hair hurt. The morning that his started really falling out he said that his hair / scalp actually hurt...then that afternoon in the shower it started coming out by the handfuls. We "buzzed" his off on saturday because the Rad RN said that it would help with the pain not to have it so long. Katy

Gene's radiation is drawing close to the end. Had the last "zap" as we've started calling them to his lung area today and will have two more to the brain lesion next week, Tuesday and Wednesday. Next step is a CT of the chest and abd then a visit with the onc to decide course of action re: chemo. Please hope and pray (to whomever you pray to) for a good report! He finished his steriod on Tuesday and has been extermely fatigued and irratible... another post said coming off was hard so that helped me to understand a little better. Just got a text from him to stop and get ME a bottle of wine so I can sleep tonight....guess I have to take back his being irratible His hair is falling out by the handfuls! We had prepared our 6 yr old as much as possible and she is doing okay with it, although she suggested a wig Hope everyone has a good weekend. I'm looking forward to a restful one.

Can't remember who posted it but the fact that coming off decadron can make you even more irratible helps. My husband finished his on Tuesday and his energy plummeted and his irritability skyrocketed. Makes sense now.

Jan, Welcome to the site, sorry you had to find it. I'm fairly new here too. My husband has NSC stage IV. You get some great information here and wonderful stories of hope and success. I don't always post but I read when I can. Randy, Thanks for your response to Jan. It made me a little more aware of what my husband is feeling and why he can't say.

Sometimes I wonder if MDs just say that to make you mad so you'll fight like hell???? Don't know but I can say that reading the "stories" and seeing how many of the people have long outlived their prognosis gives me hope! I'm so glad I found this site!

Thank you all for the warm welcome. Quick update...met with Gene's oncologist yesterday. The plan is to finish radiation on the 25th, CT on the 29th and see the oncologist again on the 2nd of June to formulate our plan for chemo. He through out a bunch of options yesterday but said we couldn't really decide how aggressive we need to be until he had the next CT scan. I was pleased that he is still very positive and hopeful! At some point I need to tell you guys about the jerk pulmonologist that we dealt with first so you will understand my emphasis on hopeful

Thanks for the welcome and encouragement

Donna, I actually work for an organization that is a post acute continuum of care and hospice is a service under our umbrella so I was able to call in the experts on how to talk with our daughter about serious illness. She knows her Dad has lung cancer and that he has to take some pretty bad medicine to try and kill the cancer. We spend a lot of time explaining that is okay to be mad or scared or worried and that we are too. Once we talked to her it lifted a huge burden off of me because now if I need to cry I can and she knows why. Kids are so resilient though. One night at dinner something was said about the cancer and her response was "I'm tired of talking about Daddy's sickness, can I tell you about my day?" Talk about a dose of reality. I think we could all take some cues from kids in taking care of ourselves. Katy

I'm sure it will be a very bittersweet day for you. (((((hugs)))))

My husband's rad MD gave us a prescription for the Magic Mouthwash. He hasn't needed it yet but they say he will so I had it filled. Good luck, hope it helps. Katy

Hi, I'm Katy a 43 year old wife and mother of a 6 year old daughter, whose husband was diagnosed the end of March with Stage III lung cancer. Last Monday, about three weeks into chemo and radiation, he began having vision problems. The MRI showed a lesion on his brain affecting the optical nerve. It is so small, had it not affected his sight they would not have found it. They immediately stopped chemo and began radiation to the brain as well as lung. The current plan is to radiation through the end of the month to both locations and then go back on chemo. We see the oncologist tomorrow. Although I'm very sorry that any of us have to be here, I'm glad to find this group. I'm also happy to learn that there are organizations focusing on research for the treatment and cure of this horrible cancer.