eric byrne

Good Afternoon Everyone, First off,wishing you all a happy independance day,hope you all have a great day of celebrations. I am sorry about my absence here of late,my relationship with my new girlfriend Liz has continued to grow,I have been spending these last few weeks at her house,she dos'nt have internet access.Today I have just dropped Liz and her friend Jeannie off at Glasgow airport,they are off for a weeks holiday to Sorrento in Italy,so I am now back in my own home for the coming week. So what have I been up to these past weeks?,gosh so many things,think I could write a book,for your relief I wont try in this post LOL.I did my usual charity walk around Millport earlier in June,with all the Noreen Davis Hikers and Bikers,we had a excellent turnout of supporters again,hopefully we will raise our target of £30,000 for a range of worthy charities.I as official photographer had a really successful day taking some super pics,they will be shown on a large screen on a loop at the Cheque Presentation Gala Night in October. My daughter Jennifer has just returned from Malawi in Africa with her school pupils after a stay of nearly three weeks,they were there to decorate classrooms in various schools.Her experience there was quite profound,I think she will appreciate more the things she takes for granted here in Scotland,the poverty there,materially is considerable but she found the people there extremely happy, friendly and very welcoming.Jennifer showed me a bit of film of her group arriving at one of the schools there,the entire staff and pupils swamped their mini-bus in welcome,hands outstreched,trying to touch everyone on board the minibus.They were further welcomed by the entire school singing a beautiful song to them,one pupil held up a placard which read "Let us make memories that will last a lifetime".I can tell you the impression they left on Jennifer has certainly done that.Jennifer has now returned home,I have yet to see all her photographs and hear more of her experience,I will keep you posted. I was invited last year to cover a Bowling Competition Event at my club last year,with my camera,the photos I took were sent into the local press and to my delight and surprise they were published,I got a full page spread.I was recently invited to photograph the 100th anniversary celebrations of the Lanarkshire Bowling Association,this entailed me to visit and photograph 4 different bowling club events,hopefully they will be published too,I have had some complimentary feedback from the Association. I have booked a two week holiday with Liz on the Spanish Island of Tenerife from the 5th of September,so looking forward to a enjoyable bit of time out.I am currently following the soccer world cup in Brazil,sorry your guys failed to reach the quarter finals,but they certainly showed the world they are no slouches playing the game,they won a lot of respect for their skills,sportsmanship and sheer determination to win.Semis finals start in about an hour from now,with a second semi-final two hours later,how I love watching this competition,there is nothing to beat it. Must go now,shopping to do for the evening meal,hope to get back to you soon,bye for now.

Good Afternoon Everyone, I have actually found some time on my own this afternoon,so thought I could use it to share some time with my LCSC friends. Since last Monday,the West of Scotland has enjoyed an unbroken spell of fantastic weather,sunny blue skies every day and really warm.My romance with my new friend Liz continues,we have been together every day for nearly six weeks,she is a keen gardener and a bit of a slave driver to boot,she has had me pressure washing my mono-block drive and my yorkstone patio at the back of my house,not content with that,I have now started to paint the perimeter fence around my house,Liz is no couch potato,she has joined in all these activities,plus cutting my lawn and weeding. Its not all been work and no pleasure last week,Liz took me for a drive down to Turnberry on the Ayrshire coast,she used to own a house down there,just next to the golf course,she used to rent her house out when the open was played there,she could earn £6000 rent for just two weeks.We visited her house,the new owners were at home and were pleased to show me around,we spend a very pleasant afternoon with them.Liz had booked the Wildings Restaurant for a meal for us,its right on the beach just next door to Turnberry,frequented by many famous golfers,we shared a super meal,I had a salmon salad starter,followed by a duck dish,which Liz also chose,delicious,we finished with a ginger sponge and sauce sweet,oh boy,bang went my diet again. Liz lost her long term partner a couple of years ago to COPD,she had bought some flowers and we went to the local church cemetery to place them on Jims grave.The cemetery itself is in a very beautiful location,the view from his resting place is simply stunning,the lovely blue skies and sun added to the scenery.I did take some photos,which are really nice. This area of Ayrshire has many outstanding places to visit,the Robert Burns Cottage and centre,I have yet to visit Culzean Castle in the area,so this was an opertunity for me,Liz's local knowledge,told me,if you enter the Castle grounds at the front,you have to pay for the admission of your car plus each occupant,however,if you enter from the rear,leaving your car in the car park outside at the rear of the castle grounds,you can enter the castle free of charge,yes I know,strange?,but there it is,so folks if you ever come to Bonnie Scotland and Culzean Castle is on your internary,remember my tip.As it turned out,we did'nt actually get to the castle from the rear,the castle grounds cover quite an area,by the time we had reached the duck pond and playground area,Liz's three dogs were quite tired,the castle still about a mile further on,we decided to just stop and enjoy a well earned rest and take in the scenery.Next time we visit it will be without the dogs.Incidentally Dwight D. Eisenhower was gifted a room in Culzean Castle in recognition of his services to Scotland during WW11,which he did enjoy taking advantage of.If you want to see how spectacular Culzean Castle is,I can recommend you give it a wee google. Yesterday Liz and I spent a lovely day at the Robert Owen World Heritage Site,again the weather was just beautiful,I had visited this site last year and posted my pics into facebook and here I think?.Robert Owen was a mill owner in the 18th Centuary with a difference,he ensured all his workers were well looked after,providing them with good quality housing,schools and healthcare,he also allowed them every Sunday off and two days holidays a year,an amazing concession at this time in Scottish History. Today,is overcast,but quite warm,spring is well established,I am just waiting for Liz to arrive to spend some more time with me,now what will I make for dinner ?,think I will go downstairs now and have a look in the fridge. Enjoy the rest of Tuesday everyone,bye.

Good Morning Everyone, Lovely morning here in Airdrie,nice to see all the spring flowers out,their lovely colours certainly brighten up my day. Its just gone 10.15am,I have a committee meeting at 11am this morning at my outdoor bowling club,invited guests include a local councillor,solicitor and a couple of reps from Airdrie council properties and leisure.Hope not to bore you,but basically the council owned our bowling club up until 2011 then passed over its ownership to our committee to run the club independantly,up until that day in 2011,the council met all our running costs,however we have been landed with a utility bill of over £7000 ($10,500 approx) this was due to estimated meter readings of meters since 2002,since the meter was last read then,there has been a shortfall in the actual payments since 2002,we claim the council are responsible for this error,they claim since we are now the owners,it is our responsibility to meet this bill,hence the presence of a solicitor.To cap it all,vandals have removed all the lead flashings from our club house roof over the winter,and will cost £4000 to replace (our buildings insurance refuse to pay out in the case of theft from roofs) its just rediculous but there it is. My relationship with my new friend Liz continues,we are having such good times to-gether,hence my lack of posts here,I must try harder to maintain my links with LCSC,miss you guys.We are planning a trip to Paris this May,I have never been there before,Liz has been there many times and loves the city.My daughter Jennifer left for a break to Rome last Tuesday,she celebrates her 30th birthday on tomorrow,she will return to Glasgow on Monday. Sally now has daily visits from carers under a support scheme called homecare,she has to pay a small contribution towards this service.This at least frees me somewhat from my responsibility of looking after her,I am trying to cut back my support for Sally,Liz thinks I am doing too much for her,its hard trying to keep everyone happy. Sorry guys,love to chat longer,but its 10.40am,must dash for my meeting,enjoy the rest of Friday.Byeee.

Good Morning Everyone, Beautiful spring morning here in the West of Scotland,still a bit on the cool side though.Gosh I have been absent for quite a while here,sorry about that.Wonderful to hear the big bus is on the move again,and about time too,if you could arrange to pick me up at Airdrie Cross that would be fine,if not Glasgow can suit just as well,I will of course bring all the necessary provisions with me,some cases O' the amber nectar,Barrs Irn Bru (hangover cureall) not forgetting some haggis,better bring some change of clothing too,just to be on the safe side. Well I have been so neglectful of the normal routine things in my life recently,in fact my life has been turned upside down since I have met this wonderful new girl.Her name is Liz,we have been dating for about a month now,so my life has been one whirlwind of eating out,cinemas,10 pin bowling,which I have to add,she is just brilliant at,she crushes me every time we play,I have been trying to introduce her to my game of indoor bowls,so far without success.We get on so well,share many similar interests.Liz lost her long term partner to COPD a couple of years ago,and is now looking for someone to share the good things in life with,well fingers crossed I hope to fill that spot. I continue to provide carers support for Sally,Liz is a retired practice nurse although she has a part time consultancy post visiting care homes to make hygiene inspections and compile reports to advise on making improvements.Liz is determined that I relinquish my carers role to have it passed onto a more professional support infrastructure for Sally,so I am attending a meeting with Sally this morning at 11am to meet with her two support teams,ie, the Airdrie Health Centre Addiction Team and her councilling team from Meridian.The aim is to discuss how Sally can be better supported in coping with her everyday needs,I certainly feel that my support is not meeting her needs,I do think after over twenty years of caring for Sally,its time I retired and found a new life for myself,which I can be comfortable in,provided I know sally is being well cared for. I really must dash,I do wish you all a super Wednesday,I will drop in later,to give you an update of my meeting.Byee.

Good Morning Everyone, Its early,just gone 6.30am here,I woke up earlier,could'nt sleep, the birds outside my bedroom window certainly consider it spring,what a racquet,keep the noise down guys.I have never known a winter like it,no ice or snow in the West of Scotland,however more rain than usual. Good to hear from you Bruce,hope spring will come along shortly for you in your neck of the woods. I am still busy following my daily gym routines,I dont remember if I shared with you,about meeting a lady member at the swimming pool,she mentioned to me that she attends a Scottish Country Dancing class on a Friday afternoon,she was lamenting the group was now down to having only one male,would I consider coming along?.In Scotland there is a tradition for teaching Scottish dancing in Secondary Schools going back probably a couple of centuries.The pupils would be taught dances like the dashing white sargeant,strip the willow,military two step,the gay gordons (before gay took on a new meaning LOL),and many others.Our training,led to the Christmas Dance each year held in the School hall,I remember the music was provided by a wind up gramaphone player would you believe?,so at the start of a dance like dashing white sargeants,it was mayhem,we always tried to sweep the girls literally off their feet as we spun round,then the gramaphone would start to run down,music now at a fraction of its previous speed,teacher now frantically winding up the player again,great fun.Well Fridays I have lunch with my gym buddies,following the yoga class at noon,the dance class is held in a hall,just across the car park form our restaurant,class starts at 1.45pm until 3.45pm,so it fits comfortably with my schedule,anyway,I was thinking,all these ladies and only one other man? maybe I will find someone attractive and unattached?.I was first to arrive,soon everyone appeared,I was made so welcome,would I like to participate or merely observe,well in for a penny in for a pound I decided to take the plunge.I tell you this is hard work both physically and mentally,boy these women are amazons,I thought with all my gymming this class would be a dawdle,but no,trying to keep up and follow the flow of the movements is so difficult,thank goodness they have a break for refreshments at 3pm,to get my breath back.I tell you,if you want to get fit physically and mentally and lose some lbs,find out where your local Scottish Country Dancing Class is being held,phew.Oh by the way,regretfully,there were no attractive and unattached ladies attending. I have continued on my friendship and dating site,I met this new lovely person,we met at 3pm last Saturday,we went to Airdries best restaurant-Guidies-its Italian,despite its hugh size,it was absolutely packed,we were lucky to get a table, a nice spot in the conservatory area,we spent over three hours,eating and chatting,it went really well,when we left I suggested a wee drive over to view my home since it was only a mile or so away,getting there,I asked if (Liz) would like to come in for a wine or coffee,to my surprise she said yes.She was given the tour (excluding the bedrooms LOL) we then sat and chatted until after 10pm,remarkable the conversation just flowed naturally,no akward pregnant silences.I drove her to Airdrie Station she had parked her car there in its car park.She exited my car,without even offering a wee peck on the cheek?.However,we have arranged to meet up on Friday evening,we will share a meal,then into the Showcase Cinema to see a film highly recommended to me by a friend called "The Book Thief". No gym this morning,I am running my daughters boyfriend Chris to a town just outside the south of Glasgow,he is filming a wedding there from about 2pm,this is a new venture he has begun,I have seen the previous weddings he has covered,they are so professional,I wish him every success,he deserves it since he works so hard. Time to go,gosh its 7.40am I have been typing this for over an hour,think I will go back to bed until about 9am.Bye everyone,enjoy your Wednesday,what ever you have planned.

Thank You Katie,I am so lucky,I only wish so many of the friends we have lost over the years could have shared in my luck.

Hi Dana, Welcome to LCSC,I am really sorry to read of your Mums diagnosis.Firstly, my GP made a unsolicited comment to me,that I had only 2 years left following all my treatments.Well here I am 5 years later,having my final check up last Tuesday,with my oncologist telling me,he had every confidence that I was now cured,that he did'nt expect to see me again,so go away,we shook hands and we parted. Going to back 5 years to that initial period of just being diagnosed,these dark days,where I felt there was no light at the end of the tunnel,I really despaired that I would never be able to cope with the cancer journey ahead of me,the proposed treatments that my multi-diciplinary medical team had planned for me,it was 4 cycles of chemotherapy,in order to shrink the tumour in my upper right lung,which if successful it would make my cancer operable to proceed to having a upper right lobectomy. Well I am a natural born worrier,I worried about the chemotherapy making me violently sick,my hair falling out,the surgery would be extremely painful and leave me a breathless invalid.Those and I am sure so many other worries were conjured up by my overactive brain.I am pleased to share with you for all my worries,nothing ever came even close to my imaginings,I sailed through the chemo and the surgery with ease,well post surgery my wound site was a bit achey for a while,but certainly painful would have been an exaggeration. Post treatments,I spent some time looking for lung cancer survivors who against the odds had beaten off their cancers and were now enjoying their lives.One day I opened up a Glasgow evening newspaper to read an article about a lung cancer survivor called Robert Lowe starting up a lung cancer support group in a local hospital to me,with a lung nurse Penny Downer,well I thought what a pair of auspicious names to set up a lung cancer support group- Lowe and Downer?.Well as i read on,Robert was first dxd with SCLC and given only two months to live,he so wanted to live and asked his Docs to give him treatments that offered his best chance to beat his cancer.He was given a stong regime of chemo that required him to be hospitalised during its administation period.It was so severe on his body that his family were called to his bedside on more than one occassion,since his docs did'nt think he would see the next day.Well,Robert recovered,to his doctors amazement.That was in 1993,then in 2007,Robert is dxd now with NSCLC,has his treatments goes onto live until 2013,he died cancer free,the lung cancer never returned. What I have illustrated are two examples of people who have faced a poor prognosis but were successful in their fight with lung cancer.There are many more of such persons as you will discover from the other buddies on this wonderful site.Being here you can share your anxieties,ask questions of others here who will be only too glad to support you and share with you their experiences. About you,supporting your Mum through this difficult time can be so rewarding for not only you but your Mum too,it is a difficult road and you should be cognizent of your own emotional and physical needs,meetings with doctors,appointments etc can really wear one down,so make sure you are having support too from family and friends,don't be slow in asking for help from your friends when you need it.Your Mum needs you at her side,you can best help her by being well yourself. I am here if you need someone to share with anytime,I will respond ASAP.There are many other here will support you also-you are not alone. Please pass onto your Mum my best wishes and that her proposed treatments go well. Bye for now.

dGood Morning Everyone, Beautiful sunny morning here in Airdrie,everything loooks so springlike out my study window.Just about to head out to ABC,then on to Glasgow to visit my wee sister Dot's, the grandkids will be there too,its it a fun and games afternoon,boggle,triominos and playing cards. If you did'nt know I had my last 6 monthly check up after 5 years of attending Monklands Hospital,I did'nt get to see my usual consultant for these occassions,oh no,I got the top of the house,the senior consultant no less,I think its a arrangement reserved for the last check up patients?.Anyway,he discussed my progress from the outset of my treatments and finally said Eric we do have some successes with this disease and you are one of them,I can say with confidence,you are cured,I dont want to see you again,now off you go.We shook hands and said goodbye. I received a letter from a research group called synexus,they organise clinical trials for a wide range of subjects,I was invited by them a few years ago to be tested as a suitable subject for a clinical trial on prostate cancer,as it turned out they could'nt use me,apparently I was too healthy for them.The letter I received was a clinical trial for a new drug for patients with COPD.Well I went along on Wednesday last,went through some tests,blood pressure,lung function test,at the end of which,I was told I did'nt have COPD,in fact nurse doing the lung function test said my results were very comparable to her results.She gave me some papers with all sorts of information on them,including some graphs of my lung tests to pass onto my GP.She said there may be other studies coming up in the near future,if I were prepared to volunteer,no problem.I like the idea of being monitored for a few years free of charge. My birthday is coming up shortly in May,since it is 65th my daughter wanted me to make it something special.Co-incidentally I am on the mailing list for Glasgows newest venue the Hydro,I found Cirque Du Soleil were performing there on the very day of my birthday,so 3 tickets booked.My daughter Jennifer just loves this group and has seen them before,she was quite trilled when I told her she,boyfriend and myself are booked. Got to go now,enjoy the rest of the weekend,bye.

Eric Byrne,Airdrie,Bonnie Scotland dxd 14th of Oct 2008 NSCLC stage 2A?.

Thanks Dianne.

Good Afternoon Everyone, In Scotland following radical treatments,lung cancer patients are followed up by 6 monthly checkups for five years,this morning was my last check up,my daughter and her boyfriend came along to the hospital with me.If I was NED,they were going to treat me to a lunch(well hopefully,they would treat me if it went the other way LOL).Having been checked out,the senior oncologist said Eric we do have some complete successes,in your case I am confident in using the word cured,now go away I dont expect to see you again,we shook hands and parted.I did share a celebratory lunch with Jennifer and Chris.

Congratulations Donna on your survivorship,gives us all hope,long may your survivorship continue.

Hi Randy, Good to see you too,sorry about your weather,tell you what,grab your sunglasses and your beachwear,get on a plane to Scotland-Airdrie to be precise,theres plenty of room at my house,enjoy a wee break from work.

Good Morning Everyone, I am up late,just gone midnight here,so I thought I would start a new air.Weather seems to be on everyones mind,this is the first year in my entire life,that we in the West of Scotland have had no winter?,poor south west of England,they have been battered with storms since mid-December,the storms are being brought in from the south westerly direction,theres widespread flooding,villages and homes cut off,power lines down, rail links destroyed.People there are very discontent that the Government have been too slow to react,accusing them of cuts to flood defence systems.Millions of pounds worth of damage,insurance companies already mentioning premium increases for us all to cover the damage. I have been doing some front of house work ,last week it was Starlight Express,performed by a group of teenagers called Shine,and they certainly did,each performance I watched received a standing ovation.I was'nt familiar with this musical,the notion of people dressed as electric and steam trains on roller skates just put me off a bit,but as it turned out it was a very enjoyable show.Sadly we are losing one of our front of house friends,Colleen,she comes from Philladelphia,been here for 2-3 years and settled into our way of life.She just decided to come to Scotland one day,boarded a plane and arrived.She studied for a BA in the USA and had that converted to a MA here,however her visa has expired and has to go home,good news is she is going to re-apply for a new visa and return to Scotland,much to the relief of her Scottish boyfriend I am sure. In Scotland our health system for post treatment follow up for lung cancer,is a check up every six months for five years (we dont do CT scans just x-rays)well today at 10am,I will have my last check up,my five years have passed and still here alive and kicking,by the way I did send my 5 year anniversary survivor card to my GP who only gave me two years maximum,with the comment,"I once had a patient who had lung cancer,he lived for five years,what a character-but you are not him".I did write to him a resume of my post treatment journey and mentioned i would be sending him my 10th anniversary card too.Funnily enough,he has'nt replied?.Schools here are on holiday Mon and Tues,so my daughter is coming with her boyfriend to my appointment,she is treating me to a celebratory lunch if I get get the NED,well even if I dont,I am still hoping to be treated LOL. I have a friend in the USA Jeffrey,I met his wife in Seattle and we became facebook friends,Jeffrey added me to his facebook friends list too,so we have been exchanging posts for a couple of years now.One day Jeffery mentioned attending the Phantom of the Opera,boy he did'nt half slate it,well I have seen this show in both Edinburgh and London and I just loved it,so I just had to respond to his criticism,think I started my post by saying,Well call me clothe for ears but I loved this show etc,etc,Jeffrey wrote back agreeing that everyone has his own taste in music.I just happened to read about Jeffrey's background soon after,I discovered he was an Associate Professor in Music at a USA University,ooops.Jeffrey has a great love of Scotland,particularly Edinburgh where he studied for sometime in Edinburgh Uni.He has just posted me,to tell me he is coming to Scotland to the West of Scotland Uni in March to set up a student exchange package,and wants to meet up with me,for a wee amber nectar (or two) and dinner,I just cannot wait to meet him at last,shame is only one day we can meet,never mind it will be a great occassion. Gosh I must stop now before this developes into a novel. Goodnight Everyone.

Hi Everyone I am back,bet you cannot even see the join. Just home from the indoor bowls,we were beaten by 13-10,a close run thing,anyway as they say,its the taking part that counts-cue fixed grin.Such an enjoyable game,seems to attract the most pleasant and curteous of people,ok dont ask me why I attend.Next time you visit Scotland I will take you to my club for a game. News from my home front,Sally has settled into her new home,albeit,still complaining she hates living on her own,I do what I can for her,visiting daily,taking her shopping,usually once a week we go to a local restaurant for lunch.My daughter Jennifer is teaching English full time in a Glasgow Secondary School (In Scotland for pupils aged between 12-18)she is really enjoying herself,she has been selected to take 6 pupils to Malawi in Africa in June this year for 3 weeks,Scotland has strong links with Malawi since Victorian times,its where Dr David Livingstone lived and worked. I am still working at front of House in Airdrie and Motherwell Theatres,also continuing in my advocate role with the Roy Castle LC Foundation,I recently attended the relaunch of the Detect Cancer Early Campaign in Scotland,my story is in the infro booklet produced with Sir Alex Ferguson on the front cover (both his parents died of lung cancer). Well thats about it ,still doing my gymming swimming and yoga-ing each morning with my buddies,not thats it all exercise,we do blether a bit too,in fact some mornings more blethers than exercise. I hope you are are well and that you have all avoided the worst of the winter weather I have been watching on our TV news progs from the USA. Goodnight everyone,bye for now.

Hi Cindy,its today of course,silly. I think I had whats called a sabbatical,gosh it has been a while since I have last posted,or even visited.You never left my mind though everyone.So many sad losses recently Ashleigh down under,Penny,two weeks ago I got a call telling me George from our Stobhill LC Support Group had collapsed at home,we were told initially he had a stroke,he was taken to hospital but it was later discovered his LC had spread to his brain,he was transferred to the Marie Curie Hospice building within the grounds of Stobhill Hospital,he passed away last Monday,I am glad I got to see him the Saturday prior,I attended his funeral service yesterday,we have lost a valued member of our group. Well I have been busying myself,what a strange winter we are having in the UK ?,South of England all we hear about on the news is widespread flooding of peoples homes and businesses,also being cut off from their electricity supplies,I do feel so sorry for those people affected.Here in my neck of the woods,winter seems to have passed us by? I think since November I have only scraped the frost from my windscreen on only one occassion,as for snow? we should have has several falls by now?-nothing,think there has been some in the north of Scotland to keep the skiers happy.I have seen the reports of the extreme weather North America has been getting recently,gosh its practically tropical here by comparison. Today I got news that our long awaited SIGN report has been published,I posted the link here today,it does take a bit of reading LOL.By co-incidence I was contacted by the Cochrane Collaboration this afternoon,no I dont know much about them myself,but they have sent me a link to their organisation to read up on them.Its a worldwide network looking at various types of cancer treatments and to collate the effectiveness of these treatments,I have been asked to join a group of people based in the UK,France and the USA,I think I have to review reports and make comments on them ? I will keep you posted,my group is entirely focused on lung cancer. I am still frequenting the friendship and dating sites,its fun,bit of a merry go round,I thought with my dashing good looks,charm,wit and personality would have women stampeding to my front door,alas it just did'nt happen,I've had about three dates I have met with,but nothing quite worked out.I have a little saying "I would have loved to have been a ladykiller-but you know women,they are so fickle". Gosh look at the time,sorry folks,its indoor bowls time,must dash,I will get back tonight.

Good Afternoon Everyone, I have just received the link to the newly published Sign Document,which has been produced by a multi-disciplinary medical committee,where I was invited to join as a patient representative.The document is all about the management of patients with Lung Cancer.I have copied the link to here,as shown below.I do hope this will bring some positive benefits to everyone involved in Lung Cancer,medical practitioners and patients alike. http://www.sign.ac.uk/pdf/SIGN137.pdf

Good Evening Everyone, Just want to add my Christmas Greetings to all my friends here at LCSC,I hope each and everyone has a wonderful Festive Season and that 2014 will turn out to be a vintage year for us. I have been so busy recently,still doing my front of house Pantos,(Wizard of Oz)its great fun watching all the kids in the audience interacting with the cast-"oh yes they do",you have to have seen a UK Panto to appreciate that statement LOL. I have been enjoying an incredible run of luck recently,I had a phone call from the British Heart Foundation,they had been trying to contact me from last Saturday,I was just waiting for them to request a donation from me,but no, Mr Byrne we are pleased to tell you, you have won the first prize in our raffle,well funnily just yesterday I found two strips of raffle tickets in the inside of my jacket pocket,I had no idea,how long they had been there or even what they were for so I threw them out.Fortunately they accepted my reason for not producing the winning ticket,and presented me with a £150 food hamper from Marks and Spencers (recognised in the UK as a premier food outlet),it was just jamb packed with goodies,we wont go hungry this Christmas,"oh no we wont",sorry about that too many Pantos. I have a new girl in my life,we have been dating for a while now,we get along so well,we went to see a Andre Rieu concert last Saturday in Glasgow's newly opened Hydro Theatre,its hugh,well for Glasgow that is,12,000 spectators,it was a super night out,Linda,my new girl,had'nt even heard of Andre before,so it was with some relief that she enjoyed the evening. Time to go,bye everyone,enjoy Christmas.

Raspberry Pavlova, Q, Whats your favourite bit of Boxing day.

Hi Cindy, Welcome to LCSC,I am sorry to hear of your husbands diagnosis,the start of any cancer journey is always hardest at the outset,it really takes time to adjust to this new situation.I can promise you that things do settle down after a short while.I thought Dianes reply was excellent to the point where there is not much I can add.As all the tests are undertaken and collated your husbands medical team will come up with a tailor made treatment plan to be the most effective in treating his cancer. I have survived now for five years,I can cast my mind back to that period of time you are in,everything was so scary,a walk into the unknown,with a feeling of having a uncertain future.Then when my medical team came up with my treatment plan,it brought a new set of anxieties,will the chemo make me violently nauseus?will all my hair fall out?,I was to have surgery,a upper right lobectomy,my brain is so imaginative,I could dream up so many different scenarios,will the surgery be so overwhelmingly painful,(I am a Scot,but certainly not one of those braveheart types)will the surgery leave me a breathless invalid?,will even when all is done be successful?.Well I can tell you for all my imaginings,nothing even came close to being realised,I sailed through the lot,chemo and surgery,OK,post surgery my wound was a bit achey,but it would be an exaggeration to say painful. Following my surgery in Jan 2009,I returned to work after a short period of time.I did search out LC survivor stories,and I discovered Robert Lowe,briefly,he was dxd with SCLC in 1993,given two months to live,Robert ignored that and carried on after his treatments were completed,in 2007,Robert was then dxd with NSCLC,had his treatments,he survived two types of LC for twenty years,I met up with Robert,and I joined his LC support group.By co-incidence,Robert and I were brought up in the same district in Glasgow,-Springburn,we even went to the same schools,despite Robert being 10 years my senior we actually shared many of the same teachers,each time we met up,it was laughter all the way as we exchanged our lifetime anedotes.There is life after a LC dx,take each day one day at a time,a saying I picked up and has stayed with me "Worry is like sitting in a rocking chair,it gives you something to do,but it dos'nt get you anywhere".My own experience I can also summerise "Lung Cancer may have rained on my parade but it sure came with a hugh silver lining,it has taken me to places I would have never otherwise dreampt of going and meeting up with some many new friends I would have never otherwise met". Bye for now,give my regards to your husband,why not encourage him to exchange posts with us?

Hi Bruce, Sorry about me being absent,lots of things going on,I am busy doing my Front of House duties,its the height of Panto season here,I am often covering two shows a day.Living now as a batchelor,I joined up with a dating web site,I am having fun,not that I have set the female world on fire with my photos,my profile,describing my charm,wit,intelligence and modesty,but I did have a date last week,the first one I have had since the sixties,we enjoyed a lunch together,she was a really lovely person,however our date was akin to meeting a stranger at a business conference,friendly,but rather lacking in atmosphere and warmth.Well i did learn how much I will have to improve on dating if I am to be successful in attracting Ms Right.I have a Linda meeting me next week,she is a stunner,well if thats her pic in her profile,seems we have so much in common,she phoned me last night,we got on so well,no pregnant pauses in our conversation,it just flowed naturally,so looking forward to next week.(I will keep you informed how it went) I am still visiting Sally daily taking her shopping and lunch etc,she is still finding living on her own difficult,but I am doing my best to support her. Got to go,its 6.30pm,time for my indoor bowling,catch up with you later. Bye everyone.

Oooops, Well something went wrong?,when I clicked the post submit button I got a statement that someone has posted since I started my post,well I re-clicked submit again,the rest is history.Sorry about that everyone,one post a day from me is enough for anyone,never mind three.Maybe some kind editor will step in to delete the eroneous ones? pretty please.

Good Evening Everyone, Thank you Bruce,opening the Air four days in a row?,you are putting me to shame. Beautiful day here today,temps around freezing but good to get all wrapped up a going for walk around the woods next to my home.Panto season started on Wednesday,I was on my first FOH yesterday,this year its the Wizard Of Oz,it was an afternoon matinee,over 400 primary school children in attendance,it really is fun watching them reacting to the characters on stage,boy can they make some noise,boos for the witch,cheers for the good guys,I really think this would go down well in the US.Only another 20 or so performances for me to attend.I was talking to one of the cast and mentioned me doing 20 shows,she replied in total between now and the 5th January,they will do exactly 90 shows.They deserve a medal. I am still visiting Sally daily,she is beginning to settle into her new lifestyle,in fact she said I cannot continue seeing her everyday,she suggested that her club days in the community centre are days where I dont have to see her,well its a start,this means Tuesdays,Thurdays and Fridays.Good thing is despite having access to money she has not been drinking from the day she moved in and is determined never to drink again,wish I had done this years ago. I enrolled on a dating website,its run by the London Times newspaper,(a bit posher than others it seems,nearly everyone seems to be in the professions and post grads too)however,I filled in a rather lengthy questionaire about my habits,dress sense,eating preferences,goodness was this detailed or what.The idea is they computer match you to your perfect mate,so you click on matches, up comes a womans pic with yours alongside underneath each,is a red bar which slides from 0% - 100% so for example the bar under hers goes to 84% underneath me 23%,this she meets my ideal mate as 84% whereas I was only 23% of the perfect mate for her.Only problem they provide 1000 matches at a time,it takes you a few minutes to read someones profile,so this could well be a full time job LOL.If you fancy someone you click favourite,on her box you will become a fan of hers,so she knows you are interested and may respond.Obviously my well written profile and excellent photos of myself was going to bowl all these women over and I would be snowed under with fan requests?.Ahem,why are woman so fickle?,I did get one from the North of England,which should'nt really happen since I put down a preference of 40 mile radius from Airdrie,however we did exchange a post or two,she is a lovely person but no thanks.You wont believe the next fan I got-Lidia from Rostov-on-Don (Russia)it just so happens I am well aquainted with Rostov,for many years it has been twinned with my home town Glasgow.Lidia was amazed that I had even heard of it,she confirmed Glasgow was twinned with Rostov.The commonality of our profiles is really amazing,we like the sames things,food,music,travel you name it,to cap it all she is also a retired college lecturer.We have now exchanged our private email address's so we can continue to chat in a more private setting.Well maybe its Rostov-on -Don for holidays next year?.Well thats about all the response I have had so far, although, 167 persons have read my profile. I got a phone call from a girl called Karen yesterday,she is the organiser for Scotlands Detect Cancer Early Campaign,I attended the launch a couple of weeks ago,think I shared the details here at the time so I wont bore you again,anyway,she said the Glasgow Herald are doing an article in their Sunday Edition about lung cancer,would I agree to be interviewed,do you think I said no?Scotlands Quality newspaper,actually I said yes.Well with 5 minutes after I agreed, my phone rang,it was the Herald reporter so I spend some time talking about my cancer journey and my thoughts on how support for lung cancer could be improved,so I think I covered all the bases pretty well,now to buy a couple of a hundred copies of the Sunday Herald this weekend,anyone wanting an autograph? Bye everyone,back to the hard slog of finding my new mate.

Good Morning Amy, Welcome to LCSC,this is just the place to be to cheer you up and bring you the support you need at this moment in time.I am really sorry to hear of your Dx,I was similarly dxd 5 years ago with NSCLC 2A (sqamous). I guess I know just how you are feeling at the moment,I took my dx so badly,my whole world has collapsed and there will be no remittance,no light at the end of the tunnel,no future to look forward to. I really did believe I would never regain that happy go lucky person I was prior to my dx.I was completely wrong of course,by the slow passage of time,I began to recover some of that confident an optomistic person I once was. I began to discover long term survivors of lung cancer of all types and stages,who seemed to be coping so much better than me.I began to realise that a 2A staged lung cancer was survivable since it is regarded as early.Well maybe,just maybe I will aslo survive this by brain began to say to itself,and as each day,month year passed that feeling as grown,that elephant in my living room has grown so small,I can no longer find the little blighter. I have to go to work now,loved to have shared longer with you,but like Arnie says "I will be back",I leave with a couple of observations, "Worry is like sitting in a rocking chair,it gives you something to do,but it dos,nt get you anywhere" also I like to say "Lung cancer rained on my parade,but it sure came with a hugh silver lining,it has taken me to places I would have never even dreampt of,and allowed me to meet so many new and wonderful people I would have never otherwise met.I hope to explain further what I mean in future posts to you. I promise you,things will get better for you,that weight on your shoulders is shortly going to disappear.

Good Evening Everyone, Just gone 8pm,found some time just to sit and enjoy sharing my neck of the wood happenings with you.Weather,well not quite as cold Bruce where you live,we hover around freezing most mornings now,unless we have cloud cover,I am scraping the frost off my car,the weather forecast for next week is cold air coming our way from the Artic,so its wrap up warm time again. I was asked by the Roy Castle Foundation,if I could participate in a bucket collection in Glasgow's Central Station last Thursday between 11am and 3pm.I left my car at Airdrie Station and travelled to Glasgow on the electric train,I had forgot to lift my gloves and wooly bunnet,boy did I regret that later,Thursday was a brilliant sunny day,however it was also very cold and windy,I was frozen at my station,fortunately,I did take a lunch break,meeting up with my gym buddies at the Admiral Bar,as I always do on Thursdays,gave me a chance for a quick thaw,before returning to my station about 45mins later.I was never so glad to see 3pm arrive,I suggested to the organiser,Lorraine,from now on fund raising should be restricted to bag packing at the check outs in supermarkets,where we are at least kept warm,and more people generously donate their pennies,Lorriane agreed. Spent the day with Sally yesterday,we did some shopping for bits and pieces for her new home,we went for lunch in Airdries Tudor Hotel,a bit less pricey than our usual Guidies,I ordered a fillet steak,good grief,it was hugh,and me on a diet too,I did manage to finish it though but not the garnishings.With some spare time on our hands we decided to visit the Showcase Cinema complex,just to see what was on,I do fancy Gravity,but am a bit worried about motion sickness watching this film,I am waiting for my daughter to see it first to report back how she felt watching it,she has the same problems with motion sickness as me.Anyway,Tom Hanks film Captain Phillips was just about to commence,so we went into see it.I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it,one I certainly recommend to you.Previews had a couple of interesting films coming shortly,The Railwaymen,set in WW11,with Colin Firth being a POW of the Japanese building the infamous Thialand/Burma railway,the other 12 years a slave,a true story about a Negro who was a freeman in the 19 century being kidnapped into slavery in the USA. Church this morning,the service was led by an American called Bruce Kuhn,never heard anyone preach like that before,he was just brilliant,he certainly got our complete attention.This afternoon,up to my sister Dots for fun and games.My daughter Jennifer has been selected by her School to take a small group of pupils to Malawi in Africa next June,the Rotary Club in Airdrie invited Jennifer to attend a dinner in the Tudor Hotel last Monday evening,to present a cheque to her to help cover her expenses,she gave a short presentation,and has been invited to return after her African visit next to give a presentation on her experiences.My bowling buddy Ronnie told me about Jennifers visit later,I just happened to mention I have another buddy in the Rotary club,whats his name? Ronnie enquires,Bill McMullen I reply,Eric says Ronnie,Bill is the President,so the next thing is Ronnie passing me some literature about the History of the Rotary Club and an invitation to join,Jennifer reckons its something I would enjoy,however,they meet every Monday evening for dinner,which is fine in winter,but spring sees the re-start of the outdoor bowling again and club night is Mondays,I really cannot do both. Pantomime Season starts on Thursday,I am doing FOH at 12.15pm,busloads of school kids from all over North Lanarkshire will be in daily attendance until the 5th of January,think I will see over 20 performances,I know sounds boring,but it is'nt watching the childrens pariticipating and interacting with the cast is just super,every performance is different.This definately a type of theatre that the USA should adopt,its perfectly suited to "resting" actors of TV and Screen making a bit cash over the festive season,thats why so many are doing it,plus the fun of course. Time to go everyone,enjoy the rest of Sunday,bye.