Joppette

Katie, the auto correct - I had to laugh. It gets me too. Someone was forwarding a funny email around with a lot of auto correct messages that were hilarious. I wish I kept it. But it is funny. Judy, hope you can get better sleep! As for Carepage, I don't know why that's complicated. If you already had an account there, simply put your email in and then click on "forgot password". They will send your email a new one, which you can then change to what you want. It's okay though, you'll get there if you can and when you can! Eric, that snow/wind storm sounds crazy. What is up with the extreme weather we've been experiencing in the last few years? Our winter has been so mild. Not even an inch of snow accumulation yet. Not complaining! It will be here and when it does it will be big. The cold is here, just not the precip yet. Well, I am still in jammies at 11:15AM. Been fiddling around all morning. Time to get cleaned up and head out to get a few pressies (as Eric says) for next weekend. I have a girlfriend looking for some extra Christmas money, so she is going to come in for a couple of hours on Tuesday and Friday to help me get the house cleaned and ready for Christmas. She is a good friend, so I'm looking forward to spending time with her. Judy in MI

I understand. I'm in the battle right now, but also cared for my Mom as she lost her battle with this disease. I get it. I'm so sorry for your loss at such a painful time of year. MI Judy

Hi friends, Judy, good for you on the Christmas cards. I used to be a nut about sending cards. They always went out the day after Thanksgiving, and I sent about 200 out. When I was dx with cancer, I stopped cards. It was so much work, and I just didn't have it in me to do it anymore. People used to always say that "your card is always the first one I receive!" Its just one of those things I let go and doubt I'll get back into. So...........still waiting. I put a call in yesterday at 4:00. It's frustrating. I'm ready to face the next steps. I wish he'd call and talk to me so I can prepare for whatever that is. Errrggg. Oh well. Today is Gilda's day. I was hoping to have news to share with my group. Maybe not. Anyway, just going to try to live in the moment, right? Patience is not a virtue that is one of mine. MI Judy

Thanks Eric. This was great! MI Judy

Ronnie, It's wonderful that you and Erica found each other. To find a person that shares your pain, and where you both can talk about it is a blessing. My Mom re-connected with an old friend a couple years after my Dad died. Mom and Dad knew Mike and his wife for many, many years. She was having coffee one day, and Mike came in for his, and sat down with her. It turned out that his wife died the same year my Dad did. At first they were just friends. As they friendship grew (because of their commonality of grief) they began to date. I remember the day my Mom called to tell me she was dating Mike. I was so delighted! In 1992, my then boyfriend proposed and we married in July of that year. That same year Mike proposed to my Mom, and they married in September of that same year. It was a blessing for all. The love they had for each other was amazing and wonderful. It was different than what they had with their spouses that died, but it was as good if not better. I don't know why I shared all of that, but for some reason I felt I should. I'm so glad you can spend this holiday season with Erica. Judy in MI

Good morning! Eric, I don't think anyone believes you are doing what you do for you. Why? What would be the point. What you are doing is amazing and selfless (selfless, not selfish), and will help many, many people. I believe that what we do with our life challenges defines us. Advocating, volunteering, mentoring and more is good if you have the time and financial ability to do it. Thank God that you do. The world needs more Erics. Judy, so glad the cold is a teeny bit better. A little ray of sunshine is poking out of that cloud to show you that it is going to go away and you WILL feel better LOL. I have to laugh at myself when I get an awful cold, I can be such a baby. Diane and Judy, I think in today's world you are right about the infants. But I have to agree with Diane about her comment. How did we ever make it? How did our children? We didn't know about all the stuff that they do now and somehow we all survived childhood. LOL. I'm kidding. Technology has made life good for these kids, who knows? The new life span may be in the 100's! As for choices for doctors, I get it. In small towns and rural areas, the options are limited. I live closest to a small hospital about 20 minutes away. I go there for emergencies because it is small and it does not see much business. I always get in very quickly. But I drive to Grand Rapids for the rest of my stuff. It's about a 40 minute drive, which isn't bad. There I have lots of choices. Haven't heard from the doctor yet. He said he'd call by the end of today. He said to call this afternoon, if he hasn't called me. There's that darned butterfly again, I just don't understand how she gets in my tummy! Well, I'm going to have lunch with my youngest brother today. I don't mean to be sardonic, but my brothers didn't pay much attention to me at all the last time I went through this. I think they wrote me off because all of our experience with cancer resulted in dying. Which is sad, #1 if I was dying, I'd think they'd want to spend as much time as possible. #2 if I lived, how did they think I'd feel about them ignoring me. Now, I was asked to spend a lunch with him because "we don't spend enough time together." Beggars can't be choosers, so I'll just be grateful. But I can let my thoughts out here where people understand. I love my brothers, and I understand them. So it's okay. Have a good day. The sun is peeking out, and the clouds are drifting away, so just another beautiful day here! Judy in MI

Oops, Judy, just wanted to commiserate on the cold. I just got over mine, and there were a couple of days when I wondered how it was possible to feel that bad and still be alive! Hope it goes away soon. Steph, we posted at the same time. You crack me up with all the food you brought home! Enjoy! I wish I knew how to say that in Italian. Wait! Google! divertiti! Judy

Good morning! Judy, hearing about your KW Onc. just ticks me off. May I gently offer you this, we are consumers. We are not patients. We can decide who our primary doctors are and tell that to the other doctors once the primary has taken over our care. When I was dx with LC, I fired my primary care doctor. She handled the LC news horribly, and ran out of the room when I told her the it. She never read my chart! She was fired on the spot. Your Onc on KW will be forced to take orders from your Dr. T. Now he/she may refuse and that is their right, and then you'll have to make decisions about how far you want to drive for the care you expect. Sadly some doctors egos get in the way of good care for people. Well, I got a call from one of my brothers today. I have hosted Christmas ever since my Mom died in 1996. With the possibility of surgery in the near future, I asked my older brother if he would host Christmas. He called my younger brother to tell him that he does not want to host Christmas because he has another Grandchild due, most likely this week. He suggested that we put the party off until after the New Year. (Is it dangerous for New borns to be around a lot of people? I'm asking because I don't know.) Makes sense. It bothers me that my older brother wouldn't just discuss that with me. Whatever. I've been through too much to let this bother me much. I told my younger brother that this was a fine idea, but could we wait until I get the results from the PET scan, and have a treatment plan in place. Who knows? Maybe they won't do anything until the New Year anyway. So we'll see. I'm okay no matter what. Upset tummy is gone! I was a good girl and drank a TON of water yesterday. That is the best way to get that gunk out of there. I feel fine today. So I'm off to meet with our techie church guy. He makes CDs and DVDs of the church services, and the demand is high. He wondered if I could pop in and do this for him. He said it is easy, and only takes about a half an hour or so, so I'm going to go learn how to do this! See ya! Have a good day. Judy in MI

Hello! Thanks for the well wishes. I couldn't sleep last night, got about 4 fitful hours in. I complained that R's snoring, and Gibby's kicking kept me up. But I got to the hospital, got hooked up, and immediately zonked out inspite of the noisy hall noise. LOL. Slept like a baby. Got home about 12:30 and went back to bed for two more hours. Good stuff. Judy, I know, the day before food restrictions are tough. That's why I scheduled it for 7:30AM. I didn't want to go all day starving either. She said my glucose was 100, which she said was perfect. A good indication of a person who is starving! LOL I did have the CT with contrast first, and then the PET. I elected the lemon Omnipaque rather than that awful Barium Sulfate. She told me the side effects of both, and I explained that the Barium would make me gag and possibly lose the medication, we elected for the lemon stuff. Tonight my tummy is rumbling and not happy, but I'm mega dosing with water and am sure by tomorrow I'll feel fine. I will have the test results by Wednesday, Thursday at the latest. The Onc. said he'd call in a day or two. I'm hoping it's two because I'm not sure I'm ready to move to the next phase of treatment. The staff were awesome, and kind. Thanks Randy for scaring off those darned bots. Well, R is going to make a grilled chicken breast. Maybe with some kind of potatoes since those seem to sooth the raging beast! Talk to you tomorrow! MI Judy

Wow Steph, that is really weird. Well, I decided to start a Carepage for updates for me. I don't know if that is a thing that a lot of hospitals do, but they do here. It allows you to write updates on your health, and anyone who subscribes (Family and Friends) get an email when there is an update. It's nice because then no one can be offended if you forgot to update them. I"m blessed to have many circles of friends and think this will be helpful. If interested, go to http://www.carepages.com Put in your email and enter a password Once in search for Joppette. That is what I'm in there under. Tomorrow I'll be up by 6:15. Seriously???? LOL. I figure they are going to hook me up to contrast for two hours, so I'll just nap there! MI Judy

Hi all, It's 8:30PM, and I'm just getting on line. Had the memorial service today for my Gilda's friend. It was wonderful. I made awesome connections with her adult children. Very nice. As I was getting ready to go, R asked if I wanted something to eat. I'ved been struggling with appetite, and he'd been watching that cooking show called "Chopped" so I challenged him to find 3 things in the cupboard to fix a delightful meal for me. LOL He did! He took shrimp and flash fried it with curry and other spices. Then he sliced lettuce, cucumber, tomatoe, and garlic cheese on the bed. He then laced the salad with almond slices. Then he drizzled ranch dressing on it all. It was fabulous. It's rare that I eat a plate of food, but I almost did with this. Ate 3/4 of it. Oh my goodness it was fabulous. As I drove home from the memorial, he called saying he was making a homemade tortilla soup with chicken. I got home and put in some black beans for flavor. Before we ate it, I added a dolop of sour cream. We had tortilla chips to dunk. Oh my gosh, it was so good. Tomorrow I serve at church at the Information Hub. I love that job. I have a low carb, no sugar diet tomorrow to prepare for my PET on Monday. It's all good. Judy in MI

Hi friends, Yesterday was busy with Gilda's Club, but very rewarding. Some things were said to me that just touched my heart to pieces and humbled me. The last two days have been spent with a lot of calls and emails to family and friends that need to know about my next health challenge. With the PET on Monday, things are going to progress very quickly. I asked my older brother if he'd be willing to host the family Christmas, if in fact I had the surgery before the holiday. He said he'd try to work it out one way or another. He was concerned that his wife may not have enough time to "decorate" properly since we celebrate on the 18th. I just said "really???". He then said "ah, yeah, I guess that isn't that important, is it?". No it is not. I am intending on hosting the party but I am not doing the decorating I've done every year. I usually go bannanas with this. I think it's highly likely I'll have the surgery before Christmas, and the last time, I was in the hospital for 15 days. It was because of complications, so hopefully, this time, it will be more like 5 days. But I won't be able to clean and do all the other stuff by then. I'm going to shop for the nieces and nephews this weekend, and get that done. We spend Christmas day with our best friends and this year it is her turn to host, so that will be easy for me. The kids are all young adults now, so gift cards is what I get them. There are two Grandma's that I usually get a little something for, but it's not much, so I'll get that done this weekend too. I'm in a nesting mode right now. Spent all day doing laundry, and cleaning out closets. I'll do good cleaning again this weekend, and depending on the results, will hire a girlfriend that needs money for Christmas to come clean for the rest of the month. Can you tell I'm making my list and checking it twice? Judy in MI Oh! Woke up to the first snow accumulation this morning. We only got about an inch, so it just frosted things in a lovely way. Melted by noon. Beautiful day of sunshine!

Thank you Richard. She was such an inspiration and positive person here, and she was loved and will be missed. God bless you. Judy in Mi

Hi All, Well I'm jumping in on the cost of utilities because mine are ginormous. Like Becky, we have a giant LP gas tank in the woods. Unfortunately we use about 4000 gallons in the winter. The cost is insane. But we have a 4500 sq foot home. We don't heat the lower level unless we have company, but we have tons of windows so a lot of heat loss. We are getting a Geo-thermal furnace soon. The initial investment is a little heavy, but we're getting a 30% energy efficient rebate from Uncle Sam to off set the costs. And the return on investment is 3 years, and the energy fuel savings is going to be enormous. Our electric gets as high as 300.00 a month in the summer, and then goes down to around 100.00 or less in the winter. As for egs? Over Medium please. When I see any thing that looks snotty, I loose my appetite. LOL. We do enjoy steak and eggs here for breakfast like KW Judy described. Well, I'm at Gilda's. I really debated coming here today. We will be mourning our friend who just died, and it can be a bit much. But I've been lifted up by some very cool stories today that make me glad I came. Judy in sunny MI

Thank you Katie. What an angel, so supportive, and caring. She will be missed.

Ronnie, Your family here does understand. Your grief is still very new, and it hurts so much. (((((HUGS)))) from Michigan. Judy in MI

So sad. I didn't realize she was so ill. You certainly couldn't tell from her upbeat and positive attitude. I will miss her and am so sad about this. MI Judy

Hi everyone! I'm loving these last few days posts with all the talk about food! LOL! Eric, " I ordered steak and chips(fries sorry)served with a fried egg on top of the steak and garlic butter,sweet, cherry crumble and ice cream". Seriously???? That sounds so insanely good I can't stand it! LOL! Bud, we loved our summer veggies that we got from the Farmer's stand just down the road. Sadly those days are gone now, and we're dependent on food being shipped to us from warmer climes. It's never as good as the fresh, and I think nutrient wise, not as healthy either. Judy, all I can say is every day I read about activities and you happily doing things just makes me grin. You have been through a lot, and it delights me when what you are going through is good stuff. Yeah for you! I woke up this morning with the thought of seeing my Oncologist, and a butterfly fluttered in my tummy. How did she get in there anyway? I closed my eyes, and told myself that we only have one day to live and it is today. Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow does not exist for we never get to tomorrow do we? We are always in today. So I'm going to stay as present as I can and not inflict fear or negativity into this precious day. It's very cold, but the sun is fiercely shining. I love that. MI Judy

Ann, I'm glad coming here lifted your spirits. Nice. Judy, I wanted to add earlier,and forgot, to tell you how much I detest "fluffing" that stupid tree. We've had ours for at least 12 years, and we really should just replace it, but they are expensive! Anyway, I dread when he puts it together. I beg him to help fluff, but he's not a very good fluffer! LOL. I wish we could have a real tree, but I have enough allergy, asthma, lc survivor, issues without adding the tree in that makes me sick every Christmas. I decided against driving out of my way for KFC. The wind is howling big time. So I stopped at a quaint little market not far from home and got some BBQ and spicy wings, 7 layer salad, and some tuna salad that they make with a delicious twist to it. It is grazing night here! MI Judy

Morning all. Judy I love how Allan calls you KW. Cute. I'd just go and not call her. She's turned you down the last couple of times you asked, so it's clear she's not interested. It's a blustery and cold day today. We may get our first snow accumulation tonight. Only an inch, so no big deal, but I usually mark the first snow on the calendar. I have no idea why I do this. LOL. When the year is over, I just throw the calendar away. I'm going to Gilda's today to help with clerical tasks for the Laughfest event. It's a grunge job, and boring, but the work needs to be done, and I'm happy to help them out. R will not be home until late tonight, and I need some comfort food, so maybe I'll stop by KFC and get some sinfully fattening chicken, mashed potates and cole slaw. Yum. Judy in MI

Hi, As many of you know, I'm very active at Gilda's Club. I am there at least two days a week, attend a support group, and am a lung cancer mentor. I also speak on behalf of the club at public functions, advocating for those of us with cancer. Tonight a very sweet friend of mine died. I've known her since her cancer jouney began, which started 3 years ago. Her name was Kathryn. Her battle with lung cancer was a long one, and she tried everything, from every chemo available, to trying to be accepted into treatment trials. She fought to the very end. Sunday she fell and could not get back upl. Her son convinced her to go to a Hospice finally. I visited this afternoon, and prayed a prayer for her and her family. I held her hand for an hour and listened to her son tell me stories. I knew she would not be with us much longer, based on her breathing and pulse. Reluctantly I left knowing that her son and daughter needed to have private time with Mom before she left. She died at 6:35PM. It's been a rough road at the club. Recently we've lost two to lung cancer, one to breast cancer, and one to lymphoma. Too many people in too short of a time. We have a 32 year old young man that is soon to lose his battle with lung cancer, and another young woman to breast cancer. I posted her last post on facebook. She said a saying that touches me deeply. It is "Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain". I need to learn to dance in the rain. I'm about to face a new journey with my lung cancer. It may be nothing, it may be more. But this I know....we only have one day and it is today. I pray to just learn to dance in the rain, and take it one day at a time. That is all I have, that is all we all have. I don't know why I wrote this tonight, but I did. So be it. Judy in MI

HI John, I'm newer here. It's nice to see some of the folks from years back coming back! Do Update your signature so us newb's can know what it is. Hope you can come back and help out. Judy in MI

Well, I'm relatively new here, but wanted to introduce myself and say HI! My Mom died of lung cancer too, so I can totally relate. Judy in MI

Thanks for the update! Enjoy a wonderful Christmas and then on to the next steps! MI Judy

Ah Ann, what a poignant post. When I was 29 my little sister was 24 and died on December 1. That thanksgiving was so sad because she was so sick she couldn't come to the dinner. I remember, like it was yesterday, making up a plate for her and bringing it to her. The picture is still crystal clear and she died in 1983. I'm giving you a big warm hug right now, I know that sorrow. It was not my spouse, but still......hugs to you. Judy in MI