Joppette

Hey all. Was supposed to work the food booth today, but my spasms prevented me from that. I suffered through that during the night, and could not even imagine working the booth today. sigh But it is what it is.... not going to be sad over this. Had a wonderful dinner with Hubs tonight celebrating our 18 years of marriage. It was so awesome. I am so incredibly thankful for him and his love through all I've been through. I have no idea how I found this man who loved me through this lung cancer, when he lost his mom and brother to the same disease. I'm so blessed. I have a husband of 18 years who loves me in spite of what I brought on myself. I hate blaming myself for this, but I can't help it. I'm just very grateful that he loves me no matter what comes today or in the future. We had a great night. So grateful..... Judy in MI

Hi Sue, I think you are handling this perfectly. It's the small stuff in life that make life so awesome. Monteray Bay is so beautiful. How lovely that your children were able to take over your business. I've been cancer free for 3 years, and have finally accepted that "after cancer" there is no getting back to normal. My life is totally different now, and I have finally accepted my new normal, whether I like it or not. It is what it is, and I have to find my joy now rather than keep waiting for things to go back to how they were before. Judy in MI

Hi Everyone! What a newsy group we have today. Love it! We got storms, humidity broke! Yeah! It's awesome to not feel like someone is sitting on my chest when I go outside. Had the wedding shower this morning, and brought all this delicious food and could not eat it. I have the stomach flu. Hubs had it last week, and after a few days passed, I so hoped I wouldn't get it. Wrong. So I'm laying low for the next few hours and hoping the pain in the gut goes away. Started electric fence training the puppy today. Rather the trainer trained me! So we begin the process of teaching her the boundaries, and once she gets it that the flags mean NO, then I'll train her on the doggy door so she can let herself in and out of the house. It will be so nice when this is done! Well, got to go lay down. Have a good weekend everyone. Judy in MI

Kim, they DID not cut my ribs. Unlike my Mom. And even though my ribs were not cut, the pain was horrid. Vicodin is codeine based. I'm taking it now because I fell and broke a bone in my back, but I can only take it at bed time for it makes me nauseated. If I can get some food in my stomach, I tolerate the medication much better. The morphine for my Mom was a blessing. She was embarrassed to be on it, but she accepted that in order for her to have some kind of quality of life, she needed it. She took it in liquid form. I guess all I can say is this....life in pain is no life. If the Darvocet is working, great! If not, not so great. My Mom was stage IV, SCLC, and they offered her no hope. So we went about making sure what life she had was good, and she did enjoy 9 months of life without pain. That was very important to me. As for your employment situation...do what you think your guts are telling you. You can not begin to anticipate your Mom's outcome. There is no way to do this. We just don't know. Like Katie said, her Mom went in for tests, tested fine, and died 3 weeks later from a stroke. Who knows????? I was very fortunate that my boss was totally understanding. I was in a Sales position, with a very high quota, but she had known me long enough to say "you only have one Mom, take care of her. I know you will do what needs to be done, once her situation settles down." I thank God for her attitude. I hope this helps! Judy in MI

Huh, my comment here is gone too! I can't remember what I said in the one that went *poof*. Anyway, the paintings are beautiful, you are so talented Eric. Oh yeah...the terrain. It is a lot like Michhigan, with tons of trees, hills and lakes. Very beautiful! Thanks! Judy in MI

Wow, I don't know what happened to my response here. But Eric thanks for sharing these. We don't have these ancient buildings in America and they are so awesome to see. Loved all the pics, thought the hanging heads were cool. The church was amazing, as was the oldest house in Glasgow. Wow, they sure don't make them like they used to! Judy in MI

Hi Everyone! Woke this morning to dark skies and tons of rain. YEAH!!!!! Some of God's home made watering for the gardens and lawn. More storms tonight, and then the humidity is skaddaling out of here for the weekend! Had a nice lazy morning, and then went shopping for food for a little gathering me and some girlfriends are having tomorrow at lunch. One of the gals in my bible study just got married, and we're going to give her a pressie (as Eric would say) and have a lunch. Looking forward to it! Thanking about Judy in KW too. Scan day. Praying for only good news. Eric, loved the pics. I'm so excited about the upcoming British Open. It is my FAVORITE golf event. Love the stories, the history, all of it. I will be watching it for sure here. Well, better get going.....I have a meeting at church tonight, and need to make supper and eat before it. Judy in MI

Oh, I wanted to add, that the good news is it was a lower lobe. They are the smaller lobes. Maybe her capacity would be okay. But like I said, try to not worry about that right now. There's enough going on to worry about! Judy in MI

Hi Kim, well I'm happy about the CT scan being clean. That is good. But welcome to the up and down roller coaster ride that cancer is. You will feel this way for a while, until the treatment regime finds it's own routine. Try to not read into the future. You really can't, and you'll make yourself nuts with worry about further spread of the disease. Lung surgery can be extremely painful, especially when they cut the ribs. They did that with my Mom and she was on morphine for the rest of her life. So if the pain is not getting under control, make sure she is getting the right pain meds. My surgery hurt for about eight months. Took Vicodin every single day. Now it just feels strange, but does not hurt. As for the concern if they find it in the other lobe, I'm not an expert on this by any means, but I know my breathing capacity and can't imagine them taking another lobe out. I'm thinking they would do radiation to take any further ones out. But I'll be curious to see what other long time survivors say. Take care, Judy in MI

Keli, you sound fantastic. Great attitude! Keep up the good work! Judy in MI

Hi Kim, My Mom's LC was found after she had a Grand Mal Seizure from brain mets. Seizures are symptom. Headaches, lack of appetite, trouble with vision, falling down, saying words incorrectly, forgetting things, all symptoms of brain mets, or primary brain cancer. My Dad and Sister both died from brain cancer. Dad was saying his words wrong, and lost his balance a lot. Sister had horrific headaches. My husband's Mom had brain mets from LC, and that is how we found out about her LC, because she kept falling a lot! So I wish you the best with this. It's never good to think of mets as good, but brain mets can be treated with radiation therapy and it can help a lot. It did with my Mom. Judy in MI

Absolutely! We are here for you. When you get more info on his medications and the plan, let us know. We'll be able to help more once we know his situation. Judy in MI

Yeah!!!!!! Good news! Next time, NED, right? Judy in MI

Ah Judy, sorry about your transportation troubles. Hope you get going soon. It's 92 here and miserable again. The humidity prohibits you from getting outside. It's just plain nasty. We are working in a food booth Friday and Saturday at a local festival, and I pray this front breaks up by then! I don't think I can spend 4 hours hawking hot dogs in this! Busy weekend coming up. We set up for the festival on Thursday, help set up again on Friday. We have a four shift on Saturday, then a graduation party for a nephew, and then a lake party with friends. Busy, busy, busy! And fun I hope! Judy in MI

Hello Heather, Like the others, I welcome you to our world. Everyone has given you great advice already, so I won't repeat that, except to reiterate the thoughts about time lines. They just don't know. More and more of us are surviving and moving on to full productive lives. Don't focus on the time line, just focus on Dad, and make sure he knows how much you love him. We should all do that, cancer or not, but we don't always do that. Take care, Judy in MI

Ginny, I am also sorry about your friends. But statistics run more in favor of us getting cancer than not. In Michigan, 1 in 3 men will be diagnosed with cancer, and 2 in 4 women. Keeping that in mind, I am no longer in shock when someone tells me they have cancer. 3 of 7 in my immediate family died from cancer. As for the question, I hate it too. It's wrong. And I've learned through the others here how to educate them and not feel defensive. Judy in MI

Bruce, of course I pray for them to solve the problem and return her home doing well. Judy in MI

I listened too, I could hear crickets, dog barking and the snap of the wood burning in the fire.

Good morning all! Bruce, I had to google where you are when you referenced the midnight sun. Wow, you are up there! Our favorite vacation place in the whole world is Alaska. We love Northern climates, and mother nature, and all it has to offer. How awesome and beautiful it must be where you are. Fireworks in the day light would be strange for sure! Well, here it is a normal Great Lakes humid, hot session. These usually last around 4 days and then the storms come and it's all lovely again. It's cloudy and hot, and not nice out, so we'll likely do something indoors today. Maybe a movie. It's nice to have hubby home on a Monday! Judy, sorry you missed the fireworks, but laughing with you on how you spent the night. Nice! Everyone take care today. Judy in MI

Yes, these memories are what keeps Dad alive in your heart. Memories can be painful, but also comforting. The picture is an awesome picture with his silhouette back dropped by the fire. How appropriate for this man who loved pyrotechnics! Very nice sharing. Thank you. Judy in MI

Judy, images are easy. Go to photobucket.com and find an image by searching for it. Then to the left is html code that you copy and paste between the . When you submit your entry a picture will be there! We had a lovely day yesterday. The fireworks were amazing, the company was great, and the temps were warm, but nice and breezy. Today however, it's beastly hot and humid. The hot is not so bad, but humid is nasty. I'm indoors, just finished watching a part of Wimbledon, and now watching golf. Staying cool. It will storm tonight and tomorrow. We'll cook up some steaks for dinner, and I made a cold pasta salad to go with it. Eric, enjoy that cocktail! Too early here for that. LOL! Randy, rest up! Judy enjoy the travels. Hope you get to see the fireworks! Everyone have a great day! Judy in MI

Hi All, Gorgeous day with a beautiful breeze, going to be a good day on the boat. Our friends are bringing their two kids (pre-teen and teen), and those kids are so much fun. Looking forward to boating, munching, and a BBQ afterward. They are excited to watch fireworks from our backyard! Me too. Taking the puppy with us, for her first boat ride. Hope she's okay with it. It's always interesting to see how dogs adapt to this. Our other dog can't go on the boat, he gets all anxious and acts like he feels trapped, and whines the whole time. Not fun. Eric, sounds like quite the sports day for you! Don't know the conversion equation from your money to ours, so can't compare gas prices. Our gas is at $3.00 a gallon. I agree that we need bike friendly roads. Bud is right, the bike paths around here are on country roads and would not get someone to work through the metro area. K, got to go pack towels, and coolers, etc. See you later! Judy in MI

Welcome here! You will find many supportive folks here that have gone through the journey you are going through, or that your husband is going through. I've been on both sides, I'm a survivor of 3 years, and my Mom died from lung cancer. This cancer thing is just a roller coaster for a while. Hang on, get inspiration and help here, share with us what's happening, ask questions, and all of that. Take care, Judy in MI

Hope you all have a fantastic holiday weekend in the US of A!!!!! For the others, same thing! Enjoy this beautiful summer. We are expecting warm temps, but nice weather overall which is nice. Hubs went to work today so I assume the flu incident is over now, so we'll go out tonight and eat somewhere with an outdoor patio. Tomorrow the lake next door to us has their fireworks, and they shoot them off a hill that overlooks our little lake. So we're going to friends home for BBQ and games, and then over to our home for the fireworks! Fun. On the 4th, we will probably put the boat in somewhere and tool around on that all day. It's supposed to storm on the 5th, so we're likely to hang out at home or go shopping to kill some time. Going to be nice.....hope you all enjoy too! Judy in MI

Hey, I had to sound in on the bike thing. It is such a dangerous thing. In my area of the world, the government found money (no idea where, because Michigan is in rough shape financially), but it's county money. And they are installing bike paths everywhere in the County. They are beautiful, paved, and off the main drags. They have an engineering firm where a friend works, who his whole job is to contact the home owners, and get their permission for the bike path, and engineer it so it's pretty and not offensive to the home owner. It's really a cool initiative and it's great to see the bikers off to the side enjoying Mother Nature. It's nice. Judy in MI