NellW

Nina, I am happy to pray for you, always, and have already been. Waiting to hear how things go and praying for the very best. Love Nell

Prayers on the way! Love Nell

Hi Bruce, I am so sorry to hear you have the nasty ins. problem to battle with! I agree, I would get any tests I could if I were you. Sending a prayer your way! Love Nell

Tina this is so encouraging to hear. I am thrilled for you both! Clinking here too and thanking God!! Love Nell

Thanks friends for the kind words and thoughts and prayers. It has been a rough road lately. Jo will be talking to the onc the end of Feb when they have the next appt. about hospice, unless things get so rough that they go back before that. Right now he is seeing the onc every 3 or 4 weeks because it has been such a hard thing to get this pain under control. Ry, I will PM you since it is pretty late and we just got in. Elaine, I wondered how much Neurontin you were on. It's at least twice as much as Bob, and I am not sure if his pain is the right kind for it, but since Kimme, you said it helped you Mom, well, we are sure hoping. And I agree, it seems just nuts for the doc to think the pain clinic would not help. Maybe we can bring that up again if things do not turn around in the next couple of days. I know Peggy, it doesn't seem as though he should just have to endure this much pain. I guess someone told Jo at church last week that if the met is in the bone, there is no help for the pain, but I know some here have been able to function quite well with bone mets, so I can't give up hope! Dodging the beer truck a little south of you Bec! Love Nell

Thanks everyone for all the tips on med distribution. Art and I went to spend the evening with Bob and Jo last night, and took a pill box I found at the big pharmacy near us. It holds a weeks worth of pills with 4 compartments under each day, and since he takes meds 4 times a day it worked well. She will dispense them each time he needs them. Jo and I did the pills in the box for the next week, and then we did one for during the night which he will have near his bed. It was a rough day for them both. He has just added Neurontin and has begun Zometa, and seems very confused and out of it. He is taking 4 300mg of Neurontin per day. Does that seem like it could be the cause of the confusion? He went to bed very early because of the pain. Took a dilaudid and prayed for sleep. Jo is totally overwhelmed and she just started to cry after he went up to bed( she had to help him get there), because his quality of life is so bad. We listened to the tape of his last onc visit on Tuesday with her. They always tape them so we can hear and they can listen again at home if they are confused. The onc sounds very distressed that the pain is not being reduced with all these meds. They have never been told anything like a prognosis since the bone mets. Both feel they want to ask this. I did share with them that many here have outlived the time the doc estimated. Sorry this is so long, I can't sleep with thinking about all they are going through right now and wish there was something we could figure out to relieve this. Doc said not likely that a pain clinic would help, so that was a disappointment, although Bob is so miserable I don't know if he would even go. He is not walking at all of course, so Jo is worried about his muscles wasting. Well, I will go try and sleep. Any input is a blessing. Love and prayers for all Nell

Hi Janet, Wanted to add my welcome to you and Ron. You are already an encouraging force, and here's hoping we will do the same for you! Nell

Good morning! Jo just called and asked if I would post her question. She is concerned about all the meds Bob is on getting mixed up. I think he is still managing his own, and yesterday the onc added Neurotin and Zometa ( of course the Zometa is not a prob ). She just thinks there are so many things he is taking and at different times, so she wondered if anyone would have an idea on how to keep them organized so no mistakes are made?? He is on duragesic patches, dilaudid, motrin, neurotin, zometa, and all his regular meds besides. She thinks due to all the stuff he is on he is getting very drifty. I noticed last Saturday that he is somewhat confused at times, and wonder if he should not be administering them to himself right now. Feedback is needed!! Don't know what we would do without all of you! Thanks Love Nell

Karen, I sure hope they find the problem fast. I agree that you are probably exhausted and that sure can't help. Prayers comin your way. Love Nell

Well I would like to join this bash if it is not too late.. Yipppeee Cindi, good news is worth a drink. I would like champagne please. But that Orgasma thing.. well, maybe I will try that too!

I am so sad to hear this. My prayers are added as well.

I know I have not been here much since Christmas. Art and I both have been quite sick. I have had pnuemonia and had an awful time recovering, but am finally after almost a month getting better..whew! Art has a nasty kidney, bladder, and prostate infection. As for Bob, he is on duragesic 200 patches and motrin and dilaudid and still in enough pain that it wakes him up at night and is "ferocious" in his words. He is in his recliner almost all the time now. Getting up to use the bathroom, and that is about it. He no longer sits at the table to eat. Sees the onc again next Tues. and is hoping for some help with the pain, but not sure what they can do. Onc. said at the visit a week or so ago that all he can do is palliative care, and that he would not reccomend a morphine pump or anything because Bob cannot go under anesthetic to insert it. He feels all the pain is coming from the L4-L5 met. Both Bob and Jo feel his quality of life is pretty bad. We spent the evening with them tonight for the first time in a long time, because I have been to worried about taking any germs there with my pnuemonia. We have really missed them a lot, and it was a good visit. Took chili for our supper since it has been so cold and snowy and it seemed like a good idea, and we watched an old movie together. Missed you all and hope to be around more again. Love Nell

TAnn.. Stable, whew.. what a lovely word, and some shrinkage, no matter how small seems good too! I will keep right on sending prayers your way. Love Nell

Cheryl, I am relieved to hear you like the doc and that he has a good plan. As for the steriods and sleeping.. well I took heavy doses of them for a long time (months and months) awhile back, and sleep was not something I could do much of. I ended up taking 2 benadryl each night, and that did help a little. Sheesh, no kidding, lets put these pompous people on the steroids and then see if they sleep. I will be praying for you of course. Love Nell

Prayers for you for a clear head! Love Nell

Sending prayers her way!

Beth, Oh Yes, they should as Becky said , wait on you! I keep telling my grands that and they just haven't gotten it through their heads that I am old yet.. . At 57 they say I don't qualify. Oh well I do love em and their antics! Your life sounds like its getting very "real" again. Good for you! Love Nell

No report that is any good here either, except.. hmm I think that cheesecake is a great source of protein too, and happy hour.. that doesn't sound bad either.. Really though, tomorrow is the end of the line for me too. Here's to a good report for all of us Feb.1!! xxoo

Dear Cheryl, I so hope you are already getting some peace of mind. I love Peggy's story bout her hubby, it is so encouraging to me. Hope it is to you also. I agree too with Bruce, Keep on fighting dear friend. And as Becky and Ry said, get some meds if you can. We all are right here and would all charter a bus to come to you if we could, like Gail said. Wouldn't that be a sight, but for now, here's our heartfelt thoughts and prayers. Love Nell

I pray this year brings us lots of advances in treatment and prevention! Bob is not well. He is in his recliner or sleeping 24/7. His wife Jo and I were talking this morning about the fact that he is not going out at all. I think the last time we got him to go out of the house is in the end of October. He is on Ox. but has a portable. His pain index is better in his L4-5 since the 3 weeks of radiation which completed right before Christmas, but still is up and down some. He is still on duragesic 100mg. patche and motrin 600mg. He is wanting to stop the Lupron shots for the prostate cancer because of the side effects but the doc won't agree. There was a met to a bone in the pelvic area on his PET scan as well as the L4-5 ones. That has not been radiated as of yet, because there was no pain there. He sees the onc and the rad. onc on Tuesday and he is having lots of pain in the pelvic area now, and down his legs. He is convinced it is due to a pinched nerve, but his wife and I are very concerned. I know that most of you do not stay in your recliners for months on end, and we don't know whether to push him to go out or be more active. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Jo will be speaking with the oncs. on Tues. about the inactivity also. Sometimes it is so hard to know what to do. Love and prayers for all Nell

Joe, I agree that we are so blessed to have you. Hope you take a very short break! If I ever got this disease I would come to Minn. and find you, because you possess that wonderful quality of caring about the whole person, a hard thing to find. Please come back soon. Love Nell

Cheryl, I have been sitting here wishing I had magic words to say, but all I can come up with is you and Jack are very strong and champions in this fight, and I know you will fight on! I know what Ginny said about Earl must be a comfort, since his brain cont. to function pretty well, and also what all the rest have said about WBR and such. For me, I will be holding your hand and praying for strenght for you both in the battle. Love Nell

Dean Carl, and Gay, You were never a statistic!! It's great to know it is now official. I love your attitude about life, and you are as always, an inspiration. Love Nell

Dear Peggy, What a cause for rejoicing! Love Nell

Fay, my friend, I am surely praying for your son. Waiting with you. Love Nell