stand4hope

Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuup it goes!

Was she a negative person before diagnosis? If so, this might be really hard to change. How about a puppy? It takes a pretty tough cookie to not warm up and smile at a little puppy or kitten. Can she have animals where she lives? If not, borrow somebody's puppy and take it with you when you visit. Good luck and God bless, Peggy

Doofus Hamsterchunks here!

Hi pgreiman and WELCOME. I'm glad you've been reading and enjoying this board. We are a group of people that really care. I'm sure your scan results will be just fine - it sounds like you have had a very, very good year. Best of luck to you, and God bless! Peggy

Hi Cary, and thank you for your response. Your name and face are new to me, but I see you have been a member for almost a year. That was very kind of you to reply to me. I have seen both of those links already because I have been searching this board for a couple of days to get others' personal experience with the drug, especially as a third-line chemo. I think the members here would really like for us to try to keep these kinds of questions on this thread because the General thread gets so large. Also, if we keep medical and treatment questions on one forum, it's much easier for people like me to find the information we want. Once again, thank you for finding and posting those links for me. God bless you, Peggy

Hi Raych, My husband was diagnosed in early August 2003 and he also had 8 mets in his brain, and one was quite large. It's been 10 months now, and he has had 10 pretty darn good months. Things aren't going too well right now, but that's another story. He also had whole brain radiation, lung radiation, two different rounds with four different chemotherapy drugs, and he also had Novalis (stereotactic radiosurgery) to his brain. Two mets disappeared after the WBR, and two more disappeared after the Novalis. The remaining four shrunk about 30% after the Novalis, and as of this past week, the remaining four tumors are stable. There may be more to your sister's health than we all know and understand at this point, but there is ALWAYS hope. I know you said you are very comfortable with her health care providers, but is there more than one oncologist on this team to make the palliative decision? It also sounds like you are limited in how much information you can find out, but I am going to pray and ask God to help you find out what you need to know. God bless you, Raych, Peggy

Thanks for posting this link, Geoff!! Peggy

Bouncing this up again. I wish somebody could call and check. Does anybody know the name of the hospital or Mo's name so we could at least find out if she's ok?

ROFL!!!!

Jamie, I don't know for sure. I've had the same question myself several times. I know the cancer is dividing all the time, but I do think chemo does a really good job of slowing that process down for a good long while and I KNOW that radiation keeps working for up to 6 weeks after the last treatment, so I think the radiation will prevent any new growth of your dad's cancer for quite a while. Just my opinion, but I do know the radiation keeps working for a while. Love, Peggy

I know a lot of you have posted that you or your loved one has received Cisplatin. It is one of the choices my husband is considering, the other one is Iressa. He's not too thrilled about the Iressa. It's kind of hard to deal with diarrhea when you work a 10-hour day in a production area on machines that are so big that you have to climb under, over and inside of them to work on them, especially when the success of the drug is limited. He might still try it, but hasn't decided yet. My main question is about the side effects and success of Cisplatin. The onc told us it one of the ones that is more prone to nausea, and of course, like all them, fatigue. He's not afraid of the fatigue, nausea, etc., because his second line chemo caused some of that, but he got through it just fine and still worked every day. The first line chemo was another story - what a nightmare. I'm particularly interested in hearing from anyone who has received this chemo as a 3rd line chemo treatment. We're aware that by the time one gets to the 3rd line chemo, it gets tougher and tougher to slow down this devil-created disease. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance. Love to all, Peggy

Hi Tammy, and WELCOME! There has been so much activity on the board the past day or so, that I think your post got knocked out of sight - at least it escaped me. I'm really sorry to hear about your dad and I don't have answers to your questions. It's a tough waiting game, isn't it? We are all here to support you, answer your questions, and even make you laugh, so please write often and keep us posted about your dad. God bless you, Peggy

Makwa, Wow! That certainly explains that intense back pain doesn't it? From your previous threads, I bet you would like to show that to the people who thought you were just trying to get more drugs, huh? I am so, so, so glad that you are feeling - you sound a lot better! Enjoy that steak and taters. Eat slow and savor every bite - you deserve it. Thanks for the update. Love, Peggy

Hi Marie, Thanks for the update. I'm sure your chemo and radiation will go well. Please keep us posted on your progress. Love, Peggy

Thank you, Fay. We will all be glad to hear from Nancy when she is feeling better. Peggy

Hi Margaret, Glad to see you back on the board. I don't have answers to your questions either, but wanted you to know that mentally I am with you and praying for you and your mom. God bless you, Peggy

Thanks, Elaine. The first thing I do when I log on is to check and see if there is a post about Mo. I wish her daughter would tell us something (I guess it was her daughter). Peggy

That will work! THANK YOU!!!!

WOOHOO! Congratulations on the new grandson. Wish you had a video of the guy in his underwear - how funny! Have fun cooing over that baby and have a good time at the art fair. As far as the ex, well, we've discussed that one before . . . . . . Love, Peggy

A while back, there was a thread about starting a forum for Iressa. The thread expanded to include other suggestions. I don't know if the Board of Directors has met yet, but I wanted to re-visit this issue and put in my two cents. It would be very helpful to have a forum that would be called "Treatment Questions", and topics would say: Radiation Question, Taxotere Info, Navelbine Question, Lung Surgery Recovery, Iressa Questions, etc. I am currently seeking information on Cisplatin and searched the board for a long time, but when I do a search for "Cisplatin" there are so many posts to weed through to find one that just deals with the effects of the drug itself. I finally resorted to the negative net, but would really like info from people that have used it. Also, there are so many posts from newcomers, test time, grieving, etc. to respond to that I hate to start a thread asking the question because I'm sure it's been asked and answered, probably many times. Thank you in advance for considering this. And also, since most of you have already probably read this, I guess I'll go ahead and ask for Cisplatin info. Love, Peggy

Janet, If everyone is like me, we sleep in on Saturday mornings. When I saw your post, I responded. Did you see it? I also saw you posted twice, and I think you had already had two posts from others. I know Ry was one - she is our early bird. I hope you will stay with us. We care a LOT. Love, Peggy

Hi Berisa. It's so good to hear from you again. Isn't job hunting fun - NOT!!! You sound like you are doing well, and I certainly pray that is true. It's good to see your pretty face back on the board. Stay in touch. Love, Peggy

Hi, Deb and welcome back. As you can see, you were missed. Hang in there in regard to the new mets. There is always hope, hope, and then more hope. God bless you, Peggy

Rachel, I, too, will be praying that you have good results from your tests. God bless you, Peggy

Hi Janet and WELCOME. I am so sorry to hear about your brother, but I'm glad you found us to talk to. I, of course, can't say for sure why your SIL thinks your brother doesn't want to see you or anyone, but I can tell you that was EXACTLY the way my husband was. It was a real fight to get him to even let me tell anyone in his family or my family that he had cancer. For many weeks, he wouldn't talk to anyone but me about it, and that was even limited. However, I staged an opportunity for his sister to come by and see him one day, and I know he really appreciated her stopping by. Also, his brother just popped in one day (he lives pretty far away) and they spent about 1 1/2 hr. together, and I know that he also enjoyed that. But before he actually made the contact with them, he insisted that he didn't want anybody to call him or come over - not anybody. Once the info was out, though, he did better with dealing with them knowing about it. I think it's a combination of fear and shame. And, yes, there is a strong feeling of guilt among most who have smoked, but what we do here is take away that shame and guilt. None of us could even begin to guess what type of lung cancer he has or what stage. Hopefully, you will get more information when you get to Illinois. I don't know if you will even see any of our responses before you leave, but if you do, please remember to check back with us and let us know how it went. We are here to support you and help you in any way that we can. God bless you, Peggy