stand4hope

WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have a great time on your vacation!!!! Love, Peggy

I had severe bronchitis late Dec. 2003 and had crackles in my chest, but I also had wheezing and crackles in my throat and severe coughing. Keflex didn't touch it, so I was prescribed Z-Pac antibiotic and 6-day steroid dose pack. Are you coughing? Peggy

Cat: If Krispy Kremes could cure, I would never be sick! The Krispy Kreme store has "Peggy's Favorite Place" stamped on the window. They maybe don't cure, but they sure can make you feel better. Have one for me, too John: Wow! That was an outstanding link for Cat to read and so hopeful. Thank you for jumping right on that for her and getting it posted so quickly. Becky: You always seem to know the right things to say - you are such a blessing! Are you really a psychologist disguised as a Snowflake? Everyone: I think it's wonderful that we all have a place like this to come to give and receive help and encouragement. I'm so glad you are all here to help Cat and everyone else. All of your posts are always so helpful and encouraging. Cat, I would have been extremely upset as well, so I understand completely your first reaction - I would say it was a very normal response. Aren't you glad you have all this knowledge from everyone who has posted so far and they are right at your side almost the moment you cry for help. Did you see how quickly everyone jumped in to give you encouragement and GOOD SOLID INFORMATION!!! God loves you, Cat, and He is with you constantly - draw from His strength and the strength from everyone here. You are very much alive and tomorrow the sun is going to shine (well, I don't know about in Texas), but Sunday the big Indy 500 race will be televised in Texas (but not here - us Hoosiers have to listen to it on the radio - bummer), and then Memorial Day will come, and then next week will come, and then the 4th of July, and then Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas . . . . . . and sweetie, you are going to be here to enjoy it all!! God bless you, Peggy

Mo, I have just prayed for you and will continue to do so!! God bless you, Peggy

Oh, Joyce. I wish you could hear the inflection in my voice when I say, "Oh, Joyce." If you could hear me say it, you would know I'm saying to please don't let yourself get depressed or upset. Those feelings are normal, but you must fight them off with every ounce of energy and every tool and technique you can find. They will work against your treatments. I sure don't have an answer for you as far as the Iressa question and why your doctor doesn't seem interested in other techniques, but please don't let it get you down. Your post just sounded like you might be depressed about this. If I misinterpreted it, please forgive me and forget you ever read this. If I interpeted it correctly, hold your head high, take a big deep breath, smile real big, and wait for others to give you answers here that will really help you. Love, Peggy

Hi Dan, It's good to hear from you. According to your profile, you are alone. Maybe you should take Carleen up on her offer and at least make a phone contact with her. It would be good to have someone looking in on you, don't you think? I can't reach my light bulbs without a chair or a ladder - how about you come over and change one of mine tomorrow? God bless you, Peggy

Andrea, I know several female lawyers who quit to do something else. Litigation work, particularly, is extremely stressful, the time and deadline pressures are enough to turn a person's hair white as snow, and getting ready for a trial just simply borderlines on ridiculous. One trial that I worked on, we were there Friday, Sat. an Sun. night until past midnight, and another group had a trial in another city, and they literally kept the trial team up ALL NIGHT and in court all day the next day. Not me, baby. I'm getting too old for that crap. Every time I think we're actually going to go to trial rather than settle, I think I'm going to be sick to my stomach. When I was in my 20s-30's, I loved it, but now I just flat don't want to work that hard and definitely don't need the stress. I don't ever deal with the mean-lawyering thing, though. I've worked for the same lawyer for 18 years and he is just wonderful. Also, I've worked with most of the lawyers in our firm for 9 years, and other than maybe 1 or 2, most are very kind and sensitive. They are all litigators, but I wouldn't label them litigious, if you know what I mean. They defend their clients with zeal, but are almost always gracious lawyers. One female lawyer went into advertising, one went into real estate and I don't know what the other one did. In every case, though, their law degrees really helped them a lot in the professions they chose after they decided being a lawyer just wasn't what they wanted to do. I don't have any suggestions as to what else you could do, but I'm sure your degrees will help you find the perfect thing for you. Good luck, Andrea, Peggy

Fay, Thank you for the nice long post and I understand where you are coming from and couldn't agree more. I think, though, that my comment was maybe a misunderstood. I do think that if smokers or former smokers are treated differently, i.e., why bother? then something is very wrong with that and that needs to be changed. All I meant was that nobody on here, not even never smokers, can deny the fact that smoking is the number one cause of lung cancer, but of course there are other causes. My husband DID smoke and was a heavy smoker but hasn't smoked for about 30 years. Since smoking is the No. 1 cause, I don't think we should get too upset with people that ask us if we smoked or if they smoked because most of them don't mean it to be offensive - they just KNOW it is the primary cause. I have only had one person ask me if my husband smoked, and he is a smoker, so I know he didn't mean it in an offensive way - it's just that lung cancer and smoking do kind of go hand-in-hand. When I said I didn't care what they think, I was referring to the average Joe that is a never smoker and has the attitude that the smoker brought it on themselves. We can talk ourselves blue in the face but we are never going to change the attitude of this type of self-righteous person, whether they be a doctor, lawyer or Indian chief. A relative of mine is a recovering alcoholic and she compared it to a man who had achieved his one-year mark of sobriety and was of course quite thrilled. When he mentioned it at a family gathering, a 70-year old female relative who had no compassion for his problem said, "Well, I don't know what the big deal is - I've been sober for 70 years." As to the type of people I just described - I STILL don't care what they think. They can kiss my hiney fanny as far as I'm concerned. Sorry if that offends anyone - and Fay I really do appreciate your post and know how much you've been through, and just want you to know that I admire you and I admire your fighting spirit. I've got to go know - my dad is dying as I type this from severe COPD - a heavy smoker most of his life. Love, Peggy

Hi Diane, My husband had gemzar/navelbine for his second round of chemo, and it was much kinder to him than taxotere/carbo. He, too, had a lot of body aches and fatigue and also had numb toes and some neuropathy in his right leg and hip. He was able to continue to work with this combination. One thing about the navelbine is that it is a vein irritant, so they have to be sure they have a nice healthy wide vein when the inject it. If it burns while it's going in, they have to stop and start over somewhere else. That happened to my husband several times and he felt like a pin cushion. At one visit, after the 3rd attempt failed and they were getting ready to go for number 4, he told them to just give it to him and he'd drink it. He is a good one to make everybody laugh. Prayers for your dad! Peggy

Frankly, I don't care what anybody thinks about whether my husband smoked or didn't smoke. I just flat don't care what they think. They're going to think what they want to think, no matter what I think, so why should I think about it? Peggy

Shazam!. Did you tell your dad yet that he made the "Hospital Book of Polyp Records"? Glad they found those little varmits and got rid of them, and I'll be praying for a "negative" biopsy. Love, Peggy

C-O-N-G-R-A-T-U-L-A-T-I-O-N-S!!!! Peggy

Shelly, Hang on tight. You CAN do this. Tell you what - let's do it together. My dad is struggling for life right now, too. He had a bad evening and I told them to go ahead and start morphine tonight. I'll hold you up and you can hold me up. Ok? We got a deal? You be strong for me and I'll be strong for you. You, me and all nearly 1100 people on this website, can do anything if we just stick together and support each other. Look up and know that He loves you and BREATHE!!! Love, Peggy P.S. PM me anytime!

Oh no, Ginny. I am so very sorry. I can't even imagine losing one of my dear sweet sisters. May God be with you and all of your family as you face this great sadness. God bless you, Ginny. Peggy

Hi again, Leslie. I didn't see you subsequent posts until tonight and hadn't noticed you are from Indiana. I'm also from Indiana (Indianapolis/Brownsburg area). Where are you located? Peggy

Shelly, As of today, I now have had a total of four big family bombshells laid on me. After the new one today, my sister asked me if I knew anyone else that was going through as much as I am right now. I said, "Well, not personally, but all I have to do is log onto this website, and there's a whole bunch of friends that are going through a lot more than me." Shelly, you are one of them, along with Fay, and some others whose names I can't think of right now. It just seems like you and some of the others just keep getting hit and hit again. I like what Heather said in her post. I'm asking God tonight to please do something to stop this bombardment and intervene just like He did for Job. If this keeps up, I just bet you are going to earn yourself a seat at the dinner table with Job himself. If anyone reading this hasn't read the story of Job, it is an OUTSTANDING Bible story and will really hold your interst from beginning to end, especially in one of the easier-to-understand Bibles, i.e., Living Bible, etc. Shelly - - just knock the crap out of that puny little devil that is trying to pull you down!! SMACK HIM! KICK HIM! SLAP HIM! BELT HIM! and KNOCK HIM ON HIS A**! God loves you Peggy

I would like to just take what TAnn said it copy it and paste it here, but I guess that would be kind of tacky huh? Mo, you ARE an inspiration to all of us and your posts just ooze your energy right through cyperspace, and your love of the Lord is infectious. You are a darling, wonderful person. Have a great time!!! Love, Peggy

Dean, I'm so glad you posted. I've been thinking about you all week. I'm very, very glad you got a balance with the pain meds that are helping you through that part. I'm even more happy to hear how much you are enjoying watching your flowers bloom. I just know that is music to God's ears to have his children so enjoy His beautiful creations. I expect He is smiling and all His angels are singing! God love you, Dean, and I'm so glad you're feeling better. Love, Peggy

Ditto Joe! Heather, it is very normal - I'm 21 years older than you, but started getting that degenerative word a long time ago. I've got degenerative this, degenerative that, and degenerative everything else in all my various reports - especially in my back - my back HATES ME!! Not to worry! Love, Peggy

Things are piling up on me. My dad's not doing very well, my sister has driven up from Atlanta and brother is trying to break away from California, other sister moved back to Indy about a week ago. Things are grim, but he's comfortable and was even smiling and in good spirits today. Spent the day applying for Medicaid and trying to keep things moving along the "hopeful and positive" direction, as well as encourage other family members. Anyway, I'm overwhelmed with everything including trying to work, and am in fact trying to work remotely from home as much as possible to try to keep things balanced and out-of-control. I'll be checking in, but probably not much posting. So, Ry, if you have an extra hall pass - don't send it - bring it on down to Indy and stop at the track and watch the race cars fly like the wind. You can charge Becky my 10 bucks! LOLOL! Love, Peggy

Kay and Ray, That is just wonderful news! Good to hear that before I go to bed tonight. I love good news, and right now I know you do!! God bless you, Peggy

Thanks for the thorough update, Jane, and thanks for the PM. You are a very brave and loving sister and Alan is so lucky to have you around. Tell Alan and your mom and everyone that we are all thinking about them and praying for all of them. I am thrilled to hear that Alan is feeling well right now and looking good, too. That is very encouraging. Keep up posted, Jane. Love, Peggy

Ok - you started this, Becky, so now you get my crawdad story. Our son, Mike, was about 5 years old and caught two HUGE crawdads, not the typical nasty little brown ones that are everywhere - they weren't lobster size, but in my opinion they were close to it. Mike & hubby put these darned HUGE crawdads in a dish pan complete with rocks for them to "sun" on, creek water, a little grass and set them on a stool by the patio door. I, being the wise person in the family of course, say: "You need to put a lid on that so they won't get out." Hubby says something like "Give me a break! They can't get out of there." Next morning: 6:00 a.m., little Mike comes shrieking in our bedroom. MOM - DAD!!!! One of my crawdads is loose! I glare at hubby who is sleeping on his stomach and manages to raise one eye and look at me like "Oh sh**!" I WAS SOOOOOOO MAD. That yucky thing got under my kitchen cabinets and made him rip apart the baseboards and get it out! The crawdads were released back into the creek that very same day! Peggy

Shelly, I literally gasped and put my hand over my mouth when I read your post. OH MY GOSH!!! How horrible that must have been, and still must be for your dad. I just can't even imagine. As if he hasn't been through enough already. Geez-o-Pete - I just don't know what else to say. WHAT ABOUT YOU? Oh my dear, Shelly, I pray that you are holding up ok through this. Wow - I'm just speechless. Hang in there, kiddo! Love, Peggy

Jane - WOW! That is just the best news. I bet you are bouncing off the walls with excitement!! God bless you, Peggy