stand4hope

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Wow! What a wonderful daughter you are to drive 21 hours to be with your mom for her chemo! My husband has NSCLC, so I don't have much help to offer for SCLC specifically, but wanted to welcome you, Kate, to our wonderful group. Stick around - you'll be glad you did! Love, Peggy

CONGRATULATIONS, CINDY! Two years is fantastic! You go girl! We are only two months away from two years and praying every day that we make it! Love and big hugs! Peggy

Hang in there, girlfriend. Hang in there, Dave! As they say, it ain't over till it's over. I'm right beside you all the way - hearing what you say and feeling what you feel. It hurts. It's frightening. It's hard. Praying for strength for both of you as you face the days ahead, the decisions, the treatments, the emotions, and all the rest. God loves you both, and so do I. Love, Peggy

Hello and WELCOME! Just thought I'd let you know that my husband also had a 7 cm. mass in left lung, lower lobe. They had to start with brain radiation before treating the lung mass because he was having severe headaches form the brain mets, but after that he got radiation to the lung mass and chemo at the same time, and it knocked that lung mass dead to this very day. Please report back to us and let us know what you find out. God bless you, Peggy

Hubby's treatment plan has changed a little. He started having more significant pain in his left hip, so we meet with the radiation oncologist Tuesday morning to start radiation. In the meantime, he has a supply of pain meds to get him through until then. The medical onc and radiation onc are going to consult as to whether to go ahead with Alimta next Thursday or wait until the radiation is finished. Hubby's kind of weak right now, so it might be too much. We'll find out next week, I guess. Love, Peggy

Hi Pat and WELCOME! My husband was diagnosed with 8 brain mets. He had WBR (whole brain radiation) and stereotactic radiosurgery (w/a machine called Novalis). He still has 4 mets left, but the treatments got rid of 4 and shrunk the others by 30%. They stayed that way for well over a year. If he hadn't had the radiation he wouldn't still be here with me. Not only that, he had a very, very good year! I mean a really great year. I don't want you to read it on another post, though, and be surprised, so I do have to tell you that recently he isn't doing so well, but I wish I had the time to tell you how well he has done until very recently. I know the idea of having radiation to the brain sounds really, really scary, but the alternative is a lot more gruesome. I hope he opts for the radiation. Love and hugs, Peggy

Beth, I'm sure hoping the Alimta has worked and you get great scan results. Your posts about your treatments have been very encouraging for me. I hope you get your pain under control real soon - like yesterday! Love, Peggy

Don't have any experience with Alimta yet, but my husband is supposed to start getting it next week. I'm sure hoping it works, and I hope the same for your brother. Love, Peggy

Of course, you have my prayers for your mom. Moms are so special and I think we worry more about them than they do about us. Welllllll, maybe not quite as much, but almost! Love, Peggy

Dear Fay, I just can't stop smiling! Wow! 6 Years! I sure do love you! Love, Peggy

Congratulations, Rich! This is a GREAT milestone. I am so happy for you! Love, Peggy

Ha! Frank, you should tell the doctor there wouldn't even be 15% if all the doctors had her attitude. Holy crap! Keep kicking that cancer back, Frank. Kick it today, tomorrow and the day after all the way into next year. I'd do some kicking for you, but I'd probably fall on my a** and break something, and then you would have to start praying for me. I will say some kick-cancer's butt prayers for you. I'm glad you've got more options and I will pray that they work! Love, Peggy

Hi Dee, I will go back to my original comment. I think a telephone call would be a waste of time. I also think it would cause hard feelings, with the friends and with your Claire. These people know Claire has cancer and they have elected to disconnect. You and I and all the rest of us think that's cruel, but it's still their prerogative. It doesn't work to try to talk people into helping/visiting, especially if they do it out of guilt rather than desire. It also wouldn't help anybody to make them feel guilty about their lack of attention to Claire. I know you're angry and hurt because Claire is your friend and you don't want to see her abandoned by these people, but it is what it is, and I think a phone call would hurt rather than help. I'm glad you are there for Claire. Good friends are priceless! Love, Peggy

David, I so much wish you didn't have these mets to deal with, but you do, so I'm praying for strength for you and Karen to fight with all your might. Love, Peggy

Hi Bill and WELCOME! I, too, hope it's not lung cancer, but if it is, you have come to the right place for knowledge, support, and even laughter. Let us know what you find out. God bless, Peggy

You got the prayers, girlfriend! When I saw your post, I was afraid you were going to tell us how much worse the pain is. SOOOOOO glad it's "GONE". YAY! YAY! YAY! Love, Peggy

What Margaret (countrygirl97) said - word for word. Good luck and God bless. Love, Peggy

If we all do that, I think we'll be ok. Congratulations on one year, Di! Love, Peggy

Hi Nancy, I was thrilled to see that picture. To go from as bad as he was to be able to dance with his daughter at her wedding is just AMAZING! We have good days and bad days, too. Sat. was a good day for hubby, Sun. & Mon. not so good, but today was good. I guess that's part of it. Just keep talking cruise - cruise - cruise! Love, Peggy

Oh, Beth, don't cry! I, too, know what those days are like, and even though I said don't cry, I know you will - sometimes that's the best thing to do. I'm sure hoping tomorrow will be better. Love, Peggy

Hi Becky - thank you for the post! It's evening now, so I hope we will hear something soon. Praying for good news! Love, Peggy

Gina, I agree with the others. There's certainly no reason why you can't go with the Alimta for now, but I sure don't understand why he would say you wouldn't be eligible for Tarceva. Makes no sense to me. My husband's original dx was with a 7 cm. lung tomor and 8 brain mets, and unknown no. of bone mets. He went through 2 cycles of chemo (4 drugs) and then stabilized on Iressa for about 9 months or so. Tarceva is even stronger than Iressa. I don't know why the doctor wouldn't recommend you try it. Maybe it's time to get a second opinion. Keep us posted. Love, Peggy

Well, I'm going to take a little different approach with this. Yes, I think people are uncomfortable about what to do or say, but a lot of times, a group of friends are only friends because they have the same things in common or do the same things. I'm going to guess that these people are afraid they will be asked to DO something to help. Their relationship with Claire was there only because of the activity and the good times. My guess is that there's no place in this group for a sick person. I know that's not the "see the good in all people approach", and you will probably never know for sure, but that's what I think. You could always call and ask them what's up, but they would never admit that they don't want to get involved, so I think a call would be a waste of time. Just my two cents. Love, Peggy

I think that if you are to receive medical benefits, your employer will ask you to sign a HIPAA authorization allowing their insurance company to get copies of your medical records, or to get records from your insurance company. If there is an option to decline the health benefits, then they shouldn't be able to get your medical records.