stand4hope

Cindi, That's a great statement, but that philosophy is true for all men great and small and doesn't just apply to a doctor/patient relationship. In a perfect world, huh? People have stories similar to those of Elaine, Cat, Di, and many others in all professions. I understand that it's a huge problem when we're talking about our lives, but nevertheless, humans are humans and I'm afraid it's going to happen no matter what. Please don't misunderstand this post. I'm as sympathetic to this problem as everyone else. I just think it might help to get it in the perspective that there are thoughtless people in ALL professions and ALL walks of life. The good news is there are just the opposite (thoughtful, kind and caring people) in ALL professions and ALL walks of life. I had a similar put-down from an ear specialist a few years ago. It's a long story, but I was having some head problems and had been to a couple of neurologists. This el-creepo jerk put me down, was condescending and an absolute creep. Started off with, "Well, you've been to all these hot-shot specialists, neurologists and all this. You've got a simple case of tinitus plain and simple." He said this with disgust toward me. You would have had to have seen and heard the attitude to pick up the tone. AND he said all this before he ever got his fat a** out of the chair and even looked in my ears. And he was fat. I left that office in tears. So I do understand the attitude. I LOVED Teresa's post. Love to all, Peggy

Thank you, Karen. Tell Margaret we all said to get well soon and get back here and talk to us as soon as possible. I miss seeing her beautiful face and her gorgeous dog. Love, Peggy

Hi Sandra and WELCOME! I see this post has been up here for a few days, but I guess I missed it. I'm sorry to hear you have to fight this fight again, but you will find there are many survivors on here who have fought it two times and more and they're still here!! My husband had stereotactic radiosurgery (Novalis) to 6 brains mets, and might be getting it again for 2 more. We won't know until tomorrow. I think CyberKnife is similar. Just wanted to say hello and hope you find this site as helpful as I have. Love, Peggy

Oh, Andrea. What a horrible thing to happen, especially at this time of year. I am so sorry. Please extend my condolences to your friend's family. You are dear lady to be so supportive. Love, Peggy

Oh my goodness, what a beautiful picture. Your little Faith is just adorable. Merry Christmas to the Chapmans!! Love, Peggy

Oh, Cyndy, I am so sorry to read this post. This happened so fast. You were so brave to write such beautiful words. May God hold you close. Love, Peggy

I see you online. You can't hide. Come out, come out and wherever you are and say hello! MERRY CHRISTMAS, JANE!!! Love, Peggy

Thank you, Bruce. I have never seen that before. Merry Christmas to you, too. Love, Peggy

Erin, My husband's name is top secret. LOL! I promised him I wouldn't use his name on the internet. He is really doing very well, especially considering his advanced disease. He has two new brain mets we have to deal with, but other than that, he's doing great. Working full time and in good spirits. I posted an update on Friday. Here's the link: http://www.lchelp.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=13031 He currently isn't taking anything else besides Iressa, but he is receiving Zometa every 4 weeks for his bones. Zometa doesn't fight the cancer, but it increases the bones ability to prevent the cancer from affecting them. He receives the Zometa via i.v. It takes less than 30 minutes and there are no side effects. Wow! You really educated me on the Trisomy. We were told there were three syndromes, one was Downs, one was Trisomy, and I can't remember the name of the third one. We were told that what John had was the most rare and babies usually didn't survive. We, too, had genetic testing done and I honestly can't remember what we were told. I don't remember what year it was done, but it would have been before John was born, so I'm guessing it was 28-30 years ago. I can't even remember what I had for dinner yesterday, so it's no surprise that I can't remember the genetic testing results. LOL! Please keep us posted on how your mom is doing, and have a Very Merry Christmas! Love, Peggy

Golly, Angie, it just never ends does it? I just wanted to mention that I don't think they can or will give chemo while someone is receiving WBR. I guess I would never say never, but I know there are reasons why they don't. I know that even people on here have had to stop or delay their chemo, Iressa, etc. while they got WBR. I also know that SCLC is fast-growing, so the need for chemo is also great. Maybe you should ask about it on Ask the Experts. Big prayers for you and all your family. Love, Peggy

Erin, I was amazed to read your post about your miscarriages and your Trisomy baby. I am very sorry for all of your losses, but had to share this with you. I, too, gave birth to a Trisomy baby boy that only lived for a short time after birth. This was in 1982. I also had 6 miscarriages before John was born after years of infertility studies, fertility drugs, etc. At the time I became pregnant with John, we had already adopted our son, Mike, who was 6 years old then. We were shocked and excited to have this happen. It was a horrible pregnancy, though, and I was deathly ill and hospitalized for 2 months prior to his birth. I was too ill afterward to even attend his funeral. Trisomy babies are very, very rare, and I was stunned to read your post. I have never known or talked to anyone else that had a Trisomy baby. We were told that since it's genetic-related that there was a good chance that all of the previous miscarriages were probably Trisomy also. John tried to abort at 6 months, but we fought like crazy to keep him with Yutopar (sp?). The fight for the next 2+ months got worse every day and because I was having convulsions they had to take him by C-section four weeks early. Unfortunately, he had so many anomalies that he couldn't have survived under any circumstance. If you want to talk about this at all, send me a PM so we don't get off-topic with your original post or the purpose of this site, but I would be interested in hearing more of your story. Love, Peggy

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! There were 2 more questions in my second post, and if you have time, can you answer them? Thanks again for your encouraging words. We are doing ok - ready to fight again and do what needs to be done. My husband is the tower of strength in this family. God bless you and Merry Christmas! Peggy

Ginny, You are such a wonderful person! I admire you so much - I don't think you will ever know how much. When I read your post, and others on here who have posted similar things, I am in awe that even though you have such despair when you are alone, that you are still able to be strong and vibrant when you are with other family and friends. Of course, I can't help but project the possibility of me having to walk the same road some day. I generally just don't let my mind go there because I can't handle it, but when I read your posts, and others, I know that if I ever have to do this, that I can, and I will. It's because of people like you that I have courage to face the potential future. I love you, Ginny, and I admire you. May God bless you with joy as the days, weeks and months pass. Love, Peggy

Joanie, This is very encouraging for us to hear, and I am very happy for you. Have a Very Merry Christmas. Love, Peggy

In 1969 I was 20, married, hubby was in Vietnam, I lived with my in-laws during that year, I was also skinny, and I bleached my hair blonde! I had my mother-in-law take sexy pictures of me (fully clothed, but in bathing suits, etc.) and sent them to hubby to torture him! Hubby used to send me romantic and dirty talk letters. LOL! Those were REALLY the good old days. Peggy

I had dental work on Monday. Our dentist retired and I already told him this, so I told the new dentist: "The ONLY good thing about coming here is that I don't have to take off my clothes." Peggy

Good morning, Di! I haven't posted on any of your PCI threads, but want you to know that I have read and enjoyed reading every one of them. I'm sure they have been helpful to others going through the treatments. I hope you have a wonderful time at your Christmas party because you deserve it. You have the BEST attitude! Love, Peggy

Yikes! Angie, this is just too much. I am so sorry. Hang in there, honey. I'm familiar with your faith - go there! And I will, too, just for you! Love, Peggy

Beth, You poor thing! My goodness, that just sounds horrible. Have you ever been given any explanation as to why your body responds so negatively to so many drugs? Do you have a lot of other allergies? You don't really have to answer those questions, but I'm just overwhelmed at the horrible responses you keep having and my heart is breaking for you. I'm glad you get to stop it for a while and am hopeful that you will get some relief QUICKLY!!!! I'm sorry your mom was worried about how you would look for Christmas. I know you made a joke about it, but I expect that was an owie! All my love, Peggy

Rick, I think the new Ask the Experts link is great. I've checked it out almost every day to see if there is anything new there. I thank you for creating this helpful link for us. I am just wondering why Dr. Joe (oncodoc), Teresa and John's bios aren't in the list. They have been our rock-solid experts here and helped many of us with our questions, and been very dependable. I've come to greatly trust their responses and am sure hoping they are going to continue to be BIG contributors to the new forum. Dr. Woodward is another one who, although he doesn't post often, has been helpful in the past. Thanks again. Love, Peggy

Teresa posted info about this also in the NSCL forum. I responded there, and am just copying and pasting my response here: I guess I'm not concerned, unless they take it off the market. After his second-line chemo (or is it 4th-line since he had 4 drugs???), my husband had new growth. Except for the new brain results we got today, Iressa has kept him stable. I have faith in the product, and I don't see anything about it being harmful, so as long as it's keeping him stable, and they DON'T take it off the market, I hope he stays on it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it! Huh? We saw his onc today (about 2:15 p.m.) and he didn't say anything about the report, so I assume he hadn't seen it. He did mention Tarceva and/or Alimta as our next possibilities, if needed. We'll wait and see what the oncs say, but I don't see any reason to panic. Love to all, Peggy

I guess I'm not concerned, unless they take it off the market. After his second-line chemo (or is it 4th-line since he had 4 drugs???), my husband had new growth. Except for the new brain results we got today, Iressa has kept him stable. I have faith in the product, and I don't see anything about it being harmful, so as long as it's keeping him stable, and they DON'T take it off the market, I hope he stays on it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it! Huh? We saw his onc today (about 2:15 p.m.) and he didn't say anything about the report, so I assume he hadn't seen it. He did mention Tarceva and/or Alimta as our next possibilities, if needed. We'll wait and see what the oncs say, but I don't see any reason to panic. Love to all, Peggy

Hi Kelly, It sounds like a pretty good plan to me, too. I just hope and pray this treatment plan will get the results you, your dad and all your family desire - NED! Love, Peggy

Dear Angie, I have yet another spin. Your dad is the same age as I am, so I don't know if there's any connection with age and how we might react, but there are several things I know with absolute certainty that I would try to do (if I physically could) if I thought I was going to die anytime soon. I would do exactly the same type of things that your dad is wanting to do and that Jean44's dad did. I would dilligently do everything I could possibly do to get everything in order before I died so that my family wouldn't have to worry about anything after I died. I would also be adamant that these things get done NOW. Assuming I was well enough to do these things, I would see to it that my funeral arrangements were made. I would have all our paperwork in order with clear instructions about what to do with it, I would clean my house spic and span, clean out all my drawers, closets and cabinets, and then I would relax and enjoy whatever time I had left. I know that no one in my family would resent having to clean up my messes if I left them behind, but I know that I would lay on my death bed fretting over the fact that I hadn't cleaned the toilet for over a week, or worrying that I wrote checks that weren't in the register yet and nobody would know. I just know I would stress about these things. People can come on here and tell me that life is too short to worry about some things, and they are right, but that doesn't change the fact that I still worry about them. LOL! Now, I don't know if that helps you one diddly darn, but if there is any chance that your dad is like me (always wanting to make things easier for everybody else), at least this might help you to understand why he wants to get this done now. As far as how he doesn't seem to want to fight and is convinced he won't make it through January, I think Becky gave you an outstanding perspective. Just try as hard as you can to compromise with him to make you both happy. I think the rest will just have to be decided by your heart. All my love, hugs, prayers, kisses, tears, and caring are coming your way! Love, Peggy

Well, phooey. I had 2 more questions: The brain MRI says "There is increased abnormal signal in the white matter probably due to radiation." The radiation (WBR & Novalis) was more than a year ago. What does this mean? The CT says "The urinary bladder fills with contrast on the delayed images." Is this a good thing? Thanks! Love, Peggy