stand4hope

He's home safe and sound and he had a great trip. He said he only drove through one 15-minute rain storm, but the weather was perfect the rest of the time. He's on vacation all week, and said he did so well and enjoyed it so much that he might pack up and go somewhere else before the week's over. Peggy

Oh, Donaf, I am so sorry. Remembering you and your brother in my prayers. Love, Peggy

Norme, I'm so sorry this has been so hard on you. I wish I lived closer to you so we could get together once in a while for lunch. I feel like if we were neighbors we would be really good friends. Maybe I can take a short trip to Kentucky next spring (you live in Louisville don't you?) and we can have lunch, or maybe we can meet half way. You are so sweet and I feel so bad that you are in so much pain from losing your Buddy. You two had something special for a very, very long time, and it's just going to take time to recover. Are you involved with any friends or activities? If not, I'm sure you know that would probably be a good thing to do, but you might not feel like it yet. Hang in there, Norme, and you're right - we are your friends and we love you very much. Let me know if I can help. God bless you, Peggy

Beth, I hate mysteries. It would make me crazy not knowing why I had such an unusual reaction to a medicine. Oh, well, at least that's over. My husband had gemzar and navelbine. These drugs were much easier on him that the taxotere/carboplatin. He had a little bit of nausea on the first treatment, but a compazine took care of it quickly. After that, he took one before and after treatment and didn't have a problem. To be fully effective, gemzar has to be administered in less than an hour, or less than 45 min., I forget which. The good news is it's nice for it to be fast, but some people have a problem with it burning going in. My husband did not have that problem. He did have that problem with the navelbine, however. It was given by injection in a slow push rather than iv, and every time he got it, they had a terrible time getting a vein warm enough and wide enough to take it without severe burning. You're not receiving that one, so you don't have to worry about that. I haven't heard many complaints about carboplatin, so hopefully these drugs will be a cake walk for you compared to the others you've had. Is the pain better today? Love, Peggy

Diane, I could have signed my name to your post. Your dad sounds like a cheerful, optimistic, happy person like my dad was. I remember when I had to tell him that there was nothing more they could do, and I got weepy. He made a silly grin at me and gave me the Jackie Gleason punch and made me laugh. He was 76 years old and teased and flirted with the nurses almost to the day of his death. Your last days with him will be the most precious days to you. I hope you get to be involved in his care a lot because it is really a blessing to be able to do it, and you will be so warm inside knowing how much you helped him. Applying a cool cloth to his forehead when he's hot, fluffing his pillow, covering his feet when they get cold with an extra blanket, helping him drink cool water, wiping the spills from his chin, feeding him, combing his hair, filing his fingernails - all of these things will be precious memories. Do as much of these things as you can. You will be glad you did. All my love and prayers, Peggy

Hi Jane, I'm glad you told us what was going on so we wouldn't worry. I sent you an email, did you get it? You take care of yourself and come back when you're ready. Love, Peggy

Kim, We were told "some" of it (chemo) gets through, but not enough to be effective or aggressive enough to destroy the cancer cells. I don't know anything about chemo brain, but maybe enough gets through to make things a little foggy. Peggy

I agree 100% with everything that Fay said. Peggy

Performance Status is something else that I think is helpful in understanding different stages and how they affect different people. Also, I have seen articles that say that Stage IV should be re-classified and broken down further. Performance status also plays a big part in survival. The link below has the three ways that cancer patients are classified in regard to performance. My husband is at the top, or very close, on all three charts, which explains at least one of the reasons why he is doing so well in spite of the extent of his disease. On the flip side, these charts could be a "downer" for some of you that aren't feeling well, so please don't read anything into them that isn't there. I hesitated to post these charts for that reason, but I decided to go ahead since most of us want to know these things and they can be very encouraging for a lot of you. Here's the link: http://www.fda.gov/cder/cancer/perstatframe.htm Love to all, Peggy

I hope she won't mind me posting this, but I just wanted to let you all know that Beth isn't doing very well with the treatments. She's having a lot of pain from head to toe and will see the doctor on Monday. Please remember Beth in your prayers. Thanks, Peggy

400 miles today (Indy to Eastern Tennessee). He did fine. He said he was very tired, but doing ok, and he also said he did better than he thought he would. He called at 5:00 our time, and I called him back at 5:45 and he was already asleep. He said it was worth it, though, because it was a beautiful ride and the weather was perfect. He will bring back a lot of beautiful pictures. He's an amateur photographer and always gets some really awesome shots. Becky, I grinned at what you said. Yep! You're right. It was no different before cancer. I worried then, too. He is a good, defensive and safe driver, wears all the protective gear, etc., but I still worry. Like Frank said, the only thing added this year is I guess I have to admit I was a little afraid he might get down there and have a hard time getting back if it was too much for him. I've never ridden that far myself, but I understand that it's pretty grueling and kind of tough on your body to drive that far on a motorcycle. Anyway, I will be holding my breath until I hear the deep rumble of that very large machine in the driveway. Thank you all for the good wishes. This was so routine before - once a year. Now it just feels like a big deal and I'm glad I've got you guys to share it with. Not only is it a big deal, but I will forever be grateful that he got to take this trip and will be praying there will be another one in the spring. Love to all, Peggy P.S. We're fresh out of wine, Becky, but I'm off to find my oldies tapes and the bubble bath. I've got a lot of both!!

Hi again, Bruce. Please do get some attention for this right away, especially since these symptoms have been coming on for two weeks and it's gotten so much worse in the last 24 hours! It does sound like it could be the flu or some other virus, but viruses can be very serious. We are worried about you. Love, Peggy

Well, my hubby took off for a 3-day motorcycle trip to the Smokies early this morning. I'm really proud of him for doing this, and supported the trip 100%. This is what he loves to do! Some of you will remember that he missed taking this trip last spring because of treatment and he was very depressed about it. I think he was a little hesitant because he isn't 100%, but he is feeling pretty good, has got a lot of his strength back, and decided to go for it. I, of course, am a little worried because I know he's just not as strong as he was before and he gets tired quicker. He is definitely strong enough to take this trip, but I have a feeling he might not drive as many miles in one day as he would have before lc. We'll see. Even though I'm a little worried, I am thrilled that he is not willing to lay down and give up. He continues to work every day and chooses to live a normal life. There are some changes, of course, since his body has been through so much, but if you read his profile, I think you will be as thrilled as I am to see that he is doing so well. ...... I sure will be glad when he's back home, though. Love to all, Peggy

Sorry - I hit submit twice I think.

Angie, My husband had 14 treatments for 8 mets. Two disappeared and the rest shrunk about 30%. He lost his hair on about the 8th treatment, and got a very, very dry scalp. He could turn his head down and rub it and you could see the dry skin flake off. Of course, he wouldn't "put that greasy crap on my head", so it probably could have been a little better if he would have used a heavier lotion. He did get quite fatigued, and he got kind of fuzzy-headed and slow to respond for a little while which scared the dickens out of me, but it gradually got better a few weeks after radiation. By the way, we were told that he couldn't use regular OTC lotions on his scalp during the 14 days (plus weekends) of treatment. They had some special lotion in little tubes they gave him to use if it got dry and itchy that he could use during the 14 days of treatment, but they said the OTC lotions could affect the benefit of the radiation. Let us know how it goes. Peggy

I agree with Katie. I don't know much about SCLC, but I do know that she's right that it is the fast-growing one, so I would push, push, push for an earlier date and get it if you can. Also, if you feel she is so bad that she must have immediate attention, get her to ER. SCLC grows fast, but is very responsive to chemo. Keep us posted. God bless you, Peggy

P.S. Yes, and "kickin' butt" is a-ok with me!

WOW! That's the most incredible story I've heard. She was diagnosed in March or April of this year, right? Stage IV right? Is the primary reduced 90% also? What is Velcade? I'm not familiar with that. My husband has had gemzar and carboplatin, but he sure didn't get results like that. I'd be very interested in knowing more about this, Karen. Are the doctors surprised at such a good response? This is wonderful, and I bet there are others would like to know more, too. I bet you are bouncing off the walls with excitement. God bless you and your mom!! Peggy

If you have stage 3A lung cancer, you could have any of these TNM stages: T1, N2, M0 T 2, N2, M0 T3, N1, M0 T3, N2, M0 If you have stage 3B lung cancer, you could have either of these TNM stages: Any T, N3, M0 T4, any N, M0 Tumors (T) The T stages for lung cancer are: T1 - the tumor is 3cm or less across T2 - the tumor is more than 3cm across or involves the largest airway (the main bronchus) or the tumor has caused a partial collapse of that lung or the tumor has grown into the inner lining of the chest cavity (the visceral pleura) T3 - the tumor has grown into the chest wall, the outer lining of the chest cavity (the mediastinal pleura), the muscle at the bottom of the chest cavity (the diaphragm) or the outer covering of the heart (the pericardium) or the tumor has caused the whole lung to collapse T4 - the tumor has grown into the area between the lungs in the middle of the chest (the mediastinum) or there is fluid around the lung that contains cancer cells (a malignant pleural effusion) Nodes (N) The N stages for lung cancer are: N0 - there is no cancer in any lymph nodes N1 - there is cancer in the lymph nodes nearest the affected lung N2 - there is cancer in lymph nodes in the centre of the chest (mediastinum) but on the same side as the affected lung or there is cancer in lymph nodes that lie just under where the windpipe branches off to each lung N3 - there is cancer in lymph nodes on the opposite side of the chest from the affected lung or in the lymph nodes above either collar bone Metastases (M) The M stages for lung cancer are: M0 - there are no signs of cancer spread to another lobe of the lung or any other part of the body M1 - there is cancer spread to another lobe of the lung or any another part of the body

You're right, Bruce. We also still haven't heard from Carleen, and I put out an APB for Addie the other day and no response. She hasn't posted now for two weeks, and she is a daily poster. I'm worried that she may be having trouble with her treatments. Ry, do you have phone numbers? What do you think about a call to these gals? Peggy

Nah! You're not a jack***. None of us are so pure that we wouldn't have had at least a little glee seeing that. Now, feeling a bit guilty about it later is a good thing, too, though! Peggy

ROFL!!!!!!!!! TeeTaa!!! Poor Bruce. He was trying to be serious you know. Bruce, that's what you get for posting all those jokes and trying to beat the women, something that just can't be done! Anyway, seriously now, and with my grins all wiped off my face: Bruce, if this continues - GO TO THE DOCTOR!! Ok? Love, Peggy

Uh, Laurie - not the flu! Not for three months. I would recommend you do two things: First, call your parents and get help. Second, insist on an earlier appointment. Ok. This is Momma Peggy talking and I'm the boss, so there are no other options. Now, do I hear a "Yes ma'am?" XOXOXO Peggy

Charlotte, I'm so sorry things aren't going well right now. I wish I could think of the perfect thing to say to make you feel better, but I can't. I will ask God to hold you close and give you wisdom and strength as you decide what steps to take next. He will help you to decide. You are in my prayers, Love, Peggy

Renee, Thank you for taking the time to let us know that Scott finally got to come home. I know all of this has had to be extremely difficult and exhausting for you. How are YOU doing? Do you have family or friends nearby so that you have someone to talk to and help you if you need it? You and Scott are most definitely in my prayers. Love, Peggy