DianeR

Beth, GREAT news. I am so happy for you and Bill. Hope you have a great time in Key West. Diane

Barbara, I am so sorry to hear the loss of your dad. My thoughts are with you and your family. Take care. DianeR

Margaret, I am so very sorry. My thoughts are with you and your family. DianeR

Cathy, This is great news. Hope you get into the trial and it does the trick! Diane R

TAnn, Wow...what a wonderful message he wrote. You know he really loves you when he puts it up as an away message for his friends to see! I can't image how hard it must be for a teenager watching a parent fight this disease. I was 48 years old when my dad was dx and struggled going to his appointments...not because I didn't care or love him. It was because I did care and loved him so much. It just tore me apart to see someone I loved so dearly have to go through so much. I can tell by what your son wrote that he can't go to your appointments, not because he is to involved in himself, but because he loves his mom so much! You are so lucky to have a son so caring and he is so very lucky to have a mom like you. DianeR

Ry, Great news! Always love to read a post with the word "STABLE" in the sentence. Hope the Tarceva works as well or even better than the Iressa. DianeR

Sharon, What a great picture. I too treasure those last pictures I have that were taken with my dad. We are so lucky to have pictures to go with all the memories of our special dads! Take care. DianeR

Kim, I am glad your dad is doing better. I hope he can soon remember the happy memories of your mom which will bring smiles to his face. Love the picture of you and your mom. Pictures like those will be treasures forever. Take care. DianeR

Rosegarden, I am so very sorry for your loss. DianeR

I am so sorry to hear about your father. My dad passed away in September, so I know all to well what it is like to lose your dad that you love so much. My thoughts are with you. DianeR

Jim, What great news! Hope life just keeps getting better for you. DianeR

Sharyn, I have read over your post many times and I tear up every time I read it. I am not sure you can go through this journey with someone you love so dearly and not second guess the decisions you make. I too lost my dad a few months earlier, on September 19, 2004. I watched him slip away from us in just 8 months and it was heartbreaking. I tried my best to research, take care of him, get him to all his appointments and scans, take care of his yard, spend as much time as possible with him and still take care of my family and home. He was always so thankful and grateful to me and always told the doctors he couldn't have gotten through everything he had without me. Even knowing I did everything in my power to keep him alive and my dad knew I tried with all my heart... I still find many times when I start questioning why I didn't push for a different chemo sooner, or why didn't I make them try Iressa, etc., etc. I think what I am trying to say is it is hard not to question your decisions when you lose someone you loved so much to this horrible disease. Deep down I know there was nothing I could have done to change the outcome for my dad. Nothing ever seemed to work in his favor. I think you did everything in your power to help your dad and he knew it!!! You can tell the love you had for him in your post. Take care Sharyn. DianeR

Lisa, I am so sorry to hear about your mom. I hope the antibiotics clear everything up and she is her young vital self again. My thoughts are with you. Diane

Angie, I am so sorry to hear about the progression of the cancer. I know all to well, how devastating it is to hear news like this about your dad. You seem to be a very upbeat and hopeful person and that is exactly what your dad needs right now. It also sounds as though you have a great group of doctors and they are willing to keep fighting. My thoughts are with you and your family. I wish you great success on the treatments to follow. Now go attack the fire and enjoy those lunches with your dad! DianeR

Joni, I am so sorry to hear the loss of your husband. He sounds like he was a wonderful man. Hold on to all the great memories because they are so precious. My heartfelt sympathy goes out to you and your family. DianeR

Don, I am so happy Lucie is tolerating the chemo well. I hope you get great news with the PET scan next week. It is nice she has a couple of weeks off chemo so she can enjoy her Thanksgiving with family! Wish you both a wonderful holiday. Keep on amazing us Lucie! DianeR

MJ, I am so sorry for the loss of your mom. I know all to well about losing a parent that is your best friend. I just lost my dad, who I adored, in September. What keeps me going is all the wonderful memories I have of him. It's sounds like you have those wonderful memories of your mom. My prayers and thoughts are with your family. DianeR

Happy Birthday Tami! Your birthday is a special day and you should celebrate! You don't have to spend lots of money to enjoy the day but you do deserve to be happy on your birthday. Hope the day was better then you anticipated. HAPPY BIRTHDAY and I wish you many many more. DianeR

Cathy, I truely believe your dad heard you and is watching over you. My dad just passed away in September and I kept thinking I just want a sign to know that he is alright now. I kept trying to think of a way he could show me he was alright. One night I was outside walking the dog and I said out loud "Daddy if you are alright let me see a Blue Bird in my yard". I know this sounds strange, but we use to see a few Blue Birds here and there and I haven't seen one for the last couple of years in my yard, so I thought this was a good request. I kept looking over the next few days and didn't see a blue bird. I soon forgot about my request. One afternoon I came home from the grocery store and I was walking into my house and I saw my Blue Bird and then another, and another, and then another! I saw at least 8 Blue Birds in my yard. I have lived here 20 years and have never seen more then 2 Blue Birds together in my yard at one time. All I could do was smile. I knew if there was any way possible for my dad to give me a sign he would and he did! He made sure I didn't miss my sign! I have not seen a Blue Bird since that day. Thanks DAD now maybe I'll be alright too! I agree these happenings are not coincidental. DianeR

Paddy, I am so sorry for your loss but what a wonderful tribute you and your family gave to David. It sounded like it was a beautiful "Celebration of Life". DianeR

My sweet dad passed away at home the evening of Sept. 19, 2004. He fought the beast to the bitter end but was unable to beat it. My mom, both of my sisters, my husband and me were all with him at the end. He definitely knew he was loved so very much. We had a beautiful "Celebration of Life" for my dad. I stayed busy working on the service trying to make it perfect. There was lots of pictures, my kids wrote beautiful eulogies that were framed and displayed and my dad's golf clubs, golf shoes and golf hat were displayed. He loved to play golf! I was very pleased with the memorial service and I think he would have liked it very much. Many family and friends attended and got up and spoke so kindly of this man. Everyone loved my dad. If you met him you couldn't help but love him. He was this tall handsome man with a wonderful southern accent (my kids loved his accent). He was a kind, gentle, generous man with the GREATEST sense of humor! Now it has been almost 2 months since he passed away and I have such a void in my life. Nothing seems the same now. It is a strange feeling and I don't like it. I miss him so much and have a very hard time thinking about the holidays without him. He loved Thanksgiving and Christmas. My parents only lived an hour away but would always come and stay with us about 4 days around Thanksgiving and a week at Christmas. He loved being around all the family. He was such a family guy. He would always bring the turkey and all kinds of goodies for Thanksgiving. He would start talking about that turkey first thing in the morning and couldn't wait to eat Thanksgiving dinner. He was so much fun to be around. Christmas was better yet. As my kids became teenagers and stopped waking up for Santa before the crack of dawn, we all thought we would finally be able to sleep in later on Christmas! WRONG...Dad would get up and start waking the kids and everyone up telling them Santa has been there and it was time to get up and open their presents. He was always the biggest kid and we all loved it! I know my kids will struggle with the holidays without their "Pop". This will be the first Christmas in my life (48 yrs.) not spent with him. He will surely be missed by all, but I know I will wake up at the crack of dawn on Christmas remembering and missing my sweet dad! DianeR

As of today my dad is in hospice care. He put up a great battle with this beast and I admire him more than ever for the fight he gave it! I was one who did not post often, but still got so much support from this website. It gave me much information and hope. I could not have made it through the last 8 months without that HOPE! I want to thank Katie & Rick because I am sure there are many others, like myself, who you are unaware of all the help this site gives to us. My dad was told on Thursday that there wasn't much more that could be done. He didn't have much success with either chemo and the cancer continued to progress. The chemo was doing more harm then good to him. I was devastated by this news (even though I knew it was coming). I got all the info on hospice and when I walked out in the hall of the Dr.'s office there was my dad smiling and talking to a little girl (about 2 yrs. old) tellling her how pretty she looked in her outfit and bringing a smile to the girl's face even when he was suffering so much. That's just the great person he is and one more wonderful memory of my dad I get to add to the million others I already have of him!!! I feel like the luckiest person in the world to be able to call this man "MY DAD". He is one very special person who this beast will never steal from me. He will always live on in my heart and memories. I LOVE YOU DADDY! DianeR

Jamie, Always love to hear great news! I am sooooo happy for you and your dad. It sure sounds like he will be able to meet his goal of seeing the Chicago Bears in training camp! Wishing him all the best. Diane

Sharyn, Prayer being said for your dad. I know exactly how your feel. I worry about my dear dad every minute of everyday. I hope and pray your dad gets a good report. Take care Sharyn. Diane

T-Bone, glad to hear you were able to see the GREAT Fireworks display! Hope you get your pain under control real soon and are able to enjoy a FULL day fun. Take care. Diane