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Luann and Mom


lulu

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Hi Everyone, Thank you so much for all of your support,I can't begin to tell you how much it has meant to me. It really makes a bad situation a little more tolerable when you have someone to support you and listen to your fears. Mom had a DR visit today and he is going to change Taxol to taxotere because of the severe neuropathy in her feet. He also started her on Lyrica. I looked at her chart and noticed that chemo was for pallative treatment and not curative. Is Stage iv non small cell always a death sentence? Also I was wondering do they ever restage a stage iv to a lesser stage? Mom feels great except for the neuropathy, it is hard to believe that this disease may kill her. I am having a hard time keeping hope but I will never let mom know this. She is hopeful and thinks that the chemo will cure her of this beast. I don't know what I will do if I lose her as I said she is my best friend. Thank you all again from the bottom of my heart. I look foreward to all of your posts.

Luann

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Hi Luann

I hope the Lyrica will help her neuropathy. Even if her cancer cannot be cured, it may be able to be kept under control so she has many years left. We have a member (dadstimeon) diagnosed stage 4 in 02 and he just posted that he is in remission. So there is hope, just reach down inside and find it. I hope the taxotere works for your mom. My husband found that drinking lots of water with the taxotere helped with the body aches. Good luck to you both.

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Luann,

My husband dx 1-31-06 with stage iv large cell lung cancer and 12 brain mets. He is on steroids now.

My husband is doing pretty good at the moment and it's hard to believe he is dying. I know what the doctors tell me but I just can't believe it.

He goes today for a brain mri to see if whole brain radiation helped. Won't know the results until Tuesday morning.

This is a great support group and lots of information here.

Hang in there.

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Hi Luann, Welcome and glad you found us. Your mother has a great attitude and the right attitude! Stage IV is not a death sentence, it's not terminal. One can be living with lung cancer and still have a life and be around for many many years. There are many here who have given us hope, beaten the odds and a reason to never never never give up. Take it one day and one step at a time. Stay positive and focused. Live life to the fullest. It's semantics and how one looks at things. Hope this helps. Prayers fro the best. Rich

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Hi, Luann! In fact, we all have a death sentence -- we just don't know when or how. Stage IV people can live a short time or a long time, but the chances are that eventually the lc will prevail. That is just reality. Having said that, my wife "should" have died from lc in less than a year from diagnosis, and she is now 3 1/2 years out and still going. She is not cured, but she is living a good life. We accept that. Hang in there. You have plenty of support here. Don

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Don't give up hope.. A positive attitude and a spirit of hope are sometimes the best meds there are. I know.. I had Keith and he outlived his doctors predictions by 11 years.

I hope the new meds work.. I am on Lyrica for my Fibromyalgia. I have heard that for some people it gives them energy, others it makes them sleepy.. LOL I am not sure what it makes me..

This is a wonderful group with many caring people, stay in touch. We are here for you when you need to rejoice, or scream, or cry, or even just sit silently and read.

Hang in there.

Melanie

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Hi -

Welcome. I am sorry that you have to be here...but I am so glad you found us. Stage IV means the cancer can't be cured, yet that doesn't mean that you can't live with it. Accept the diagnosis, ignore the statistics and keep a flexible game plan (which it sounds like you are doing!)

We are all here for you!

holly

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Welcome Luann,

My husband had taxotere and tolerated it pretty well. I hope your mother has few to no side effects and it works wonders for her.

With staging, they always consider any treatment for Stage IV to be pallative because they feel IV is incurable. But that doesn't mean it can't be treated as a chronic long term illness. My husband too was diagnosed as a stage IV back in March 2003. Original estimates said 9 months. Well, to Hell with that, its been 3 years and still going.

All we need is just enough treatment to buy us more time to find the one that works, or until they find that cure.

Also, there have been cases where someone is staged as IV, but then restaged to lesser stages. It all depends on the extent of your mother's metastic disease. If she is stage IV because she has a primary lung tumor, and possibly another tumor in another organ or a bone. If she does chemo or radiation that knocks out all of the secondary tumor she may be restaged and surgery may become an option and a cure could all of a sudden be a new term in her doctor's chart. However, if she has wide spread metastatic disease the chances of restaging are slim, but that still doesn't mean that remission can't be acheived and a long life full of love happiness and good times still be lived.

I will keep you both in my prayers

Carleen

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  • 2 weeks later...

I can only say, that stage 4 is NOT a death sentence, at all! The testimonies here, give creedence, to that fact! I plan on having my mom here, for quite some time, and am also praying daily! Yes, we all are going to die, but we don't know when....I am getting to a place, where I am accepting of God's decision (whatever the final outcome) rather than blaming Him. I want my mom to live, on earth, as long as possible, but I am also preparing myself, for the day (hopefully MUCHO years from now), that she may pass....In other words, I am hoping for the best, preparing for the worst (sounds lame, but gets me through the day)....Hope this helps!

Many hugs,

Jodi

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As you have read from many posts here, LC is not necessarily a death sentence, even with stage IV. Do not listen to stastictics as there are so many that have beaten that odds and has added years to their lives some still going strong!

Just keep the faith, keep a positive additude and know that anything is possible.

Maryanne

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