Getting to Know You by RandyW

[RandyW]

What was your first post here about?? Search... and by author and your name to find out.

Mine was about Debs Tarceva progress and how well she was doing!

Take trip down memory lane for me if you will just curious.......

[Patti B]

Randy-

My first post was October 8, 2007 responding to a thread started by kjude re: Alimta info. I had just found this website at the time!!

This was easy for me since I am still kind of a newbie on this website. Some of you go back a way - will be fun to see!!

Hugs to All - Patti B.

[J.C.]

Randy,

here is a copy of it..............

----------------------------

I have been reading some posts and now it is time for me to write.

My husband of 43 years, has NSCLC stage IIIA, non operable since

May 2002, now his battle is reaching the end.

We are alone without family and the friends we have are far away.

At this point there is not much I can say, except that when I read about

all the people with cancer I get sad, mad and powerless. I have breast cancer myself since 1999, so this kind of fight is not new to me, but now

I feel so lost when I see him hurt so much and there is nothing that can

be done for him.

I think that is all I can write tonight, except that I still have hope for

better days for a lot of people with lung cancer.

J.C.

------------------------------------

that was posted October 7th 2003 and Mike

died October 13th, six days later.

Mike, miss and love you.

Jackie

[ginnyde]

This was not my first since I originally used ginnyd as my signon but somehow that signon went bye bye.

The following is the first under ginnyde. I remember this day like it was yesterday, such a sad, sad day. Right before this we thought Earl was in remission and our children had a huge 'in remission' party.

It is 3 years, 3 months, 21 days and 6 hours since Earl died. I think in some ways I am totally surprised about how much I think about him and how much I miss him.

But as you know I am not unhappy. I truly wake up expecting to be happy. So I guess thank you Randy, sometimes this jolt of memory is good.

P.S. I never did get or take the anti anxiety meds and I don't know why I didn't.

Dear Friends,

I don't even know where to begin, my heart is breaking.

Earl was doing so well. Our onc. called Friday afternoon after getting the written results of Earl's last CT scan. It has spread to his liver, multiple tumors.

Dr. says it is untreatable. Said Earl had the taxotere this summer so it looks like he is chemo resistant. And he feels more chemo would be toxic. Also said that RFA is only for 1 tumor and is not curative either. Is recommending Iressa. He says this will not extend his life. So what does it do? The web sight doesn't say either.

Earl's mantra right now - we will live our normal lives. I have just asked our dr. for an anxiety med since I am one eyelash away from tears all the time.

We meet with the onc on thursday. Our two daughters are going with us, thank God.

Any prayers and information would be sincerely appreciated.

I have told the onc. that we do not want time limits. Let there be some room for hope.

[Welthy]

Mine was in response to a "calling out all lurkers" post. I was a lurker for a whole year before I ever posted.

Long time lurker - new member - first post

April 2, 2006

Hello all and thanks for this site, as it has been a blessing to follow stories, treatments, etc. for the past year. My husband is the survivor. I have gained a lot of strength and hope by reviewing so many of your courageous stories & profiles. I pass information along to my husband and it buoys up his spirits. He is one heckuva fighter and I see he is in good company among the ranks of lung cancer survivors.

Welthy

[patut]

It's too painful for me to go see my very first post.

It will be three years on December 19th that I lost my Tim. To review it is not something I wish to do.

However, I leave the history here to try and help others who may be struggling as we did. Perhaps others will be helped when a search is done for certain information.

I am grateful for this site, especially this time of the year. There is a feeling of closeness and kindness here. My best to all members.

Cyndy

[RandyW]

I do so very much understand Cyndi. I was feeling kinda down when I thought of this after looking at some of my first posts specifically the first 5 The fifth one was the VERY VERY hardest to read for me. Will be 2 years Jan 22 aqnd Sending Big hugs for you and your loved ones (((((((((()))))))))))))))

[Ry]

My first post was on the old board. By the time I posted on this board, John had been diagnosed 7 months. This is the note about it in the "My Story" forum:

Shortly after his diagnosis I got on the Internet searching for information and I ended up here (but it was the old board then). I posted a question on vena cava syndrome and Judy B answered me. She told me her story and told me I had to fight and see if I could get them to operate. She was the first person to give me hope. I was shell shocked, she woke me up, got me moving. She is the reason I pushed for a 2nd opinion on surgery. Someone gave us all the Bernie Siegel books on tape and we listened to them everywhere we went. They were so calming and hopeful. John started using the visualization techniques during treatment...

[Muriel]

My first post was about 2 mo. after my first surgery. I was looking for information re: adjuvant chemo. (This was in 2003). Interestingly, the advice was similar to that given Bruce u a week or so ago.

. . .The surgeon is delighted that he removed all the cancer and considers me to be "cancer free." He referred me back to the pulmonary specialist who suggested two options: yearly CT scans or a referral to an oncologist. I saw the oncologist yesterday, will have blood work done tomorrow, another CT scan next week and then we go back to discuss adjuvant chemo. It seems as tho. I'm in a situation where there are no clear indicators as to the value of chemo or the risk of not having chemo. I'd like to hear other IA or IB folks talk about why they did or did not choose to have chemo. . .

Muriel

[Nova]

I'm pretty sure this was my first post. I remember being terrified and still in shock at Harry's diagnosis, even though it had been a couple of months. I also remember feeling such a relief to have found this place. I felt I had stumbled across a whole "room full" of people that understood what we were going thru. (I still feel that way!)

"My name is Nova, and we live in Florida.

My husband was Dx'd with SCLC in January.(limited, but not only "inside" his left lung, it's pressing into his ribs on the outside, and is wrapped around the bottom of his heart also... has some nearby lymph nodes affected too).

He's just finished up his third round of chemo today, and has three more to go. (We made it thru the "halfway" mark!)

He started radiation a few days ago. (Twice a day, 5 days a week, for 3 weeks).

The first post I read here, was from a fellow named Don.. it gave me great hope, to say the least! Wow! What a fantastic outlook!

The second post I read, was from "Loretta", stating that although her husband was still with her, she missed him. It made me cry....

I truly thought I was the only one feeling that way... I've watched my hubby lose 30+ pounds, watched his beautiful, head full of blonde hair fall out in clumps, and watched his normally sparkly, huge blue eyes, get so lifeless and dull, that I almost can't recognize him anymore.

I've listened to him snap at me in angry tones, over things I have no control over, and Yeah, I too, want my old life back!

All I can say, is thank you for being here, and thank the Lord I found this place!

Please know that I'll be keeping you all in my thoughts and prayers, and please do the same for my husband.

It's nice to "meet" you all,

Nova"

_________________

[shineladysue]

Seems so long ago, Randy, but here is my first post..

Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2004 7:50 pm Post subject: Thanks for having me!!

Hello everyone,

My husband is the one diagnosed with cancer , but I truly feel that we are both victims and it is "our battle". Yes, "battle", we will continue to fight it with mega doses of prayer, positive thoughts and every positive resource available to us. His battle began in April of 2001 with losing his right lung and is recurrent now , as of January 2004 diagnosis. It came back in the stump to the right lung, the lymph nodes and spread to the adrenal gland on the left side.

I was referred here by Tess, who is a member of this group. Thank you Tess for reaching out and sharing your kind heart, your bravery and this group of compassionate people with us. She and I also belong to whyquit.com which is a smoking cessation site that is second to none.

I am not sure what to say at this point, as I am the newbie here, but I can relate to your stories and my heart goes out to all of you. I look forward to sharing all the emotions, challenges, and results of our efforts with all of you.

God Bless you all!!! Sue

[Don M]

Forum: INTRODUCE YOURSELF! Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2003 1:25 pm Subject: New here and to lung cancer

Ihave never joined a forum before and so will have to stumble around until I get the hang of the mechanics. I am about to have an upper left lobectomy. Does anyone know about video assisted lobectomy? Is it being done anywhere? My pulmonolgist says that video assisted techniques won't work for a lobectomy but i have seen some studys discussed on line.

I guess I was into gathering information

Don M

[Maryanne]

It was Jan 8th 2005...

Now a big problem which we did not know at the time was his tyroid... that was the reason for his slow recovery,his demeaner being non responsive and all his weitht loss. Of course we did no know this at the time of my post. When they fixed his thyroid it was like a veil was lifted and he joined the living.

Here is my first post... Its kinda long.

The very first person who welcomed me was our Andrea..

Hi

I am Maryanne. My husband, was dx. on 10/18. He was stage 1B (tumor was big) but he had no signs.

He had hurt his back and we went to our primary doctor to see if he needed X Rays. Since we were both overdue with physicals, we decided set up the blood work while we were there. My husband who is a smoker, asked for a chest X ray. Like, I said he had no signs, in fact he really felt great. Just wanted an Xray because of the smoking....

The X ray showed a mass, then a CT and Pet was followed. It was big about 7ccm. His Pulmanary Doctor did a bronch. which showed up negative. But he did mention that the Broch. tube may not have got the tissues that he wanted as it was too big for that area. So that came out negative. So they followed up with a needle biospy which showed cancer.

He has a great team of Doctors. They work together as a team and have meetings on Wed. afternoon to discuss cases.

At first the surgeon thought he would have to take the whole lung. But fortunately. it tuned out to be just the upper left lobe. The operation took close to 7 hours, as it was lying on top of this aorta. They were not sure it if was attached to the aorta or on top of it. The surgeon had wait for the pathologist to tell them it was not attached. (whew.....)

He had to call in another surgeon and they both decided he could remove it. So it was done extremely slow and careful. They also took 2 biospys of his lymph nodes.

That was stressful, waiting for the results of that. That took about a week and a half. But that came out negative. So apparantely they got it all. I say apparently, because you never know with cancer.

He is going to have Chemo. as a preventive measure.

He has been home now 2 weeks and company has finally dwindled However, he is still hurting and still has trouble breathing. He is basisclly a very motivated person especially when people are around. But by ourselves lately, he seems to get depressed at times and hates the hurt and just wants it to do away. He lost about 15 lbs from not eating too much.

I keep telling him everything he is feeling is normal and how lucky he was to catch it in such an early stage.

He knows that, but it still frustrated and hurting. Now when I say hurting, I mean he is much better than he was when he first came home. He can cough now without too much pain. But it still hurts.

My other concern is, I hope he is not getting addicted to percocets. He has the least dosage, and was taking 2 every 4 hours but now he is down to 1, but sometimes takes it 3 hours because of the pain.

I just don't want him to get into any kind of funk... depression wise. He does computer work at home and has not touched it since he has been home. Is that normal? Is it just too soon? Is it the meds?

Iam afraid that when he goes on Chemo, he wont be able to handle the nausea.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks so much and bless you all!!

Maryanne

[bunny]

I remember mine so well, more for the first response I got...

I was out of my head with fear and questions, and Patkid told me to 'come in and rest a spell'.

it was like coming home.