Janet B Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 Where has everyone been? Hope you are all off having fun and enjoying the slooow arrival of spring! I have been on a cancer whirlwind. Went to Boston on Monday to sign the clinical trial consent and set up all my pretrial testing, only to come home and get a call that the trial at my cancer center had an opening for me. Big decisions to be made, soul searching, pros and cons lists, multiple emails. I am 99% sure I am going to go ahead and do the trial at Yale instead of Boston. They are very similar, both "second generation Tarceva", so the decision really lies with staying with my oncologist of 6 years and not having to travel back and forth to Boston several times a month. (Of course I am also feeling very bad about backing out of a trial I had assured the Dr. I would be in.). Sometimes with treatment you just have to cross your fingers and say a prayer. Today's big excitement was Barker, my bird, got loose! I must say, the wing clipping the pet store gave him did NOTHING! Boy can my bird fly! I have been keeping his cage open when I am in the room to try to help tame him ( he is still afraid of me getting anywhere closer than about an inch away ). I had recorded him chirping on my iPad, and without thinking, I played it, he totally freaked out and flew out of the cage. he flew all around the downstairs and then disappeared for about an hour. I finally found him behind the curtains in the dining room, but he took off again. After a while he got stuck behind the couch and I managed to grab him. he can bite very very hard by the way! I think we set taming back about a month! the best part was Sean, my Golden Retriever, never even got up. He just watched from his bed as if birds fly about our house all the time. barker is sleeping now, he had a big day! Off to clean - my best friend of 43 years is coming for the weekend! I haven't seen her in 5 years as she lives in California. Have a wonderful day! Janet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dianew Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 Sounds like you've had quite a day!! Guess that answered my question. I was going to ask you if you kept their wings clipped if they truly could not fly off -- I have heard of people losing parrots that they thought could not fly away. Or perhaps it depends on really keeping up on it? All's well that ends well . . . Two trials to choose from - that's a good dilemma! And isn't it interesting that the one in Yale just had a spot come available - perhaps it was meant to be? I do not regret for one second the time and expense to do the trial in Seattle (an 8 hours drive each way, food, hotel) - but I also can't begin to describe how tiring and expensive the whole thing became as it went on. And for me that was just monthly - I can't imagine having done it any more often than that for any real length of time. All things being equal, distance does matter. I also loved my Seattle oncologist - but that took awhile too and I really missed seeing my local onc. I haven't been around much as I've been sick - again. Seems like most years lately I've been really lucky - so maybe this is just my "catch-up" year. Seems I've been sick since November. Back on the Prednisone. I have a real love/hate relationship with that stuff at the moment. The most frustrating thing is I've been wanting to plan a few things, but I've just gotten so I don't plan anything because I'll have a couple days where I feel really good -- then wham. Makes it hard to plan -- but I'm counting on things improving with warmer weather. Don't wear yourself out too much cleaning the house after the bird adventure - one good thing about old friends is they don't care. Enjoy your visit. I hope everyone else is having a good day and staying well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric byrne Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 Good Evening Everyone, Best wishes Janet for the clinical trial,I really do hope it all goes well for you. Still waiting here in Scotland for spring temps to arrive ,we are still well below the temp levels they should be at this time of the year,apparently its to do with the jet stream being several hundred miles south of the UK from its norm?,well at least our days are rain free. I attended my friend Robert Lowes commemoration service last week,it was not of a traditional Scottish type,church service,then on to the cemetary or cremation service,then on to a reception and meal at a local hostelry,this one was held in a rather posh social club,Roberts family had a private service the previous day,and his ashes were brought to the commemoration service and placed at the top table.A speaker then read out Roberts life story,illustrated by lots of photos on large screens,I had been asked to deliver a eulogy for Robert,so I was quite relieved she did'nt encroach on my speech.The speaker then invited the assembled audience to share any memory they had with Robert,the family then indicated to me give my address from the lecturn,it went down well,Robert's family were so pleased with my speech,saying Robert would have loved to have heard this,well maybe he was listening in from above?. I attended the Stobhill Hospital Lung Cancer Support Group meeting on Wednesday,Sarah,Roberts DIL,also attended ,she brought along with her monies of donations to our group raised at the commemoration service,plus some other funds we had raised bag packing at a large Asda supermarket,Sarah also asked me if I would takeover Roberts website for the group,as she wanted it to continue,its a big ask for me since Robert was so diligent in feeding it with all kinds of interesting material,think he must have been spending 30-40 hours/week on it?,I did say I would make some contribution to its maintenance. Following my recent check up and being weighed,I decided at 16st 2lbs,enough is enough(I used to be most of my life 13st until my dx),so its new eating habits,porridge each morning,non-fat yogurt and strawberries for lunch,evening meal,mainly of various chicken dishes and salmon, cauliflower and broccoli,no red meat,interlaced with oranges or bananas if I feel a wee bit peckish,well so far I have lost about 10lbs,I know this could be beaten if I also gave my friends Whyte and MacKay and Peroni the goodbye,but I am still working on that,I promise,LOL. Bye everyone,enjoy the rest of Thursday,just about to become Friday here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandyW Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 many thanks for being a pioneer in cancer research.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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