lisaRN Posted September 16, 2004 Share Posted September 16, 2004 Hello, i hope i am not offending anyone by initaiting this poll. if i do, i appologize in advance. i don't know whether it is the nurse or the student or the desperate wife part of me that keeps looking for a possible reason or cause of this disease. although we had a very good experience with the many docs we have sought out 2nd opinions....something they said has bothered my son and me since our 2 visits there.... my son is usually active in the question asking dept and asked the docs, how could this happen? ( my husbands type of cancer <> ) anyway, the docs answered him by saying " it is probably just bad luck " not only did my son feel angry that from his perspective they dismissed his need to know but it prevented both of us from understanding the nature of this cancer and thier approach to finding a cure if they do not probe us for a cause.... maybe not everyone thinks about this....but i just cant understand it.... my family faithfully prays and believes in God and i believe that everything happens for a reason... i trust in God that HE knows WHY this happened ....... but what is gnawing at me is the question HOW???? even if this is from smoking or second hand smoke what do these patients have in common that triggers the onset of this disease? and what do the smokers and second hand smokers who remain healthy their entire lives have in common that help them to avoid it? from our onc and all the docs we have sought other opinions from as well as from my own research... i have come up with some possible environmental exposures for us.... i believe they will never find a cure that will treat all unless they can pinpoint causes....i realize that scientists are looking at genetic makeup and why some pepeople are more susceptible as well, but i still wonder about the environmental factors..... i am curious to know what types of things that the cancer patients on this board have in common. As for us, we are suspicious about a few possible causes.... they are the following: 1) the 2 auto body places under our apt window...we've smelled paint and breathed their dust for 6 years...throughout the years i have had a lot more headaches and was dizzy a few times....my son has been seeing a pulmonolgist for a chronic cough for the last 3 years....an i developed a cough/scratchiness a month ago that i cant shake ( i know i am getting a bit paranoid here, it happens occasionally, please excuse me) 2) second hand smoke (my husbands dad smoked when he was young) 3) Radon exposure???? not sure....but we did live in a basement apt for about 3 years when we were first married 17 years ago 4) I-95 is about 200 yards from our apt window also 5) 9/11- when 9/11 occurred, my husband was commuting to new york, everyone at the time thought about all the smoke, dust and debris they were breathing in the city and that fire burned for a very long time.... 6) industrial cooking.... one md asked if he had ever cooked in a restaurant ...and yes he had.... again when we were first married... he cooked using fry-o-lators, charcoal grills etc... all known carcinogens... i guess i could go on and on.... anyway i am, of course, asking this question INFORMALLY i am just curious to see what everyone else has come up with... if i didnt include what you want to say in the poll, please elaborate in a reply..... many thanks and prayers to all.... Lisa [list=] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimblanchard Posted September 16, 2004 Share Posted September 16, 2004 deleting all posts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimblanchard Posted September 16, 2004 Share Posted September 16, 2004 deleting all posts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimblanchard Posted September 16, 2004 Share Posted September 16, 2004 I think just about all of us could put a check in every box or add others, I do not dwell on cudda shouldda. I smoked for 40 years, was it the cause....probably...am I sure ....No. jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elaine Posted September 17, 2004 Share Posted September 17, 2004 Very few things in this life have a simple cause and effect relationship--most things are complex. Thus, it seems with cancer. Not all smokers get it--thus there must be something(s) else at play. Lately, the answer is looking like genetics coupled with whatever outside stimuli--smoking-radon etc. etc. Someone asked me last night if I thought I would have gotten lc if I had not smoked. I doubt it--I am positive smoking had something big to do with it. But who is to know? I lived in houses with radon, I lived with smoking parents. I lived! I don't think the answer is simple. I understand your search and your anger. I have some too--this wasn't supposed to happen at such a young age--or so I thought. Then I found people on here younger than me. At this point I doubt it matters much as to the why, for me, anyway. I don't think it's going to be a known-- I only want it to stop happening to others--so in that regards finding the causes IS crucial--. Thus, I think the Doctor's answer of "bad luck", is just about the one I would agree with most. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrea Posted September 17, 2004 Share Posted September 17, 2004 Well my mom smoked, but stopped 25 years ago. She also lived on Long Island, I heard of a few other nonsmokers passing away from lung cancer, one was a seamstress where we used to shop all the time. Our oncologist also told us "bad luck" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa O Posted September 17, 2004 Share Posted September 17, 2004 Many people do all of the things listed above and don't get lung cancer. No one deserves lung cancer. Many people dont smoke and do get lung cancer. There are types of lung cancer that are not affiliated with smoking. Truly, there are too many factors at play for smokers and nonsmokers alike. My type of cancer has no known cause (non-small cell BAC) but smoking is felt to be unrelated to BAC. It must be unrelated in my case as I have no significant smoking history except for a short time as a student when cigarettes were outlawed everywhere I went anyway. I have no idea why I got this cancer and I have no answers. I try to teach my children about God's plan (my youngest is eight and it may be a bit of a stretch for her to understand when sometimes adults can still feel things seem unfair)! It is important to educate the public that anyone can be a victim of this horrid illness so we can get the funding we need. The division between us as smokers and nonsmokers may sometimes add to the stigma that the public has against victims of lung cancer that the patient must be to BLAME. Like breast cancer, prostate cancer... perhaps there is no one to blame. Perhaps your husband got cancer like one gets cancer. If it were not LUNG cancer, we would most likely not be so hung up on looking for a villain or culprit. Please do not feel that I am being harsh. I truly am not. You are a victim of the media and the culture which has made your son and everyone else look to your husband to find out why he has somehow gotten himself into this mess. Did he smoke, or inhale someone elses fumes, or BBQ too much....?? It just may be that he was living his life just fine and he was striken with cancer. Period. If it were god forbid a woman in your family with breast cancer the issue of blame would NOT be raised. Again, forgive my soapbox. Your husband and anyone else here did not cause their lung cancer. In way too simple terrms- it takes a whole mess of circumstances to ripen a cancer cell and to weaken the body's defenses to it. We can't let people separate us as the people who caused our own cancers -- RIGHT?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Cheryl- Posted September 17, 2004 Share Posted September 17, 2004 Lisa, I wish that it were that cut and dry. We know what can cause cancer, but only 15% of smokers get lung cancer. Your husbands cancer is squamous cell, directly related to smoking. Yet, he did not smoke. I myself have adenocarcinoma- BAC subtype. I can trace 4 generations of people diagnosed with lung cancer in my family, only of which 2 smoked. My doctor said that it is God's way of eliminating the population. That was not what I wanted to hear, but I suppose he had a valid point. Still, why did I get lung cancer? Why is God picking on me? Am I not a good person? Why not me? These question will drive you crazy. It is really how you perceive yourself. I don't like being a victim, nor a martar. I chose to send out a message. I am trying to help kids from ever starting. I work as a counselor, and am over a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Program. I will not let the Devil have a victory over me. I'll use this disease to help others. I am no body special, but this disease, like it or not, makes me special. I can let it beat me, or use it to stop young people from ever starting smoking. You are in a position to impact other's lives as well! I can feel sorry for myself, which still happens from time to time, or become active to help others. I quit blaming myself for getting this disease. This is one of the few diseases, where we blame the cancer patient- that is sad to me. Why don't we blame others for their diseases too, like breast cancer patients for their high fat diets? Lisa, I think we are programed genetically to get diseases. I quit smoking, and still got cancer, probably would have anyway. Perhaps my body was programed to self-destruct at a certain age. Not many people get lung cancer as young as I. Biologically, my body is reacting to toxins in the environment. Cancer cells are genetic mutations out of control. Given my family's history of smoking, my Father was a chemical engineer, I grew up outside of Wash. D.C., ran behind bug spraying Deete truck when I was young, used fossil fuels, both parents smoked.... God Lisa the list just goes on. We know what causes LC, but why do certain people get LC? Trying to find the who or what to blame is a fruitless search. Lets focus instead on a cure! Please don't be offended by my post. I don't mean to sound angry, but as a lung cancer survivor, I hate the stigma, and that is what happens when we focus on cause. Lets focus on the Cure instead. Join the crusade to help us find a cure. Your sister in this war, Cheryl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remembering Dave Posted September 17, 2004 Share Posted September 17, 2004 I have to agree with Elaine. The worst thing you can do right now is dwell on the why. The most important thing is to help him fight the cancer and get rid of it. At this point it's obvious certain things are not good to do now that he knows he has lung cancer. No more smoking, get house tested for radon, no working in a smoke filled environment, in an environment with toxic chemicals in the air, as a cook in a BBQ restaurant . . . other than that, you just can't spend valuable energy worrying about it. But one day the researchers and scientists will know for sure. You can't figure it out with a poll. My husband has SCLC. The oncologist said it is almost always caused by smoking. But I don't think that is necessarily so with NSCLC. Our new good friend from this board, JUSTAKID, smoked and got NSCLC at age 37. But she also grew up in a house with alot of second hand smoke from her parents. Was it those first 21 years inhaling second hand smoke or was it her own smoking, or was it something else, or was it just bad luck? Who knows, no one ever will, but the important thing is, she and her husband both quit, and she now is in the fight of her life. That is the most important thing, that she get well. I made the mistake when my husband was first diagnosed to be very angry about it. I had nagged him and nagged him to quit smoking for our entire marriage. But guess what? my anger wasn't going to make him better, and at that point I no longer cared that he smoked. He doesn't any more, and he just wants to get this darn cancer out of his body so we can have our life back. and that's all I care about now. I'm not trying to scold you for asking, I think it is a perfectly natural stage to go through, but you have to put it behind you and focus on what's important now. It's valuable energy being wasted that needs to be used for the big fight. Best of luck and God Bless, Karen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fay A. Posted September 17, 2004 Share Posted September 17, 2004 Lisa, I sincerely hope that you and your son are able to put aside the desire to blame something for what has happened. I have less than a 9 pack year history. In my family, you don't have to be a smoker, or live with a smoker, or work with a smoker in order to develop Lung Cancer. I am the third generation in my family to have this disease. And each generation develops it at a younger age. We have a number of genetic anamolies....most can be traced to defective DNA on Chromosome 6....including the Lung Cancer. I understand your anger. I'm just hoping you can find a way to redirect it so that it doesn't damage you and your son. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimblanchard Posted September 17, 2004 Share Posted September 17, 2004 Lisa, I'm going to give you the perspective from an oncologist's viewpoint and maybe explain why the doctor's at Dana-Farber said what they did. First let me qualify this by saying that I am a young oncologist. I've been in practice for going on 6 years, add in my 3 years of fellowship and I've been taking care of cancer patients for not even a decade. In my relatively short career I have taken care of the following: A 38 year old woman with pancreatic cancer. She was a yoga instructor, vegetarian, no family history, no bad habits An 18 year old with metastatic melanoma that started as a mole removed from his back at age 13 A 24 year old mother of 2 with metastatic melanoma that started on her pubis (no sun exposure there) A 34 year old father of a 2-year-old with metastatic esophagus cancer A 33 year old woman with adenocarcinoma of the lung (no smoking, autoshops, barbecue) And finally a 24 year old man named Michael who died of adenocarcinoma of the lung. His memory will be seared into my soul until the day I die. I was his best man at our hospital chapel where he married his fiance of 9 months just 2 days before he passed away. Michael smoked cigarettes sometimes when he'd go out to the bar with friends. Do I think that caused his cancer? I have to say that I don't know and honestly I don't care. I tell every patient at our first meeting that I don't know why they got cancer. I tell every patient that they didn't deserve it and that I'm sorry that this is happening to them. I tell every patient that I think cancer is just "bad luck". I say these things because I can't make sense of it. I see no rhyme or reason. I do know that the God that I believe in does not give people cancer. So "bad luck" is the only explanation that I can come up with that allows me to continue doing this. Maybe it sounds flippant but its not what I intend. Its just the only explanation that I can make sense of. Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Ry Posted September 17, 2004 Share Posted September 17, 2004 Lisa, I voted smoker. You needed one that said all of the above. There was only one I did not come under. That is live in a big city. Both my parents smoked. My dad smoked three packs a day. I have work in several places that could have caused my cancer (foundry, paint shop, oil fields, pottery,restaurant). Radon, I am not sure, but Michigan is a state that has problems with it. When I was in my 20s, my lung collapsed. Where the lung collapsed is where my primary tumor is. Does that mean something? I do not know. It could have been anything I did or just bad luck. I really do not worry about how I got it, but how to beat it is my main concern. I'll tell you this, none of my kids will ever smoke. They have witness the hell that this disease has put us all through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hebbie Posted September 17, 2004 Share Posted September 17, 2004 Joe ~ Your response does not sound "flippant" at all. I tortured myself (and my doctors ) for several months after diagnoses trying to get to the CAUSE of my NSCLC. I never smoked a day in my life -- never even tried a single puff, I always thought it was a nasty habit that gave you lc No one in my immediate family smoked, I never lived with a smoker.....no radon that I know of.......no chemicals except for a brief 2 year stint working at a nail salon........ Did the acrylic nail fumes cause it????? Was it the Scotch Guard they put on my couch 4 years before diagnoses? (they later determined that it can cause cancer and stopped using it) Was it the radioative isotope I received to treat my hyperthyroidism? Was it something I inhailed taking the train into Philadelphia for work? Was it my old car that sometimes smelled like gas fumes? Was it the guy who lived below me in my condo for a few years who smoked like a chimney? Was it coming through the vents?? Was it those years in my early/mid 20's that I spent in smokey clubs/bars with smoking friends??? Do you know what I have done since diagnoses????? Stopped going to salons..... Sold my scotch guarded couch....... Stopped taking the train to work...... Sold my old car.......and got a new one that a drive to work in....... Sold my townhouse that I lived in when diagnosed..... Stopped going to all bars/clubs..... Stopped going into any smokey restaurants..... I realized later that I pretty much unconciously eliminated everything in my life that I had prior to diagnoses in a way to try to keep cancer from coming back. How crazy is that??? I had to finally accept the fact that I may NEVER know what caused this --but I can't stop living. And neither can your husband. We just need to move forward and have faith..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowflake Posted September 17, 2004 Share Posted September 17, 2004 Lisa, Skip the Blame Game. It's self-defeating. Channel that energy somewhere else.... I didn't smoke. I WAS exposed to second-hand smoke at home and "bar life" on weekends, but my oncologist says my cancer was not caused by that. Radon? I dunno.. My father was in the Navy. We traveled to other countries while I was growing up. I have lived places with no EPA, toxic waste, etc. Just six years ago, I worked in an oil refinery in Alaska. I now work in a chemical factory. I lived 27 miles north of the chemical factory for roughly ten years... There is no history of lung cancer in my family, only prostate cancer (so I thought I was "home free"). Yet here I am...and when people ask me how I got the disease, I tell 'em "just lucky, I guess" BECAUSE, you see, I AM lucky. The tumor was picked up by accident in an x-ray...I'm not early-stage, I'm not late-stage...and I'm HERE. Blaming gets me nowhere, but educating people might. Focus, focus, focus. Set the battle lines and get on with the fight. Take care, Becky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hebbie Posted September 17, 2004 Share Posted September 17, 2004 BECAUSE, you see, I AM lucky. The tumor was picked up by accident in an x-ray...I'm not early-stage, I'm not late-stage...and I'm HERE. Blaming gets me nowhere, but educating people might Becky....you always know the PERFECT thing to say! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jean44 Posted September 17, 2004 Share Posted September 17, 2004 I lost my Dad to lung cancer last Fall. My Dad had smoked for probably 35 years of his life. Did his smoking CAUSE his cancer-I don't know. When he ask his oncologist if the smoking had caused his cancer, the doctor point blank told him he COULD NOT answer Dad's question because he did not know. I do not know what caused his cancer-he is gone and that is what mattered to me was losing him-the reason didn't matter. I sure did not want my Dad to not only be dying from cancer but, to contend with guilt at the same time. Nothing upsets me more than when people automatically "blame" my Dad because he smoked. I lost my Dad at 67-too young to die no matter what the reason and I know many more who are younger. My Grandpa passed away at the age of 97. He had smoked probably 75 years of his life. He died from old age-not any smoking related illness including cancer. The really sad part is they cannot pinpoint exactly what causes cancer. Hopefully some day they can and we will not longer have to deal with the beast that takes away the most precious gift we have been given-that of our family and friends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisaRN Posted September 17, 2004 Author Share Posted September 17, 2004 I am especially saddened that so many absolutely missed the point of my post.... if you read back, i clearly stated that i accept that God has a knowledge greater than I as to the WHY question.... my family faithfully prays and believes in God and i believe that everything happens for a reason... i trust in God that HE knows why but it is gnawing at me as to HOW???? even if this is from smoking or second hand smoke what do these patients have in common that triggers the onset of this disease ? and what do the smokers and second hand smokers who remain healthy their entire lives have in common that help them to avoid it? i am curious to know what types of things that the cancer patients on this board have in common. [list=] i also firmly believe that scientists ARE asking these questions.... thank God for those who DO ask HOW???? ..... if we don't find the various HOW's of ALL types of cancer or ANY DISEASE for that matter we will never be able to perfect the meds we have or find cures for these diseases that: "OF COURSE, NOBODY DESREVES" What disturbs me the most about the "bad luck" comment is that it seems as the the possible casues are being set aside by the medical community in general of which i too am a part ... i went to each doc prepared to answer a million questions re: possible exposures.... in reality the only question ever asked is "Did you smoke" In asking these questions in does not automatically place blame, the intention instead is to trigger some solutions... I am a home care nurse and Medicare requires us to answer questions on a 28 page form when admitting a new patient to our care... you should see this form.... it is crazy, it asks all kinds of questions from what illness is the REASON for admission to how many steps are at the patients front door? ..... this info is data entried by our agency and uploaded to medicare's data base.... although most home care nurses are driven crazy by the AMOUNT of the paper work..... the rationale for the need to keep track of the specific info it asks is CLEARLY UNDERSTOOD.... also it gives Medicare and JHACHO ( a regulating agency) the ability to see what our statistics are.... how many diabetic patients, how many cancer pts, how many hip fractures, etc... it also helps to answer questions about the performance of our agency.... did we make our pts better, worse or without change.... such as did that pt with the hip fracture fall and break that hip while in our care with her home health aid present.... these types of questions, although they might be annoying and time consuming are relevent and vital to set the standards and expectations of care when a nurse or an aid is coming into YOUR home to care for YOUR loved one..... i wish that the docs in the major cancer research centers utilized a similar type of data base ( maybe not as long but with all vital questions answered ) with ALL patients not just those enrolled in studies..... yes this takes time.... but if nurses are being mandated to do it and are able to make it work.... well........ Now, i agree with every single one of you who has replied that this disease has a horrible stigma attached to it re: "being a smoker's disease" and that in and of itself ANGERs me because as we can all see, that is DEFINATELY NOT ALWAYS THE CASE....more and more people are being dx without a definitive cause..... that scares me .... I don't understand so many comments referring to the "blame game"... First of all, dont we see that if some scientist didn't answer these questions to diseases like measles, mumps, rubella, small pox, polio, etc... then today our children might still be adversely affected by those horrible, AVOIDABLE diseases.... If we don't answer these questions today, what is our hope for tommorrow? how do we know that cancers are curable or not.... look how far we have come with treatments for many kinds of cancer.... breast cancer used to be significantly fatal, but today with prevention and treatment programs we can cure or at least turn it into a "chronic disease".... those patients dont have to simply accept a "death sentence"... and even with that said, i am sure we still have a long way to go so that someday hopefully ALL of these cancers will be virtually unheard of..... AND YES, I believe there is a catalyst for EVERYTHING , and i would ABSOLUTELY look to find a cause if this were breast, pancreatic, colon, whatever.... i am sorry if anyone misunderstood why i did not mention other types of cancer previously, but this is the LCSC and i am only one person and i felt the need to stick to what i know.... Perhaps to not seek a cause is to not determine a solution..... If you reread my post and sincerely think about what i am saying, you will hopefully see that by asking these questions i think that hopefully we can remove stigmas.... these stigmas, after all are probably part in partial what is determining funding for research and development of better drugs for lung cancer in particularly.... Finally, I just keep thinking if we had not asked what was causing my husband to cough up the blood in the first place.... we would never have known, until it was too late, that he had this disease.... Thank God we finally found a doctor who DID ask these questions, perform the appropriate tests.... and ultimately perform the bronch to remove the tumor from his airway.... if not for being able to ask those questions, we might have lost him in April.....and I thank GOD for every single additional second GOD has given us..... Again, i apolgize if i have offended anyone or if this issue is inappropriate for this board.... clearly everyone is passionate about their own approach to cancer... Please understand though, that ASKING QUESTIONS re: HOW or WHAT CAUSED THIS? absolutely IN NO WAY puts blame on ANY patient... to do that would never be fair or even be helpful in any way.... Warm wishes and sincere prayers for all.... Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elaine Posted September 17, 2004 Share Posted September 17, 2004 Lisa I think I addressed your wanting to know causes in my initial post. But again, I do not think that environmental causes alone are going to be the answer. Thus, I think the poll is too limited. And then there would have to be all the cross references etc to truly have something more to go on than the fact that smoking is a big factor, something we all know. Nutrition, family history, supplements, vitamins, medical history and on and on. Even the new studies on genetic inclination shows that even in the absence of the genetic marker, many get lc. I wholeheartedly agree that finding the causeS will help lead to a cure, better treatments, earlier DX, better education of at-risk people etc. etc. I am all for looking for causes. But I truly believe that it won't stop cancer from occuring. One hundred years ago, the life expectency in the US was 47--now it is in the 70s, I think. Cancer rates were lower then--and it is obvious as to why. Aging is one cause of cancer. It is true that smoking gets all the blame and when a patient says he or she doesn't smoke, from what I hear on this board, the Drs faces often twist and the eyebrows raise. It must be easier for some Drs. just to right it off and go on their way. I have never told the story of how I was treated at DX. It haunts me. I can't be the only person with that kind of horror story, so I think that "we" often think that as soon as someone mentions smoking or family members who smoked, "we" hear blame--because that is what so many of us have received. Try as I may, I have tried to forgive myself and it has helped learning that it is more than likely a combination of things--resulting in a train wreck in my lungs, one of which is bad luck. elaine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laberl Posted September 17, 2004 Share Posted September 17, 2004 Looks like the other posts covered a lot of your questions but I just wanted to add my 2 cents about one thing: When my mom was first diagnosed I think the questions that I struggled with-and I mean STRUGGLED with-were 1. Why her? 2. Why me? 3. Why God, WHY? As I was going through the information-hungry stage, I found myself at Borders looking for anything to help me get through this. I found the book "when bad things happen to good people." Prior to reading this book I had thought that God DOES things to people and GIVES things to people. This book taught me to look at it from a different perspective....God isn't in control of everything. And I know that somewhere, wherever He is, he is standing there with his head in his hands asking the same question, "Why is this happening to her?" All I can do is draw strength from that and from Him. Otherwise what kind of a God is He? It turns into the good person/bad person, deserve/not deserve argument. I choose to believe He is a loving God and would never GIVE this to anyone, faithful or not. Take Care-I wish you the best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisaRN Posted September 17, 2004 Author Share Posted September 17, 2004 Hi Elaine, i agree with you the poll is extremely limited (it wouldn't let me add anything else LOL ) .... and looking at it now... i wish i could figure out how to delete that part of my post.... i know the poll part seems silly.... but i truly intended it to be in a light, informal way.... i think that in retrospect i realize that it TOTALLY distracted from what i intended to get accross in the first place.... the questions i am asking here were purely seeking an informal point of view.... i guess there is a part of me that will never be able to walk away from these questions.... and while i dont know what the future holds exactly... i hope to someday address this issue with people who have the power to implement change and possibly help to rid the world of the need to ask such questions.... b/c after all i agree with many of the posters here that perhaps patients and familes dont have the energy to address these questions.... i hope we can make changes from within the medical community itself, regarding funding and research abilities etc... nothing but good intentions..... Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elaine Posted September 17, 2004 Share Posted September 17, 2004 Lisa A couple of things that I did not make clear: First, I applaud your curiosity and committment to looking to the future. Those of us with the disease truly are counting on you and others like you to push ahead. We need you long term even as we know that you, too, are going through an emotional upheaval. So I hope nothing I wrote or anyone else wrote will in any way stop you on your quest for answers and a better tomorrow!! love elaine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisaRN Posted September 17, 2004 Author Share Posted September 17, 2004 thank you elaine, no nothing you wrote was percieved in anything but a postive way.... i hear you and truly understand where you and everyone else are coming from.... your'e right... the emotional upheaval is still prominent in each of my days.... perhaps that is why i feel so passionate about this.... i would NEVER be offended by ANYONEs point of view..... and now that i am here, i doubt there is anything that anyone would ever say that would prevent me from saying what i have to say too... i try to live by the philosophy that "We have to agree to disagree" and although it is important to have as many people as possible on the same page...... it is also vital to the same extent to have these types of discussions b/c no one side is ever completely right.... this is going to be a team effort if we will defeat this cancer on a global scale.... sometimes, as hard as it is to admit when wrong, we need to hear the other point of view.... it gives us clearer perspective.... i for one invite all sides of any issue up for discussion... i think it is so awesome that we have this board to be able to come to the table so to speak on issues that are important to us individually.... THANK YOU to the founders of LCSC! my updates here are not to invalidate anything anyone has written but simply an attempt to make my point clearer than originally stated... Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowflake Posted September 17, 2004 Share Posted September 17, 2004 Lisa, When I went for my second opinion, I went to MD Anderson. While there, I participated in a "voluntary" survey on my lifestyle and possibly finding a cause of lung cancer. This survey took two hours to fill out with questions from second-hand (and primary) smoking history to consumption of shellfish (and how much), consumption of barbequed food (and how much/often), general diet, specific vegetables, area where I grew up (this one was tough), other diseases I have had, etc. THEN there were six big vials of blood taken from me. Anyone who's read my posts for any time knows that I HATE needles. I believe in science and research, but told them that since the whole thing was voluntary, if they didn't hit a vein first try, that was it! Ya know, six vials is a LOT of blood...made a lot of vampires happy, I'm sure... My thought? There is no single cause - there is no single type. There may be one cure for SCLC, one for adenocarcinoma, one for pancoast, etc., but not a cure that is generically the same for ALL lung cancer - just as no one treatment is 100% with breast cancer which ALSO comes in different types. Originally, your post said you or your son needed something to blame. That's where the comment on avoiding the Blame Game came in. Finding a cause, a legitimate CAUSE is one thing, finding something to blame is something else. The disease leads to soul-searching. There is no answer to the "Why?s" Even if there were a definite cause (i.e. smoking in ~15% of cases), it still doesn't answer WHY in YOUR case (or more specifically, that of your husband) when ~85% of smokers do NOT get lung cancer... I understand the frustration of the non-smoker with what is commonly construed as a smoker's disease, believe me, my education into lung cancer was at a steep price. Prior to my diagnosis and research, I didn't know that non-smokers EVER got lung cancer...ahhhhh, enlightenment. Suddenly, I'm thrown into this vat o' knowledge that I have no want to be in... Education is key, especially if we are to get any more research money for a disease that is "deserved" by those that have it...ya know? Keep asking questions, do what you can do in your corner of the world and watch it spread...one person at a time, one day at a time... ...and if you have ideas you think we could help come to something, let us know! Becky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisaRN Posted September 17, 2004 Author Share Posted September 17, 2004 hi becky, i applaud md anderson.... we have been to 5 major cancer centers and not one has requested the info that you so bravely participated in.... i think it is great that they are doing that.... good too that it is voluntary b/c while we would have gladly taken the 2 hrs to fill the form.... i respect that not everyone has the endurance or ability to do so.... i dont know how happy my husband would have been if i volunteered his blood though LOL .... no, seriously i am sure he would have given it too but like you there would have been a 1 stick rule applied.... as for the word "blame", yes you are absolutely right... in my original post i did mention this....but in retrospect, perhaps my point became clearer to myself b/c of the posts here, i realized that to say "blame DID infact distract from the REAL question.... so i went back and edited my original post to try to make my point better and to try to stay focused... thanks for the info about md anderson....wish others would follow suit.... Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marion Posted September 17, 2004 Share Posted September 17, 2004 If we don't have someone doing this research, we will never find a cure.Even though I think some people's make up is incline to get certain diseases and others aren't. I often think of my older sister who always ate, slept and anything else right and she had breast cancer back in the early 60"s. She had a radical mastectomy and that was all that was done and has had no recurrance of cancer in her life. She is 80 now. Was radiation and chemo available then?. I don't know. Now my brother and his wife smoked for years and neither have had lung cancer. He has had prostate cancer. Neither mom or dad had cancer. Lived to be in mid 80's. Remember when they said cancer of the liver ( I don't know how to spell the P word) was caused by drinking. And there are people with this disease that did not drink. At least I've been told this.It just looks like some of us have what it takes to get this disease and some don't. Dr. Joe, I know this isn't very scientific or medical wise but could there be a certain weakness in our systems that would make us more prone to get cancer when exposed to certain elements. If I sound like a green horn; please forgive. Marion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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