Hi-
Just checking in to see that all is going okay with treatment and everyone is staying healthy. I think of you all daily and hope and pray someone is being given a miracle or at least a beautiful day with a loved one.
Please keep us posted and know you are in my thoughts and prayers.
Stan started his last chemo today and in 4 weeks will have the scans to see where he stands...really unsure at this point. We were hoping to know by Mother's Day (which is also our son's 1st Communion) but guess it might be later that week...oh well, we all know the waiting game. We are also going to look at Stan's blood work next week since for some reason one of his blood counts (Billirubin) doubled in one week and they tested it today so the doctor hopes it was the chemo treatment that messed it up on March 20th but we will see....
Take care and Hugs to all,
Kim

Kim,

Thanks for asking about my mom. She is doing very well. :) Is having problems with blood counts so they had her inject herself with Neupogen for 3 days over the weekend hoping they can get the count up in time for Wed.'s Chemo and perhaps she will get all 3 doses of a round this time. She is currently on round 3 and Wed will be dose 3 of this round. She has fatigue starting Friday afternoon and all day Sat. She does get out of bed, gets dressed and then naps or watches TV most of the day but does do simple things like feed the dogs, look at her E-mail etc. Sunday she bounces back and is out running around and eats very well. Considering how bad that first round of Taxotere/ gemzar went she is doing so much better with it thus I am more ceratin then ever that she had a bug or food poisoning with that first round. Her hair has thinned alot but so far she has not lost it all and has enough left where she does not have to wear a hat when she goes out and thus does not look like a cancer patient and I think that helps her alot. She gets her CT next week then sees the doctor on the 25th. Her last blood test her liver function test came back 100% normal so the values that have been elevated have come back down which since we are fighting the liver mets makes me feel hopeful that the chemo is doing its job or at very least holding things stable.

I think that being an elderly nonsmoking person that my mom's cancer is less aggressive then NSCLC is when the patient is younger and /or a smoker. In 21 months the only mets have been to the liver and she seems to respond better to chemo and has less side effects then most of the younger people. I think when you get it as a young person it tends to be a more aggressive form and when you get it late in life it tends to be less aggressive as the elderly non smoking patients I have met with it tend to be more like my mom. Perhaps since cancer rates shoot way up as we age the cancer in non smokers is due more to the immune cells just wearing out and no longer being able to fight off the cancer and the cancer itself is also due to ageing of our bodies thus is a less aggressive form of the disease? That is my theory.

It breaks my heart when I read of the struggles of Stan and Bud and many others here. Their battles have been so very different then my mom's.People seem to think that a younger person will do better then an old person but I think the younger you get it the more aggressive it may be. Someone at work asked me if I was worried about geting lung cancer now that they feel it can be genetic but I feel that is true if your parent got it at a young age but not so if they got it in old age as I think is true with alot of cancers, ( sort of supports my whole theory) .

I hope Stan's CT in a few weeks shows improvement. I hope that you are doing well and taking care of yourself as everytime I read about all you have been through in the past couple years I want to cry as that is too much for one person to have to deal with. I am doing well except for the fatigue as work has been super busy and for 12 hrs it is non stop meaning we are lucky if we get a break to eat( we are trying to get the hospital to increase our staffing as since one of the other hospitals in town closed we get all their patients but have had no increase in staffing..crazy!). After 3 nights of it I come home totally wiped out take my nap then hit the road for OC .It just leaves me so exhausted.

Since my mom does not get chemo next week I will stay home and try to get some "me time" and get ready for the next round! Next week the canine agility /flyball club I belong to is doing a demo at a retirement home where one of my dogs has always been a favorite of the crowd so I am so happy it is a non chemo week and we will be home to go do the demo. Doing the demos for the retirement homes which we always end with the dogs socializing with the people is my favorite thing about agility as the old people just love it. So many of them had pets before they had to move to a retirement place and miss them so much that the minute we pull in they come out to greet not us humans but the dogs! If it is a place that does allow pets even the dogs come out to watch! It is so much fun and both my dogs love all the attention and love they get. The other benefit is I meet alot of elderly people and when they end up in the hospital I know them and know what they are like when they are not ill and they know me which makes caring for them nice. Anyway I am looking so foreward to my week and with my mom doing so well I don't spend time worring about how she is.

I hope that some better times are coming for some of you that are having difficult times as having a break from the constant struggles and being able to enjoy good days feels so good for body and soul. Today is my brothers 45th birthday and yes my mom even baked a birthday cake to take to him and now will start making Easter sugar cookies that she even decorates then delivers to her friends and people like the mailman and her VET. ( every holiday the vets office looks foreward to the goodies she makes them!) It feels good to see her doing the things she enjoys doing.

My prayers go out to all of you and if you are just beginning this journey I hope my mom's story gives you some encouragement as to why you should try chemo if the doctor says it will not cure you but only buy you time. (There can be life during chemo!) That time could be another Christmas, Easter, Birthday, graduation, wedding etc with your loved ones and that is very important to both you and even more so to your loved ones. You do not know how you will respond to treatment until you try it and if it is too horrible you always have the option of stopping it. God bless everyone that comes to this site looking for help and understanding. :wave: JanMarie

hello dearest friends...I have been so busy trying to open up the house to spring, draining the fish pond and replacing the filter system, etc, bagging leaves, cutting up wood and so on and so forth.
Bud is holding his own. We go Thu for another scan and last week was the typical down-on-his-face week. I see a pattern emerging. His thought is this, and I TOTALLY agree, IF it's doing good, OK lets put up with the side-effects and continue on, but if it's not working, shove it. Sorry folks for those that are just getting going, but this is our 4th combination of chemo/bio drugs. Many times they don't even go 4 much less 5. Sooooooo, shoot, I see where this is going. However, I am hopeful (and I am weary of jinxing myself) that despite the sickness and side-effects, I am seeing outward (since none of us can take a peek inside their chests) signs that things might be taking a slight upward turn. WOULD THAT NOT BE A MIRACLE??? He tries so hard to help around here, and works as hard as he can ...then pays for it at night when he cannot breathe or coughs up the blood. Have I mentioned how much I hate lung cancer???

I see Pat and Pat (KY and JanMarie's mom) as beacons of light, and lately Dave in VA who just went through a lobectomy. Bless his heart, and all alone.

Friends, if it weren't for this place and my physical outlets, and most of all GOD, I don't think I could keep on. I think and pray constantly for so many people that their names are a blur, but God knows who they are. Each of us reaching up to Him to lift our loved one, whether it be a friend, child, parent, spouse... for healing, peace, help.

You all take care and look towards Easter. It is a resurrection for all of us. I hear my dog Bugs barking, so someone must be walking by. You all take care of yourselves and keep up the good fight, whether you are a caregiver or a patient.

Lots of love, hugs, prayers, hope and healing.....
Jan

My mom's blood counts are too low again despite the neupogen shots over the weekend so she does not get her chemo this week. They called at about 9PM last night to tell her but unlike last time they did schedule her for next week. Guess she will be having a good Easter weekend since she feels so good and won't spend Saturday fatigued from chemo. I guess this is just going to be how this chemo goes as she has done 3 rounds of Taxotere/gemzar and has yet to get past the two doses of each round ( should be 3 doses). Hopefully it is doing some good and next weeks CT shows some improvement or even shrinkage. I guess the low blood counts are to be expected with this chemo and when you are on your 3rd line of chemo + tarceva as there is only so much a body can take.

Hope everyone has a good Easter weekend and as always you are all in my prayers and often in my thoughts. JanMarie

JanMarie and Jan,
Thanks for the update and so nice to hear from you two. Sorry to hear your mom had to postpone her chemo for yet another week, but like you said she should be having a great Easter weekend. Jan, you sure make me enjoy Southern California more when you mention raking leaves and cutting wood. This little city girl would be in shock! Sounds like Bud is doing like Stan and can understand. Stan has done only 2 types of chemo treatments and he is getting so depressed and just wants to get up one day and life be the way it was before last June. He has cried more this last week, but part due to the fact that the chemo knocks him on his butt. I do hope and pray that Bud has some good news from the scans! Please let us know as we are all cheering for Bud. These cancer patients go thru so much and you just want to make them smile and stay strong and enjoy life, but boy when you get sad news it seems so unfair. Stan gets his scans on the 2nd of May, but they moved them up since we thought they should be around May 12...hhhmm. You can always speculate why and so we will see what they say on Monday if anything.
I think of you all on the posting board during a holiday and hope all are strong enough and well enough to enjoy their family and have some laughs and smiles. I need to end this now as I want to reply to another posting about the heart and chemo.
Have a great Easter or Passover or whatever you may celebrate...enjoy the day.
Kim