Hi everyone,

I've been reading all of your messages for quite some time, my heart goes out to all of you and your loved ones who are fighting or who have lost someone with this horrible disease. I finally found enough courage to tell my dad's battle with lung cancer. It all started when my dad was 58 yrs. old. He went from doctor to doctor trying to find out why he was loosing weight and just not feeling well. He had lots of aches and pains in his bones, and his fingernails were clubbing. He would go from doctor to doctor for a year and he got the diagnosis of arthritis. He was treated for arthritis for over a year. Finally when the treatments for the arthritis were not working, his arthritis doctor did a chest x-ray and this is when we found the lung cancer. It was staged as a IIIA when it was found. He went through chemo, radiation, then surgery to remove the upper right lobe. They said it was adenocarcinoma. Everything went well, he was feeling good after recovering from the surgery, we thought we got this thing, he really had a positive attitude about the whole thing. A few months later he had bone pain in his hip. A PET scan was done and we found that the cancer had spread to the bone, now he is classified as a stage IV. He decided to keep fighting, he went through radiation to the hip for a couple of weeks and the pain went away. He was still getting around, even golfing on some smaller golf courses. He is a determined man! Just 5 weeks ago he went for an x-ray to check his lungs because he was short of breath, and they found a small lesion on his lung, immediately the doctor put him on Iressa. He didn't seem to get better, over the past 5 weeks he has been coughing up blood and he is very short of breath, so we assumed the Iressa is not working. He just went to the doctors for a follow up x-ray this past Monday and it showed his lungs are coated with tumors. That one small tumor developed into this in just 5 weeks. We were told that he only has 2 months to live. My family is just devistated. I am the strong one in the family, everyone leans on me for strength, I have to find it somewhere! I just had my third child, and I am so thankful dad got to be here when she was born. It meant so much to him! Dad was just about to retire early and enjoy his years, he worked 12 hour days for 30+ years in a chemical plant, then this had to happen. Dad also hasn't smoked in over 30 years, I just don't get it. He will probably not be here for his 61st birthday this December. This is just ripping my heart out!

Thanks for listening, I will keep you posted on the difficult weeks to come.
My thoughts and prayers are with you all too.
K.

Dear medphoto,
My heart goes out to you, your father, and your whole family. I know what you are going through, my mother was diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer, stage 4, with spreading to the brain. She has had chemo, and radiation. At the present time she is on Iressa. and seems to be doing ok. My mom still doesnt have any hair since the radiation back in July.
Me and my brother are the only caregivers, because my dad passed away on May of 2002 of cardiac arrest.
When you have time, just try to sit down and talk to GOD. He can soothe the pain that you are all going through if you just ask him. That is what I did.
With heartfelt love
Jb