What Are The Stages Of Lung Cancer?I am often asked what are the stages of lung cancer and how does your medical team come to the conclusion of your staging. There are MANY tests to help determine...Reactions0reactionsComments0 comments
Living Life After a Cancer DiagnosisI have two dogs. One white. One black. One female. One male. As different from one another as night and day. But, I consider them both lifesavers. When I was...Reactions0reactionsComments0 comments
Reflections on ASCOIn early June, I attended the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) as a Patient Advocate. Held every year in Chicago, ASCO draws close to 40,000...Reactions0reactionsComments0 comments
Help! I Can't Get a Good Breath!I recently saw a question raised by a lung cancer survivor who was experiencing difficulty breathing after radiation treatments. She wanted to know what tips we had that could help...Reactions0reactionsComments2 comments
The Weight She Carries: Support For The CaregiverThere is a couple I know where the wife is so fed up about losing her sense of identity, losing her sense of joy, and, perhaps most importantly, constantly living...Reactions0reactionsComments2 comments
When They Tell You NED...NED, or No Evidence of Disease. Aren't those the most wonderful words you have ever seen? It doesn't really matter where your cancer is or where it came from because...Reactions0reactionsComments3 comments
How Nonscientific Advocates Can Understand ScienceIn addition to the obvious challenges facing those of us diagnosed with lung cancer, there’s another challenge that many of us are quite simply unprepared for: understanding science. I want...Reactions0reactionsComments0 comments
Kidney Damage From Chemotherapy: My Story and What You Should KnowAfter four chemotherapy infusions, I was feeling pretty good. My energy level and feeling of well-being were on the rise. CT scans showed that my lung cancer was shrinking as...Reactions0reactionsComments2 comments
Coping With Chemo BrainDo you have chemo brain? It's a real thing. I know for a long time, doctors, especially, scoffed at the idea, but they now recognize its reality. The general public...Reactions0reactionsComments0 comments
Understanding DeathA friend of mine recently asked me, as a lung cancer patient, if I had any insight into the process of dying. This seemed reasonable to me -- in the...Reactions0reactionsComments0 comments
Do You Still Smoke?And I mean cigarettes. I'm sure you heard from everyone non-stop that you needed to quit smoking or have you quit? I am here to discuss the harsh realities of...Reactions0reactionsComments0 comments
Reclaiming My AweDo you remember when you were first diagnosed or when you received word that your tumors were on the move again? It was a very scary time, without a doubt...Reactions0reactionsComments0 comments
How Well Is Well When Talking About How We Feel?"I'm doing fine." That is the response I usually give when asked how I am doing. People ask me how I feel and I usually tell them that "I feel...Reactions0reactionsComments0 comments
What Are Specialty Pharmacies And Why Do We Use Them?Let me start by saying that I realize I am lucky to have medical insurance provided through my husband’s employer. There are many people in the lung cancer community who...Reactions0reactionsComments0 comments
Short Shelf LifeLung cancer bloggers are not always around very long. Our community is ever-expanding, but the sad truth is that we can expect a loss of our voices with some regularity...Reactions0reactionsComments0 comments
Taking a Little Break from Cancer with Other Cancer SurvivorsHave you ever visited a Cancer Support Communities (CSC) clubhouse? Every time I go, I think I will be more active. I went yesterday and once more, I am vowing...Reactions0reactionsComments0 comments
Receiving a Stage IV Lung Cancer Diagnosis as a Hospice NurseI have always been the "good" girl...always looking to do "the next right thing". Nursing was the most natural path for me to follow despite the fact that I had...Reactions0reactionsComments3 comments
Remembering Our Fathers (and Mothers), and OurselvesAt some point, most of us will have lost one or both of our parents by the time we hit our own middle age. My father died a short time...Reactions0reactionsComments0 comments
National Healthy Homes MonthJune is National Healthy Homes Month. This year’s theme, "Unlocking the Potential of America’s Children: Check Your Home – Protect Your Family," serves as a great reminder to test our...Reactions0reactionsComments0 comments
Navigating Disability & Social SecuritySSDI stands for Social Security Disability Insurance and SSI stands for Supplemental Security Income. Did you know there is a very distinct difference between the two? When my cancer was...Reactions0reactionsComments0 comments