Awesome NY Times Article By Stanford Doc Who Has Lung Cancer - 1262429

Laya--
I'm glad you posted the link. I read the article in the NYT on-line, but was very glad to re-read it. When I was diagnosed in 2009, I thought I had, at worst, 3 months to live. The first surgery was a bust and chemo-rad did nothing (good), but by then I had lived 6 months past my diagnosis. So I tried Tarceva and then Alimta, and nothing changed. But now it was a year past my diagnosis. My onc and I decided that watch-and-wait was now a reasonable strategy, and we did that for 3 years. In the meantime, however, my husband and I had a wonderful time, some of it with dark humor, some with European and South American cruises. I wrote letters to friends and grabbed all the sympathy I could (and there was a lot). We still planted tomatoes and beans every spring, attended neighborhood dinners, spent time with the kids and grandchildren, and when the cancer started to grow last fall, we weren't surprised. Disappointed, but not surprised. (My onc had warned me it would return by telling me not to have my port removed because I would need it again.) Anyway, I've just had my lung removed and incidentally discovered I have breast cancer, and I'm trying to decide which (if either) will kill me first so I can decide which (if any) of the recommended treatments to have. In the meantime, assuming I'll have at least 3 months feeling as good as I do now (why assume otherwise?), in two weeks we are going to Singapore for a two-week cruise. Cancer can wait.
I have become so heartened by reading your posts and all the others, some by people who have recently died, that I must thank you for all you've written. (Losing a mother is dreadful and heartbreaking, I know, and you have my sympathy).
Nan

Wow - thanks Laya. This is a great article. We had a reporter from the NYTimes show up at the forum in Santa Monica, so hopefully we get a shout out from him. keep your eye out...

Whoops! When I wrote, I didn't realize my signature didn't attach to the post (but Mark assures me it will be there with the next update). Anyway, my five-year-old cancer is adenocarcinoma of the lung, the 1.5-year-old one is thyroid cancer, and the 4-month-old one is breast cancer. I've been inspired by everyone else, and just recently got the courage to respond to others' posts. For all the reading I've done, I still feel ignorant compared to many others, like you and Jim, who know so much and share so much. Thank you very much.
Nan