It was a difficult day emotionally, but I feel great physically. I went to my dance class on Monday night and did the whole class, without holding back at all. I walked to the library yesterday evening with the girls, and I have a great appetite.

At work today I had to tell my newspaper students that I have cancer. Also, my supervisor will send out a brief e-mail to the school to inform people about the situation and to let them know that I’ll be working from home some days.

So, the semi-private part of this experience is nearing an end, and it is really hard to lose privacy. But I made the decision to go public and to tell people what I am battling. It is my way to give back for now, to show my gratefulness for people’s wisdom, prayers and good thoughts. I hope that people will hear my story and will make sure to be vigilant in monitoring themselves for breast cancer.

I explained to my students today that there is not one sure-fire way to catch all breast cancers and that women must have regular checkups, regular mammograms and must do regular self-exams. One of these ways will hopefully work if the others fail. That’s what happened for me, anyway. I didn’t catch the cancer, and neither did my gynecologist at my annual checkup in December.

My annual mammogram in January saved my life.

~Diana