A couple of people have advised me to “walk through” this experience with cancer. The image of walking through is very powerful to me and has brought comfort in recent days.

The idea of walking calmly is so gentle and, well, calm.

The third round of chemo took me longer to overcome than the other two, and I’m not even sure that “overcome” is even the right word. I found that I was more tired than with the two previous treatments, and I’m still feeling a little tired. Also, finding the right combination of anti-nausea medicines has been a challenge. My doctor phoned in yet another drug for me to try.

But, the good news is that I only have one more treatment of this particular combination of chemo drugs, and then the remaining four treatments will be a different drug. Yes, that drug will have its own side effects, but apparently the nausea will lighten and so will the strong metallic taste in my mouth.

Dwayne is an incredible trooper, keeping everything ticking along during chemo weekends. Dinah and Djuna are so sweet, always checking in on me and happy to sit on my bed and play games when I’m feeling well enough to sit up for awhile.

I worked from home on Monday and didn’t make it to my dance class for the first time since my diagnosis in January, but we made up for it by all sitting on the sofa together and watching Dancing with the Stars. So, there was at least some dancing, sort of.

My teaching schedule at work has been pretty light, but I have plenty to do at my desk, so at least that’s easier than being on my feet.

This coming Monday I am scheduled for an ultrasound to see whether the chemo is working, and then the next day we follow up with my surgeon for her assessment of the ultrasound results.

In the meantime, I’ll keep walking through.

~Diana