A few people have asked me whether I’m going to have a way to keep people informed about how things are going. I don’t know if this is the perfect solution, but I thought I’d try it for now.

The current plan is to do chemotherapy first to shrink the tumor and then to do surgery. This provides the surgeon the chance to get clear margins around the tumor. So, I start chemotherapy next Thursday. Tests have shown no evidence of cancer in my bones or organs, so that is great news. The biopsy of my tumor looks favorable for a good response to chemo.

There will be an ultrasound and a physical exam after two rounds of chemo to determine whether the treatments are helping, and if they are, then I continue with chemo. If they aren’t, then we stop chemo and go straight into surgery.

People tell me that I’ll know a lot about how the chemo will treat me after the first round. I will almost certainly lose my hair. The doctor said today that I’ll most likely feel the most tired on the third or fourth day.

We are doing fine and are trying our best to keep as normal a schedule as possible.

Thanks so much to everyone for all the phone calls, cards, e-mails. It all helps so much.

~Diana