*waves* Excuse Me, Postworthy News Here!

Hi, I know I said my blog was over, but I learned something important today at my doctor visit and I want to update the information I've given previously. (By the way, I only have 2 chemo sessions left, and won't need to see him for 3 months. However, I'm scheduled to meet with my radiology oncologist in a month to set up treatment.)

Near the beginning of June there will be a big conference or symposium that will announce this finding, which my oncologist says is big news. He said we'll be hearing about it a lot in the media. Remember how my plan started out to be for 8 2-week rounds of chemo, 4 of which were to be Taxol? Then there was evidence that weekly Taxol in lower doses was better tolerated by patients with no loss in effectiveness, so my doctor set me up for 12 weeks of weekly Taxol. Well, the newest finding is that weekly Taxol is more effective than Taxol or Taxotere given every three weeks as traditionally used! In my 10 weeks of Taxol treatments my labs have been "perfect" every time, which would definitely not be true had I been getting larger, less frequent doses. I have not needed any injections to boost blood cells during Taxol treatment.

If I had started chemo a couple months earlier, I would not have received the treatment which is now known to be more effective, and I would have been feeling much sicker these last couple months. I feel so lucky! I am also very fortunate to have a doctor who stays right on top of each new finding.

P.S. RE: Discontinuing the Blog.
It occurred to me that I may not have expressed myself clearly in the last post, and might have given the incorrect impression about why I plan to quit the blog. It all came down to the fact that my readers are primarily people who care about me, and I can't bring myself to sadden my loved ones by sharing too much about my own fears and sadness here. I know this is supposed to be, as my friend admonished me, "selfish time", but I'm more comfortable not spreading gloomy thoughts around to those who are concerned for me. I am okay, and realize my moodiness may be in part due to sudden hormone changes, but I'm not feeling much like a cheerleader in recent weeks. I know that some of you check my blog often for new updates and I feel a responsibility to "write or get off the pot", so to speak.