The fight continues

Thanks to my fighting crew for the cards and encouraging notes again and these beautiful flowers and this pair of fighting gloves! They come at the right time. My ultrasound results show that my visitor is still there. It is smaller though. It has shrunk from 1.7 cm to 0.9 cm and "more ill defined" as indicated on the ultrasound results. I think this probably was the reason that my doctor and I could not feel it easily. Nevertheless, I am glad I had this ultrasound to confirm that it is not growing or spread out more. Pray for its continue shrinkage. If this is the rate it is going, I do have a hope that by the end of the chemo (14 more weeks to go), it may disappear completely. It really doesn't matter much as long as it is shrinking because I have decided to have double mastectomy anyway - giving this visitor or any his relatives no chance to re-appear. It is just the best outcome if the main tumor is completed disappeared after chemo. Keep the prayers and fights on!

All my blood test results are still good on week#6. My red blood cell is still at the borderline low, but my red blood cell is back to normal. I continue to have good energy level. I was at a conference the whole week. It is tough even for normal people to sit in the conference room the whole day. I had no problem attending the conference and all its evening activities as well. Besides some tolerable diarreha occasionally, nothing else bothers me. I contribute this to my positive attitude, all the prayers as well as the well designed chemo procedure. I read normally this type of chemo is given once every 2 or 3 weeks. In order to do that, the dose has to be much higher to start with so it would last 2 or 3 weeks. I think that would be much harder to tolerate. With this clinical trial, they are trying it weekly so I have a relative constant amount of chemicals in my body that is easily tolerable. I think I may analyzing too much. It comes with my profession. What can I say:). I know for sure that I drive my doctors crazy by asking too many questions. I really feel that I am working with them to fix me. I hope they appreciate it:).

Round #6 chemo went uneventfully. Once I was on Benadryl,  I felt asleep. I then again slept through the whole chemo process. I actually felt a little bit rude to ignore all what was going on in that room. Hopefully I did not snore too loud:)

During the time whey they gave me premed for the chemo, I did some paper work to join another clinical study for mayo clinic. This study is more behavior study to link any life style and habit to breast cancer. I want to do as much as I can to help future breast cancer prevention.

According to American Cancer Society, you can take control of your health and reduce your risk of cancer by doing the following -

• Stay away from tobacco
• Stay at a healthy weight
• Get moving with regular physical activity
• Eat healthy with plenty of fruits and vegetables
• Limit how much alcohol you drink (if you drink at all)
• Protect your skin
• Know yourself, your family history and your risks
• Have regular check-ups and cancer screening tests

Unfortunately, I do all the above. Maybe I need to do more physical activities and loose more weight. 

I found a nice booklet at while waiting for my chemo that summarizes cancer facts for woman. Besides breast cancer as the most common type of cancer for women, we also need to pay attention to other types of cancers such as Colorectal Cancer, Endometrial Cancer, Lung Cancer, Cervical Cancer, Skin Cancer, Ovarian Cancer, that are also leading cause of death. You may find this guide useful too. Here is the website ...

http://www.cancer.org/Healthy/FindCancerEarly/WomensHealth/cancer-facts-for-women

It is time to get off the internet and go out for more physical activities. Bert and I plan to ride bike through out the town this morning to have some breakfast in downtown and shop around at the farmers market. It is a beautiful west michigan day out there. Enjoy!