Dear Friends & Family

Hope this latest blog finds everyone happy and well. I know it has been a while, but here's the latest...

Brad and I had a wonderful time in Florida. We did absolutely nothing but put our feet in the sand, bask in the sun, and spend time with our great friends, Rhonda, Tracy, Rita, and Larry. The week I returned home I had another Pet Scan...which indicated no cancer was present! This was the best news I could hope for. My oncologist and I have however decided on three additional rounds of chemotherapy (she calls it "icing on the cake") just in case there are any cancer cells hiding, waiting to pounce on me again. My two year prognosis is looking better. At two years, she says we'll ask for five. I'll take whatever I can get!

In any case I start the first round of chemotherapy tomorrow (Monday). This time I will be in-patient at Presby for a day and a half. I should get out some time on Tuesday afternoon if all goes well. I will have 21 days between chemo rounds. The chemo will be more extensive this time and the first drug, Taxol, takes 24 hours...it's injected very slowly. The second drug, Cisplatin, takes a few hours. These are the same drugs I had before just in heavier doses.

I have visited Dr. Li...an MD trained Chinese Medicine doctor. He used acupuncture on me and gave me some pills to take to boost my immune system. I liked him a lot and will see him every two weeks. I am also using some mind over matter techniques to make sure my head is in the right place and leading me toward recovery. Weekly massages help too.

I promise to keep my friends and family updated more frequently...it has been, as you can imagine, a difficult and challenging time the last few months. All in all I am feeling very well. I have felt especially good (almost normal) the past couple of weeks. It has been wonderful! In fact I spent time at the office last week and hope that I can do more of that over the next few months. My plan is to remain on medical leave until the 2nd week of August, but work as much as can between now and then. We'll see how that goes.

Thanks to all of you who continue to send me cards, call, stop by, bring us food, etc. You are truly an amazing and wonderful group of folks. Thank you for caring so much about me.