One down ... Eleven to go

I'm staring to look at this like training for a half marathon and today was my first treatment of 12 ... kind of like the first mile. It wasn't that painful and I didn't have any reactions. As my training continues, like marathon training, I'll have sores and pain and there will be days it will be difficult to get out of bed. I know this going in. Hopefully, this training plan won't be so sweaty and my laundry won't stink so bad.

The nurses continue to be thrilled with my progress. For measurable results, my tumor responded well to the first four treatments and I'm at a 2.5 x 4.8 tumor with about 2mm shrinkage in the last two weeks. The tumor is also much softer. It's not measurable, but my nurses are shocked that I'm getting out so much, working still, walking 3-4 miles a couple times a week and helping with the girls. I'm lucky I was very healthy going into this but I think I owe all the success to the prayers of my family and friends. Like a friend from Houston recently wrote, God must have big plans for you and it'll be exciting to see what they are.

We are heading out tomorrow. I miss traveling and getting out so I'm thrilled to see the big water. And, Jeff is just plum stir crazy staying here in Raleigh so much. So, he and the girls will camp and I'll head to my B&B tomorrow night. I'm really excited although I have everything I need here at home. Jeff continues to be handling this really well. He's always going to the grocery or pharmacy, he's handling more and more chores and meals, bath time with the girls and lots more. The girls are handling the extra stress and inconvenience really well. They picked strawberries today with their friends Simon and Steph today. Tomorrow we have Mother's Day tea at preschool. They are very excited to take me and I understand there is a survey about each mother where they had to guess our age and favorite television show and more. I am a littler nervous to hear those answers.

And, in other big news, by the end of the weekend we will likely achieve $5,000 in donations to our Race for the Cure team, Ann's Fans. We're nearly halfway there. We still have lots of room for more family and friends to join us. If you have not checked out our team page recently, there's a photo of my fuzzy head ... http://race.komennctriangle.org/site/TR/Race/General?pg=team&fr_id=1070&team_id=21701

And, here's my public service announcement for the day ... if you're close enough squeeze your mom really hard this weekend and thank her for all she's done. I hate I won't get to hug my mom but I'll definitely call her to say thanks for being such a good role model and an inspiration for the last xx years. I don't know how I'd get through this without your calls, cards and faith in me. Thank you. I love you dearly.

Hugs,
Ann