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Breast Cancer Awareness

Pam's Journal: Dec. 16, 2002 -- Oh, What a Difference!

Editor's Note: 7NEWS Meteorologist Pam Daale is grateful to all of the viewers who have expressed their best wishes as she wages her fight against breast cancer.

Daale has chosen to use TheDenverChannel.com as her way of keeping the public updated on her health. New journal entries will be posted weekly.

I had my first of four treatments of Taxol on Wednesday (11th). Wow! I hardly feel like I had a chemo treatment! I was told that the side effects wouldn't be as bad as the Adriamycin/Cytoxin treatments, and they were right! I was just so glad not to have the "sneezies"!

I have felt a little of the musculo-skeletal pain (is that what it's called?), but it's nothing a little Advil can't handle. My doctor also warned me not to be surprised if I woke up at 3 a.m. with a sudden urge to clean my house. It wasn't exactly 3 a.m., but I did have trouble sleeping the first couple of nights.

I realize I'm only a few days past my first Taxol treatment, but I think I'm liking it (if one can actually LIKE their chemotherapy)! I did get e-mail from someone who said she knew of women who lost fingernails and toenails from Taxol. I suppose that would be weird. But I'm really appreciating feeling well so soon after the treatment. That in itself is worth the change!

I'm also quite thankful to be feeling good since this week we're traveling to Iowa to celebrate a wedding and Christmas. I have to pack when I get home this evening, and I was just thinking of how different that was going to be.

Things I WON'T be packing: hair dryer, curling iron, shampoo, conditioner, hair spray. Do you know how much space these things take up in a suitcase? I suppose I should look into the travel-sized hair stuff for when I do grow hair again. But for now I'm really looking forward to the extra space in my suitcase! Although now that I think of it, it will probably be filled with hats and scarves that I wouldn't normally take. Oh well. At least they're not as heavy as shampoos and hair spray!

We're going to be celebrating Christmas with both sides of our family. It's great to get together with family this time of year. And this year will especially be important. I've had so much support from family, although a lot of it has been long distance. It will be nice to see the faces that wrote the letters and sent the cards.

But most of all, it will be nice to share with family, the peace and joy this season brings. If you've been shopping for presents, you know the peace does not lie there. Nor is there joy in standing in line or driving in endless circles trying to find a parking spot. The reason we associate joy and peace with Christmas is in the name itself. Christ!

If you've been reading my journals you already know that I'm not angry about my breast cancer. Throughout the entire process I've had nothing but peace and joy. How can I do that? It becomes quite simple when you give up control and let God handle it. He created the universe and sent His only son to die for us, after all. So I think He's big enough for my problems.

Now if you're uncomfortable about this topic, don't worry. I won't be doing a sermon. I'll leave that to those who are truly gifted in that area. But it was brought to my attention this week when I was speaking at a Providence Network luncheon (Fabulous organization. Find out more about them at: ProvidenceNetwork.com.) That someone thought I had been given the gift of faith. I knew that God has always been faithful to me, but I had never really thought of it as a gift. I should have! And the thing is, the gift is available to every one of us.

The peace that gift gives me does surpass all understanding, and enables me to accept whatever comes my way -- breast cancer included!

You can e-mail Pam Daale at Pam_Daale@TheDenverChannel.com.



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