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.

BREAST CANCER See Pam's Story Her Struggle From Her Husband's Perspective Pam's Last Chemo Treatment E-Mail Pam Spread Word Survival Stories Myths and Facts Cancer Quiz Risk Factors SELF-EXAM How To Do It Diagrams How Do You Check? How Often? ARTICLES: Fitness Center For Patients WEB RESOURCES: Susan. G. Komen Foundation National Alliance Of Breast Cancer Organizations Breast Cancer Info National Breast Cancer Organization National Breast Cancer Coalition

Thanks to Thanksgiving, I had a wonderful week. I actually cooked my own turkey, made the famous green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, and a friend of mine provided the bread.

My family consensus was to have something chocolate for dessert, so I made a mouth-watering chocolate cheesecake! Notice anything missing? Now I know I'll never be the cook my mom is, but I am getting a reputation. What's missing is the stuffing. If you have turkey you have to have stuffing, right? Well, it was stuffing this year, last year I forgot to get the frozen rolls out of the freezer. My sister whipped up a terrific cornbread at the last minute.

I'd like to blame this year's omission on chemo brain, but since I'm creating a history, I guess I can't do that. And pathetically enough, I didn't even realize I forgot the stuffing until I saw the box on the shelf the next day! So I guess I can also be thankful that no one else noticed either!

It was just our little family, and my daughter says she doesn't even like stuffing. So I guess it wasn't that big of a deal. Had my stuffing-loving brother been over, I would probably never hear the last of it!

I was also able to get out and exercise a couple of times this past week as well. I'm still feeling tired, but it did feel good to get out and get the blood pumping.

And speaking of blood, I had to get mine checked on Friday. Another bit of evidence that the chemo is working was that both my red and white counts were low. For anyone who's ever had chemo, you know that the blood count is especially important. Because the chemotherapy chemicals don't know the difference between good rapidly-dividing cells and bad ones, it attacks them all. Along with the cancer cells, blood cells are also hard hit by the chemo chemicals. Before you can have a chemotherapy treatment, blood counts have to be at a certain level.

Each time I've had my treatments, my blood cell count has dropped below the acceptable levels. In the past, a person would have to delay the next treatment until the counts came back up. That extends the time you have to spend going through the treatments. Now, thanks to modern medicine, shots can be administered to boost the bone marrow's ability to produce those cells.

After each treatment I've had to have a shot for both my white and red cells. My white cells were the first to go, and I was given a shot of something called Neupogen. Simply, it tells the bone marrow to produce more white blood cells. My red cells have also been low, and for that I get a shot of Neulasta. It stimulates the bone marrow to produce more red blood cells. Because of these shots, I have not had to delay my treatments. Each time, my counts have rebounded well enough to keep me on schedule.

The drawbacks? It hurts like mad when it's administered. I get a tiny little poke in the back of my arm, but the liquid burns when it goes into the muscle. Good news is it only burns for a few seconds, then it's gone. It can also cause pain in the bones. I felt that a lot the first time and had to pop a few ibuprofen. But the recent ones haven't been nearly as bad, and Tylenol easily takes care of any pain I might have.

I've talked to a few women who've had breast cancer in the last 5 years, and these shots were not available to most of them. It's amazing the breakthroughs that have happened in the field of cancer treatment in only the last few years.

Gene testing is one of them. Having been tested positive for the mutation in the BRCA1 gene, my concern is for my daughter. My hope and prayer is that breakthroughs will continue, and not only in the realm of treatment, but also in prevention. In 15 years when she'll be at the age where she has to start making some decisions, who knows. It may be a totally different issue.

But I am thankful that I'm receiving my treatment the way it is. I'm sure you've heard the horror stories of people spending hours "bowing to the porcelain throne;"others who couldn't get out of bed for anything other than nature calls. Things have changed a lot in chemotherapy treatment. It's still not a piece of cake. But thankfully it's not the burnt cookies of yesterday either!

Early detection is key in preventing the need for chemo. And if there's a history of breast cancer in your family, you might consider having the gene testing done. It's an expensive procedure (up to $2,000!), but the peace of mind can be "priceless" (sorry master card).

Check with your insurance company. Because my mom had breast cancer, my insurance company paid for it. If they don't listen to you, have your doctor talk to them. There's been controversy over the gene test and women who've had bilateral mastectomies on completely healthy breasts. But if you, or someone you know is going through chemo, you can understand that decision. Here, prevention is the key.

So ladies, if you don't want to have to go through any of this, are you getting to know your breasts? Until next time...

Pam Daale
The Happy Cancer Patient

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