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

Now that I've hit the half-way point in my treatment, I'm looking ahead to my next 4 treatments of Taxol chemotherapy.

I almost said looking "forward" to my next treatment, but I don't know of anyone who looks forward to their chemotherapy, even though we know it's killing those nasty cancer cells! But I have been told that the side effects from Taxol aren't as bad as the Adriamycin/Cytoxin (AC) treatments.

The main side effect from Taxol (or maybe it's just the most obvious difference) is neuropathy. Neuropathy as a side effect from Taxol is defined as numbness, tingling, or burning in the hands and/or feet. If that does happen to me, I'll have it only half as bad as most folks since I can't feel my feet anyway! (There are benefits to being a paraplegic!)

And like the AC treatments, I have a prescription for medications that will help lessen the side effects of Taxol. For AC treatments I took 5 pretty pastel pills just before the treatments were administered. For Taxol, I'll take 5 pills 12 hours before treatment, and 5 more pills 6 hours before treatment.

Since my appointment is 9 a.m., that means I'll be setting my alarm for 3 a.m. to take the last dose -- yippee! But I'm just thankful there's something that can help the side effects. I can sleep anytime, anywhere, so the 3 a.m. wake-up call will be a minor inconvenience.

The other side effects are similar to that of AC, including stomach upset, vomiting, mouth sores, lowering of the red and white blood cell counts, and hair loss, although I can't lose much more hair than what's already taken the leap off my body!

My husband looked at me this week and said, "You lost your eyebrows!" Well, they aren't completely gone, but yes, they're hard to define these days. I tried to "hang on" to my eyelashes for as long as possible, but they too succumbed to the toxins. I shouldn't say they're gone. They're just really, really short.

And I just don't understand that hair thing either. Like, why is it that I have to keep shaving my legs? And my head -- what's left is still growing!

The Bible says that God knows the number of hairs on our heads. Well on chemo, I might at least be able to figure out the number I have left. There's an average of 10 hairs per square inch, so if I knew the total area of my scalp, I could figure it out. They're just there, sticking up like peach fuzz on a newborn!

What really makes me scratch my almost-bald head is, if the chemo is going to kill my hair, why doesn't it kill all of it? And why did it turn the roots black before they fell out? And why does it come back curly and in a different color? And why don't the leg hairs fall out?! Too many questions, not enough answers, and probably not important enough to care about anyway!

One thing I am going to ask my doctor about this week is why some women get all three chemotherapy drugs at the same time, and what's the difference.

I spoke with someone this past week who was getting AC in conjunction with Taxotere (which I will be switched to if I don't tolerate the Taxol) once every three weeks. She had only one treatment so far, but was doing quite well.

If you're someone who is newly diagnosed with breast cancer and you want more information about the drugs you'll be receiving, you can just search the Internet. I did a search for the specific name of the drug, and usually, either the drug maker's Web site came up, or a site completely devoted to the drug popped up before my eyes.

I know that sometimes too much information is overwhelming, but these sites usually had easy info as well as FAQs.

So this week I head into a new era of my treatment. It is a journey after all! My next writing will let you know what it's like. Until that time -- keep getting to know your breasts!

Pam Daale
The Happy Cancer Patient

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