[Lori R]

Dear Laurie,
I was so sorry to hear about the biopsy results. Your post just transported me back 2+ years. All I could think about was my daughter and being there for her.

Here I am almost 3 years later, with more and more treatments available with each passing month.

Fear of the unknown is the worst part...So a little taxotere info.

It was VERY manageable. You will probably take decadron (a steroid) on Wednesday, chemo on Thursday and a follow up round of decadron on Friday.

My sisters came to to sit by me fully anticipating that I would be in bed. We ended up going to lunch and shopping on Friday. At 3 p.m. on Saturday (could set your watch), the decadron started to wear off and I became kind of weepy. Sunday was emotionally challenging, so I kept busy and made sure that I wasn't alone. On Monday morning, I would wake up my old self and ready to go to work.

You will be able to attend all of your children's events and be an engaged active mom.

But...take your friends and family up on the offers to make dinner and help clean the house.

Side effects for me were; lost hair (boo hoo), sensitivity to spicy food, sensitive finger nails, slight fatigue (mainly due to the emotional aspects).

I am thinking so much of you and would love to make the process easier for you. If you have any questions about how to deal with taxotere, just post them.

You can do it!!!!!