Livestrong

When Steve was first diagnosed with rectal cancer, my sister sent him the Lance Armstrong support guide called Livestrong. It was packed with useful information about tracking your medical treatments, organizing your records, and stories from survivors about their very personal battles with cancer.

It had never occurred to me that this could happen to him. He's the healthy one - strong, youthful looking, muscular, athletic, vegetable-loving. I'm the one with the breast cancer family history, overweight, bad eating habits, etc.

But it was Steve cancer picked and Steve who now fights it daily. Five weeks of chemotherapy and radiation were suffered through in preparation for surgery next month. The goal was to shrink/kill the 2-inch tumor enough before surgery so that the surgeon will not only be able to remove all the cancer with "negative margins" but also have a better chance of being able to reconnect his bowel and avoid a colostomy.

The medical team says things are "looking good" and who knows what that really means. In this diary, for friends and family, I'll try to keep a journal of this next leg of the journey to living strong with cancer or without it.