In today's issue of the Salt Lake Tribune, my mom and her treatment were featured in the front page story on breast cancer. I have copied the text from the story below or you can CLICK HERE to read it from the Salt Lake Tribune web site.
Today was also the day I went and shot my first classifier match for IDPA. I shot about as I expected and ranked as a Marksman (the second of a 5 level scale).
Wife finds camaraderie helps ease pain of chemo
Stories by Carey Hamilton
The Salt Lake Tribune
Hooked up to an IV delivering cancer-fighting drugs, Kaye Neilson asks a woman across the room a very personal question.
"Have you had gas? It's been terrible for me. I'll be standing at work talking to someone and you can't stop it. That's the most humiliating thing."
The women are in the chemotherapy treatment room at Utah Cancer Specialists in Salt Lake City, which has the feeling of a beauty salon, with chatty men and women lined up in reclining chairs.
Except many of the women here don't have enough hair to style. They are sick, and some may eventually die from their diseases.
On this day, Neilson, 59, undergoes her second chemotherapy treatment since being diagnosed with breast cancer in July. She will stay here almost five hours, with her devoted husband, Brent, at her side. She already has made friends with several of her fellow patients, and they share stories about life with chemo.
"I couldn't believe my hair started falling out after one treatment," Neilson said. "When I discovered my hair was falling out, I was in the bathroom and looked down and said, 'Oh my goodness.' "
When the hair on her head began coming out in clumps, she asked her husband to shave it all off and then she began to wear scarves and hats on her bald head.
She and her newfound comrades at the treatment center were prepped by the staff about the possible side effects of chemo before they started, but they were still surprised by the unpleasantness.
Along with hair loss, Neilson has experienced a metallic taste in her mouth, numbness in her feet, sleeplessness, mouth sores, nausea, depression and anxiety.
"Your emotions really do run the gamut," she said. "I wasn't ever a crier, but now I am. It happens to other people I've talked to as well."
Her doctor prescribed antidepressants to help steady her moods.
Surgery to remove the tumor left her right breast smaller than the other, but she's not going to get breast implants. "I could have reconstructive surgery," she said. "But at my age, I'm not interested in doing that."
She worries about her husband's reaction to the cancer and feels guilty that he has to dote on her.
"He is constantly asking if I need anything," she said, as they hold hands. "He's my support team."
She reads and the couple talk. But one of the best ways to pass the time is to gab with her neighbors.
"We're all here doing the same thing," she said. "The people here are all friendly. We all have the same problem we're trying to overcome."
One of every eight women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. Thanks to science and charitable organizations such as the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, which has raised nearly $600 million over the past 20 years, most will survive.
After chemotherapy, Neilson underwent six weeks of radiation, which she finished this month. Her hair is starting to return, and she is relieved the regimen is over.
"Once I got over the chemo and went into the radiation, I started feeling better," she said. "When I first started chemo, I wanted to die. Now I admittedly can say I can go through this again without a question."
We got in about midnight last night from the 
In August of 2003 Ashley had this great idea to join 