I was diagnosed with stage 2a rectal cancer last October, with a T3 tumor. I did 6 weeks of chemo/radiation in December and January and had my surgery on May 11 to remove most of my rectum and a good bit of the sigmoid colon. I am now doing four months of oral chemo. My WOC nurse gave me a good analogy for thinking about the chemo. She said when you bake cookies, no matter how well you scrape dough out of the bowl, you still wash the bowl. She said the chemo treats any microscopic traces of cancer which may well have survived my surgery despite the lack of lymph node involvement. The chemo sucks for sure. It is exhausting and my hands and feet are burning from the toxin leaking from my capillaries into the tissues of my palms and soles of my feet. But this is temporary and will end in mid-October. Then it's a question of when a reversal surgery might be scheduled and all of the uncertainty of that outcome...

These are long roads that we travel in cancer treatment. I agreed to the chemo because it is ultimately manageable enough and I want to minimize risk of return or metastasis. I'm 63 and feel like I'm healthy enough overall to recover to a new normal after all of this. The thought of recurring cancer is one that is more daunting to me than the chemo. But I know that this is a choice that is very personal and also depends on the specific chemo and its short and long term side effects.

So, as a Quaker school head, I am holding you all in the Light, as Friends say. This is not easy but I know too that we are all growing in various, mysterious ways from these experiences. Hang in their, friends!