Spring is in the Air

The days here are getting warmer and with it comes good news. The last cycle has been so good that it proves that chemotherapy (for now, at least) is not such a slippery slope. I have had an incredibly pleasant last cycle, where I mostly felt normal, with occasional vomiting of course, though this has just become expected background noise at this stage. I had my first CT scan since my initial diagnosis the day after my last chemotherapy session and heard back within hours from my oncologist that the news was good. This was something that absolutely no one - including, considering her reaction, my oncologist - expected. When we met she said she braced herself before reviewing the results and saw no indication of any secondary tumours in the lungs or liver and my primary tumour, which was initially measured at 18mm in diameter, had reduced to 16mm. No one, least of all us, had expected this. I had been so resigned to the news being bad that I had not even given the results a second thought. This means little except that the cancer had so far reacted very well to treatment and that we can cease the current chemotherapy course at the start of November and I will hopefully, depending on how the tumour progresses or spreads during the chemotherapy holiday, have a four month holiday from the hideous chemicals, side effects and fortnightly day long sessions in hospital.

Who knows yet what the future holds? I yet hold out hope, though everyone whom I come across who has known someone with this particular disease has also seen them die, and not believing in miracles my hope is coupled with the realistic idea that there is not long left. I am four months into my final two years, unless I hear otherwise. That said, the present is bright and happy.