What I'm Doing Now...

So.

It's been about seven and a half months since my world was rocked to its very foundation. Seven and a half months of finding out my wife has cancer, finding out it had spread to a lymph node, finding out it had metastasized and gone into liver and bone, going through two different chemotherapy regiments, waiting...

wondering...

The first PET scan back in May showed her insides lit up like a Christmas tree. There were little pinpoints of disease throughout her spine, several spots in her ribs, the insides of her hip bones, and two spots on her liver. And that was not even including the breast part of the breast cancer.

After six treatments during participation in a clinical trial the determination was made that the chemo was working very well on most of the cancer, but there were parts that were still growing and not responding to the chemo. That chemotherapy went out the window, and a new one took it's place.

After six more treatments of the new stuff, it was time for a second PET scan to evaluate her response to the treatments.

When we went to the doctor appointment to see the results of the scan, I was amazed. It was clear that the chemotherapy had not completely gotten rid of the cancer, but all the little pinpoints were gone. The stuff in her hips was gone. The only parts left were a spot in one rib and one other small spot. Those are now being treated with radiation.

It's still scary as hell to think about. Metastatic cancer doesn't go away. It's never cured. But it can be beaten back to a point that you can live a mostly normal life. There are medications to keep it tamed. But, there will always be regular doctor's appointments and MRI's. There's always the possibility the cancer will show itself again. If it does, the process starts over again.

What it all boils down to though, is this...

For Christmas this year, I get to keep my wife.