The Merits of the Case

My plan is to spend some time cozying up with my computer today in order to get caught up with some posts that have been bouncing around in my head for the past couple of weeks. These holiday weeks have been a whirlwind of family and friends, visits and parties and lots and lots of cooking and eating, and have forced me to leave any writing by the wayside. Now I have four days of vacation left before school starts so hopefully I will have some time to get my thoughts on paper…or in this case, the screen...before it all starts over again.

I actually had time to write one sentence on December 27th…"I met with the radiation oncologist last week." He assessed my progress physically and we talked about how things were going. His diagnosis is that I am doing well and I am on track to see him again in six months. It felt strange to say goodbye and to know that I wouldn’t be back for such a long time. His office has been one of my favorites. Obviously I’m happy that I don’t have any medical reason to go back, but I will miss the doctor and nurses there nonetheless.

A week later I was scheduled for my post-treatment diagnostic mammogram. I scheduled it for mid-day on December 26th and in hindsight that was the right way to do it. I was so busy in the days leading up to the appointment that I hardly had time to think about it, which was good because I was much more nervous about it than I wanted to admit. I was afraid that it would hurt since my tumor site is still rather tender, but I was also terrified that they would see something else, that maybe there would still be cancer there. The last time I was in that office was right after I found the lump back in April and the news wasn’t good.

The nurse was kind and chatty and told me all about her ovarian cancer scare as she bustled around taking pictures. Her attitude put me into cocktail party conversation mode, so I didn’t have much of an opportunity to think about the last time I was in the same room. And it didn’t hurt any more than a regular mammogram. The worst part was that she had to keep taking some of the images over and over and over again because of the amount and depth of scar tissue in my breast. Apparently it is difficult for them to see what they need to see because of it, and this is something that I will always have to deal with.

Once it was over I left the hospital and put it all out of my mind. I knew there was nothing else to do but wait for the results and I didn’t want to spend my time worrying about what they might be. I didn’t have long to wait, however, because Patty from the oncologist’s office called me a day or two later to let me know that the results were good. There is no cancer indicated on the films. According to all the available technology of the day, I am truly cancer free. And I think that’s a great way to end the first post of a brand new year that I am hoping will bring nothing but clean scans, good health and blue skies.