Ten down, five to go

I visited my oncologist on Monday, and it's all good news.

The CT scan turned out really well - all 7 lymph nodes have shrunk, and are either undetectable, or "normal", which means smaller than 1 cm. An "optimal" response, according to my doc. The chemotherapy is working very well. After a discussion with my doctor, we've decided to tack on an extra three sessions of chemo after the next two, which mean instead of having two more, I have five more, taking me to March 6.

There's a small hope that the extra chemo will knock the cancer out completely (about 10%, if you like statistics), so I'm trading off feeling like shit now for the hope that it goes away, or I go into remission for longer. I'm shooting for the long tail here, people, the end of the bell curve that either manages to get cured, or lives for a reeeaally long time. 20 or more years.

Fact is, I fall into a little bit of a statistical crack - somewhere between a regional recurrence and a metastatic recurrence. Regional would be confined to the axial lymph nodes, or in the area of the first surgery. A true metastatic recurrence would have shown up in another organ. The further I drill down into the statistics, the less they seem to apply to me. So, truth is, there's no way to predict how I'm going to do. Now, they treat me as if it's metastatic disease, just because I've already used up some treatment options - can't do any more radiation to that are, can't do hormone therapy. But I've dug around, and have found very few discussions of a recurrence like mine. So I think I'll just plan on being an exception to the statistics.

Spirits are good, I think Kevin is more worn down than I am. If you are local, take him out for a beer or a hike.

Love to all,
grundy