A clean scan! Three months down...hopefully a long lifetime to go...

Just back from my doctor's appointment at Emory. The CT scan shows no signs of recurrence of the cancer. Candace and I are elated!

The good news doesn't stop there: my white blood count (my immune system), which had been at 1.7 and then 2.0, jumped all the way to 7.4! The normal range is 4.2 to 9.1, so I am smack-dab in the thick of it. While my platelets dropped a little, they are not in the critical zone and this type of drop is less of a concern than my whites. Other counts looked great: Hematocrit (46.7%), Hemoglobin (16.5), RBC count (5.04).

I'm going to get scanned in three more months, and hope for the same result. In the meantime, I have to get a CT scan of my sinuses this Friday, as I've had chronic sinusitis for several months now. I will see an ENT doc to try to figure out what's going on. Since my bowels have been a bit unpredictable (read: irregular and irritable), I am probably going to have to see a GI doc. The sinus and bowel 'problems' are minimal in comparison to the good news related to recurrence and white blood counts!

God has carried me through some fearful nights this past week. All the scenarios running through my head of a possible relapse were playing like a double-feature in my head. At one point, I even remarked that this post-chemo period has been more challenging from a fear and trust perspective, as one fully expects to feel crummy during chemo... but not for months and months after the chemo has ended.

I walked the Light the Night event this past saturday and, of course, didn't take a camera. My feet were burning in pain, but I completed the entire 2-mile walk and enjoyed it thoroughly. Each person was a given a colored balloon: Red for family/supporters, white for patients/survivors, and gold for a lost loved one. There was a sea of red balloons, a few white ones, and many gold ones. Lots of people don't make it. Like Richard. I walked with him in mind, and his name written in marker on my shirt. It was a moving event.

My employer is still on the verge of a major restructuring, or bankruptcy. This is great news. Why? Because coming 'back' to work has been such a nice thing, given the temporary holding pattern we're in. Whenever I feel unproductive or like I'm not 'where I need to be in life', I am reminded that there could've been NO BETTER TIME IN MY LIFE, or even the series of world events, for me to go through chemo and recovery.

The opportunity to see the 'good' coming out of this, and the invitation to give all glory to our God, abounds at every single turn in the road. I am so, so grateful.

Next post to include a Dude (cat) video. He is working on a trick that he wants to share with you.