Saturday, November 30, 2013

PTscan Tuesday & thankfulness

I will be having a PTscan this Tuesday to see whether I am still NED.  I know that my tumor markers are still normal; so, I have a sense of peace going into this one.  If cancer has returned, then at least we will have caught it early, and whatever will be will be.  With that said, I still would appreciate your thoughts and prayers about the scan.

With thanksgiving this week, I thought I would pass on a few things that I am thankful for:

1. Knowing that my liver was clear of cancer in 2008 -- That may sound weird, but I've had several people ask whether my stomach problems about 5 years could have been related to the cancer.  Last week, I went to my gastroenterologist, and he confirmed that I had a ctscan in 2007 & 2008 along with an MRCP of my liver in 2008 that showed that it was clear.  I didn't realize how much that had weighed on me as to "did we miss something back then?" until I got those answers and saw all of those reports.  It was like a cloud of guilt/worry lifted off of me.  Also, it tells me that it grew in a 4 year timeframe or less which just reinforces how lucky I am that things were addressed and done as they were.

2. It has been 16 1/2 months, and I am still NED (at least for right now) -- I don't dwell all the time on the numbers/stats, but sometimes something happens to remind me of how long it has been,etc. This just makes me feel fairly confident that my name will not be a part of at least that first 18 month stat.  I will probably be doing a little jig on January 17th when that day hits. ( Of course, it would be an FC legal jig.)  I feel very strongly that the prayers of so many people have been heard to get me to this point, and I can't neglect mentioning being thankful for that.   I am feeling really good right now, and I am so thankful for that as well.  

3. I have gotten to spend time with or will be spending time with soon so many friends and family members. -- We all have so many friends & family members that we don't see very often, and it is very important & precious to me to get to spend some time with them whether it is a quick meal or getting to spend several days together.  Several people have taken time out of their schedules in order to make sure that that can happen recently, and I truly appreciate that. 

While that isn't the list of 30 that so many have done recently, I am thankful for so many things, and these are just the "biggies".  I hope that everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving.