I'm Clean!

I got the results of my PET scan back this week, and as far as that is concerned I’m clean of any further cancer. That’s one thing PET scans are used for, to detect cancer in the body, and nothing showed up. So nothing showed there, nothing showed up in my lymph, so as far as we can tell I’m clean of cancer. I’m down with that!

The only thing they’re concerned about now is the possibility of recurrence. To that end I’m taking part in a study that is looking at molecular markers in the tumor. In sixty percent of patients these markers are not present and those are considered at low risk for recurrence. If that be the case then all that is required is observation. I’ve been told by my surgeon that I’ll need a colonoscopy every year for the rest of my life, although after five years they may back off to once every other year. Oh well, it sure beats the alternative. I’m certainly thankful for the reprieve.

You know, when you get cancer you have a choice about how you’re going to approach it. Anything that I’ve ever read said that it’s better to keep a positive attitude about it as opposed to a fatalistic dread. Don’t get me wrong there’s always the mental battle, and it’s easy to spin an imaginary future that ends in death since cancer is terminal if not treated. When I was growing up getting a diagnosis of cancer was like getting a death sentence. Things are different today. People are beating cancer all the time. In fact, the vast majority of cancer diagnoses have survival as an outcome. So it would seem more realistic to keep that in mind as the outcome of your bout with cancer. The fact is you don’t know one way or the other what will happen if you’re treated. It’s you’re choice which outcome you will imagine. You might as well make the best of it.