No Nodalities!

My wonderful sister has this analogy about living with cancer. Which I think I've reported in an earlier posting on this blog...

She says that living with cancer is living on a roller coaster. Sometimes (like after a "clean bill of health" from your doc), it's like the car getting pulled up to the very top of the hill. And before you know it, you're on the downward slope (like the doc saying things like "We were surprised to see that..." or "We'll want to run that test again..."). And the key to maintaining mental health is just to remember that every down is matched with an up and vice versa.

So, after yesterday's disappointment, don'cha know that Deb and I paid a visit to our Ear/Nose/Throat doc, who carefully fondled the entire site around where the primary tumor was found. And he announced that he had found no nodalities.

Which means no bumps in doctor-ese.

Which means that nothing significant has grown in the primary site (that is, my left cheek/jaw/neck area) since treatment started.

As with the last time he did this and found nothing new, there are (at least) two ways to look at this: one, that the cancer is entirely removed and nothing is there to grow. Two, that any growth has simply been retarded by the radiation and chemotherapy.

But at this point, it really doesn't matter. His having found anything would have been devastating. But he didn't find anything. And that's what counts.

Somebody say "Amen!"