Drum roll, please

Before I get to the real news, I have to tell you my latest medical prescription — Ben & Jerry’s. Mayo has the best dietician in the world.  I’m still losing weight and I can’t finish a round of golf without feeling wiped out midway through, so I talked to the dietician. All during treatment, she told me to focus on calories and protein, which I’ve been diligently doing. I never even looked at the other graphs on the fitness app. But now that I’m healing, she told me I have to eat MORE CARBS – bread, potatoes, fruit. (Unfortunately, that statement was mixed in with words like malnutrition and malnourishment due to weight loss and dire results if I don’t listen to her, but as someone who loves carbs, I only heard the part I wanted to hear.) And being the analytical person I am, I looked up the nutritional value of a few of the foods I’ve been eating lately.  My first comparison — Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to a nutrition drink. The ice cream has a few less calories, 5% fewer carbs, and 10% more fat.  So actually pretty similar. Hmmm, let me think about this – Ben & Jerry’s or a nutrition drink?!?

OK, now the real news. I’m writing this part right after my 3-month post-treatment checkup with the radiation oncologist.

The six months since my diagnosis on September 25, 2020, have seemed like 6 years.  During that time I (we) have had horrible experiences and many heart-warming ones.  The good ones helped carry me through the bad ones.  Ever since we first started my treatment plan, I have thought each and every day about my first post-treatment scan — the PET CT that I had yesterday, that shows whether this treatment plan worked or not.  I’ll have scans every few months for a while, but this first one is really big, and the results are in. 

So without further ado…

In the words of my radiation oncologist:  “It’s a celebratory day.” “You should be happy and excited.”  “This is the best case scenario.” “You did all this hard work, now you’re seeing the fruits of your labor.” “THERE IS NO EVIDENCE OF ANY MALIGNANCY.” 

Those words were incredible to hear.  It’s been a couple of hours now, and I’m getting ready to see my medical oncologist for another checkup. The words are still echoing around in my head.  And bringing a big smile, even though no one can see it under my mask here in the waiting room. 

We’re home now, and it’s been about 8 hours since Suzy and I received the news. I’m really not sure what to think. Even though I talk about the power of positivity, I spent a lot of time thinking of what I’d do if the news were bad, so my brain isn’t quite as prepared to accept good news. It’s actually hard to switch over from this person who had cancer to this person who doesn’t. It’ll take a while to wrap my head around it all.

Thanks again to Team Fleury for supporting us during these crazy months. Love you all. I really want to thank everyone for their prayers, good thoughts, calls, texts, emails, etc.  It’s a hell of a thing to go through, and your support made it a bit easier.  Of course, I want to thank Suzy for all she has done over these past months, and Lee, Heidy, Eric, and Irene for their support and love.

I’ll have some follow-up appointments here and there — like checkups with the dietician to make sure I’m eating enough Ben & Jerry’s — but basically I’m released to freedom!