I’m in a wonderful little space right now. I am. Last Monday I took my first blood lab in four months. This was my first lab since I was pulled off both chemo and the two previous drone radiation treatment. Plus, Dr. Showalter ordered up a PSA specific Pet Scan. One one-hundred and twenty days with no chemo or radiation treatments.
On Wednesday… Dr. Showalter and I conferred about the results. I will admit I was nervous because in no way did I want to go back on chemo. The infusion chemo is like being put into a near state of death, then slowly waking back up and returning to life 96 hours later. Plus, I like having hair. I’m not one of these fake tough-guy macho Oklahoma warriors who drive their Ford 150 pickups around with their head shaved like they’re fff-ing Yul Brenner or something. I enjoy having hair.
Dr. Showalter smiled, said, “You’re in complete remission. Your PSA has continued to drop. In fact, it’s dropped so low it’s under the lowest metric of measurable PSA on the scale. Your cancer is gone.”
Then he showed me the PSA scan. Perfect with the writing in the lower left corner…’Patient is in complete remission.’
I exhaled, in a good way, and then asked, “Does this mean I won’t see you any more?”
“Not the case. Every three months we’ll continue with the PSA blood lab and the Exeva shot to to continue to repair your bone marrow,” Dr. Show replied. ”
Thank you, Dr. Showalter. Seriously, thank you for everything. It was a journey. But in the overall picture…I’d say it was one which has made me a better human. I somewhat needed a reset of sorts. Thank you for giving me a chance to get to know my grand-children.”
“I’m happy for you, Mike. That 1,212 is a number we’ve all been talking about around here for awhile. This was something special. Enjoy your life.”
“We will. I’ll see you in December.”
The Stage 4 cancer journey is on a different path for the time being so I’m done writing about cancer for awhile. Plus, I watched Trinidad Chambless and his mother last night on the ABC game…additionally my twenty-two hour protest statement strike against college football has ended as well.
Love,
Mike J