N.E.D.!

Today I had my second followup exam which included a PET/CT and there is still NO EVIDENCE OF DISEASE! Deep exhale. Thanks to all those who were crossing their toes - you can uncross them now. I was lucky to make my scan at all! - For some reason I had it down as being on Friday in my calendar, but the nurse called and reminded me that it was actually Thursday - doh! I was out in CA on business trip, but I was able to change my ticket (and not miss too much fun) to come back on the red eye Wed night. My friend Liz saved the day by offering to take me to dinner and the airport. We did not get knocked off the Richmond San Rafael bridge by an earthquake and she hooked me up with some Ativan which turned out to be key to sleeping like a baby in seat 6C all the way back to Boston.

NED is very good news and quite a relief as recurrence is most common right after treatment. They asked me the usual questions and if I was fatigued --I told them well, yes, I'm really tired right now because I'm straight off the red eye but I did the Pan Mass Challenge a couple weeks ago so I think I'm feeling pretty good! They were like, well then, I guess you're ok! They suggested a physical therapist who specializes in underarms :) who will hopefully help with mine as it's still kind of tender and has some loss of motion. They we're also somewhat concerned about my Thyroid levels being low - it's probably too early for the radiation to have effected it, but the chemo might have as well, so I'm going to start taking some replacement therapies that will hopefully help and may even give me more energy -wo hoo! I'll have another followup in 3 months where they won't do any scanning and then after another 3 months I'll have a CT scan only. They'll do CTs every 6 months after that for 2 years and then 1ce a year for 3 more years. Going back to the Farber was kind of tough. I was definitely nervous about the scan and the smells and sites of that place bring back too many bad memories. The crazy amount of check-in procedures and long waiting times still make my blood boil, but the doctors and nurses behind all the desks and lines are still as fantastic as ever.