Uneventful can be a good thing

So here we are, Monday, September 10 marks ten months since that dreadful day I first heard the word, “cancer” in regards to my health. I remember hearing that “I think we found cancer” statement like it was yesterday. Crazy that it has been 10 months … so very crazy! Every 4 weeks for the last 10 months, I visit the oncologist’s office at the UCSD Cancer Center. Every 8 weeks, I get a Contrast CT Scan. This past Monday (Sep. 10), I got yet another Contrast CT Scan to check on the status of my cancer. This time around, I did great with Scanxiety (anxiety that comes leading up to / around scan time). Actually, no scanxiety leading up to this scan. But later that same scan day, it hit me I had not heard from my Nurse Practitioner (NP) … and so many times before, they text me the same day to give me the good news on my scan. So of course, at about 7pm that day, I realized I had not heard anything … thus my mind starts racing. Trying to keep my mind from racing can be a challenge! I definitely don’t like the dark places my mind goes. Happy to report, Tuesday morning I heard from my NP and all is stable, which is good. Sure, I would love to hear that there was shrinkage, but my oncologist and my NP told me long ago, that getting news that my cancer is “stable” is good news in their eyes. I totally understand that, but that does not change the fact that I have very high aspirations of achieving NED (No Evidence of Disease). Then later on Tuesday, I saw my thyroid doctor, yep, I am hypo-thyroid too. My doctor is great. I got to share with him my latest and greatest since I only see him once a year, I had to inform him of my new normal in regards to my cancer. He was funny, acknowledging that compared to lung cancer, I am probably not so much concerned about my thyroid. I told him that unfortunately, yep, he is right. He asked about who my oncologist was, I told him Dr. Bazhenova. He was very familiar with her. Then he asked what I found to be a very interesting question, he asked how often I actually get to see her. He acknowledged how in demand she is / how big of a name in lung cancer she is. It felt good to hear this about my oncologist … especially since I told him I probably see her every 4 out of 5 appointments.  I went on to say how great both she and her team are. I have said this before and I will say it again, I am so over the top stoked on how great of a team I have! So that brings us to today … yep, same routine: drive to UCSD Cancer Center, get blood draw, Xgeva injection, visit with Dr. Bazhenova, visit with my Clinical Trial person, pick up my Afatinib prescription for the next 4 weeks, fall behind on work as I am at the Cancer Center for about 2 to 2.5 hours … yep, pretty darn routine, pretty uneventful. But given the cancer is under control and it is not growing – I will take “uneventful” any day! So all good for the next 8 weeks! Yep, living 8 weeks at a time, my new normal. Thank you all who are subscribed to my blog. Have a great rest of the week and of course, as always … F’Cancer!