NED!

CLEAN SCANS! NED! (No Evidence of Disease.) Whoo-hoo! I didn’t know how much I was worried until I got my results. “No evidence of recurrent or metastatic disease within the chest, abdomen, or pelvis.

I had been previously scanning every three months, and this time I went six. And I was dubious. It was a long time not to know what might be growing inside me. Every little twinge and pull and funny little pain…

John and I are planning a house remodel and planning trips for next year and in the back of my mind, I’m wondering…next year? That’s a long time from now. Anything can happen. Cancer, pandemic…we don’t know what next year will bring.

It’ll be several years yet before I’m completely out of the woods and by that time, as my good friend reminded me, I’ll “be old anyway”. LOL!

The report does mention “mild spondylitic changes involving the imaged spine.” That’s been noted before, and I believe it means arthritis. Fine, whatever. As long as it’s not cancer.

My scan was done just after noon today and my results posted in my patient portal less than 5 hours later. I could hardly believe it. Usually it takes several days. When I got an email message saying that there was a new message in my portal I figured it was some administrative glitch, like my visa rejected the charge (I haven’t hit my deductible yet this year, so it was out-of-pocket today).

I did not expect results this fast! I was almost suspicious – like did the radiologist actually look at my scans? I did notice that the cancer center was practically empty this morning, and I wizzed through the blood draw and IV and scan and everything in record time. Maybe they’re just finally not backlogged anymore. My whole cancer journey has completely coincided with the pandemic, so who knows what normal looks like.

Maybe life is going to get back to normal?

Leaving that cancer behind us.

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