Happily dancing along

Whew!  The last couple of weeks have been very long, and that culminated today with an oncology follow-up.  I was nervous about that appointment for a couple of days, so the extra 2-hour wait felt long as well.  Since my parents had been traveling, I hadn't seen my mom in about three weeks, so at least we had some time to catch up ... and it was actually nice being out of the office.

I love it when they get right to the point and don't beat around the bush, asking how you're doing, what vacation plans are, etc.  I closed the door and the first thing out of the nurse's mouth were that the blood work is looking 'amazing'.  CA125 was down to 12-point-something, which is the lowest it has ever been.  throughout chemo the lowest ever was 17.8, and had then hung around the mid-20s for the last few month.  That number is also a relief to have low.  Rising levels indicate that a recurrence will follow.  It's like a bad thing saying hey, you can still feel perfectly well now, but in a week or 10 months you'll be feeling like crap.  Does one want to know that or not?  Calgary offers the test, but it's not in the Alberta or Canadian cancer guidelines.  My mom likes to know. A low number, while it could be totally different a week from now, is a bit of a reassurance that currently things are most likely ok.

Then it was Dr. A. that came in, and again he said how things are currently looking 'fantastic'.  He absolutely refused to go into survival rates, saying to just focus on each day.  In a way I agreed that he might have a point: if only 5 out of 100 patients end up cured, but they tell all those hundred patients that only five will be ok, it will cause all of them unnecessary stress.  As we now know, stress and cancer do not mix will.  Do absolutely anything possible to decrease any stress.  While he examined my mom I read the chart from last time - and all that sounded good too.   

Next appointment isn't for six months, which is such a change from the almost daily vists there for some months.  The focus will now also shift to foods and other complementary things that may play a role - foods that boost one's immune system, etc.

So, tomorrow will hopefully be an easier day before hopefully having a full day in the mountains on Saturday.  Conditions have worsened, and avalanche condions may even be a concern for Indefatigable.  I'm still itching to get out, and even if safety wants it cancelled, I'd be up for heading out and assessing the conditions before switching to an alternate.  Last week's Ribbon Lake was good, and I want to keep those mountain weekends going.  They're good therapy :-).

And speaking of good things, after the hospital today I decided to actually park at work.  As luck would have it, a man just leaving gave me his parking ticket which was still good until almost 5pm.  I've been doing that at MEC, so it's nice to see that people do it elsewhere as well.  It's the little things that make things more pleasant for everyone.  Thank you, whoever you are.