Happy New Year 2010!
I had a blood draw, head & neck CT scan, and clinic visit with my oncologist on 12/30/09. My health remains stable. My doctor used a term in his follow up written clinic report with which I was not familiar. He said I was in "clinical remission." Up until this point, I had been in a state of "no evidence of disease (NED)." I can not find an exact definition of clinical remission, but I infer from my Internet searches that it means the following: as a result of my ongoing treatment, my disease is not detectable. He has left me on a daily chemo drug, 100 mg of Tarceva. There are limited guidelines as to how long I should continue this treatment, but since I am tolerating it well, the risk of a cancer recurrence outweighs the current side effects. My next scheduled visit is in three months.
As to my psychological state, I feel trapped, both physically and mentally. I could write about this, but for now, I'll leave it at that.
Take care and great health during this new decade.
Ed
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1 comment:
Good news on the disease front -- every new "no remission" finding, while more of the same, should mean -- but does it (?) -- that the probabilities of recurrence are declining? I hope so, but probably not so! As for your psychological "feel trapped" state: you and I've talked about that, need to talk more about ways becoming "untrapped". Easier said than done ... but worth keeping at it (as you probably have been, and will continue to!) Love, Dad
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