Results

Yesterday we received the results of Ron's latest CT scan.  It wasn't exactly the news we were hoping for but it wasn't bad either.  There is a small spot on his remaining kidney which is too small to identify.  It could be a cyst but they can't call it for certain.  I remember they saw this more than a year ago so it hasn't changed.  So that's a good thing.  There is also a spot on his lung that has been there for years and hasn't changed either.  Another good thing.  The recommendation is to continue scans every 3 months for another year and if all remains stable then it will be dropped to once a year.  I told Ron that he's had so much radiation I'm pretty sure he glows in the dark!

All in all it was very good news. So life continues.

Dr. C said that when we began this journey she would have said Ron had a 5% chance of surviving 5 years. That was in 2009 and we are well in to our 6th year.  I credit Ron's amazing attitude and the way he has continued living each day as it comes.   I've learned so much from him and only hope I could be as positive if I were faced with the challenges he has met head on.  

I'm humbled every time I go to the Oncologist's office.  We wait in the waiting room surrounded by people obviously fighting their own battles with cancer.  Women with headscarves covering their bare heads but always smiling.  There are old people and young.  Cancer knows no age limit.  It is a ruthless opponent but more and more battles are being fought and won.  It isn't the automatic death sentence it once was but it stills inflicts fear at the sheer mention of the word.

Ron recognizes every day how fortunate he has been.  Faced with a double edged sword.......his cancer doesn't respond to any other treatment other than surgical removal.  So in spite of 3 major surgeries he has remained unscathed.  He hasn't endured the side effects of chemotherapy or radiation.  He has lived a very normal life in spite of the disease.  Even though his prognosis was bleak the time he has had has been quality time.  As he reminded me, we are all dying but what we all we want is the highest quality of time we can have while in the process.