Cancer Update

I've decided to update my blog more often (at least twice a month hopefully), so if you want to hear my ramblings about life, death, faith and cancer, please check back.
Today's cancer report... Stable!! In my book, that is great. No spread to other organs. No sign of new growth in the bones. My blood counts are stable too (down by one point, which isn't much to the doctor, but still feels great to me). So we are going to maintain the course and continue with the current hormone therapy.

While I'd love to hear the doctor tell me the cancer is gone, I've come to realize that may be a near impossibility with bone mets. The bones are just a difficult organ to assess. Mostly they look for holes in the bone, but they can't really see tumors like they might see in other organs. It's a bit daunting to fight an invisible enemy (even more invisible than other cancers), but at least this gives enough encouragement to keep fighting!

I was wondering coming into today's scan if my efforts are worth it, especially my diet. Talking to the doctor about the limited info these scans offer, I'm realizing that the best assessment is actually how I'm feeling. And I feel good. Not awesome, but good. And slowly and steadily improving! Plus I am almost entirely free of a whole long list of common cancer symptoms. That's enough for me to carry on.

Footnote: We shared a ride to the airport with 2 other cancer patients today. Both have been fighting stage 4 cancer for a couple years. Both got bad news this visit that their cancers have spread to additional organs. Both were discouraged. Sure makes "stable" sound that much better! But why does anyone have to go through this?!