7 July 08 The Final Entry

Gentle Readers,

This morning the surgeon who did the biopsy reported that he could neither feel nor see any cancer. This was confirmed by his 3rd-year resident.

At the end of June, the radiologist, too, thought it was gone. It is such very good news. As with any cancer, it is, of course, impossible to know if it is all gone. I choose the view that it is gone.

I'll continue to see these two doctors and the oncologist for several years and they'll continue to watch for recurrence.

The port will come out in a few weeks.

So now it just remains for the bowel and bladder functions to return to normal. They're getting there, poco a poco - little by little. I'm impatient but I know it is likely that there will be complete or nearly complete healing and it is going to take months. The skin peeled off and new skin grew back quite quickly compared to the time it's taking for internal healing. There are worse things than the occasional Depends or pads days. I'm grateful that on the whole my body has responded well to the brutal treatments.

Thank you caring about me during this ordeal.

Affectionately,

Betsy