Six Years

We are back in Rochester this week for my annual Mayo checkup. As always, the visit started with a PET/CT scan and, as always, there was that familiar period of waiting for the results to appear in my patient portal. Luckily, the wait is only few hours from test to posted test results.

The report couldn’t have been better. There was no evidence of locally recurrent or metastatic disease. Even the small lymph node in my neck that has been watched over the past couple of years remains unchanged and continues to be considered reactive rather than cancer. I’ll gladly take those words every time.

Meeting with Dr. Thor brought another milestone. Since I’m now six years beyond my diagnosis and treatment, we discussed whether or not it was medically reasonable to stop routine surveillance. Hearing those words was both exciting and a little scary.

We discussed that while my risk of recurrence is much lower today than it was in those first few years, my cancer was a rare one and there simply isn’t a lot of long-term information available. I shared that these annual visits have become an important part of my survivorship. They provide reassurance and allow me to move forward each year with confidence.

After talking it through, Dr. Thor felt the best plan was to continue annual surveillance.

I left the appointment feeling grateful. Grateful for another year of good news. Grateful for the extraordinary care I’ve received from Mayo over these past six years.

Life is good.