My last cancer treatment was December 17, 2024. It was a relief to be finished and not have to go to the cancer center every three weeks. Three months later, March 17, 2025, I had my first post-treatment appointment with the oncologist. At that point it had not been enough time for me to process everything yet, and my brain was not back to functioning completely (it is still not fully normal), so I was happy to see my wonderful doctor and have my blood drawn without having to stay for an infusion. The tests all looked good.
Craig retired in February and we had been thinking about what to do. Our children are grown and have their own families. They all live a few hours from us. We love them enormously and love spending time with them, but felt we needed some time to ease into retirement. We had been talking about serving a mission for our church and thought this would be a perfect time. My oncologist gave her approval, so in the beginning of May we got off an airplane in Vientiane, Lao PDR (Laos) to serve a humanitarian mission for 18 months.
It has been a great experience and we are happy to be here. We keep very busy renovating school buildings, building toilets at schools, drilling water wells, and teaching English to government workers. Our current favorite pastimes are the roadtrips to the different schools in the countryside. Because we have been busy I have not had much time to worry about my health.
The airplane we took to Bangkok was brand new, ours was its maiden voyage, so we were greeted with a banner when we arrived. It so happened that we returned on that same plane. No banner on the way back though.
Tuesday, September 2, Craig and I took a one hour flight to Bangkok for my second post treatment checkup the following day. The closer the date came the more nervous I became. There are too many stories about people who have recurrences, and even new cancer diagnoses, after their treatments. Because this was an initial consultation with a new doctor I was also concerned that we would not have time to get all the needed testing done before we had to go back home to Vientiane on Friday.
I should not have been worried about that. The doctor was at Bumrungrad, a hospital that we went to for medical care when we lived in Bangkok many years ago. It is a great hospital with fantastic doctors, and they take very good care of you. My appointment was at 11:30, and before I saw him to find out the results of the tests 6:30pm the same day, I had my blood drawn, a mammogram, ultrasounds on the breasts and abdomen, and an echocardiogram for my heart.
It was a great relief to hear that the tests all showed that I am still NED (have No Evidence of Disease). There were a couple of instances where I got scared - the mammogram technician called for a doctor who checked the results and asked if I had a mammogram after the treatments. She said there were a few small masses in the cancer breast. Apparently those documents did not transfer to Bumrungrad when I sent them electronically. During the ultrasound it showed it was calcifications. BIG relief!
The other scare happened during the ultrasound of the abdomen. This technician also called for a doctor who pushed the probe very hard where my liver and gallbladder are located. It turns out I have a few small gallstones and slight fatty liver 😮💨 I can live with that.
The time leading up to checkups is very stressful. Your brain plays tricks on you and you are convinced the cancer is back. You just know that every little ache and pain means that it has metastasized. I don't know if it gets less anxiety inducing with time, but I know some have this fear their whole lives. Time will tell how it will affect me. For now though, I am happy to still be cancer free 💖
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