Time to PARTY, despite my expiration date.

Great news! The scans show nothing new. The spots they thought might be suspicious last time are nothing. Furthermore, the spot on my right rib is stable in size and now looks like merely a fracture rather than a fracture with cancer in it. The spot in my left lung has decreased in size slightly and is “less substantial,” meaning it’s starting to get mushy instead of being solid.

[picapp align=”right” wrap=”true” link=”term=stick+out+tongue&iid=5162192″ src=”4/9/4/3/Closeup_of_a_d73c.jpg?adImageId=10732918&imageId=5162192″ width=”234″ height=”450″ /]Conclusion of the scan report: “Overall, no sign of progression of disease. Continued surveillance of the left upper lobe changes is appropriate.”

This is about as good as it gets at this stage. So, since what we’re doing seems to be working we’re going to stay the course for three more months. Unfortunately, that means I re-start chemo next week. Then I’ll  have a PET scan to see if things are still looking good. The hope is that I will then be released into the general population.

I recently had a life insurance actuary give me an estimated life expectancy based on my diagnosis. If I were to believe what the actuary came up with, my expiration date would be “Use or freeze by Autumn 2013.” I was getting very paranoid that he might be right and getting myself all worked up about these scans. I think I’ll prove the actuary wrong. So nya nya nya Mr. Actuary. Here is a raspberry for you: