Cancer is a millstone, as well as a series of milestones for those of us lucky enough to get through the grind. After my diagnosis there was a progression of advancement akin to the Doppler effect. Things built up kind of slowly (three months of chemo leading up to my stem cell transplant), then the noise peaked (the actual stem cell process and resulting health changes/challenges), and then the activity level steadily waned as healing kicked in and normalcy slowly returned.
I recently had an appointment for my latest 3-month checkup. I'm thrilled to be at 3 months, and am looking forward to getting further and further stretched out - as things settle in and my meds level out, the need for my frequency of visits will diminish. In the middle of my 90-day duration between trips to CINJ to see Dr S, I'm still running up to their clinic for lab work to make sure my "levels" are all maintained and there are no charted M-spikes (sudden increases in the percentage of Myeloma creeping back into my blood stream; so far so good).
What's ironic about the benefits of my amelioration is that I miss my Oncologist, lead Nurse Practitioner and the whole support team. These are people who have been healing my physical and emotional ailments; administering professionalism and patience beyond my imagination. They have guided us through one of life's scariest situations and brought me to a place of healthfulness that fulfilled all of their promises and predictions.
So unlike that check-up with the dentist (all the scraping and flossing and lecturing) or that check-in with the internist or general practitioner (you need to lose weight, you need to get more sleep, you need to exercise more, you need to get off the blood pressure meds), this check-up is a welcomed visit - one I will both celebrate and miss as its frequency is decreased. I guess as the cancer gets better, I can now focus on getting my "crazy" under control.
