Monday, May 23, 2016

A Milestone Passed

It was an early morning to venture out, but Dad had an important appointment to make that required blood work to processed first. Not only was it the last time we’d see the fellow who treated him for cancer, Dr. Chalasni, it was the official two year checkup after finishing chemotherapy.

While we are sad to see her move on to bigger and better things in another state, the results were negative for reoccurrence which is something to celebrate. At the two year remission mark, the odds of this type of lymphoma coming back drops dramatically. Now Dad only needs to go back every six months instead of every three months.

It is amazing how much his battle with cancer along with all the complications consumed so much time and energy. Most of the past two and a half years are a blur to me, ironically confirmed when I visited the optometrist later in the morning. The last time I’d been there was before Dad wrecked the Subaru which was the beginning of the travails.

So it is nice to be able to record this good news, especially after a hard month dealing with problems associated with his vent tube being removed from his stomach. Multiple runs to the ER and clinics made it seem like the bad old days were back for awhile. Thankfully that is now healing and the old man is once again mowing the yard with a push mower.

That’s a far cry from the skeletal figure that looked a moment away from death’s door two years ago.