7 weeks down and some weird stuff

I rang it too, but felt nothing for it. I didn’t have the sense that I’m done, and now I can go home and everything will be okay.

I agree, the techs were a bright spot for the whole process.

mattamx said...
I didn’t have the sense that I’m done, and now I can go home and everything will be okay.

It pains me to say this, but I sort of feel the same way. I hope I’m wrong

mattamx said...
Pratoman,

I think there’s good reason to believe your outcome can be better than mine. I hope it turns the right way for you too.

Thanks Matt, I hear what you are saying and I know you’ve got a tough road, and pathology. For me it’s just a feeling. You know this disease, it’s bizarre and always full of surprises.

Hoping the best for both of us

There was no bell at my treatment center, just a waiting room full of guys I'd come to know who congratulated me and I wished them luck. The front desk gave me a form letter congratulating me as well. It was a relief to finally be done, but otherwise was just a normal day.

I was literally shocked when my first PSA came back at zero. I had already been thru one other cancer scare in the period between ending RT and that first PSA. Then this latest scare just weeks after my most recent PSA.

And my wife is still on AS for NHL. Upon her final chemo, the bell was almost an afterthought. Her infusions took all day so most of the staff had left, and we still had to return the following week for the mandatory spinal infusion that was part of her protocol. And I had eaten a sandwich from the lunch cart that made me sick for the days between her two infusions.

So it seems there is was no real beginning and truly no end to the story. It just keeps adding more chapters. We are fortunate to currently be in one of the quiet spells, wondering what may be next, but always consider ourselves very fortunate that we were both treatable and so far are in full remission.

I know for a fact that many others here are going thru or have been thru the same uncertainty. I'm not sure that ringing a bell would have changed anything.

I never rang the bell, although my technicians wanted me to. Before I could do so, I was whisked off to meet with the doctor. When I emerged from the doctor's office the technicians were busy zapping their next patient. The reception area was empty so I just left. I didn't mind not ringing the bell because I wasn't feeling particularly celebratory. I began to feel more like celebrating a year later when my psa came back undetectable.