That magical little word!

I heard the magic words today! I'm in remission! My cancer scan came back completely clean (it always has) but the really awesome news is that my tumor markers have gone from 4.5 in 2010 to 3.5 in 2011 and now 1.1 in 1012!! This is virtually unheard of, as this number is supposed to go up, not down. However, with the advice of my doctor, I started an immune boosting, cancer deadly diet in 2010, and my tumor markers have consistently gone down since then. While I am not "cancer free" because my tumor markers are still positive, I am in remission and have received my green light to start work as a professor and even to adopt (although that is not in our immediate future, as far as we know).

My doctor has never seen someone go all the way back to zero once tumor markers are positive. I will continue to pray and be vigilant about my blood sugar control and healthy food intake, with the hopes that I will be one of the lucky few for whom this miracle occurs.

I will no longer need to take radioactive iodine for the foreseeable future, unless my tumor markers go over 5 at some point. This means no separations from family, none of the nasty side effects, and an end to the rising risk of secondary cancer due to the radiation damage. It means hair on my head, my immune system will be able to finally direct it's healing energy to my other health problems, and an incredible sense of joy as I finally become as SURVIVOR instead of a thriver! I will still have annual cancer check-ups to test my tumor marker level, and will still require the expensive injections to reverse the cancer suppression meds once a year in prep for those labs. Unfortunately, this is the one cloud in the sky: no getting ahead of our health care bills, as we will continue to max out our high deductible insurance every year in January when I get the injections ($25,000 a pop).

Thank you, everyone, for your vigilant prayers and sweet empathy. It has been almost 4 years now...4 years of fighting, feeling miserable, and constantly facing separation from my family. I am out of the woods now, running out into the field of sunshine!

How wonderful, how beautiful, when brothers and sisters get along! It's like costly anointing oil flowing down... It's like the dew on Mount Hermon flowing down the slopes of Zion. Yes, that's where God commands the blessing, ordains eternal life. (Psalm 133: 1-3)