Cured!

Well, it's official. I'm cured - or as the medical people put it, I'm in "clinical remission." Cancer's gone. It's time to get back to normal life - whatever "normal" is - I'm not sure I really know anymore. But I am happy about everything. I never had any doubts that my treatment would be successful, but it is great to know that it's officially over.

Those of you still following this blog know that I haven't personally posted anything in a really long time. The last chemo treatment and the subsequent recovery period took a lot out of me. But more than that, in the last several weeks it has been difficult trying to make the transition from cancer patient to normal person. My biggest mistake is that I tried to make the transition too soon. I figured that I'd be my normal self within a few short weeks after the last round of chemo. I was wrong. So, I've taken the last couple of weeks to really just lay low and let my body (and my mind) recover from all the chaos it's been through in the last several months.

Perhaps my biggest discovery is that after 4-6 months of inactivity, inactivity has become the status quo in my life. I kind of feel like I have to learn how to be a normal, functioning member of society all over again. It took me roughly 20-some odd years the first time - hopefully it won't take that long the second time. I'm back at work, re-involving myself in church-related activities, and trying to be helpful at home. I still need to figure out how to find time for exercise, leisure and paying the bills. It's kind of a slow process, but bit by bit I'll get there. It's hard, but it's not dramatic-hard like cancer. It's boring-hard.

I almost feel like I need to say goodbye to all of you. I mean, this blog isn't going to die or anything - Skye is a faithful and dedicated blogger. But to be totally honest, I'm not sure that I have it in me to be a true blogger. Providing cancer updates was a compelling reason for me to post - I appreciated the fact that people wanted to know how I felt and how I was doing. But now, I'm not so sure I have any particular messages for the world. I don't know. I obviously want to stay in touch with people - I'm just not convinced that blogging is the right forum for me to do that. We'll see - I'll keep an open mind about it and see where it takes me. Maybe I'll leave the family updates to Skye (since she's good at that and I think she likes to do it) and I'll post random thoughts on occasion. Actually, at some point in the near future, I'll probably post some post-cancer thoughts and reflections. So, stay tuned if you're interested.

Anyhow, I guess I am saying goodbye in the sense that I'm saying goodbye to cancer and goodbye to posting updates about my fight against it. There's no more fight. It's over. I win. Today is a good day.