Hey everyone,

I wanted to wait until all of my appointments were done before posting so I knew exactly what was going on, but here is the latest update.

This last weekend I went up to Mayo for my first scans since my radiation finished up earlier this year.  Since apparently radiation keeps working  long after the last application they wanted to give it a couple months before checking in. 

Anyway, on Sunday I had a CT scan and I am happy to report that things are looking good!  According to both my oncology and radiation teams there is nothing in these initial scans that has them worried about recurrence or spread since treatment.  There were some areas of inflammation but they said that was pretty normal after radiation so that was not unexpected.

Now, for what that all means.  Because of the type/location,, and the fact that we aren't able to do surgery to entirely remove the cancer that is there, the chances of "curing" this thing are very small and there is a pretty good chance that a recurrence could happen.  Essentially we will be in a stage of monitoring and maintenance going forward.  BUT, on the plus side, the radiation and chemo treatments that I have done so far have been about as effective as we could have hoped at this point.  Because of this, they are giving me a couple more months off of treatment before my next set of scans at the end of July.  This is huge, because the more time I can have between treatments the more my body can recover and regain strength and I can just generally maintain a better quality of life.

Also, probably most important is the fact that... I GET A SUMMER!!! It seems like forever since I have been able to enjoy the few warm months that we get up here without feeling sick or stressed.  I plan on taking full advantage.  We have some trips planned and I will soon see how my golf game has held up over the long break.

So there it is.  It was a good trip with good news this time.  We will be in touch when I go back in at the end of July to give an update but for now I hope everyone has a great summer and if anyone wants to golfing just let me know!

Love you all and God bless!

Dan