Progress is steady. Progress is slow, but deliberate. That's just how this progress is. It would be nice if progress just happened, immediately - poof - Cancer's gone! It doesn't. Thursday I had an MRI. My Oncologist called later that day to say it all looked good. That way I could avoid a weekend full of worry while waiting for our Monday meeting. Monday I could actually see the image. I could see the slow progress the shrinking tumor encapsulated.
That's right. There is still tumor in my head. Surgery removed most, and all the surgeons felt comfortable removing. Then an informed group met to discuss a joint recommendation for proceeding. They determined and recommended that cutting out what remained posed too great a threat at that time. They therefore recommended attempting to treat with a host of other tactics - chemo pills, radiation, and a clinical trial drug - before proceeding with more surgery that could potentially devastate. And that's the path I chose.
So I took to an array of other treatments with bi-monthly MRIs to monitor the progress. First large reductions in size, then a reduction of image boldness, and now another smaller reduction. All continuing down a path of less tumor.
It's now been 8 1/2 months or so since my recent surgery. Most days I take 12 pills. Five days in a row a month I take an extra four to five a day. This May I will again have to determine how to proceed with treatment after assessing my situation. 12 months of treatment seems like a long time. It would be nice if my tumor could just be dealt with in the blink of an eye, in a split second. But it can't. It actually takes quite awhile. It's a slow and deliberate process. But so far it's one that steadily achieves progress.