Encouraging news from my four-month checkup this week: no evidence of disease on my latest scan and everything is healing nicely. Phew. What a relief!
Combined with favorable pathology results, this means that I will continue to hold off on radiation and keep it in reserve should I ever need it in the future.
It also means that I get to graduate to an annual checkup schedule, and — fingers crossed — in that time get back to life as normal. For the most part, I do now feel back to normal, which is just amazing to me all things considered. The body’s ability to recover is nothing short of miraculous. Happily, though, “normal” now includes being a parent of two with the recent addition of our daughter Sasha, now eight weeks old :)
Not long ago, I hoped against hope for this outcome. To now be living it is surreal and happy in the biggest way. Not only am I savoring this moment, but I once again feel like I have much to look forward to, and, with the increasing pace of chordoma research progress, a real chance to outrun this disease. That is truly priceless.
In the coming year, we will get results from three or four clinical trials, several more promising drugs will likely move into clinical trials, and — thanks to some very generous gifts this year — the Foundation is poised to scale up the pipeline we’ve built to rapidly identify and test new treatment approaches.
It feels fortuitous that just as my personal sense of urgency has been upped significantly by this year’s events, the Foundation’s ability to accelerate research is increasing to match it.
Who knows how much more time I’ll have to run this race, but I feel really lucky to get to continue to stay in it for now.
I’m filled with gratitude for everyone who has made this moment possible and who has supported me and Rachel in ways big and small through one heck of a year. Here's to good health, togetherness, and only more minor challenges in the year ahead!