Happy New Year 2010!
I had a blood draw, head & neck CT scan, and clinic visit with my oncologist on 12/30/09. My health remains stable. My doctor used a term in his follow up written clinic report with which I was not familiar. He said I was in "clinical remission." Up until this point, I had been in a state of "no evidence of disease (NED)." I can not find an exact definition of clinical remission, but I infer from my Internet searches that it means the following: as a result of my ongoing treatment, my disease is not detectable. He has left me on a daily chemo drug, 100 mg of Tarceva. There are limited guidelines as to how long I should continue this treatment, but since I am tolerating it well, the risk of a cancer recurrence outweighs the current side effects. My next scheduled visit is in three months.
As to my psychological state, I feel trapped, both physically and mentally. I could write about this, but for now, I'll leave it at that.
Take care and great health during this new decade.
Ed