It’s hard to believe that it has been two years since Suzanne’s life-saving / altering surgery, and one year since she finished her clinical trial. For those of you who are new, Suzanne chose to participate in a clinical trial after her cancer surgery. The trial is called PATHway, used a drug called KYTRUDA and she will have follow-up appointments for one more year.

This visit was her first to the new Rush Medical Center cancer facility on campus, the Joan and Paul Rubschlager Building. The new $450 million facility was opened in early February and is considered the premier Chicago-area destination for cancer and neuroscience care and provides a wide variety of services, including radiation therapy, infusion therapy, diagnostic imaging, integrative medicine, and expanded clinical trials. For Suzanne, this means all of her appointments and procedures will now be in the same building, well almost all.

Of course, like any trip to Rush, there’s always drama involved. This time 3.5″ of rain the day before posed flooding risks that might keep us from crossing the bridge west of our house. We watched the first semi cross the bridge around 4:00 am so we knew we were good to go, although we did take more major routes than our usual back country roads.

The new facility was just that, NEW. Everything was picture perfect, larger halls, larger rooms, and more space which of course meant spread out more. Blood work went off without a hitch and came back perfectly. Her CT wasn’t quite seamless, placed in a gown (never done before) in a cool room with all her belongings taken away meant she was cold, and alone and had nothing to do for a half hour for just a seven min scan. But, those results were perfect as well!

A sonogram of her Thyroid was also on tap during this visit. A year since her last one, Dr.s just wanted to be sure nothing unusual is happening there. Again, Suzanne’s luck, or should I say a disappointment in the staff, her tech took a long phone call in the middle of the scan only to come back to finish the remaining two minutes of the procedure. Couldn’t the tech have returned that call when Suzanne was done? Unless there is an issue, we don’t expect to hear about those results.

“HUGE!” were the words out of Dr. J’s mouth when I asked him what the significance of two years after surgery meant without reoccurrence. “And the odds of the cancer return diminish quickly from this point on” he added. Five years was the noted point where he would say she was cancer free, so three more years till the big celebration, but this was still music to our ears.

Her surgeon Dr. A. was the last appointment, and as Suzanne said to the tech that was preparing the scope for the exam, “He sure loves his toys”. He to was ecstatic with her progress and is referring her back to her old swallowing coach to see if a prosthesis may help her proceed in eating and speech.

All in all, this is just what we both needed. Assurance that she is closer to being cancer free and not having that threat looming over every decision we make. Knowing that every step she takes forward is not in vain but ensuring a long life ahead.

Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress.

1 Timothy 4:15