The Word "Unremarkable"

When one thinks of the word "unremarkable" what comes to mind? Go ahead come up with an answer, see what it is. I think of boring, not noteworthy, staid, steady, usual, unexciting. If someone were to describe you or your loved one as unremarkable, I bet it would be at least a little bit insulting to your sensibilities. It sure would be to mine! I don't think anyone wants to be known as unremarkable.

However, when dealing with the world of CT scans, PET scans, and MRI's while searching for evidence of cancer (the beast), the word "unremarkable" is the holy grail of words. All us of cancer types crave this word on the radiology reports when they provide the evaluation of our scan films. The "unremarkable" word can send us into tizzy feelings of giddiness, unending smiles, large sighs of relief, tears, and it can provide a new lease on life. I have been awaiting this word ever since Drs TR & Sch as well as Tricia RN at NIH told me they can not find the cancer beast that was thought to have returned. Unfortunately, the 3-phase-super-di-duper CT scan did not provide the "holy grail" word, but rather the more frustrating word "inconclusive." So, off we went to get an highly focused MRI of my liver as another attempt to get an answer. An answer which would be remarkable no matter what it might end up being. Yesterday afternoon I received the results of that MRI.

I was sitting at my desk at work when the phone call from Tricia RN came in. She said that my MRI came back unremarkable and then went into a bunch of details which I tried to focus on. I kind of got lost in what was being said so I had to ask her to clarify things. Then clarity showed through, the fog lifted, the confusion dissipated. Tricia RN said that the results of the liver MRI show no sign of cancer. I had a clean MRI. Not inconclusive not so-so, but rather unremarkable ... clean ... no cancer indicated! Tricia RN said that in her line of work they don't get to give out good news often enough, and this was indeed good news. Talk about understatements! She then faxed me a copy of the MRI report which states "the liver is unremarkable." Never have there been better words written as a descriptor of me!

I waited until this morning to provide the answer to the blog because I wanted to tell my kids, mom, sister (and her family), Lori, Joan, David, Pete, TJ, Janette, and some other folks first.

As a reminder that this is still an ongoing adventure, and to be extra cautious, NIH wants me to return in one month to repeat CT scans of the chest, abdomen and pelvic area; a PET scan of the torso; and another MRI of the liver. This is actually appealing to me (in a demented, twisted sort of way) in that I want to stay on top of "the beast" and continue to keep it at bay. That way I can claim overall victory some day.

For those that may be curious, NIH also reviewed the Kaiser CT scan and Washington Hospital Center PET scan again and believe that what was picked up was waste material in the bowel as opposed to a cancerous mass. Tricia indicated that this possibility was mentioned in the original reports from these scans.

So, I continue on this cancer adventure striving for unremarkable. I hope that my fellow cancer fighters that I have been talking to (Tom K, Mary, Sheri to name a few) will get to "unremarkable" and some others (Toby, Molly, Judith to name another few) will be able to stay at "unremarkable." Its a pretty great place to be!

Life is Good .... even if described as unremarkable sometimes.