[orthodoc]

It does make sense, Bruce. I'm very relieved that it wasn't the worst case scenario, definitely. The trouble with breast cancer is that it's more a chronic disease than anything else. You don't get pronounced 'cured' at five years, you're in remission but you're never cured. Your risk of recurrence goes down at that point but recurrences or mets still happen as long as twenty, twenty-six years later. The sooner a recurrence occurs, the worse the outlook, so counting off the first five years does lead to a big sigh of relief. But it tends to come back at some point.

I'm not worried about that right now, though. My post-chemo head-to-toe scan is in July, and I'd be extremely surprised if something showed up. I totally expect to be NED (no evidence of disease). It's this chemo brain that's getting me down. I worry that it won't go away, worry about how it'll affect my work and life. But worry never solved anything, so I have to practice more Zen breathing.