I'm in remission - which is nice

I went to the doctor for the results of my month 12 check up and found
out I'd reached molecular remission. News I'd been hoping desperately
for and which when delivered left me completely cold. In fact more than
cold the news left me bizarrely flat.

Apparently it's a very common phenomenon and for a wide variety of reasons; you've been the centre of attention and now everyone says 'that's fantastic, wellI'll get on with things now'; having had the attention of doctors, consultants, clinical nurse specialists, trialists, counsellors, fellow patients and on and on, they all suddenly move on and your left to get back on with your life; having decided to live
your life without limits and without regrets suddenly you're back with
a normal lifespan out ahead of you rather than a life that may end any
time now.

For me I think it's more complicated, the drug I'm on in all it's wonderful wonderousness, is an inhibitor. That means that it stops the process of mutation of
the disease. What the drug doesn't do is kill the cancer so that it
never comes back, or at least gives you a damn good chance of it not
coming back. So the disease is still there - but it's under control. So
for me remission could just be a stopgap.

Anyway a week on I do feel positive, not ultra positive but positive none the less. I guess one of my problems is that I have a very even personality, the diagnosis never really hit me that hard, so why should it be that the really positive prognosis
make me feel any more euphoric.

As I said at the start. I'm in remission - which is nice.

Listen to John Grant

I went to the Iris Nation seminar round 'Under the INfluence' a very thought provoking day in conjuncation with Contagious Magzine that explored some of the hot topics and trend within the development of the marketing and advertising industry. Anyway if you look in my sidebar you can view John Grant's seminar (I'm sure he wouldn't call it that). If you have a spare hour to hear a very interesting perspective on marketing, consumerism, ethics and responsibility then watch.

You can read more of John's thoughts here on the greenormal blog.

and if you really are interested in hearing more cutting edge marketing stuff check out this for around 17 hours of real thought leadership (well if you're in the industry or have a passing interest - if you're not you'll probably think it's very fluffy - having said that check out Paul Kemp Robertson the editor of contagious magazine he really knows what's happening and about to happen)