To quote the Grateful Dead, "What a long, strange trip it has been." I went to see my oncologist on Monday. That in and of itself is not extraordinary. What is extraordinary is that he has now acknowledged verbally that the cancer seems to be gone and furthermore that the tumor may be disappearing all on its own (well, not entirely on its own since I'm taking 40 supplement pills daily, but he doesn't want to thear about that) and last, but certainly not least, I may not even need surgery. So...yes....I AM cautiously optiomistic. Next step is to meet with the surgeon and see what HE thinks. Obviously I am in for more tests - lab work and sigmoidoscopy either way, surgery or not, just to see what is going on. Cogitate on this, dear readers....what if I had just gone along with the doctors all this time? I would have already had surgery. Radical, permanent, life-altering surgery if I had listened to the surgeon from City of Hope. Temporary life-altering, slightly less radical surgery if I had acquiesced to the surgeon from UCLA. Wow. Scary, isn't it? How many people just put their lives, literally, in the hands of their doctors? So at this point, I may need no surgery, or possibly minimally invasive surgery without long term recuperation, maybe even cryoablation or laser ablation. Obviously I'm programing "no surgery" as the outcome. So far, so good. In conclusion, let me say, thank you. Thank you all for your prayers (don't stop YET) good wishes, kind thoughts and words, thank YOU, Jesus. I plan on continuing to give back and reach out to others who find themselves in this situation, to show them that there is hope, alternatives, resources, support. Stay tuned....