I was due back for my yearly check-up but I dreaded seeing the surgeon due to his reaction the previous year. I was surprised this time around when he seemed to give up on reprimanding me and instead accepted what I had done. I guess after two years, the fact that I looked good, felt great and everything checked out well there was nothing he could say except, "Well it looks like this thing you're doing is working for you."

A little over two years later (Wow, time flies!) I had the port removed. This chapter of my life is officially closed. It was a quick procedure, start to finish about 2.5 hours. Aside from slight pain and stinging, I was as good as new. While at the hospital as the nurses prepped me, they found out why I was there and congratulated me. One of them asked if I was in remission but I immediately corrected her and said I didn't use that word. "I've been cancer-free for two years" I explained, and in the past two years "remission" was a word that was not part of my vocabulary. Using it would mean that the cancer was still in my body, asleep somewhere ready to come back one day. I was not going to let that happen.