I'm already home again from Asheville. The tests turned out even better than expected-- the node in my lung that they've been monitoring for months, unsure whether it was a blood vessel or something else, has now been declared most definitely a blood vessel. Suddenly, I'm entirely cancer-free. I don't think it's really set in yet that the horror of the last year is actually over, and that all that remains are my continued check-ups (the next one is set for early September). The clinic, as always, looked as much like a retirement home as it did a hospital; all through my treatment I never saw anyone my own age and the other patients always gawked at me like they resented me. Before treatment it was because I was too young, during treatment it was because I looked worse than any of them, and now after treatment it's because I'm healthy again. The unity of the cancer community is nothing if not heart-warming. At least I was able to hang out with Bec and Monica while I was in town, which is always a blast.