Downey in "Summer Romance" with NED

Houston, TX  I am getting good at these attention-grabbing headlines! Don't panic: Joe Carpenter is my one and only, true-forever love. But since my initial diagnosis, I've had this unrequited crush on NED, who for the past couple of years didn't seem know I even existed. Well, this morning, I finally got his attention and he turned my way. Folks, meet NED:

No Evidence of Disease (NED).

The radiology report was clean and read:

• "No evidence of new metastatic disease in the chest, abdomen or pelvis."

I have been waiting to hear "NED" for quite some time, and it's music to my ears. Here comes my kill-joy caveat; NED does NOT mean cured or cancer free. It means only exactly what it says. So keep in mind, courtships with NED are long and he's fickle. MD Anderson will continue to scan every 3 months until it looks like I can pull off a long-term relationship with NED, and these scans put me officially 3 months into a 2 year trial period. After that, we'll move to 1x/year for 3 more years. In total, it takes 5 years of NED before they'd cut me loose.

With the caveats out of the way, let me say my family and I are over-joyed. Cautiously optimistic and over-joyed. This summer, we will feel the giddy, crazy, care-free exuberance of this budding and hopefully permanent relationship. Next stop is back-to-school time in September. That's when MDA will weigh in on if NED and I can graduate from summer fling into a longer term relationship.

The most sincere "Happy Summer!" to you all.