The word "remission"

I was watching "The Bucket List" tonight on a DVD.....and Jack Nicolson made a comment about him being in cancer remission....and my heart suddenly sank. I thought "my God, I have to live through that to be able to hear myself say in 5 years... "I am in remission". The thought scared me. The thought that I now have that  in my story.... it is absolutely mind blowing. Never in my wildest dreams, never.