MONTREAL - Only weeks after beginning treatment for thyroid cancer, Anthony Calvillo was very happy to report Friday that he is feeling good and ready to begin his off-season training.

"Anthony will require close follow ups for many years to come, but in this type of cancer the outcome is generally very good," Alouettes team doctor Vincent Lacroix said at an Olympic Stadium news conference Friday.

And with the retirement of his longtime running mate Ben Cahoon on Wednesday, Calvillo also quashed any concerns about his own playing future by announcing he's signed what amounts to a two-year contract with the Alouettes.

Calvillo, 38, announced in November, just moments after winning the CFL's top prize, that he had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and would soon be undergoing treatment.

In December surgeons operated on Calvillo to remove his thyroid, and he underwent his only required radiation therapy treatment on Wednesday.

"I feel great and my doctors are satisfied with my progress thus far," Calvillo said.

Calvillo's illness was diagnosed by chance, when he was sacked in a game against Winnipeg and took a hard hit to the sternum.

While undergoing a battery of tests doctors discovered a cyst on his thyroid, and a biopsy later revealed it to be cancerous.

"I could truly say that was the only hour where I kind of sat back and had negative thoughts and felt sorry for myself," Calvillo said.

The situation was compounded by the fact Calvillo's wife, Alexia, successfully fought b-cell lymphoma in 2007, but ultimately that familiarity may have served the couple well in coping with the bad news.

"We knew not to jump the gun and let our emotions get the best of us because we knew that this was a disease that was highly, highly curable," Alexia Calvillo said. "It would need a very minor course of treatment and we were confident that he was going to make it through."

The quarterback says he will start his off-season physical training on Monday, and be ready to go by the start of training camp in June.

Calvillo had one of the best seasons of his career last year while leading the Alouettes to a second straight Grey Cup championship.

He completed 380 of 562 passes (67.6 per cent) for 4,358 yards with 32 touchdown passes and just seven interceptions all season. His quarterback rating of 108.1 was a league-best. The 2011 season will be Calvillo's 18th in the CFL and his 14th with the Alouettes.