Some of you know that I’m being treated for cancer. It is going well but in consultation with the surgeon and oncologist we, yes we, decided on a year course of Opdivo immunotherapy.
This can have some serious side effects, but the ones I got are annoying, an itch rash and the lost of some tastes. I lost salt and umami (savory). I will continue to receive these infusions every 2 weeks until March.
But happy day! I am gaining some of my tastes back.
So lunch today was two beautiful sunny side up fresh eggs, buttered rye toast and sugar free marmalade with a cup of coffee.
I did salt and pepper the eggs in the skillet, more pepper than salt. It was yummy.
Going through cancer treatment can be a bear, Luis. I had excrutiating pain for 3 days after every chemo treatment, and neuropathy in one foot that went away after a couple of years. Itching can drive one crazy, and I would hate the loss of taste, but glad you’re not getting any worse problems.
The one good thing about it is survivaI, which many of us do nowadays. I sincerely hope you’ll join us long-term survivors, Luis!
This is my 2nd time. about 15 years ago prostate cancer. It was surgically removed successfully at an early stage. My PSA test have been unmeasurable low,
This time bladder cancer, Chemo, surgery and the immunotherapy. I had little trouble with the chemo. The first round, oh hey, it was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, anyway I was quite nauseous on Thanksgiving day, took the anti nausea drug and slept the day away.
I quite smoking about 20 years ago and thought I had dodged the bullets, good lung and heart functions, but they don’t tell you that the main cause of bladder cancer is smoking tobacco.
It looks good. They sent the tumor tissue to Signatera with blood samples. That lab does sequences the DNA of the tumor and looks for that DNA in the bloodstream. I’ve had 4 of these, all negative.
My husband has had prostrate cancer and esophageal cancer plus 3 skin cancers. He has been very fortunate so far.
Once when I had a kidney stone that needed to be cut out, the urologist found a very small amount of bladder cancer. I have never smoked. I still get checked once a year for that.
I hope that you are doing ok Luis. It is always such an unpleasant surprise to discover that you have cancer.
Thank you, smoking is not the only cause. The urologist said that the kidneys will quickly excrete toxins such as from smoking, which doesn’t usually affect the kidneys because it’s so quick, The bladder is another thing since it stores urine for a time.
My prayers of you and your husband. I get checked yearly for skin cancer, ultra white guy living in Texas. I had a suspect squamous cell skin cancer. The dermatologist thought it was a classic presentation. I did an image search and one looked just like mine.
The biopsy was negative, it was an actinic keratosis (precancer) I get those froze of every year, mostly arms, but sometimes the left side of the face an ear. Too much driving.
I had parotid salivary cancer when I was 26. It was a brutal surgery that required opening up the whole side of my face. Some people have facial verve issues, I didn’t but I had a FRANKENSTEIN scar from the top of my ear through my ear and down past my chin and stopped at my larynx. They told me me it was necessary to remove a lot of tissue because there. Is no chemo to treat it and well this is your best bet. Then gave me chemo anyway, and said just in case.
Then a year ago I gad a recurrence in my lung 31 years later.
This time I got radiation. Just 4 treatments. And no surgery. The tumor is gone.
Every year they get better treating more and more types.
I feel real lucky except for the surgery recovery, It hardly affected my life.
The one mistake I made was joining support groups.
This might sound a little controversial but I was doing these weekly meetings and I really bonded with them. We supported each other and it was a good feeling. I made a lot of deep friendships.
But then they began to die. And I felt like I could not take another loss.
I 26 ,young and over 2 years, most of my friends were terminally ill. My problem was going too far into that process
When I went through it last year, I spoke to no one about it. No groups.
I just read up on it learned some and moved on.
I’m not suggesting you should or shouldn’t join support groups, but maybe don’t let it become your support system.
Still nurture your current friends even if they can’t really understand and your spouse, even though they go through something different.
I don’t see myself as bitter or jaded but it’s important to think about goin all in,can have some difficult side effects.
Well said, Timothy. I, too, went through a period of coping with multiple deaths and illness close to me in a somewhat confined period of time. There were Mom and Dad, both to strokes, two adult students to breast cancer, my younger sister to breast cancer that went undiagnosed until it had spread to her back and thigh. I was a Daddy's Girl in the best sense of the phrase--the one who loved to go fishing for Walleye with him at dawn.
And then there was my mother-in-law, who I was very close to. And not too long thereafter my sister-in-law diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's. I am fortunate to have good insurance and it covered Grief Counseling--I'm not sure this was even available 50+ years ago when my son died, but I found it wonderfully helpful not too many years ago while trying to struggle through these punches to the soul coming within a few years of each other.
Keep talking. Staying in touch with Life wherever and however you can will provide sustenance of an important kind.....Holding you close in my heart.....Judith
