A total mastectomy isn’t the end-of-the-world, but it’s not trivial either. Besides the wound and the pain it creates, the mental anguish is equally traumatic. But ‘c’est la vie’. It’s better to be poisoned, butchered, and soon to be toasted with radiation, than to suffer the slings & arrows of cancer.
Which brings me to my next step in my triage of cancer treatments –– the radiation therapy phase. I’m reasonably healed-up from the surgery, and reasonably physically rehabilitated enough to undergo my daily radiation exposures once a day for 6 weeks. “How would you like your toast? Crisp not burnt, please.”
I’ll also be continuing my Keytruda immuno-therapy treatments every three weeks until the end of the year. Many medical oncologists believe Keytruda was largely responsible for the “complete response” (no cancer remaining) I had to my chemotherapy treatments, but this immuno-therapy isn’t without its significant side-effects. Not the least of which is severe arthritic inflammation of my hands and knees. It seems Keytruda lets your immune system attack not only cancer cells, but any cell that doesn’t measure-up to perfection. There’s lots of cells in our often used joints that don’t ‘measure-up’ to perfection because of high use. What’s surprising, is the world’s top oncologist haven’t recognized this side effect, or have any clue (or interest) how to treat it. They just say things like “that’s interesting…?”, or “I haven’t really seen anything like this before…?”, or “Maybe you already had arthritis and didn’t know it…, or “I think you should see a cardiologist about the swelling in your hands and knees to rule out potential heart problems…” –– None of this exactly brings out the warm-and-fuzzies between you and your oncology medical team. Especially since I had none of these symptoms until three months into my chemotherapy.
But all that aside, I’m still delighted to be here.