My Cancer Odyssey

(Originally Tweeted, Aug. 30, 2022)

©2022 by Vernon Miles Kerr and VernonMilesKerr.com

First, my #CancerOdyssey — We saw my ENT surgeon in Sacramento yesterday after completing the first three days of chemo. He was pleased that visually, looking up the nose with his instruments, there was shrinking. Since the pain I was experiencing was mainly from pressure on the sinus nerves, the pain is, at least temporarily reduced to the point that simple Tylenol is dealing with it. There will be three more sessions in 3 weeks, there will be daily radiation treatments for approx. 6weeks Then, after a 6 month hiatus, to let the radiation-damaged normal-tissue recover, there will be surgery. This puts it somewhere in April, around the time of my 80th Birthday.
This is a craps-shoot, but it’s the safest one we have. Since the cancer is already touching the margin of the frontal brain — if the cancer isn’t arrested and shrunken, surgery won’t do any good. It’ll be hospice at that point.

In a way, there’s an upside to knowing more precisely, your “expiration date.” You can tie-up loose-ends, you can maybe do some bucket-list items. The pain for me, is watching the agony of family and friends over this thing. I keep thinking of “Don’t cry for me, Argentina…” I’ll be okay. 😉