The Great Journey begins

It’s been five days since I was woken from general anesthesia with the news that my sore throat of 6+ months is not just a sore throat.

The words have sunk in. Hypopharyngeal keratinizing squamous cell carcinoma, well-differentiated. A ~3cm mass of mutated cells that have convinced my immune system to ignore them — nothing to see here folks!

As it turns out, at some point the medical oncologist was supposed to have reached out to us in these last five, excruciating days. That would have been nice. The system has failed.

This doctor thinks several weeks of radiation should do the trick. He mentioned something about a 70 percent chance. It’s all such a blur that I’m not sure of everything he said. I think he said chemo may also be necessary.

Regarding my other questions about potential alternative treatments, I wasn’t too thrilled with his dismissive stance on them. The standard medical treatments are fine, but can we at least consider incorporating some alternatives as well? Vitamins, nutrition, re-purposed medicines?

In the days since this appointment it’s become clear to me that if I do not advocate for my own treatments, nobody will. It feels like there is a standard path of treatment, which I am being funneled into. Any deviations from this pre-determined route will have to be input manually, like when you stop for gas/snacks on a Waze-led road trip and the app constantly reminds you that you have strayed from the course.

I am going on the great journey that modern medicine has created, but with an open mind and an eye out for possible snack stops along the way.