Personal Update: Keytruda!

I take the first dose of this immunotherapy in the hopes of murdering the cancer...

To avoid getting cancer again (I am currently cancer free because they removed most anything that could be infected including lymph nodes and my thyroid), I started Keytruda this week. If you are not familiar with it, Keytruda is an immunotherapy used to treat various cancers. The biggest concern with immunotherapies is that it can attack good healthy parts of your body and can affect things like your heart and kidneys.

I currently have only one functioning kidney and I have a hole in my heart, so having a chance of side effects that could damage these things is incredibly scary, but because the type of cancer i have is so aggressive, we don’t want it coming back, so we are really rolling the dice on Keytruda.

The treatments will be for a year, taking place every three weeks to start with. So far I am only having some minor side effects (joint pain, slight stomach issues), but it’s too early to know for sure.

On the total laryngectomy surgery, my neck is mostly healed though it is still swollen. I think once the swelling goes away things are going to be a lot easier for me, but right now it is very hard to do anything for a sustained amount of time, and leaving home is scary because all the equipment I need in an emergency can’t travel with me.

Anyway, that’s where I am at with this stuff. I definitely have missed a lot going on in the industry, but some good people have been keeping The Esports Advocate going as best they can. Here’s to hoping I can return soon!

Thanks for reading, and thinking about me. I appreciate all of you. - James.