On Tuesday, I got good news – I continue to be cancer-free. Given the typical pattern of my type of cancer, this means, statistically, that I seem to have beaten the odds, since metastases after 2 years are uncommon.
Unfortunately, there is also some bad news. I returned to the hospital this morning for a follow-up. To be honest, I didn't exactly understand what the follow-up was about, when they gave me the appointment on Tuesday. Given my linguistic limitations, sometimes I don't understand everything my various healthcare providers are telling me, since although my primary oncologist and primary diagnostician both have excellent English, many of the other staff I need to interact with don't. I just go with the flow, and try to go where they say and do as they ask, trusting that they know what they're doing.
So I went to the follow-up, at Oral Oncology (which seems more like a dental clinic than a cancer clinic). Although I am cancer-free, I do have an issue: radiation necrosis in my lower jaw and teeth. Some of the living tissue in my lower jaw and inside my teeth has been damaged or is in the process of dying due to the radiation treatment I completed 2 years ago. This is part of the faustian bargain that is implicit in contemporary cancer treatment regimens. Because of the location, it also seems to occupy a kind of grey area between dentistry and oral surgery, so now I have to spend some time with a dental specialist, I guess. I have a referral.
This is not at all life-threatening, as I understand it. However, it has the potential to substantially impact quality of life, both due to issues with chronic pain as well as further damaging my abitlity to eat normally. I suppose, in fact, it's more than "potential" – it seems already to be having some impact, otherwise I wouldn't have noticed and complained about it to my doctors.
I feel depressed and frustrated, at the moment – partly because I didn't completely understand the referral process, and so I'm going to have to rely on Korean-speaking friends to help me sort out what my next step is, and I hate relying on other people, especially in a way that hammers home my failure to learn Korean adequately.
More later.
[daily log: walking, 10km]
That’s awful! Damn!
Keep me posted.
Oh dear…having spent thousands…maybe tens of thousands over a lifetime of dental care, I can sympathize. Hope it is cheaper in Korea!
It’s a bitch, isn’t it! I empathize having to deal with the after effects of a mild stroke, but eating and chewing are still 100% for me. It is a battle with all the daily meds and the reminders popping up on my phone. I am definitely not a creature of habit. I hope you have good fluent Korean speaking friends, colleagues and acquaintances who will help you with navigating and understanding your next steps and choices. We do this for WomenHeart Support Network members. Press on!