Immunotherapy

I think I will try to explain “immunotherapy”, the treatment I receive for cancer. It is a controversial treatment but most of them are, in that it could be described as experimental. Which in essence is the whole treatment of cancer - no one can really say that a treatment will give 100% results.

Immunotherapy is touted as the newest and most promising treatment option in cancer treatment. Now I have many friends who have never been offered it….for them the chemo, radiation approach and surgery were offered, I am not sure why.

It is interesting to note that in Canada, I assume the USA as well it is called “new” but I met a lady whose father had immunotherapy in the 1990’s but had to go to the Dominican Republic to get it.

Each countries medical or pharmaceutical industry has to do their own tests and it has to be approved by their own medical industry.

I have just received my 2nd Iv treatment of immunotherapy on Monday. I am not sure if you remember or even if I talked about it, but last year I reacted severely to immunotherapy. It almost did me in. Now that in itself should make you pause to wonder why on earth I would do that again. I did and didn’t. Last year 2 drugs were used together there are many immunotherapy drugs, different ones work on different cancers like an IV cocktail.

This year I am only receiving one of the drugs and the reaction in my body is not as harsh. Believe me I thought and prayed long and hard before I agreed to try it again.

The reason it is classified as experimental is because doctors have no way to predict if your body will accept it, how it will accept it and where exactly in your body it might go. The drugs are inserted via IV and it is a wait and see game of where they will go. The other reason is this and this is so important to note: no 2 people have the “same” cancer nor for the same reason. Every patient has their own set of conditions inside their body.

Immunotherapy is a cancer treatment that boosts or strengthens the body’s natural immune system to detect and destroy cancer cells, often by removing "brakes" that allow immune cells to function. It is a biological therapy typically delivered via drugs, which can shrink tumors or slow their spread. It differs from chemotherapy by specifically targeting cancer cells rather than harming healthy cells. (Cancer Society)

If you have autoimmune diseases already before treatment of course those can get hit because your body has already been attacking itself, which is the definition of any autoimmune condition. But prayerfully, in the best case scenario, the immune system will mainly affect and attack the foreign cancer cells. In my case last year, this was not the case.

When we hear that someone has a cancer diagnosis we say or think something like, "prostate cancer, yup my dad had that” and we lump it all together in the same pot, thinking my dad did this or that and it was fine. That is not necessarily the case. Each person’s body has its own reasons for cancer to spread.

Cancer is a systematic process of your body. Your body has many inner systems but the one most talked about in cancer is your microbiome.

Gut Health: A healthy gut microbiome helps digest food and maintain immune homeostasis. Your microbiome is your good and bad bacteria, nutrients, and toxins. It is a cocktail all by itself. Your immune system begins in your gut. Your colon has a huge responsibility for keeping your body healthy. Gut, tummy issues abound, thus our bodies are in distress and our immune systems are suffering. If you do not have regular daily poops 2-3 a day, possibly too many toxins are still roaming around in your gut.

Cancer does not sneak up on you (usually), your body and it’s systems have been fighting a war long before a diagnosis.

Immunotherapy is often given in cycles via intravenous (IV) infusion, though some types can be administered as pills or topical creams/injections. Common treatments like pembrolizumab are now available as rapid, under-the-skin injections in some hospitals. (Cancer Society)

I have found that each cancer center offers the usual cancer procedures: chemo, radiation, surgery. But it is good to check into other cancer treatments at other locations. Even in Canada some clinics have some different options. The staff Oncologists have to have up to date training on all the options. For instance

Cryosurgery, or cryoablation, is a minimally invasive procedure that uses extreme cold—liquid nitrogen or argon gas—to freeze and destroy cancer cells. It acts as a local treatment, often used for skin, prostate, liver, lung, and bone cancers, particularly when tumors are small or traditional surgery is not possible. It is not “common” locally and I have yet to find a doctor in my specific area who does it. I believe Toronto has some but it’s more common in Europe.

There are also immunotherapy treatments where they inject the drugs right into the tumor in some cases called targeted immunotherapy. Or other treatments where they take some cells out of your own tumor to mix with immunotherapy and direct it back in. I have even read about cancer vaccines in some places.

Back to me, the treatment I receive is a humdinger to my body. For the first few days, I might carry on as normal but then the tired and fatigue come. The fatigue can be debilitating on some days. I often ache all over or in specific places, headaches can occur. We monitor my liver because it was a huge concern last year. My thyroid suffered last month and I get a rash on my upper torso. Do I think the tumor has gone down, yes but in all honesty I am not solely relying on just “immunotherapy”. I feel that would be silly to simply rely on one thing when it was a combination of many things inside my microbiome that started the whole process. Side note: the condition of your microbiome also has to do with how well you respond to immunotherapy....your bodies gate to your defense system.

So for at least a month and up to a year…. Each session of immunotherapy runs through my body. Some days are better than others but immunotherapy does affect my whole body not just the cancer area. Weighing the effects and responses it causes is totally a personal decision for each person. Sometimes quality of life really makes difficult choices necessary.

For now I agreed to 2 treatments and then a PET scan to see where I am at. Each person will make their own decision based on their priorities. Different strokes for different folks. My Oncologist calls me a fast “reacter” which means I react fast and hard to my treatments, not always in a good way but it can have positive outcomes as well.

We wait….