Immunotherapy = Hitting Yourself on the Head with a Hammer

This is actually a co-authored post. In a sort of gallows-humor season during round one 2 weeks ago, my brother Jim & I percolated out loud on this together, just laughing ourselves silly in the process. Lisa was slightly less amused...*grin*

The basic idea was this: How is immunotherapy like hitting yourself on the head with a hammer? Surprisingly, as you'll see, the two are very similar...

--It feels simply marvelous when you stop

--If you do it long enough, it begins to hurt just a bit less

--You won't truly appreciate how bad it hurts until you stop

--Similarly, you won't really appreciate how great it feels to stop if you never start

--It gives a great perspective: for example, your feet feel much better while hitting yourself on the head with a hammer (I haven't worried about my sore arches once in the past 4 weeks!)

--Paying someone else a considerable amount of money to hit you on the head with a hammer makes the whole experience somehow less...troublesome to ponder.

--If, prior to beginning the process of getting hit on the head with a hammer, you are given, say, 15 helmets, you just know the hammer is gonna hurt. Bad. (I was prescribed 17 seperate drugs just for side effects in my admission orders!)

--If it requires more than one or two highly-trained professionals to properly show you how to hit yourself on the head with a hammer, you better strap in, because this one's gonna hurt! So far, I've had 15 highly trained & specialized medical types be part of this week's festivities. And that's just the ones who have physically been in the room!

--To properly hit yourself on the head with a hammer requires considerable skill, dedication, planning, and effort. So don't just randomly start flailing away with the nearest hammer; seek a trained professional!

So, you see, ladies & gents, there really are a number of direct parallels between hitting yourself on the head with a hammer and high-dose IL-2 immunotherapy. Just so you know...

I know what you're thinking right now; you're thinking, "there's 5 minutes of life I'll never get back..." Precisely. But I'll not apologize, for just remember: you could have been hitting yourself on the head with a hammer while reading...*rimshot*

I hereby promise that the next post will have some actual useful content in it. Maybe.

Seriously, thanks much for your love, friendship, and prayers. It is exactly those that enable me to laugh right here in the ICU room while recovering from getting hit in the head with a hammer...Laughter in the midst of the battle is an indispensable tool!

With love, hope, and a chuckle,
Mike

p.s. - I'm still not feeling very good, but as this day has worn on, I now feel somewhat more hopeful that I will feel better in the future. Last night and this morning, I was not so sure about ever feeling better...*sigh*