Personal Update: June and July
As mentioned in a previous post, I have been undergoing treatment for colon cancer this summer. The good news is that the oncology team is optimistic and recommended I start a regimen of immunotherapy infusions every three weeks, which I will undergo for several months. Statistically, based on my test results, immunotherapy is 80-90% likely to eradicate all the cancer and make surgery unnecessary, but if it doesn't work, then I will have surgery to remove the tumor.
My anemia from the internal bleeding (tumor) overshadowed the entire month of June for me - many days I was too weak and groggy to function. It was a very unproductive month for me, though I was able to read several good books while resting. The two books I enjoyed the most in June were The End of Violence by Gary Slutkin and The Fall of Egypt and the Rise of Rome: A History of the Ptolemies, by Guy de la Bedoyere. Another book I read part of in June (but haven't finished) is Killing and Christian Ethics (New Studies in Christian Ethics), by Christopher O. Tollefsen. There were other books as well. Currently, I am enjoying On Ascetical Life by Isaac of Nineveh, translated by Mary Hansbury.
The month of July has been better, probably because I started immunotherapy at the very end of June. I had some weeks in July when I felt almost normal and was able to work on an academic article about the Supreme Court's recent decision in United States v. Hemani. This article was solicited by the Cato Supreme Court Review. (I completed my draft manuscript). I still have some bad days, and the days immediately following each infusion I suffer from extreme fatigue again.
