As a guy with Scanda-hoo-vian roots, you can appreciate how I love a good casserole (aka: "hot dish"). An offering at a Potluck dinner can include any mixture of pasta, protein and vegetables (I tend to avoid okra or lima beans), nestled in a delicate, complementary sauce, and generally served warm (some lucky hosts even get to keep the "pot"). This culinary collection seems to blend often disparate foods into a tasty mélange; proving that unlike items can end up being rather likable - together.
The medicinal medley meandering around inside of me is carefully managed by my treatment team. I have a complicated blend of chemicals in my body. Its composition raises a few questions that might not cross the minds of average, non-Cancerous folks. Should I be getting some or all of the various vaccine varieties available, especially when considering their aggregate effect on an immuno-compromised person such as myself? How will my body react to any one of them individually, or even more curious, how well will they all cooperate when thrown together into the same system? What are the potential negative interactions when mixing any number of drugs into a prophylactic prescription potluck that is actually intended to help me? Covid booster, annual flu shot, Prevnar to address pneumococcal bacteria, shingles shots, Paxlovid - should Covid find me, and even the monthly IVIG (Intravenous Immunoglobulin) that I take for my antibody deficiencies. That's a lot of "in-gredients" in me.
I'm not an anti-vaxxer (Van or Eric), I just need to be mindful of what's already in me . . . working with my Onc team about these questions, and their advice about the chemical choreography going on inside of me; what's safe and what's less safe. I understand and believe that medicines have been thoroughly tested before being approved for use by the general public. I am equally confident that my care team is aware of how each item behaves in relation to that which is already in me. But that's why I always ask first.
