When you are in a pickle, sometimes you have to throw the kitchen sink at a problem.
When I first got a Stage IV head and neck cancer diagnosis, my maxillofacial surgeon said they would “throw the kitchen sink at it.”
And they did. And I’m extraordinarily grateful.
I had 15 hours of surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy and I was convinced that I had had more than the kitchen sink. This felt akin to being on the receiving end of an American style fridge freezer, an AGA Masterchef and a butcher’s block kitchen island.
Whatever they threw at me, it worked and kept me cancer-free for the next ten years.
Then I got another Stage IV head and neck diagnosis and this time it was incurable. I wasn’t expecting that.
My immediate response was to ask for a kitchen specialist and hope I’d tap into something new and lifesaving. Was there something in the kitchen that would do the job?
There was.
I might have been on a knife’s edge and surgery was not an option for me this time but radiotherapy and chemotherapy were still on the table and they could buy me more time. I had both but chemo didn’t work.
Then came the kitchen sink of all sinks – immunotherapy. This has worked and worked remarkably well.
From being given just 2 months, immunotherapy has extended my life by over 4 years and at the rate I’m going, I might just outlive my washing machine.
When it comes to life then we have to go all in, cover all bases and do everything we can. If that means saving a life, then there is no messing about, there is too much at stake.
Cancer is one of those kitchen sink ‘go all in’ situations. We can’t hold back and hope for the best. We need the cavalry and the cavalry to the cavalry.
When you are on the receiving end of the kitchen sink approach, it is damn scary. If it doesn’t work, then what? Crossing your fingers or asking Alexa won’t work and what follows doesn’t bear thinking about.
Cancer is Hell’s Kitchen. It’s sink or swim but not as you know it. This is where the sink is better than the swim.
Life will throw everything including the kitchen sink at you, it’s only fair that we do the same and do the dishes whilst we’re at it.