Fearless Kathy Griffin, 61, Pals Around With New Friend Monica Lewinsky, 49, Cracking Hilarious Jokes! She’s Back To Comedy After Bravely Beating Cancer

One comment asked the question, "Is that Monica Lewinsky?"

Yes, the former White House intern whose affair with former President Clinton resulted in his 1998 impeachment is pictured with Griffin, one of her four dogs and several other unidentified friends.

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A post shared by Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin)

Griffin's caption reading, "The conversation, the good food, the laughs. And of course, a lil doggie jumping in is always welcome."

 

It's not clear how long Griffin and Lewinsky have been friends.

But Griffin is a frequent Instagram poster with snapshots of her other friends including Rosie O'Donnell, her meals, and her musings about life post-cancer.

 

The Chicago-born Griffin, a non-smoker, was diagnosed last August with stage one lung cancer, and had surgery immediately after. Although she has had some setbacks since, the survivor, overall, has been progressing.

She’s been married to marketing exec Randy Bick, 43, since 2020, and recently shared that she was having some swallowing issues due to her surgery complications. Naturally, Griffin made some sexual jokes.

 

But her diagnosis and recovery have had serious impacts on her life.

Lung Cancer Treatment

After being diagnosed with lung cancer, a patient’s medical team will stage the cancer with imaging.

What’s known as a CT scan is typical, along with an MRI, and also MRI scan of the brain.

Your medical team will then need to get a sample of the tumor biopsy, and perform some routine tests. The most important is the PD-L1 test, which helps direct the use of immunotherapy, but also more complicated testing looking for gene mutations in the tumor.

Dr. Patrick Forde from Johns Hopkins Medicine educated SurvivorNet on important questions to ask following a lung cancer diagnosis:

If the cancer is metastatic or stage 4, ask about the genetic mutation results and also the PD-L1 testing

The PD-L1 test is a "simple test" that involves staining a sample of the tumor with a marker for PD-L1. The lab gives the tumor a  percent expression score ranging from from zero where none of the cells have PD-L1 expression and up to 100 percent where all of the cells have PD-L1 expression.

"There are two main types of lung cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, which is about 85% of lung cancers, and small cell lung cancer, which is about 15%," Dr. Forde said. "Within that non-small cell category, there's a subtype called non-squamous adenocarcinoma, and that's the group of patients for whom genetic testing is very important on the tumor. Genetic testing is looking for mutations in the DNA, in the tumor, which are not present in your normal DNA."

Healing From Lung Cancer

When healing from lung cancer, it's important to keep close contact with the members of your care team to let them know about the severity of your pain and discomfort, as well as any anxiety and stress that you may feel.

"It's critical after surgery that you do keep active and keep your body in the best possible condition," says Melissa Culligan, a thoracic surgery nurse at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

Symptoms of lung cancer typically include:

Sudden and unexplained weight loss
Constant coughing that becomes painful over time
Shortness of breath
Changes in voice or difficulty speaking without getting winded
Pain in the torso, mid- and upper-back, and shoulders
Discoloration or a sudden change in color of mucus and saliva

Griffin had surgery to treat her disease, which, as she has shared, impacted her voice and her vocal chords.

Lung cancer surgery impacts the body in various ways.

It may cause fatigue, leaving the patient feeling weak and tired. There's also the risk of infection after surgery.

Signs of infection after lung cancer surgery can include: shivering, feeling nauseous, swelling or redness around the surgical wound, and fluctuating temperature.

While Griffin appears to be listening to her body with these recent symptoms, she also appears to be back to her active and funny disposition.

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.

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