The Big “C” - Chapter 4


November 20 — December 4, 2019


Where my cancer is will taken into account in the treatment of my cancer, as it will affect the way the radiation therapy is delivered. For those with brain tumors, cognitive impairment, sometimes very severe, can be a lasting side-effect. Most, quite reasonably, would be happy to shave a few points off their IQ if doing so meant not dying from cancer.
But hey, guess what? To a significant extent, this is very much all about me! To those who’ve read some of my other blog posts, first I must apologize for my writing—but the souls who have risked loosing their latest meal will already know parts of my tale. For those who do not, here’s the short version: my childhood medical records document my diagnosis as “hyperactive” in 1970, and after some trial and error I was put on Ritalin, but was off it by the end of elementary school. Then, 12 years ago, at the age of 42, I was diagnosed with adult ADHD. I was not surprised, but at the time I was an electrical engineering major, and was afraid I’d be told I wasn’t university material. Considering the majority of feedback I’d received throughout my life, I figured my IQ was, at most, on the high end of the “average” range, i.e. not much higher than 115. No, the real shock was learning that for most of my lifei, I was walking around with a gifted-level IQ of 136.
To balance out the sense of lost opportunities when younger, this new bit of self-knowledge also gave me a vastly expanded sense of future potentialities. I hope some would understand why I might be loath to sacrifice my long-unrecognized gifts so soon after learning I even had them. Mindful of how my concerns might be perceived, I shared shared them with my cancer care team, who reassured me that cognitive side-effects are not a serious concern.
While I do not have a brain tumor, my carcinoma is uncomfortably close to my brain, so the x-rays used to treat it will still need to aimed very precisely. To ensure such precision, my head/face will need to be immobilized so that every radiotherapy session/treatment targets the same area. The description of how this would be done brought to mind what actors go through when fitted for prosthetic makeup (Klingon cosplay anyone?). This YouTube video depicts someone being fitted for a radiation therapy mask.
The excision of one of my lymph nodes went off without a hitch. Within 48 hours, my nurse navigator called to tell me that the lymph node biopsied as benign. That was really good news. When the PET scan was done in late October, my carcinoma measured 3.2 cm. The chemo oncologist felt it would be wise to get a quick CT scan of the carcinoma to make sure is hasn’t grown, as 4 cm is the threshold for considering chemotherapy in conjunction with radiation. The CT scan results showed there was no perceptible change in the size of the carcinoma, so no chemo for me!
My radiotherapy will consist of 35 sessions, Monday through Friday (excluding holidays) and the first treatment will be on December 5th, and assuming I don’t miss any scheduled treatments, I’ll be done on January 24.
Stay tuned!

Endnotes
  The details are complicated, but overall, IQ is relatively stable over an individual’s lifetime.

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