The Big “C”-Chapter 3


October 29—November 19, 2019
While chemotherapy is not Plan A, on 29 October I met with my chemo oncologist for the first time. He was able to pull up my 25 October PET scan. “PET” is short for positron emission tomography. The process leverages the “fuel” needs of metabolically active sites in the body. Part of the MO of cancersi is to create new blood vessels to supply their ravenous appetites, so when radioactively-tagged “fuel”—in my case, glucose—is intravenously administered, it quickly concentrates in the most metabolically sites in the body, such as the heart, brain...and my cancer.
Of course, the carcinoma on my left tonsil was glaringly obvious, glowing a bright yellow-white. My heart and brain were also quite active, as was the tissue of my gums as they were healing following the trauma of having most of my teeth pulled. The doctor pointed out the nearby lymph nodes that may or may not be showing activity related to my cancer—which I noticed were about the same color intensity as my gums. Our brains must have been running on parallel tracks, which the doctor was the first to verbalize, as he said the activity may be due to the normal, expected immune response to my recent dental trauma. Smiling, I responded with “I was about to say the same thing.”
Obviously, we can’t merely assume it is one or the other, we need to do the science. The plan is for a quick, inpatient surgery to exact at least one of the iffy lymph nodes, then slice, dice, and biopsy each section separately. Later that week, I’ll meet with the radiation oncologist to review the result of the biopsies, taking them into account when planning my radiotherapy sessions.
The lymph node excision surgery is scheduled for November 19th, and within a few days, we will know if it has spread to the nearest lymph node, or whether the metabolic activity observed in the PET scan was likely just part of an ordinary immune response.

Endnotes:
i Technically, tumors can be benign or malignant, that is, cancerous or noncancerous.

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