Fighting Cancer, Part 7: Radiation

In my last post, I described the rest of Mom's chemotherapy, which left us at the image here, from August 21, 2014.

This is Mom's tumor (lymphoma) after NINE rounds of chemotherapy. It's still there. It's still very big.

Maybe … maybe that giant mass in Mom's brain is just dead tumor cells? Maybe the chemo really worked?

September 4, 2014. This is a PET scan. It can show how active a tumor is.

The doctor's report said, "There is increased attenuation of the tumor consistent with a hypercellular tumor such as lymphoma. There is intense F D G uptake with a maximal SUV of 27.1. This compares with the normal contralateral right frontal lobe grey matter S U V of 8.6."

The tumor was still very active. (You may have guessed that by how bright the tumor is in the PET scan.)

Incidentally, the doctors made some sort of 3D model of Mom's tumor. After that, it was a very fast process to make this animated GIF.

September 11, 2014. The doctors suggested radiation. This is Mom being fitted with her radiation mask. She needs to lie down like this so that the radiation beams can be aimed precisely where her tumor is (vs. killing healthy brain cells).

A top view. That mask is kinda scary looking, isn't it?

Incidentally, I think the radiologist, Dr. Wheatley, and the fancy machine he'd be using, had arrived at the cancer center only a couple of months earlier.

September 17, 2014. After Mom's first radiation session! If you look closely at the full-size photo (click on it), you can see the marks from the mask on her face.

October 12, 2014. It's Susan Boyle! She was having a concert in Sacramento. Mom felt well enough to go.

The concert was great, by the way. Go, Susan!

October 21, 2014. Mom's second-to-last day of radiation.

In this photo, doesn't Mom look like she's being forcibly tied down? She isn't.

Ok, she was being tied down. Just not forcibly.

Mom had radiation 5 days a week for a month. However, it was much faster and easier than chemotherapy.

By the way, this radiation machine is extremely fancy (and new). It's called the Varian Edge. It sounded like there are less than ten in the United States.

IT MOVES!

Did the radiation work? We'd have to wait six weeks before it was appropriate to do another MRI. (Dr. Wheatley explained this well, but I forgot my notes.)

In the meantime, Mom got to keep her radiation mask as a memento. I used it on Halloween to scare the trick-or-treaters.