Dr. Radiology and the Sidekicks

June 18, 2021

Dr. Radiology

Saw Dr. Radiology today to review the CT scan. The bottom line: things are smaller all around. Even the one lymph node that shrank the least amount looks less dense in the middle, a sign of necrosis.

“Necrosis is a dramatic and very rapid form of cell death in which essentially every compartment of the cell disintegrates….[It] can occur in response to infection, toxins, chemicals, injury, or lack of blood supply.”  (https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/necrosis)

Or being fried to death by radiation, thank you very much.

She is always so willing to answer questions directly, which I deeply appreciate. Many of my concerns have to do with diet and Covid, so we had a chat.

Covid: She is mask-less doing stuff outside. Wears a mask shopping, etc. Hasn’t eaten in a restaurant yet. She said that I had to do whatever I needed to do to minimize risk, especially since they don’t give antibody tests to see whether people who have had chemo have vaccine-provoked antibodies.

Nutritional bottom lines: There is so little research about the effects of things like turkey tail mushrooms, turmeric, cinnamon, etc. that she is not willing to say one way or another what she thinks patients should do.

The effectiveness of any substance on a cancer patient has to do with the kind of cancer and where the patient is in their treatment. For example, because I have begun immunology, I want to avoid  anti-inflammatory, antioxidant mega-doses. The whole point of immunology is to  jump start the immune system– there needs to be inflammation in order for the immune system to have something to focus on. And, because the immune system kills bad stuff through an “oxidative burst,” anti-oxidants would be at odds with the very process we are trying to boost.

Plus, people don’t always read research reports critically. For example, I read a blog today where the writer said something like, “Well, people tell me the reason I’ve stayed alive for xx years with Stage IV cancer is because of my diet.” He  then showed pictures of his daily smoothie ingredients. He recommended that you keep a glass of water as a chaser. He made that smoothie sound real appetizing….

He also gave links to research articles that support his use of these things. So, I read one about mushrooms. The scientists think there’s good reason to keep looking into this. But what the guy neglected to mention is that the mushroom study was about their effect on melanoma. And, melanoma, of which there are like a zillion different kinds, and lung cancer are different animals, operating in completely different ways. Therefore, a substance would interact differently with each of them, and have different effects. My conclusion: if I had Stage 4 lung cancer, I might be making mushroom-turmeric smoothies too. But since I don’t, I can stop thinking about it and focus on changing my diet today.

Dr. Radiology said the most important things are sleep, a diet with lots of colors (fruits and vegetables), and exercise, which keeps tissues flushed. The big no-no? Stress. “Stress is BAD,” she said. “No stress. Just walk away from it.” Talking about this at dinner tonight, my family just kind of smirked. “What?” I demanded. Apparently, that’s not how I operate. In fact, it was suggested that I kind of seem to strive on it.

Maybe it’s stressful when there are things you can’t control, my mother suggested kindly. No, I said, it’s stressful when there are things that can be controlled and people are idiots. Needless to say, this conversation did not have a long life span.

The nutritionist I met with after Dr. Radiology said, and I quote, “Don’t pay attention to any bullshit.” She did not name said bullshit. Instead, she gave me helpful parameters regarding the Mediterranean diet, some good reference material, and the reminder that this would involve a pretty substantial learning curve. That’s OK. I can curve with the best of them.

The Sidekicks

Superwoman via Pixabay