Maximum Radiation

Today I had my first follow up visit with Dr. Munshi my oncologist at Dana Farber.  We discussed the radiation treatment I will begin tomorrow for the tumor in my head and talked about the long term course of treatment for my Multiple Myeloma.  Along the way I learned some interesting facts about radiation and the human body.

The different parts of our body retain memories of the wounds we inflict on them.  In particular any given part of our body can never be exposed to more than 5,000 rads of radiation in a lifetime before something really bad happens (I'm not sure what this bad thing is and I am not sure I want to know).  What this means is that we are limited by our bodies to how much radiation treatment we can receive for cancer in any one location.   

Apparently there has been some back and forth discussion between Dr. Munshi and Dr. Ng, my radiation oncologist, about how much radiation to dose me with during this phase of treatment.  As has been mentioned many times by many doctors, I have an impressively massive tumor taking up space in my head. Dr. Munshi was inclined to go for a lower dose of radiation and save some extra rads to use later if the tumor returns.

Apparently Dr. Ng is a bit of a gambler.  Her thinking is that since the tumor is so massive that we go for broke and use up the allotment of radiation my skull can take in one course of radiation and knock the tumor out of my head for good.  Dr. Ng believes that any rads that we might conserve for use if the tumor in my head returns in the future would not be enough to make a dent in treating a recurring tumor.  So the decision has been made to go for maximum radiation and knock the tumor out of my head. 

I am not a gambler by nature.  I tend to hedge my bets and make back up plans for my back up plans.  So what am I to make of Dr. Ng's gamble on going for broke with the most rads at once?

I have been told many times that as a good patient I should be advocating for myself and making sure that I agree with the medical decisions being made for me.  At what point does the science become so overwhelming and above my level of education that I can't begin to possibly have an opinion about the exact course of treatment being proposed. 

I think I can make the big decisions about where I want to receive treatment based on how the doctors present to me, but when it comes to deciding whether to save some rads for later or go for maximum radiation I have no voice in the discussion.  I think I am okay with not being a part of this discussion.  I am not an expert, but maybe I am smart enough to pick the right experts to treat me and then let them decide what treatment will be the right one to get me back to good health.  If nothing else we can save money on batteries in case of a power outage in a storm this winter since by the time I am done with this treatment my head will probably be glowing in the dark.