h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

.... hurts so many papers.... so many statistics.... so many differnt balances, and approaches so many.... variables... and complicating factors Hm..... 5-7% increased survival rate.... sounds good.but... that's just that* study... and... I didn't have no vinblastin on my second two cycles, so... and... hmm, confusingly, the paper of UK treatment guidelines, written my head consultant, recomends only 20 GY for patients 'in my group', yet they seem to want me to have 30 GY and simularly 2 to 4 cycles ABVD seems standard recomendation, yet I was initially gona have 6, followed by the 30 GY <alienfrown. - I know I'm indestructible, innit, but... there's overkill and... just plain 'kill' innit
*takes notes*
*writes questions*
Hmm, this document is getting long.... its looking more and more like a dissertation and less like a few notes to take to a consultation with radiologist by my calculations the braccial plexus neuropathy risk, sits at less than 1%; though largely I'm basing that off studies on female breast patients, recieving RT, which isn't... possibly as helpful as it might be, but, unavoidable as they'r ethe largest group, recieving RT to the same area.

Hmm. think I've done enough light reading for one nihgt. bed time after final cuppa cammemile I think

I would give advice, but I never know what the k I'm talking about in the first place.

Cool old Guy ex-xray technician
"I also would give comforting advice or any at all, just not informed enough.

What I know is; dose rates are not used in similar manners by different uses. Each procedure may require different energy and or spread and or duration (Sum of all is received dose). Added with many unknown variables in tissue damage due to as many factors.

and "

yeh; so basically it ends up.... being meaningless statistics; they're too....... grouped together, from widly differnt dose applications/levels, differnt patient critera (age, sex, level of health, etc) - interestingly, although I'm 38, at the end of my first cycle of chemo; they decided to treat me as if I was under 20 years of age!; my neuts had fallen so low, in normal circumstances they'd not dream of giving more chemo, to someone of my age, with as compromised an immune sytem..... - yeh... I'm well hard, I got the full chemo that week, despite having no detectible immune system - when I last spoke to radiologist; first time I'd seen him, they'd still not decided on the exactly type, etc., of radiation; hence I wanna make a second clnic/consultation with him, once they've decided, then I can nail the stats a bit better... - Broadly speaking, running on the assumption I'm still due 30 Gy (guessing its 2 Gy, per frac), then, giving other factors, that, on top of my chemo will give a 5% to 7% increased three year survival, and that is weighed (for me), against the risk of teh bracchial plexus dammage; which, modifying the results on breast cancer patients, would give a soemthing like, 0.5% to 1% risk of bracchial neuropathy (which, of course, includes all neuropathy; from very minner, to rather major so; mind, I have to consider I've already got perlipheral neuropathy in my fingers/hands,) I think, if those stats I have found so far, broadly stand up, I can't logically pull out of the radiotherapy, it'd be illogical to do so - can't really find stats for thyroid damamge; and I'm not sure to what extent, the beam will be really hitting my thyroid, - that's so dependant on angle etc, - too many variables really, so only broad stats to look at, in a generalised way; a lot of these stats, are from the oncology guidelines for the UK, which are co-written by my top oncologist here, who... he's quite a cool guy actually, though sadly I think I've only saw him like the once; though I guess for a lot of teh background descisions, its him making them at meetins of teh MDT that take place, unknown to me Still can't decide whether to add more ribbons to my hair, for the fracs... or something differnt.... 30 fracs, err, rahter 15, times 3 foot, for each ribbon, would be hell of a lot of ribbons to try fit in, on top of the 8 X 3 foot I've already got in my hair, from teh chemo