Thursday, December 22, 2022

The Day We Turned in the Tumor Fryer

I bring you: The tumor fryer. 

What was this gadget? Well, now it's called Optune, but was very much in clinical trials when Jason was frying. A set of four electromagnetic pads stuck to the head that wiggled and jiggled the electromagnetic fields where appropriate to try to keep the tumor from growing. This was the day we returned the device.

Today ten years ago we decided that it was time to stop. To stop not only the hail-Mary tumor fryer, but also all other active treatments. We were admitting defeat. We were acknowledging that treatment needed to shift from living as long as possible to living as comfortably as possible. 

At that point, three days from Christmas, we gave back the fryer and decided to see all the family we possible could over the holidays. And see we did! It was a bittersweet holiday, but we did get to see most of our family while Jason was still 'him' instead of what steroids did later. 

And it's been ten years. Huh. I can't believe it's been that long. I've healed a lot since then. Though there are raw days. Today has been... Difficult. I was mostly useless at work, though I didn't tell my boss why. He is probably assuming it is because I'm still a little sick still from over the weekend. Given that the chest cold knocked me out from last Wednesday up until Tuesday, that's probably partly true. Still fighting that cough. (And I may have gotten Dad sick too. Dangit. Let's see if I managed to share with Mom as well.)

But today I'm going to giggle about explaining that piece of tech to everyone from people with medical degrees on down to tiny kids curious why my man had that not-quite-tin-foil hat on. And explaining why I was schlepping fifty pounds of batteries through TSA.



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