Yesterday, I saw Dr Yeoh (radiation oncology) with my mom before I went for my radiotherapy session. Dr Eric (cardiology) was concerned about my weakened heart function with radiotherapy (read more about my low LVEF in my previous post), but Dr Yeoh cleared the air during the consultation.
1. Generally based on long-term research, lymphoma and breast cancer patients will suffer from cardiac problems (if any) only 5-10 years after radiotherapy.
2. Today's technology is so advanced, radiation oncologists are able to pinpoint the area they're shooting radiation at, and calculate the dosage of radiation that a vital organ might be getting. For my case, my mass is in my chest, but Dr Yeoh reassures us that the heart and lungs are only being affected minimally. Some statistics to give you a bigger picture:
- The safety limit which the heart receives radiation is at 10%; and at this level, 1% of patients got cardiac problems.
- My heart is receiving radiation of 0.16%... so the risk of me getting cardiac problems due to radiation is really verrryyyy low.
3. Dr Yeoh said that even before I started on radiotherapy, when he was checking the 3D images, I already had a huge heart.
Me: *chuckles* "What do you mean by a huge heart?"
Dr Yeoh: Imagine working your arms with dumbbells every day, your muscles will grow right? Likewise, a heart is a muscle — it means that your heart has been working very hard with your Wolff Parkinson White (my underlying heart problem), and of course, lymphoma.
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Dr Yeoh then gave a call to Dr Eric, and they had a 15 min discussion over the phone. They agreed that given that my echo scan was done after 3 radiation sessions, my low LVEF should be the cummulative effect of my WPW, lymphoma and chemotherapy.
On a separate note, I messaged Dr Eric separately and told him about my side effects after taking the new medication. He told me to cut down the dosage by half, so hopefully everything will be better from now!
I chanced upon your blog from my Instagram newsfeed (we probably have mutual friends haha) and just wanted to drop a note to say hello, stranger :) I don't know where you find your strength from but your sense of optimism is amazing! It's been a pleasant visit to your blog and reading your posts have been very inspiring. Hoping this little note will contribute to your everlasting optimism and wishing you a speedy full recovery!! ^^
ReplyDeleteHi! Thank you for your well wishes, it made me smile. Have a wonderful weekend ahead! :)
DeleteHello! You were on my explore page on Instagram and I don't know how I got here but I'm so glad I did. Reading your posts was such a refreshing experience because my dad has cancer too and I only wish he was half as positive as you are! Thank you for being so strong and positive, I just feel like it's extremely commendable. All the best in your radiation treatments, God is always watching over you and protecting you. Speedy recovery and good news to come dearest stranger :')
ReplyDeleteHi! Thanks so much for dropping this note. I appreciate it! I hope your dad is feeling better and that he gets well soon too. Gotta be strong for him :) God bless!
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