Dr. Patel

Coots of South San Francisco

Julie and I met with Milan (pronounced MILun) Patel yesterday. I remembered how fast he talks. I told him about my current symptoms. One of them is that my heart kind of hurts. I'm not certain it's not emotional, but thought I should mention it.

All of my recurring pelvic troubles are longer term side effects of the radiation. I remember a worksheet with lists of short term and long term side effects. I didn't read the long term column.

When I asked how scarring could go on for so long he said it's not really scarring. It's fibrosis, a late effect of radiation. It means that the fibers stiffen and contract. So I need to keep stretching. It would seem that my hips will now always default to being tight.

He said 1-2% of patients who receive radiation treatment develop cancer in the radiated area in an average of 8-10 years. So lots of cancer treatment isn't curing, but postponing.

He said they didn't do full on radiation in my bones so if it is needed again for pain relief they could do more radiation in my bones. The specific reason they can't do CyberKnife (focused radiation) in my lungs is that the radiation kills part of the lung tissue, so if it's all over your lungs, you could have shortness of breath your whole life.

He said to email him if I have questions about radiation. Such a lovely man.

I just had a chest x-ray.