Already Better Than My Chinese Skills
This week is the penultimate in my Mayo Clinic experiences (actually, possibly not, since I've been trying to get a summer job there) and it's safe to say that most of what I had planned to do, even the side projects, are wrapping up.
And about that proton beam facility visit? Uhh...I couldn't go. Something came up. :( But I've taken the liberty to research the facility, and I'll present what I found important/interesting below.
Possibly Accurate Description of the Proton Beam Facility
The facility is one of many spread through both Minnesota and Arizona, the aggregate of which will be able to serve a total of 2400 patients annually including 250 children. (The proton beam process must be tweaked to accommodate children.) Treatment from our Phoenix facility specifically will start up early 2016.
The type of beam radiation therapy used would be the latest available, which uses quote: "spot scanning to "paint" dots of protons back and forth through a tumor." This is known as pencil-beam scanning. It offers greater control over radiation times, fewer side effects, and shorter treatment times than conventional proton beam therapy. (which is still crazy avant-garde, mind you) The machine itself, though built so that very little of it is visible in treatment rooms, is enormous, occupying three floors. Included is a synchrotron designed to accelerate protons to 60% the speed of light. Of course, the patient will feel little to nothing at all. ;)
The Power of F3
My supervisor Amy had sent me three spreadsheets, each containing patients with head, liver, and chest problems respectively. The goal was to look up each of these cases in the database, bring up the full report, and mark certain trends or conditions in those reports. For the head and chest cases the 'key words' were more varied and nonspecific, but for the liver lesions, there was one key word: metastases. (The breaking off of cancerous cells to new parts of the body.) So all I had to do was, rather than read the report, press F3 and type in 'metastases'. I didn't read any of those liver reports, to be honest, rather, I burned through 60 of them in 60 minutes. :D
How to Make an eBook
One of the tasks I completed this week was helping Christine organize and compile 'eTextbooks' of sorts containing trial cases for people to use in radiology practice. As usual, actual patient data had to either be censored or replace with fake information.
Evolution's Role in Medicine
This was the first time I had attended a "grand rounds" lecture, where the possible subject matter was quite broad and meant for a general medically-inclined audience. And the lecture hall could seat like 200 people. And, big surprise here, most people came dressed in suits. I seriously ought to start doing that.
It is also worth noting that the talk had one of the most legit starts of any talk I'd ever listened to, with someone coming up to introduce the person who would be introducing the main speaker. No, I'm not making that up.
The actual lecture was, in my opinion, the most interesting I have been to thus far. The basic premise was that there are very few connections made between evolution and modern medicine, when in reality they are quite intertwined. And I'm not talking about some random psycho-evolution stuff or anything, I'm talking cold, hard, Darwinian evolution.
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| swag on |
Discussed was everything from the ever increasing bacterial resistance to penicillin, to reasons NOT to take all the pills in the prescribed bottle, especially after you're feeling better. Especially interesting was the discussion of why we, or any other species for that matter, hadn't evolved resistances to specific diseases that had plagued us for as long as we've been around. The most we've gotten is a jack-of-all-trades immune system (granted, an extremely adaptive one) that isn't infallible by any means. This question led to the interesting question of why, while the bacterial diseases that have been around for eons are sharply decreasing in power due to antibiotics, mental and autoimmune diseases are increasing exponentially to match? Is it our new, chemically infested environment? Or something else?
The lecturer added a disclaimer at the end saying that none of what was postulated was set in stone. (Probably because multiple points made clash directly with popular medical thought at the moment.)
Food is Love, Food is Life
So normally lunch is super cheap at Mayo, no more than $5.50 for me most of the time. So today when I saw I had $6.00 to spare, I wasn't worried. I also saw a spare nickel hiding at the bottom of my bag, but decided not to bring it along, reasoning that I wouldn't need it. Lo and behold, there was a special today. A charbroiled Texas-style chicken burger with giant onion rings AND french fries AND a 16 oz. drink included. For $6.05. 6 dollars and freaking 5 cents. So did I go back to the elevator, up 2 floors, and to the CORE Lab to get my nickel? You bet I did.
But the real question is: was it worth it?
Yes.
10/10
would eat again
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| I wish I could say this is an exaggeration |
Do you know of any problems/side effects that are associated specifically with proton beam therapy?
ReplyDelete"with someone coming up to introduce the person who would be introducing the main speaker" omg that's intense, man. Do you remember why one should not take all the pills in the prescribed bottle? Now I'm curious.
Are taxes not a thing at Mayo? And I admire your efforts to get the charbroiled Texas-style chicken burger with giant onion rings and french fries and a 16 oz. drink included haha.
Usually they're the same as with traditional chemotherapy, just less severe. Most problems due to radiation overexposure.
DeleteI think it was because the pathogens with had innate immunity would be 'compelled' to reproduce faster, or something? In certain cases, anyway. I'm not actually entirely sure what he said, but I'll see if I can get back to you on that!
Nope. Tax included in price.