QOL FastB'last!: The Political Implications of Pseudo Progress

I hope some of you appreciate the reference to the SST surf punk band name in the title. I wasn't really a fan, but life does need more useless apostrophes placed randomly.

This won’t be a long one but I’m trying to get back into a regular pattern of posting and this definitely something that needs to be added to this ongoing list of things that are a thing when dealing with cancer. And life in general.

If you have any questions then see my previous post. And no, I’m not gonna add a link. I’m tired. And just cuz. I can’t make life easy for you.

Anyway, I’d like to bring up the concept of “pseudo progress”. No, it’s not the good kind of progress and, truth be told, it’s not even real.

Except sometimes it it is.

OK, I’ll explain. “Pseudo progress” is a term used by medical følken when a PET or MRI scan can’t really tell the difference between dead tumor tissue (necrosis) or swelling and actual cancerous tissue growth. Staff then go on “alert” of sorts and may (but not always) place a patient on a more frequent cycle of scans and tests to better ascertain what’s going on.

You see, as great as technology is, it isn’t perfect and taking pictures of parts INSIDE the body can be tricky. Especially when you’re looking at cancer cells which can be pretty tiny.

For example, my tumor is measured in centimeters, but it’s still big enough to cause some serious neurological issues and risks to things like how my heart and lungs operate (it’s brain stem stuff).

And here’s the thing… sometimes “pseudo progress” isn’t “pseudo”, but actual progress. The bad kind. In fact, many cases where a long-term “survivor” does get worse and dies start as medical staff being concerned as “pseudo progress” and they start doing various things to get ahead of the situation. But it’s real tumor growth and death follows.

The patient may not even die soon, but can be impacted by worsening physical deficits like paralysis, blindness, pain, etc. It can mostly all be “managed” to an extent, but none of it is fun.

But I’ve also had a couple instances of “pseudo progress” and all have fortunately proven to just be stress-inducing glitches in my “cAnCeR jOuRnEy”. One was just the case of parts of my brain shifting to fill empty spots where bad things had been removed. My tumor even showed signs of slight shrinkage.

(I’m trying so hard not to make a corny Seinfeld “shrinkage” joke here.)

Now, the upshot of this and how it might apply to those not dealing with something like cancer is this: The patient is told that there is a possibility that this could be the big, bad stuff that means death is looming. But also that it might just be a temporary annoyance.

As one might imagine, the “not-knowing for sure what’s happening” can get pretty psychologically and emotionally intense for the patient part of this scenario. Ya know, the human actually directly impacted by all this stuff. Even when all turns out “fine”, the ride to get to that point can get kinda hairy.

Sounds pretty cancer-y still huh?

But I guarantee you that it applies to so many areas of life. Take for instance, there was recently an election in the United States. You may have heard about it. For many people, myself included, the results were pretty terrible. The individuals who won haven’t done anything awful (imo) yet despite chatter that they really want to.

Are the results proof of actual malignant behavior or is it just evidence of dying, bloated tissue? Maybe some things just re-arranging themselves? We don’t know for sure, but, even in the best of circumstances, it definitely will cause a lot of stress and anxiety… and possibly some actual damage/decline… along the way.

There will be the people who are convinced that the end is nigh. There will be those that are convinced nothing is wrong. But the the truth is we don’t really know.

There are courses of action regardless.

So I advise being like the doctors and read up on specific issues and formulate plans to be an advocate for yourself, for those you care about, and… dare I say?… the community as a whole. Taking action can mean different things to different people, but know that the sooner we all recognize what is- or isn’t- happening, we can hopefully stop things from getting worse.

And maybe even reverse course? I’m not afraid to hope. Yes, it gets tiring going through the same shit over and over again. But I promise you, that as a cancer patient who has dealt with health blips and actual issues over and over like a seemingly endless rollercoaster, we can all do hard things.

Fuck cancer and fuck fascists.