One of my fondest memories as a kid is watching the movie FANTASTIC VOYAGE. In it, a group of scientists and their ultra-futuristic laser-packing “submarine” are reduced to cell size and injected into the blood vessels of a world diplomat in order to destroy a blood clot in his brain.
What would a FANTASTIC VOYAGE: Breast Cancer look like? I’m going to write a novel here, short chapter by short chapter and I’m going to include the latest research and I’m going to imagine the entire story here for your delectation. Likely it WON’T be once a month…
Dr. Olubunmi Nwagbara – Ohloo to her close friends, Dr. O to those who wouldn’t try her last name for fear of offending her – sat in the uncomfortable hospital chair at the foot of Kim Lin Anzan’s bed.
The leader of one of the fastest growing philosophical societies on Earth was a frail woman, though barely forty years old. In pain and with a death watch standing over her, she still managed to meet Ohloo’s gaze with strength. She said softly, “So my only chance of surviving is to allow you to enter my bloodstream and deal with the cancers directly?”
Ohloo nodded slowly. For some reason, Kim Lin Anzan made her uneasy. She doubted it had anything to do with her firm agnosticism that had its roots in conservative Lutheranism. Ohloo had given up on religion shortly after she turned thirteen. Perhaps it was the woman’s refusal to argue. Ohloo said, “I can’t tell you that the picosubmarine is your ‘only’ hope. Medicine rarely deals in absolutes. I hope you can understand that.”
Kim Lin Anzan smiled faintly. “I don’t deal in absolutes, either, Doctor."
“But...”
“That I believe that peace, persuasion and surrender are in fact the only way to deal with relationships on this planet of ours. Especially since there are nine billion of us now.” She snorted a breath. “I don’t believe I’m the incarnation of the Buddha as my agent and some of my followers believe.” She raised herself up a bit on her elbows, “In fact, Doctor, I tend to be a rationalist. So I understand what you’re offering me is hope, not definite cure.” She lay back.
Ohloo opened her mouth to respond then closed it. Her right pointer finger drifted to her mouth, covering it.
Kim Lin Anzan smiled and said, “Your body language says you have many things to say but are holding them back. You might as well speak them if you’re going to be living inside my bloodstream for a time. What do you plan to do first?”
Her finger stiffened for a moment then she pulled it away. “All right. Rationality then.” She pulled out her computer tablet, pressed its ‘projection mode’ and tapped it to life. A virtual screen popped up between them, letters and images facing the correct direction for both. “Since you had the biopsies, we’ve found more cancer masses in both breasts, in the liver and several suspicious lesions on your bones. The cancer type is known as a ‘triple negative type’ – I’m sure your initial doctor told you about it, but yours is unusual. It also has hallmarks of inflammatory breast cancer as well.”
Kim Lin Anzan’s gaze sharpened as she said, “I understand that the triple negative breast cancer does not express the genes for estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor or Her2/neu and can’t be treated with the usual suite of chemotherapy and radiation. What does it mean that it has aspects of this inflammatory cancer?”
Ohloo pursed her lips. How to explain it to a lay person?
Kim Lin Anzan said, “I was a second year medical student when I switched to philosophy, Doctor. The terminology of my early years hasn’t been lost. I actually spend quite a bit of time talking with people about how they perceive their medical states. Please, without using really, really big words, explain it to me and why you need to inject a picosub into me."
“All right. It’s true that the cancer cells you have are non-responsive to the regimen developed to treat standard breast cancer. T-neg is still far behind in research dollars and so we simply don’t know as much about it as we do about other types. Yours is among the first cases of T-neg with inflammatory characteristics. Diagnosis is difficult because it can manifest itself as mastitis. It can also be completely hidden until symptoms abruptly surface – as they did in your case. The cancer in you is advanced and spreading. It’s systemic, affecting all of the organs breast cancer typically affects. Except your brain. It doesn’t seem to have crossed that barrier yet, but we have no way of telling at this point.”
“And you want to go into my body…why? For fame and glory? Because you believe my message? Because India and China stand on the brink of war – but both hear me because of my lineage and family connections?”
Ohloo leaned back in her chair, this time studying the woman on the bed intently. Finally she said, “Yes to all of those questions.”
“If I die under your care, you will never work again,” Kim Lin Anzan said. Ohloo couldn’t trust herself to answer. The incarnation of Buddha smiled at her with a smile taken from a carving then said, “You risk all because you actually believe I might be able to act the part of usher in our quest for world peace!”
Ohloo felt herself blushing. It wasn’t as obvious on black skin, but she knew it was there.
Kim Lin Anzan nodded slowly then and said, “When do we start and what will you do?”
References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflammatory_breast_cancer, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple-negative_breast_cancer
Image: http://medgadget.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/Fantastic-Voyage-200x290.jpg
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