The surgical Hamlet
Updated On: 21 January, 2024 06:54 AM IST | Mumbai | Dr Mazda Turel
Sometimes, even in medical scans, things are not what they seem to be. So how does one plan a course of action? Or is better to let the mystery unravel by itself?
Listen to this article :
Representation Pic
This looks like a high-grade brain cancer,” I said, after looking at the MRI films of a middle-aged lady dressed in a green and white salwar kameez. Her rosy face instantly turned ashen listening to the news. Streaks of silver were strikingly visible through her thick black hair. Her anxious husband sat next to her. “Are you sure, doctor?” he asked, nervously playing with his fingers. “99 per cent,” I assured, “but we’ll know for sure once we send it for testing,” I decreed. “And after surgery, this will need radiation and chemotherapy,” I stated, wanting to establish that they knew what they were in for. “We have two little children,” he said helplessly, probably foreseeing a fatality in his head.
Reena had started forgetting things, which could seem to be more than usual for someone in their mid-40s. She was also finding it hard to find the right words for what she wanted to say. “She mixes up the names of things in the house,” her husband added. “She won’t be able to call what we sit on a chair, but will give its description instead,” he tried to explain the exact nature of the problem. “She’s unable to do the house hisaab as well,” he explained, implying a problem in performing calculations. “And that’s what prompted me to take her to the doctor,” he told me. Her physician rightly ordered an MRI that showed a big ghoulish mass in the lower part of the left parietal lobe, which was responsible for naming objects, counting, and calculations. The radiologist reported it to be a high-grade cancer of the brain and I concurred. “There’s no way this could be anything else?” her husband asked repeatedly.
Read Next Story
Trending Stories
Latest Photos
Latest Videos
Latest Web Stories
ADVERTISEMENT
Mid-Day Fast
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT