I have to say, I enjoyed this educational dinner far more
than the last. I’m not sure if it was because I had nowhere to go but up after
my previous experience? The two meetings did share some similarly awkward
attributes: Again, no one asked my name, but they did ask what school I went
to. As pretty much the only person under 40 there (again) I suppose it was kind of
obvious I was a student. At least they were friendly enough to apologize for
how alienating their conversation was, even though they never introduced
themselves. There was a moment I could have enacted a guerilla style self-introduction,
but this time I let it pass. I personally enjoyed being a fly on the wall.
A
couple of the nurses were talking about how they’ve had patients who put
quarters in their shoes to increase their weight. Apparently this is a common
practice for patients with anorexia nervosa. However, in the case being spoken
of, the patient tried to increase their weight so that they could receive more
CHEMO! I certainly joined them in their astonishment. I could only guess that
the patient thought that by getting more chemo it would work better? Good
reminder on the importance of fully educating patients as to how their chemo
works and why they receive the dosage they do!
I was amazed by the casual and easy manner in which the
chapter president lead the meeting. As a current chapter president of the
National Student Nurses’ Association who is required to use Robert’s Rules of Order to conduct meetings, I had to admire her
ability to shoot from the hip. Have you ever watched C Span? They use Robert’s
Rules of Order there too, need I say more. I think if I were at a hearing of
that nature I would go rogue and just start filibustering out of sheer boredom. Anyway…
Madame President simply called upon her board members to
speak on different topics and they would pop up out of the audience like
whack-a-moles, brushing crumbs off their mouths and looking slightly confused.
All in all they got the job done. It was a good reminder for my type A
personality that even if things appear completely disorganized, the ultimate goal
can still be achieved….my fellow type A-ers will share my amazement.
The speaker was excellent, and provided an info packed
presentation about neurological cancers.
~Here are some of the highlights:~
Keep in mind neuro cancers refer to both brain AND spinal
chord cancers
Meningiomas= Most common type (30-40%) of brain cancer
Glioblastomas= Most common (20%) malignant brain tumor
Two types of Brain Tumor= Primary (start in brain) and
Secondary (mets from other organ ex. Breast)
Malignancy happens in degrees, so it is untrue to say that
you had the “good” kind of cancer necessarily. The speaker (Meg Schwartz, APN)
noted that patients will be bewildered when years later the tumor they thought
wasn’t malignant crops back up in the same location and presents as malignant.
Case Study
52 YO Caucasian c/o difficulty coordinating feet while
running that progressed to right sided hemiparesis. 5 years prior had a
negative MRI during a work-up for transient vision loss, DX as TIA. Pt
underwent brain biopsy, pathology interpreted as anaplastic astrocytoma, WHO
grade III. Pt ultimately received whole brain radiation w/ concurrent
temozolomide followed by nine cycles of adjuvant temozolomide. Pt developed a
gliomatosis cerebri progression of tumor and attempted three other chemo
regimens before passing away in hospice care. From Dx to death: 17 months.
Benign can=dangerous: Any tumor in the brain can become
deadly if it grows to the point where it crowds out healthy brain tissue.
Reoccurrence is normal
One specific symptom of a primary brain tumor (as headaches
can be the symptom of many things) are positional headaches in which laying
down actually makes the headache worse.
~~~~~~~~
Unlike my last ONS dinner, I couldn’t find the pluck to try
to secure a life raft in a sea of cronies. There were a few other student
members and I thought about asking them to join Student Nurses Against Cancer since their presence signaled they were possibly like minded to myself. After working
all day, studying for a final, and battling rush hour traffic to get there, I
didn’t have the energy to network uphill.
The next meeting is in May. Maybe if I’m just around long
enough someone will start talking to me? I believe that’s called the mere-exposure effect . I’ll
keep you posted. Who knows? It just may work!
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