C-8: As above, so below

First published Tuesday, January 24th, 2017

Finally, we have an opinion.

The nasty, uninvited, unwanted intruder started in my gastro-intestinal tract (GI) and then, presumably searching for somewhere warm and cozy to put down its tent, settled on the vacant space between my first cervical vertebrae and my spinal cord. The trick is to kill the source which then starves the offspring.

So chemotherapy it is.

‘Chemo’ covers a multitude of sins including derivatives of mustard gas which, combined with phosgene and every swimmers’ best friend, chlorine, was used during World War One to incapacitate and kill.  It’s also been linked to recent use in Syria.

Nasty

For survivors, it damages the DNA, so that victims are at increased risk of developing certain cancers - so I guess it’s a kind of homeopathic approach! ‘What doesn’t kill you…’ etcetera.

There’s a quote attributed to Stephen Marquardt which says;

“All life is biology. All biology is physiology. All physiology is chemistry. All chemistry is physics. All physics is math. All math is philosophy.”

‘Chemo’, therefore, short for Chemical Intervention Therapy, merely denotes a method of attacking physiological aberrations using chemical means. It stops or slows the growth of cancerous cells which are characterized by unnaturally rapid growth. Everything is made from chemicals of some sort or another of course, so it’s really just a short-hand way of saying, “We’re going in hard and taking no prisoners.” The going in hard approach carries with it the risk (certainty?) of also harming other healthy fast-growing cells, which is why people’s hair falls out.

Chemistry concerns itself with the composition, structure, properties and change of matter. The change bit is significant because the domain of chemistry itself probably originates from alchemical studies, the mythical father of which is Hermes Trismegistus or ‘Thrice-great Hermes’. Alchemy famously seeks to mutate base metals into gold, but the mention of metals in the teachings was euphemistic and designed to divert and mislead the understanding of persecutors and critics. 

Alchemy is really about raising the spiritual level of psychic vibration from a base level to that necessary for a full understanding of everything. You could also think of it as the Yin-Yang symbol which illustrates two opposing forces each of which contains the seed of its opposite. The opposition causes rotation which is the source of the energy fueling the Universe.

Hermetic philosophy revolves around the awesome catch-all phrase, ‘As above, so below.’ This captures the similarity or even congruity of the macro-cosmos and the micro-cosmos, the great and the tiny; the similarity between a galaxy and an atom, between the veins in your arm and the branches of a tree. It bases itself on the principle of correspondence, both psychological and physical. What happens here is really the same as what happens everywhere else.

My cancer started below, in my GI tract, and graduated to above, in my neck.

So, as I said, chemo it is. There are a zillion options open to Oncologists when designing chemotherapy, depending on the type, location and stage of the cancer, as well as the age and medical history of the patient.

My package will consist of three-weekly transfusions of some potion or other, coupled with three weeks of horse-sized tablets for a series of – maybe - six interventions, called cycles. Sometime during that period, they will assess the progress and possibly add radiation; that’s the lightsabers targeted at the specific site of the painful tumour in my neck. I get the impression that moving to radiation will be a good sign.

I’m not looking forward to the chemo side effects.

The transfusions are interesting. Over the past couple of years I’ve had intravenous lines (IV) in the back of my hand on what seems like a hundred times. The veins have been hard to find. 

The answer is to implant what is called a chemo port. It’s an IV line which will be implanted under the skin of my upper chest and stay there for the whole duration of the treatment. Think of the microchip implanted in Bond’s forearm in Casino Royale. I may end up bionic. “Rushton - Clive Rushton”. I already have a Martini, shaken not stirred, so I’m half-way there; just need an Aston Martin and a Walther PPK.

Clive and Martini on their wedding day

My Oncologist is an impressive chappie. He has the following on his cards: M.B.B.S. (Bombay), M.D. (U.S.A.), M.P.H. (U.S.A.), F.A.C.P. (U.S.A.), Hematology (U.S.A.), Medical Oncology (U.S.A.). 

The etymological origin of oncology is όγκος - Greek for tumour, volume or mass. It’s pronounced ón-kos which is rather endearing. Blood analysis on Saturday and the Real Deal all starts next Monday.