In my initial discussion of treatment options, I heard my condition described as "unique" and that I was an "outlier." I understand the former and, as a statistician, the implications of the latter, so I pretty well knew the unvoiced meaning - the doctors didn't have any data or prior experience about how to approach my problem.
The CT surgeon, initially proposed open-heart surgery, promising to do more research, subsequently deciding it was too risky, leaving radiation as the only alternative. The radiation oncologist told me he had found "a very limited number of somewhat similar" situations in which radiation had been successful a very high percentage of the time, which in statistical terms means little, which he voluntarily admitted.
The remaining options, were euphemistically "watchful waiting," a clinical trial which might take months to find, if ever, and radiation using Cyberknife, which is non-invasive and offered at least the hope of an immediate successful treatment, even though they couldn't insert the markers used for accurate targetting -- Hookay, guess which one I chose.
In describing radiation treatment, the term "palliation" was used several times. I know what palliative care means (keep them comfortable until the pop off), but I'd never heard the term used as a noun. I didn't like the implication of this, so I used my Alt-Click to look it up on Answers.com:
Pal·li·a·tion
n.
[Cf. F. palliation.]
1. The act of palliating, or state of being palliated; extenuation; excuse; as, the palliation of faults, offenses, vices.
2. Mitigation; alleviation, as of a disease. Bacon.
3. That which cloaks or covers; disguise; also, the state of being covered or disguised. [Obs.]
Hmmm, not exactly what I hoped to see - elimination, cessation, eradication, gone bye-bye
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