Tonight's picture was taken in January of 2006. That day I brought two gingerbread houses to Mattie's preschool. I baked and assembled them myself. I also brought in royal icing and lots of different candies for the children to decorate the houses. It was such a fun activity that literally all four classrooms at the school got a chance to rotate in and decorate the houses. At the end of the day, Mattie got to take both houses home. You can see Mattie posing with the finished products! Mind you prior to this activity, I had NEVER baked a gingerbread house before. Mattie introduced me to many FIRSTS.
Quote of the day: A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way. ~ Mark Twain
Tonight's quote makes me laugh! I laugh and yet there is SO MUCH truth to Twain's quote. Anyone who has a cat as a pet, realizes what will happen to you if you pick your cat up by the tail. If you don't know this, then after trying it, I bet you will never forget the outcome! By analogy, I would say after experiencing Mattie's cancer first hand, I have learned lessons that others may not intuitively know. This brings me to yesterday's conference that we attended.
We had the opportunity to hear a presentation by Dr. Kristina Hardy at Children's National Medical Center (Washington, DC). The presentation was entitled, "Neuropsychological sequelae following diagnosis and treatment of pediatric cancer." It is pretty much understood in the cancer world, that treatments that involve radiation to the brain will produce cognitive impairments (such as lower attention span, short and long term memory issues, and executive functioning problems - organizational skills, time management, and planning).
However, what we learned yesterday is that researchers are realizing that ALL children with cancer maybe facing these same cognitive impairments, even if their central nervous system wasn't exposed to radiation. Why? Because chemotherapy in general causes neuroinflammation and cardiopulmonary issues, which can prevent oxygen and other nutrients effectively getting to a child's developing brain.
Given our experiences with Mattie's horrific treatment, I wouldn't be surprised if he faced these cognitive issues post-treatment. Of course we will never know, and in Mattie's case, his level of trauma and anxiety would also need to be taken into account, because to me trauma would have a direct impact on his ability to focus and his working memory.
What also intrigued me is the younger a child is at diagnosis the more significant cognitive impairment may occur if the child received cranial radiation. Compare a child who is 12 versus 5 at diagnosis. By age 12, several skills have already been learned. The child had a longer time in school and has experienced social interactions. For children who have had cranial radiation, research indicates a 10 point decline in IQ for a child who is 5 years old at diagnosis, compared to a 12 year old (this figure illustrates what I am talking about). We also learned that there is NO known treatment to improve declines in IQ scores. So clearly the younger a child is diagnosed, the more significant the consequences.
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