Tyler Neerhout
Tyler: How did you feel going to the doctor?
Dad: I had three cigarettes on the way up. I was stressed because I wasn’t sure what the doctor was going to talk to me about. I knew something was wrong but wasn’t sure what was actually wrong.
Tyler: What exactly did the doctor say?
Dad: He said he had good news and bad news. The good news was that the x-ray showed nothing was broken. But the bad news was that I had an acoustic neuroma. I then told him to please speak English to me. So he said it was a noncancerous brain tumor.
Tyler: Were you happy when he said it was noncancerous?
Dad: I was but not entirely because I didn’t know what was going to happen until we met the other doctors, who said the best option was to take it out. After discussion the different options I decided to have it taken out after 3 months. This way I would be able to get my weight down and under control. As well as stop smoking because I had a better chance of recovery if I stopped smoking.
Tyler:How did it effect you after?
Dad: I lost my hear in my left ear, due to a complication to the surgery. The tumor actually wrapped around my hearing cord and so that was the only option to take it out. I also had bells palsy, where my face actually started to drupe on the left side. I also got a tingling sensation up my left arm which had to get fixed in an underlever realignment surgery.
Tyler: How did it effect you long term?
Dad: With the permanent hearing loss I can’t hear anything out of my left ear. So I have to only use my right ear. I wasn’t able to participate in any firefighting operations for an extended period of time. Some days I have minor bells palsy when I am really tired.
Tyler: Did you try and do anything to help with the hearing loss?
Dad: I had a surgery for a Baha hearing aid. It used vibration when someone talked to help with the hearing. Unfortunately, I had gotten an infection and it had to be removed because the infection was so bad. I later got another device so that I can use a similar technique but it is a piece that fits in my mouth by my teeth in the back and transmit to an ear piece.
Brain Tumors
Cancer can happen to anyone. A movie star, a doctor, a prisoner and even a father. In 2008, my mom wanted our bathroom redone. My dad had the task of redoing the bathroom. When he was redoing the sheetrock, it had come down and hit him in the head. He began to experience a sharp pain in his neck. When it was only getting worse, my mom and he decided to go to the hospital and get it checked out. A couple of days later we got the call that would change everything, and we just didn’t know it.
The brain is one of the most important things a human has. It is also one of the most difficult things to understand. It tells our body what to do and how to do it. It controls our muscles, our communication and so much more. When something traumatic happens, the brain isn’t the only thing can be affected. After any surgery there can be side effect. This could be anything from drooping of the face, tingles in your arm, and pain to name a few. The side effects can be difficult for many people depending on the effects and the type of surgery.
A brain tumor is an abnormal growths of cells in the brain. A tumor is categorized in two types. One type is a malignant tumor which is a cancerous tumor, and benign tumor which is non-cancerous but also just as serious. Malignant tumors grow and spread rapidly taking over the healthy cells that help run the body, by taking the blood and nutrients they need (“Brain Cancer: Types & Causes”). Benign tumors do not invade nearby tissue, but can be just as dangerous as malignant as they can press up to nearby tissue causing problems (“Brain Cancer: Types & Causes”). Brain cancer is not a very common cancer, but in the United States “about 6 of every 1,000 people” (“Brain Cancer: Types & Causes”) are affected by either brain or a nervous system cancer. Brain cancer is made up of one type of cell that transforms from its original state and once they begin transforming they increase in size and become a mass or tumor. Tumors that originate in the brain are called Primary brain tumors or a Metastatic brain tumors which is where the cancerous cells originate from elsewhere in the body, this is the most common brain tumor (“Brain Cancer: Types & Causes). The day that would change our family’s life was the day that my dad got a call to go to the doctor’s office. The doctor would then diagnosis my dad with a brain tumor, and even more specifically, having an Acoustic Neuroma.
We didn’t know what an Acoustic Neuroma was. We didn’t know how serious my dad’s diagnosis was or what was going to be the process of getting rid of it. When we first hear it we thought he had cancer. The doctor then explained what an Acoustic Neuroma was to my mom. An Acoustic Neuroma, which is also called a Vestibular Schwannoma, is a noncancerous slow-growing tumor and grows usually on the main nerve leading from your inner ear to the brain (Mayo Clinic Staff). The nerve that the Acoustic Neuroma develops on controls balance and hearing. Some symptoms would include hearing loss, ringing in the ear, and unsteadiness. The tumor normally starts at the Schwann cell covering the nerve and starts growing (Mayo Clinic Staff). In my father’s case, his tumor had started off small and around the hearing nerve. Though, three months later his tumor had grown that he was going to need to have to have surgery sooner than expected.
On March 23, 2008, it was supposed to be a day were we celebrate my mom’s birthday. But in 2008, March 23, turned into the day my dad would have his surgery. Surgeries vary in length. Originally, my dad’s surgery was supposed to take about three hours. That day though, the doctors found a complication. The tumor had grown even more and the doctor would have to make a tough decision. The tumor had grown around my dad’s hearing nerve and the nerve that controls his facial muscles. Though, his surgery was supposed to be three hours, the doctor had to careful remove the tumor and turn the surgery into a seven hour surgery.
After surgery there is always some kind of side effect. They are a common thing with surgery. In some cases side effects may be minor, but in other cases it may be something a little more serious. Whether it is from numbness to communication skills or even your muscles aren’t working as well. Sometimes on surgery can even lead to other surgeries down the road.
One of the more common side effects is that communication is mostly effected. If the tumor is in the frontal lobe it can affect the production of language were if it is in the temporal lobes it can affect the understanding of languages (“Communication Difficulties”). Depending on where the tumor is located will determine if a person’s side effect is with understanding the language or speaking the language. Though, these side effects could be dealt with a speech therapist. Someone could come and help a person who suffers from communication side effects. Another communication side effect, which is probably the most common one among communication side effects is Dysphasia, which is the complete loss of a language (“Communication Difficulties”). There are three types of Dysphasia, Broca’s aphasia, Wernicke’s aphasia and Global aphasia (“Communication Difficulties”). Though a person’s speech may be the main problem, it may also cause them some emotional side effects. A person may start to get frustrated because they can’t communicate with others (“Communication Difficulties”). There are things that people can help someone who has dysphasia. They can help keep background noises down, allow the person to go slowly or take a break, don’t rush the person and ask the person yes or no questions so they don’t allows have to talk.
Communication of the mouth isn’t the only thing that is affected. A person could have a side effect that controls their hearing. In some cases, people can lose some hear, all their hearing or nothing happens to their hearing. One of my dad’s side effects was that he ended up losing his hearing. My dad experienced hearing loss in his left ear. His tumor was wrapped around his hearing and facial nerves, so his doctor had to make a choice for which nerve he would lose. Ultimately, the doctor felt the hearing nerve would be the one my dad would lose.
There are times were things get difficult with him not having hearing. And like Dysphasia, there are emotional tolls that the hearing loss takes. Being in large crowds can be very difficult for my dad. When we go out, all the background noise makes it even more difficult for him to hear so he gets frustrated in crowds. Even when we are talking somewhere quiet, he sometimes misses things which makes it hard because he doesn’t know when he misses something and when he hears everything. He had tried a new hearing aid which works off of vibrations. Though, it involved a surgery to implant the device in the skull that would use the vibrations to help block out all the background noise. Unfortunately, my dad got an infection, which would require another surgery to clean it out and then another one to replace the device. Again, he got another infections, which means another surgery that my parents decided would be the last one for this device and we would try something else. Another device was available which allowed my dad to have a device that he put on his tooth and he would wear a hearing aid that worked similar to the other device.
Another side effect someone could face could be to their facial muscles. A person’s muscle can be effected in a way that it can become droopy or become permanently stuck in a position. Though the doctor had cut the hearing nerve, my dad’s tumor still had wrapped around the facial nerve and he even had and still has it as a side effect. Once he was home, he had experienced some droopiness on the left side of his face. He still experiences some droopiness in the left side of his face. To this day when he is really tired he experiences this side effect. Though, it isn’t as bad as it once was, it is still noticeable and still another reminder of what we went through.
With cancer there is always things a person has to do when the cancer is gone. Whether that is to continue to take pills or go for MRIs. With brain tumors it is no different. Though, it may vary depending on how sever the cancer was. In my dad’s case for the first 2 years he had to get an MRI every 6 months, and then one a year for the next 5 years. I remember that always being a stressful time for my mom and the rest of my family. There was always the thought in the back of our mind that the tumor would come back. Even my dad had that thought. You would never know until the results would come back and the doctor would deliver the news on whether it came back or not.
The brain controls many things. It is probably the most important thing in a human being. When it is affected by a tumor there are things that we can’t control. That day in 2008 changed our lives and we never even knew the effects until later. The side effects will affect someone even years later when they have been cancer free for a couple of years. My dad still experiences different side effects even today. And even though you are cancer free, like my dad, a person may still need to go and get checked that their tumor didn’t come back. My dad is now 10 years cancer free, but my family and I will never forget the experience we went through.
Work Cited
“Brain Cancer: Types & Causes” WebMD. Web. 2018 Mar 9.
“Brain Cancer: Symptoms” WebMD. Web. 2018 Mar 9.
“Brain Cancer: Treatments” WebMD. Web. 2018 Mar 9.
“Brain Cancer: Diagnosis” WebMD. Web. 2018 Mar 9.
“Brain Cancer: Home Care” WebMD. Web. 2018 Mar 9.
“Communication Difficulties”. The Brian Tumour Charity. Web. 2018 Mar 9.
Mayo Clinic Staff. “Acoustic Neuroma”. Mayo Clinic. Web. 2018 Mar 8.
“Quick Brian Tumor Facts”. National Brain Tumor Society. Web. 2018 Mar 10.
“What Causes Brain and Spinal Cord Tumors in Adults”. American Cancer Society. Web. 2018 Mar 8.
Short critical response
Octavia Butler’s ‘Bloodchild’: A Story about Slavery
Tyler Neerhout
In recent discussion of “Bloodchild” by Octavia Butler, a controversial issue has been whether the story portrays an act of slavery. The author herself claims the story is not about slavery. However, in the story, human families are obliged to allow at least one son to be “implanted” with an alien egg—which seems like a form of slavery, since they have no choice in the matter. In the words of critic Elyse Helford, who has written an article about the story, “When aliens control your destiny as fully as the Tlic control the humans, I call it enslavement.”(Helford).
I feel that this story does portray a theme of slavery in a way that doesn’t make you think it is slavery. Through I concede that humans in the story are getting something from the relationship with the Tlic, I still maintain that they do not have free choice and therefore are not free. For example, on page 18 of Octavia Butler’s “Bloodchild” in a conversation between Gan and TGatoi they say, “You would have done it to Hoa tonight! I accused.” TGatoi says, “I must do it to someone tonight.”(Butler).This right here is showing that TGatoi doesn’t care who will be getting the implanting but that she is implanting someone with the egg. This helps show that the humans (Gan) have no choice in the matter of being implanted with the egg. Gan does have a choice, but if TGatoi doesn’t implant Gan with the egg, TGatoi will implant his sister, Hoa, who will die, and Gan has the choice of being implanted himself or have his sister killed.
In Elyse Helford’s criticism of Octavia Butlers “Bloodchild”, she states, “butler refuses to label ‘Bloodchild’ a story about ‘humans being treated as if they were possessions,’ she does offer a definition of slavery that encourages metaphoric readings (abused children as slaves).” (Helford) This excerpt goes into more detail of the type of slavery, with the addition of child slavery. The compromise between the Tlic and humans was to give the Tlic one of their children in return they were not be held in cages.
In conclusion, I think that the story represents slavery in the way of not having a choice in certain situations. Some might object that Gan does have a choice in the situation of TGatoi implanting him with the egg that can kill him. This issue is important because someone or something should be able to get a choice in the matter of their life or in the society that they live in.
Work Cited
Butler, Octavia. Bloodchild. Seven Stories Press, 1996.
Helford, Elyce Rae. “Would You Really Rather Die Than Bear My Young?’. The Construction of Gender, Race, and Species in Octavia E. Butler’s Bloodchild’.”. Contemporary Literary Criticism, ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter and Polly Vedder, vol. 121, Gale, 2000. Web 6 Feb. 2018.
The Handmaid’s Tale
Everyone has a job in life. Society believes that certain jobs are for men and some are for women. Though, women can do jobs men do and men can do jobs that women do, society believes that the two should not mix. In the book by Margaret Atwood, “The Handmaid’s Tale”, it talks about a dystopian society named the Republic of Gilead, where rich and powerful men rule the society and women are in the background of the society. Margaret Atwood shows how a society rules with the rich and powerful. Specifically the men. Women in this society are not meant to rule and are meant to do the domestic work around the house. Mary McCarthy reviewed Atwood’s book, and talked about how even the female characters gave themselves classes, based solely on their “household function” (McCarthy). Society takes people can categories them bases solely on their positions.
The Republic of Gilead is society that is mainly ruled by men. Men rule society or at least that is what society perceives. In Atwood’s book, the Commanders all seem to be men, the guards also all seem to be men. Women seem to do most of the domestic work. They can’t seem to be given any power. Whether it is because men think they are superior or it just how society is, it can translate into our own society. The leader of our country is a man, six of the nine Supreme Court Justices are men, and the leaders of Congress are all men. The highest positions in the United States are held mostly by men. This just shows that like the Republic of Gilead, men are viewed as more important or able to make better decisions.
Though the women have their classes as well. The women get put into different positions based on what they do to help the society. If a women does housework for the Commander she is a Martha. If they are to bear the Commander’s child they are a handmaid. If you are considered an Aunt you are in charge of handmaids and their well-being. The wives are the wives of men of house, and the econowives are working class house workers how do most of the work around the house for middle and lower class families. Everyone has a job in society. Depending on their job will depend on what they are called in the society.
Not only do they get a name to determine where there status is in society, they are also identified by the color of their clothes. Each job is assigned a color, so that everyone knows where each person stands in the society. This symbolizes the roles that the women play in society. Men in this society have more of a freedom when it comes to what they wear. Mostly they will wear a suit, but with the females they must wear “separate color that instantly identifies the wearer” (McCarthy). Society needs to know were a women stands in Atwood’s book. She sets this system up so that the men and other women know where they stand in society and to show the power that society has on them. This power being that they don’t have the freedom wear what they want, that they need to wear what society wants them to so they are easily identified.
Being stripped of your identity is something that shows someone has power over you. With the handmaid they are given their names. Offred wasn’t her original name. She was given that name because the Commander that owned her was named Fred, and “adding the word “of” to show possession” (McCarthy), gives her the name Offred. This is an example that shows that the Commander has control over the handmaids not only in their positon in the house but the name they are called. Offred was given her name solely to show the possession the Commander has over her, and so that other people know she belongs to him and no one else.
The Republic of Gilead is a society that in the book The Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopian society that is ruled by men and the women are given positions that they are to fill. Society stripes them of their name, their choices and gives them a position in which they are to fulfil the duties they are given. Mary McCarthy analyses the books and points out ideas that she believes that society has based on the book.
Work Cited
Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid’s Tale. Anchor Books.1986.
McCarthy, Mary. “Book Review: The Handmaid’s Tale”. The New York Times. Feb 9, 1986. Web. 22 Apr 2018.