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Nascent Drama

Accessory Glands. The acute effects of radiation will be felt by accessory glands producing saliva and mucous for example. This leads to a degree of stickiness, leading to oral discomfort, dryness and change in taste, irritating cough and discomfort, and urinary or bowel symptoms, depending on the site of radiation.

Management consists of providing replacement lubricants such as frequent small drinks, adequate urinary and bowel fluid, cough suppressants, soothing creams or lotions and patience.
 
Late Radiation Side Effects

The late effects of radiation treatment develop gradually over several months or years. The changes that result may be sufficiently slight as to cause no clinical symptoms, or so rare as to present minimal risk to the individual. Nevertheless, the late changes that do occur warrant notice and care in all patients who have received radiation treatment. In those few individuals with serious late effects (generally less than 5% of patients who have received high-dose radiation) the results are often disastrous and treatment extremely difficult.
 
For my visual analysis, I went to the Getty Museum. While looking for a piece of art to analyze, one piece in particular stuck out to me, mainly because of its similarities to a piece I remembered from class, Rogier van der Weyden’s Deposition. The piece, by an otherwise unidentified “follower of Rogier van der Weyden” definitely invokes strong emotions, but unlike van der Weyden’s original, in which the dead Christ seems to be the emotional center of the painting, this version seems to have two centers: One on Christ himself and the other, confusingly, slightly beyond his feet. The use of space and color in the second version seem clearly inferior to that of van der Weyden’s Deposition, and as this piece of art was produced some 55 years after, in which time painting techniques had certainly progressed, I can only view it as being inferior to van der Weyden.
 
Scarring. Radiation treatment results in increased connective tissue, fibrosis and scarring often associated with atrophy of accessory tissues. This leads to some increased rigidity of tissues, less suppleness and less resistance to injury.

In addition, the walls of small blood vessels may be thickened and distorted, leading to reduction in blood supply to some tissues. This particularly leads to less ability to deal with injury or trauma such as that resulting from infection or surgery.

Any area of the body that has received radiation treatment should be treated "gently" for the rest of the patient's life.
 
The Deposition was painted using oil and gold leaf on panel, and from the slight blur of the painting, I believe it has probably suffered some minor damage over time. The whole work, some two by three feet large, depicts a very similar scene to that of van der Weyden’s. A dead and pale Christ is being taken down from the cross while the Virgin Mary holds him by the chest and neck. Some onlookers seem to be mourning Christ while others on the right side of the painting seem to be praying together, somewhat separate from the dead Christ. A skull is seen at the center bottom of the work, below Christ’s knees. In the original, Christ’s dead body is more central. Mary has fainted below and to the left of him, and all onlookers seem to be mourning the dead man in the center. In addition, the cross points down to Christ from above. A skull rests next to Mary’s right hand.
 
The Deposition of 1490 was painted with dark, somber colors, in stark contrast to van der Weyden’s Deposition of 1435, which uses vibrant lively colors, creating a better contrast with the subject matter. The original also makes good use of space, while the copy has empty areas on all four sides.
 
Carcinogenicity. Radiation is one of the causes of cancer. Very rarely leukemia may result some five to twenty years after radiation exposure, due to bone marrow cells being damaged during radiation therapy. Similarly cancer can result in the area treated twenty or more years later.

The chances of either of these occurring are very small indeed.

The patient's risk of dying of the original disease, unless successfully treated, are much higher than the risk of developing cancer from the treatment.

Nevertheless, the risk is there and is one of the reasons why benign diseases are not treated by radiation unless absolutely necessary.
 
The Deposition of 1490, like its predecessor of 55 years, was made in the Netherlands, and even more importantly, was apparently made by a student of van der Weyden. However, from my comparison of its contemporary works, which seem more like van der Weyden’s style, the quality for the aforementioned reasons still seems to have shrunk. If not for the great separation in time, I would assume that it was painted by a young apprentice of van der Weyden, but he had died 26 years before, so it would have had to have been made at least several decades after the student finished training.
 
Genetic Effects. Exposure of the gonads to radiation increases the risk of abnormal mutations and genetic changes. Most chromosome damage from radiation results in a failure of conception and not an abnormal child. Even if both parents have been exposed to radiation, the risks of abnormal children being produced are so small as to be almost negligible. Late genetic effects in the individual are much less important than the increased risk of inducing cancer or the late vascular changes produced by radiation treatment.
 
As all depositions are fiercely religious in nature, it seems likely to me that this particular Deposition would have initially been presented somewhere in a church, probably viewed by Flemish churchgoers during mass as a way of inspiring piety.
 
IMMUNIZATION DURING CANCER TREATMENT (e.g. radiation)

1. When a child or adult has cancer and is receiving treatment which may be suppressing their immune system, such as whole body irradiation, "live" vaccines should not be given until six months after treatment is completed- "Killed" vaccines may be given although it is unclear as to their effectiveness in the immunosuppressed patient.
2. Immunosuppressed cancer patients should avoid changing diapers of infants or children for six weeks, who have recently been immunized with live (oral) polio vaccine. Immunosuppressed grand-parents are particularly at risk if they have never been immunized for polio. The risk is eliminated if the polio vaccine is given by injection (killed vaccine).
3. There is no risk from "flu" vaccines as they are not live vaccines.
4. Advice should be sought from the Infection Control Service or the Transplant Service of the Children's or Vancouver General Hospitals or family physician.
5. Travel Immunizations: The same rules apply as in 1-2 above.
 
All in all, I enjoyed my visit to the Getty. If I hadn’t already seen van der Weyden’s original, it’s entirely possible that I would have liked his follower’s copy, but even so, seeing a different artist’s take on the same subject, even if artistically inferior, was enjoyable.
 
Bibliography
Information at the Getty. Raw data.
Kleiner, Fred S. Gardner's Art Through the Ages Vol. 2 : A Global History. 13th ed. Vol. 2. Belmont: Wadsworth, 2008. 527-27.
"Rogier van der Weyden." Getty Museum. The J. Paul Getty Trust. 18 Oct. 2008 <http:/http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artmakerdetails?maker=749/>.
 
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Kitty 93
Dual 42
classichummus 23
Conchaga 16
Bickendan 12
Pandora 2
The Dork Lord 2
Love Child 1
 
The English language has risen to a position enjoyed by few languages in the course of history. It is perhaps the most widely spoken second language in the world, and is also spoken as a first language by vast numbers of people the world over. Less than two millennia ago, the language that would evolve into the modern English that we speak was a tribal barbarian tongue spoken only in the forests of Germania. The story of English's growth from its Germanic beginnings to its current form is one of evolution, assimilation, and imperialism.
 
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