The procedure is called focused ultrasound, and simply stated, it zapped my fibroid into the nether reaches of the universe. With that, the morose veil of frustration and disgust was eternally lifted from my otherwise jovial self. Curiosity, marked by questions and interviewed-interest in the dynamics of focused ultrasound, has me explaining, quite scientifically, just what it is like. I am no Mr. Wizard (nor Mrs., for that matter), but invariably the word ablation pops out of my mouth and begins to ricochet around the room like a ping-pong ball on steroids. I grabbed my hefty old, old mister Webster in the hope of quelling an urge that taps, taps, taps at my passion button — the one that needs to know the derivation of words. Always a true and trusted go-to-guy for information of mysterious communications of all manner and form, Webster’s Dictionary has proved itself with absolute certainty…every single time.
Let’s see, a-b-l-a-t-i-o-n, abl-a-tion, oh there it is. Ablation: 1.Removal, especially the surgical removal of the body. 2.in geology a wearing or wasting away, as of a glacier rock. Etymology, Latin [carried away]. Uh, hello, Scottie, beam me up right this minute!! The intelligent word definer is no longer useful!! Not one of those sentences describing ablation are even close to what occurred when I had focused ultrasound. A fibroid is no glacier rock. I had a fibroid… I know what a fibroid is… And you, sir glacier rock, are no fibroid! Hmmm, Okay, next definition: “Removal, surgical removal.” Heck no! Those words would never, ever, ever pass through my lips. Not even if I was plainly protected with a necklace garland of garlic, or given the very best koody shot that monopoly money could buy. Surgical removal, forsooth!
Focused ultrasound, I should explain, is a non-invasive procedure. Not even a teeny-eeny-weeny cut is lodged anywhere on your body while ridding the offending (non-glacier) fibroid. Very, very basically —  you are having an MRI, and, at precisely that exact moment a focused ultrasound is aimed at a portion of the tumor(fibroid). It heats up the cells and destroys them in that sections location. This heating is continued over and over, little by little, until every nook-and-cranny of that invasive ogre-of-a-fibroid is left for naught. The treatment can last for a few hours and laying perfectly still, is essential. The greatest news yet, is that you are able to literally “hop” off the treatment table — one-two-three. Easy-peasy: the whole darn procedure of ablating that big bad fibroid. There’s that word again, hmmm.
An important piece of information to note, is that focused ultrasound is in the infant stage of development. From the doctors that perform the treatment, to the patients that receive it, are ALL pioneers in the very promising future for this procedure. The possibilities of focused ultrasounds use as a non-invasive method to destroy cancerous tumors in other locals — brain, breast, lung, liver, prostate, and spine –are truly exciting. We are just at the early stages with the limitless applications that focus ultrasound will provide for all of us.
Back to the word ablation. As with many other words that seem to lamprey themselves and derive their meaning within the context of their exercise, I suppose that ablation too shall adapt and adjust. In fact, so as to speed this process along, I hereby decree that ablation shall have a 3rd meaning, when employing its use in describing focused ultrasound to the very curious. And so it goes…”Webster-Wendy’s” definition of ablation shall be as follows: to vaporize at very high temperatures so as to destroy the offending growth(tumor). ie. TO KILL THE SUCKER!!  Ablation………………