His mother lay on a narrow white bed. Her once-thick hair had been completely shaved, a translucent stubble breaking through the skin, and deep bluish hollows had settled beneath her eyes. Brachytherapy. Stereotactic radiosurgery and teletherapy had failed to halt the tumor, so the doctors had implanted radioactive seeds into her brain tissue to burn the disease from within. She emanated that same frightening, stifling heat of a decaying core
