Gammaknife

Alot to update all of you on. It was a very long day to Seattle and back and the pass was awful But we made it home about 11p. But let's start in the middle with the doctors.

We got there right on time and we met with neuroradiologist Dr. Meier who, along with a neurosurgeon, will handle the procedure. He went over both Gammaknife and Cyberknife and although very similar they have slight differences and I am a candidate for either one. Gammaknife gets within 1/2 mm of the zone and can be done on the same day. Basically you get a frame attached to your head to make sure there will be no movement and everything will be exact head on and that is the worse part, the bolting of the frame to the head. Then I will have an MRI and they will get in there and with a radiation beam zap the tumors within .5mm margins. The frame is removed you are sent to recovery and go home the same day. These tumors will never come back. There may be others and those could also be treated with Gammaknife, but these tumors will be dead. Hopefully eventually they will sluff off and be absorbed back into the body leaving me back to normal. I may have some long term damage that may never go away, but I'll take that over death anyday and it shouldn't be any worse than it is now. Initially the symptoms may be worse with swelling at the "surgical" site but they will give me steroids and it should clear up in a few months. In the meantime Dr. Meiers noticed that one of the tumors may be on the menengi, which is the lining of the brain and connects into my brain stem. So tomorrow I am having a spinal tap at Kadlec to check the spinal fluid for cancer cells and they are going to infuse chemotherapy into the spinal column prophactly just in case like they did last time. Then if there is cancer, they have the first dose in fighting the bad cells. We will relay whatever we find out to the doctors in Seattle so they can treat appropriately.

Dr. Rado thought that Avastin had to be withheld for 4-6 week prior any Gamma or Cyber knife procedure but we found out that that isn't necessarily true. Dr. Meiers doesn't think it needs to be withheld at all, so we are going ahead with the Avastin on Monday so I can catch up on my skipped dose from this week.

Swedish sent us home about 4pm yesterday, the pass was closed but they were clearing it and it was due to open anytime. I asked them...are you sure you can't do the procedure tomorrow or the next day? They were certain they couldn't get insurance to approve that fast. So Mike and I slowly headed home. It was a long and hard haul. Heavy snow and traffic, most of the accidents had been cleaned up. The highlights were a stop in Issaquah for Krispy Kremes (YUM) and Miners for a burger and shake just before home. We finally got home about 11pm, 7 hours after leaving Isssaquah.

Then my senses were right and I got a call at 7:45 this morning asking if I was still in Seattle and if so, and I could have the procedure at 7am on Thursday. No go, I was already home and a big storm was battling the pass. So we decided to schedule it for next Wednesday, check in at 6am. We will go up on Tuesday. I think that this is actually good, this way I can have my spinal tap and missed dose of chemo before the procedure.

I am not really scared except for having the bolting of the frame on my head. They sedate me ahead of time, so it should be okay. After all I have had done to me, whats a few little bolts in my head?

I am pleased to find out I am eligible for this breakthrough treatment. It gives me a little jolt of positivity and hope. Just another thing that's going to work for me to get rid of this horrible disease. Another arrow in my teather, so to speak.

Pray that there are no cancer cells in my spinal fluid, that would be bad, but not the end of the world. Its treatable. They weren't there before and they shouldn't be there now.

The staff at Swedish was helpful, thorough and kind. I feel I am in good hands and they will take great care of me. The staff down here has been amazing putting the proceures on this end together so quickly and get me ready for next week. So I need to find an inexpensive hotel for Tuesday night and get ready to go. Its going to be an exciting procedure. Thanks for all your prayers. You helped me to be eligible and you got us to and from safely. God is listening.