Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Cyber Knife is radiation (and other news)

First of all, thanks to you all for giving me all this space. It has meant a lot to me.

I'm ready for questions now and to talk about it but first I have to have lunch and then go to Cyber Knife radiation.

The name is confusing but it's radiation that can be done differently than whole brain (which is generally only done once). Each new tumour can be targeted directly in one to a few days and you can keep going for quite a while. It's newish technology so no one is certain what that means.

My first brain tumour (in November 2012) was treated with conventional surgery, followed two months later with radiation. We did the same thing in May 2015. The two tumours zapped in December (4 days that time) are still there but stable. 

So this is number 5. Every person is different but I find that it takes me a week to recover (this was hard the first time, when I was told people generally have no side effects). As with Herceptin, I am chosing to believe that this is because it's working.

It's "tricky" as they say because it's not in the tissue of the brain but a thickening of the lining. They also have to avoid the other tumours and tumour scarring. I trust that my radiation oncologist is very good but we have all established that art and science are mixed in these proceedings.

Clear as mud? Not even going to proofread but will post. 

See you on the other side.

1 comment:

ebg said...

Hi Laurie,

While I may not fully understand the technology or details of the treatment that isn't a function of the clarity of your writing. :-)

What is clear from your writing is the impression that you are in control of your own treatment, that you are managing an approach that is customized for you, that you are getting cutting edge treatment (pun acknowledged) and that you have confidence in your doctors.

It seems to me like that is all good. It's as much as any of us can hope for, and more than many of us are capable of handling.

Thank you for continuing to allow us updates. You are in my thoughts.

Elizabeth