Bee sting

"Look forward to a great fortune and a new lease on life" I can't wait!

"This will just hurt like a bee sting"......That was so not true. The 4 shots Dr. V (who is the neurosurgeon that did my surgery last week) gave me to numb the top of my head was probably the worst pain I have felt. I got two shots in my forehead and two in the back of my head. The other worst part was being able to hear the crunch of the needle going in. After he numbed my head he put the frame over my head and screwed it into place. That part wasn't all that bad just uncomfortable. The only thing I felt was the pressure on my head as the screws were being tightened. After the frame was put into place I headed to get an MRI done. This one only lasted a total of maybe 15 minutes. Once I was done with that I headed up to a room where I got breakfast and got to hang out with JR and Kyle until Dr. Settle (radiologist) and Dr. V came up with a plan. They reviewed the MRI and came up with how much Gamma Knife I would be receiving and get the exact spots that would receive the radiation. We had to wait about an hour for them to make up the plan.

I got lucky and was the first of three people relieving Gamma Knife for the day. That was nice to know considering they have only one machine and I was informed that each person's treatment would last about 2 hours. I'm not sure I could have rocked that frame for any longer than I had to.

The lovely frame! 

The nurse came up and got us to head back downstairs to get the procedure started. I had to lay on a "bed" (more like a board with a mattress on it). They locked my head down to the bed so I couldn't move my head at all. They let me pick a pandora station to listen to and sent me in the tube. It honestly was really easy. Unlike and MRI, it was really quite,  I wondered if it was even on at times.  After about an hour I need to use the restroom. So they stopped the machine and let me get up to go and walk around a little bit. The whole process took a out 2 hours and 15 minutes. After I was done they took me into a room to remove the frame! The pressure as they were unscrewing it from my head was like they were tightening it but they reassured me they were actually taking it off.

Once the frame was off I went back upstairs to a room so they could observe me for at least a hour.  I got some lunch and took a little nap before we actually got to leave.

Enjoying the hospital's chicken noodle soup!

I have has no symptoms from the Gamma Knife at all. Which they told me I shouldn't really have any but it's hard to believe I haven't had a headache considering they screwed something into my head.

On Wednesday I went in for chest X-rays and a CT scan of my abdominal, pelvis, and chest. We are getting ready to head over to see the oncologist to get the results from those scans and to see what the next step is. I will be heading back dhow here on May 5th to do a check up MRI to see if the Gamma Knife worked. It will take at least that long to see the results.

As far as the study they decided to not put me on the protocol because they were worried I would've put on the observation side instead of the side that receives treatment to the cavity they performed surgery on. They just went ahead and treated both sides at the same time.

I will update after this last appointment. 

Love,

Jeryka