Friday, July 6, 2007

Gamma Knife Part 2

Todd and I have been back from his Gamma Knife radiation treatment since Tuesday night, but I haven't been able to blog about it until now. We left Monday to travel up to St. Louis to Barnes Jewish Hospital/Washington University where they do the Gamma Knife procedure. We knew it was coming up, but we still were both nervous about the actual procedure, probably because we remembered what was involved last time. Todd's parents met us up in St. Louis on Monday night, and we all tried to relax as much as possible. I didn't sleep well at all that night--I think I woke up around 4:30 and never went back to sleep. After we ate breakfast (minus Todd--he couldn't eat/drink anything), we drove over to the hospital to check in. Once Todd was checked in, the nurse came up to get us all and take us to the Gamma Knife Radiation waiting room. In the room across the hall Todd was fitted for his helmet/frame. The radiology staff actually screw the frame into Todd's head--2 places in front, 2 places in back. Todd experienced more pain this time around (due to them not waiting at all for the numbing shots to kick in!) and if you are at all squeamish, you might not look at this picture:



Once the frame was on, we just had to wait until Todd took an MRI and CT scan. The doctors looked at these pictures, then decided where the best location for the Gamma Knife would be. Once they had their game plan, the doctors took Todd back for the actual treatment.


After Todd came back from the treatment, he had a splitting headache! This headache pretty much lasted (on and off) for 2 days, much longer than last time. He also swelled at the injection sites, something else that didn't happen last time. We hope this will be the end of the treatments for him! Todd has to go back up to St. Louis in 6 months, but he will continue to see his doctor down here in the meantime.
Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers during this time! We appreciate them more than you know!

6 comments:

Kodi Logan said...

oh man, that makes me so sad. i remember seeing him last time with the holes in his head. i just can't even imagine having to watch Trai suffer through something like that. How are the headaches now?

Holly said...

omg! that looks horrendous and unfathomably painful! poor guy. i don't know all the details, but i will sure pray for him anyway!

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Anonymous said...

ugg... i have to have this surgery in a few weeks and i'm ver nervous at the prospect. i'm really trying to figure out what it really intells, and is all about. i'm dreading it BIG TIME!

Anonymous said...

Well the good thing about Gamma Knife is that it is completely non-invasive. You might get nausea and headaches from MRI's, and you feel pressure from headframe-pins, but the procedure itself is relatively painless. Unlike before, brain lession operation doesn't require rehab. Trai will walk out the door within hours of the operation.

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