Yesterday was my wife's first brain radiation treatment using the Cyberknife method. It went smooth as silk. The place (Swedish Radiology in Seattle) is quite impressive – high tech meets spa. The actual treatment itself is about 40 minutes. But there is a bunch of time for set up, radiologist and physicist sign-off of the plan and patient visual identification. She will have five treatments total. They have the room set up with flowers, nice furniture, music of your choice, and warm blankets to cover you up. But she is alone in the room when it all happens; the techs are in a control room just outside, and the door that gets closed is like a bank vault door – the walls in the room are two feet thick. From the control room they have three cameras and audio communication so they can track what is going on.
"Lenore" is the robotic delivery arm of the radiation. She has six axles and can essentially contort into any position around the head to deliver the beams. Meagan lay on a moveable bed. She is strapped down and wearing a mask (formed previously of a mesh polymer) to keep her head still. It's all computer driven based on the radiation plan. If she shifts even slightly or through her breathing her head moves, the bed and Lenore adjust.
I reviewed the plan with the radiologist and he showed me the concentric rings of intensity they were using around the targeted area (the boundary of where her two tumors were removed during her craniotomy). They go after a bit of margin.
So far no ill effects. She is on steroids twice a day to control brain swelling throughout treatment and then will taper off them at conclusion of the treatment. No indication on the MRIs from last week of any cancer activity outside the known area.
She's home and feels fine, except she said she felt a bit fuzzy as the evening progressed (treatment ended at 5:00pm). The only expected other side effects are fatigue and headaches.
She has another treatment today, then three next week starting Tuesday. Even Lenore gets the Memorial Day weekend off.
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