WBR and STR

My wife had STR (Cyberknife) here in Seattle (5 sessions each 45 minutes) through Swedish Hospital Radiaology Center. This was a mop up operation after brain surgery for two tumors, in which she lost function of a variety of cognitive things  – from a physical perspective only losss of right peripheral vision.

The Cyberknife treatent itself was very easy, calm, no pain. The after-effects for her were awful.  First, she had a series of grand mal seizures due to brain inflammation and ended up in the ICU for five days. Even though she was on 4mg of steroids per day. They had her up to 8 mgs of steroids per day for two weeks after the seizures, now she is back to 4mg. But she is also on three differtent anti-seizure meds – and they and the combo suck. They make her fuzzy, forgetful, highly emotional and somewhat more cognitively impaired. So I would definitely discuss the possiblity of seizures based on irritation of the brain at the radiation target site. They did go after additional margin from the surgery, so it is also possible that some of these effects are related to brain loss and not the meds.

And she is losing her hair in the areas of radiation concentration, basically the whole back half of her head. This ocurred about three weeks after her final treatment. Her head was already shorn after her brain surgery but was growing back. But where it has fallen out it is smooth as a babies butt, so this morning I gave her another buzz cut so it doesn't look as funky. But she has pulled out her wig and is wearing it.

For the five days between her STR treatment and her seizures she was fine. There was no "recovery". She walked, ate, slept well – minor headache for a few days. She even underwent day surgery to remove two skin tumors on her back and tummy. So if all goes well, it realy is a piece of cake treatment and recovery. But you will probably lose your hair in patches.

Hope this helps.  Good luck,

Nick

My wife had STR (Cyberknife) here in Seattle (5 sessions each 45 minutes) through Swedish Hospital Radiaology Center. This was a mop up operation after brain surgery for two tumors, in which she lost function of a variety of cognitive things  – from a physical perspective only losss of right peripheral vision.

The Cyberknife treatent itself was very easy, calm, no pain. The after-effects for her were awful.  First, she had a series of grand mal seizures due to brain inflammation and ended up in the ICU for five days. Even though she was on 4mg of steroids per day. They had her up to 8 mgs of steroids per day for two weeks after the seizures, now she is back to 4mg. But she is also on three differtent anti-seizure meds – and they and the combo suck. They make her fuzzy, forgetful, highly emotional and somewhat more cognitively impaired. So I would definitely discuss the possiblity of seizures based on irritation of the brain at the radiation target site. They did go after additional margin from the surgery, so it is also possible that some of these effects are related to brain loss and not the meds.

And she is losing her hair in the areas of radiation concentration, basically the whole back half of her head. This ocurred about three weeks after her final treatment. Her head was already shorn after her brain surgery but was growing back. But where it has fallen out it is smooth as a babies butt, so this morning I gave her another buzz cut so it doesn't look as funky. But she has pulled out her wig and is wearing it.

For the five days between her STR treatment and her seizures she was fine. There was no "recovery". She walked, ate, slept well – minor headache for a few days. She even underwent day surgery to remove two skin tumors on her back and tummy. So if all goes well, it realy is a piece of cake treatment and recovery. But you will probably lose your hair in patches.

Hope this helps.  Good luck,

Nick