Little More Focus

My situation has become a little complex. I've gone through so much fighting of this cancer that I've reached a point where the doctors and nurses and radiologists, everyone at the medical facilities, has to think a bit beyond normal procedures.

For example, when a radiologist looks at my latest scan they will see both old tumors that have been treated, as well as the possibility of new ones. Some things that may look like tumors may just be leftover scar tissue from a successfully treated tumor. How do you tell the difference?

The most recent radiology report from my last MRI of the brain was very vague. The radiologist did have access to my prior scans but had no way of knowing which areas were already treated. So he just listed everything. This was little help.

I met with my neurosurgeon who, in my opinion, was unprepared for our meeting. I was hoping for clarification but received none. He only had access to my latest MRI, which is impossible to make a judgement on without reference to prior scans and prior records of treatments.

A doctor once told me that typically neurosurgeons are the primadonnas of the medical world. It's a generalization of course. But I've found that to be true.

The neursurgeon recommended arranging another Gamma Knife treatment for me, rationalizing that they'd figure out exactly what is going on before the procedure.

That wasn't good enough for me.

You really do have to be your own advocate. I've had some great doctors, and the assistance of some outstanding nurses, but in the end you really have to take it upon yourself to look after your own healthcare.

I called a doctor's assistant in the radiology-oncology department and arranged a special meeting with a doctor to clarify exactly what is going on in my head.

What goes on in my head, afterall, is a question folks have been trying to answer for years and years and years (smile).

I warned the nurse (a very helpful gal) that we will need at least my last two scans of the brain as well as my Gamma Knife treatment history. All should be ready so the doctor and I can review them together and discover together what is new, what is old, and what we should do from here.

It worked.

We meticulously went through my brain from tip to brain stem and compared current findings with past scans and treatments. We did discover that some of the tumors that the radiologist was calling new were actually old, and had been treated. The treated areas do not just disappear, they die slowly from the radiation poisoning and eventually convert into dead tissue.

At the end of our examination of my brain we concluded that three tumors were already existing from my scan in April, and none had changed in size. Only one was brand new since the April scan. Everything else had been previously treated.

All the tumors are very small. The largest is around two-millimeters.

We had purposely let the three found in April go, just so we could watch them to see just how fast they may expand. We were thrilled that they hadn't expanded at all.

Although medicine is an exacting science, there is certainly a lot to Mother Nature that cannot be easily predicted. Cancer is always a wild card.

Cancer can go into remission and just play dead for many months at times, and in some people. Then suddenly it can grow and spread wildly with no apparent rhyme or reason.

The decision Barb and I were faced with was whether to wait for another set period again to see how the tumors in the brain continue to act, or just go for another Gamma Knife radiation treatment and kill the four active tumors.

Barb and I were having a tough time deciding and the doctor could tell that we were struggling a bit in making this decision. Kindly he interjected his professional opinion. He felt that it was best just to set-up an appointment for the Gamma Knife and radiate the existing tumors while they were small and manageable. He told us that we could come back to the Gamma Knife over and over and over. It was no big deal, he said.

We agreed. I'll go for my fourth Gamma Knife this month, June 24th.