Greetings my forum friends, I am here as a new member of the postie toasties. So far... pretty painless.
My GK story, UPMC, Lunsford :
Sunday, July 27- Drove to Pittsburgh and checked in to the Hilton Garden Inn which is a short walk from UPMC Gamma Knife dept. About a 7 minute walk.
Monday, July 28- Appointment at 11:00
Met with Dr. Lunsford's doc in training, named Rich. He gave me the usual neurological exam. Walk on your heels, walk on your toes, close your eyes and extend your arms and then touch your nose with your finger, follow my finger with your eyes, asked me a few questions and then left. 10 minutes later he returned with Dr. Lunsford and his nurse Lana. I must say, when Lunsford enters a room, you can feel he has a great presence. He is like medical royalty. Right away he declares that the goal is to arrest the growth and UMCP has a 98% success rate, they will make every effort to save my hearing but there is on guarantee on that, and that there is less than 1% chance of damaging the facial nerve. Any questions?
Yes, I had questions. What about steroids? He gave me a prescription and said that if I ever have a sudden drop in hearing or imbalance in the months to come, I should fill it.
What about facial spasms? He said they are rare, to call if that happens but it's rare so don't worry about it. That was it and he swept out of the room with the same swiftness that he used to sweep in. He seems incredibly busy, and I'm sure he is. Lana stayed behind and had me sign paperwork, showed me my MRI and explained the location and size of the tumor.
I was then sent to meet my nurse, Mark. He explained everything that would happen the following day. I was sent for blood work (for the MRI since there is contrast) and a hearing test and was out by 4:00. Basically, it could of all happened in an hour. A lot of waiting room time.
Tuesday, July 29
Reported to the UPMC Gamma Knife waiting room at 5:45 a.m and was surprised by the crowd. Nurse Mark came and got me, he said there were 5 people scheduled for Gamma Knife that morning and two of them were acoustic neuromas. I was surprised they didn't give me a "gown" just told me to wear sweat pants and a t shirt which I wore the whole time. He gave me a pill he said was like a valium and then hooked up an IV to my arm. After a few minutes he showed me the head frame, which is more like a head "cage" than the "halo" I expected. He explained that I would go to get an MRI with the head frame on. Weird.... that was a surprise. Then the happy juice went in the IV and I was "in and out", remember very little. The MRI was relaxing and quiet, then I dozed through the next hour while Dr. Lunsford and his team came up with the plan of action. Mark came in and said "your turn" and off we went to the Gamma Knife room, where it was very quiet and peaceful. I slept through most of it. Next thing you know, my husband was walking me out of the hospital ( Mark offered a wheel chair but I said I could walk) and we went back to the hotel where I just slept the rest of the day. It was really so ..... uneventful, painless, and fast. We were back a the hotel by 11:00 a.m.
It was a long drive home yesterday, seven hours. It seemed long because I was still so drowsy from the medication (happy juice) but wanted to stay awake to keep my husband company on the drive. A bit queasy from the meds, too.
Today is Thursday and I feel exactly the same as I did before I went, except minus the anxiety of anticipating going to Pitt for GK. Same tinnitus, same full feeling in the ear, same energy level (kind of low but okay), no headache at all. The pin holes where they screw in the head frame are tiny. I don't even notice them unless I touch them, and then they are just a tiny bit sore. I will just rest today.
Tomorrow I plan to go back to my usual workouts at the gym, attend to my usual work, resume my life and have a normal, happy life! That's my plan. I'll keep you posted
Cathy
