Cyber Knife or Gamma Knife Radiation Treatment 3 years later??

[rosewang]

Hi everyone,

I'm a newbie really leaning towards cyberknife but was concerned about the long term effects of radiation. With surgery, it seems like you'll know immediately what the results are but with radiation, it's a game of wait and see.  Of those of you who have had cyberknife or gamma knife, can you please comment on if you're hearing has been affected 3 years post treatment? Any other effects that have emerged since your treatment?

Thanks and God Bless,

Rose

[Palace]

Hello Rose,


I was diagnosed in the summer of 06' and had TX @ the end of Nov. and early Dec. of 06' and just had my 6th brain MRI.  I was looking forward to the next reading however, even with my reminder that the wrong CD was given to me the last time, I had to resend another as Stanford couldn't open it.  Stanford has been good to me.  This was a small problem at the MRI place in Santa Cruz, CA.

Almost a year ago, I had about half my hearing left in the right ear; now, it's almost at zero.  I just went to the audiologist and she assured me it will be at zero on the AN side, very soon.  It may as well be at zero anyway with background noise, I'm rather deaf as most on this list, understand.  Even though you have the one good side, (which will not be so good with aging) you don't hear the same way as if you had both sides working for you.

I'm glad I chose CK however, I was lucky to have that choice as my AN was 22mm and I had the option of Cyberknife.  There are many factors to consider; size, your age, shape of AN, surgery options and what is most important to you.

I could always have another CK or even invasive surgery but, I'm not thinking I will ever do that.  I've had 21 surgeries in my life and have had enough.  A neighbor dog ran into my left leg, torqued it and I was told after they did the meniscus surgery on the leg, (six months later) well---you need a full knee replacement due to what happened with the injury.  I declined on that and hope to avoid anymore surgeries.  I just went through very extensive dental surgeries with surtures, root canal treatments and internal tooth bleaching.

Cost is involved also.  Although, my medical insurance is very high (as well as for my husband) we pay much in medical supplies.  We pay three-thousand a month and both of us quit working early due to severe medical issues/problems.  We are for the first time, facing the reality of our monies going away before our very eyes.

Do much research and consider your best proposal for yourself.

I'm in the quiet of the Santa Cruz mountains.  (using my musicians ear-plugs for chain-saw noise, piano but---not when I play my Celtic harp)

Have a quiet and peaceful holiday season!



Palace

[Tisha]

Rose,

From what I read, hearing preservation with GK is about 30-40%, but with CK it's 80%.   Dr. Chang told me that any hearing loss with CK usually is within the first 3 years.  There are no guarantees, these nerves are so fragile.  It's a crapshoot, and I find that terrifying.

Tisha

[Mark]

7 years post treatment. hearing unchanged and no other long term side effects. AN has ended up as a small bump in life's road thanks to CK. With a 2 cm AN, I can not imagine surgery having had the same outcome based on the posts on this board over the years for tumors of similar size

Mark