Post-Gammaknife

My "brain surgery" went well! I am now at the hotel recovering. The whole procedure took 24h (10am Monday arrival to 10am Tuesday discharge), from scans to treatment planning, patient preparation and a 12h (all nighter!) Gammaknife procedure. Gammaknife is a specific type of targeted radiation (SRS) so it is minimally invasive. I came off the table with two large bandaids on my forehead, where the head gear was screwed into my skull (no it didn't hurt much, the area was numbed beforehand).

I was released Tuesday morning with post-op instructions. Dr. H and Alice (his super nice nurse/assistant), took great care of me. I am sleep-deprived (they had to wake me up to reposition my head gear for every brain lesion that needed zapping, that's every 20 minutes! Dr. H said he got all 18 of them :). Incredible. We are so grateful!!!

Now onto recovery. I've been put on steroids to reduce brain swelling but one of its many side effects is an insatiable appetite. I need to regain some weight anyway;). I've decided to throw out my restrictive diet (sorry, Dr. Block) and eat whatever I'm craving... Oddly enough, right now, it's watermelon, corn and pasta... With meat!!! Poor S is trying to keep up with the food demands. He's the best caregiver anyone could ever ask for :). 

From here on, we hope for a full recovery from Gammaknife surgery (it will take a month or so to see results) and we hope that nivolumab will do what it's supposed to do... 

Thank you to everyone for all your messages of support and prayers!