So that lump on the side of my head that I told them about Christmas Eve... another tumor. It's actually in the sinus bone so what I can see and feel on my temple is just like the tip of the iceberg. They already have a radiation schedule planned out that willl include 20 sessions of the same kind of machine they used last time to shrink the tumor. They will follow that with "cyberknife" surgery to destroy the remainder. I guess it's too big to just do the cyberknife. They have to be very careful to not damage the optic nerve which is very susceptible to radiation. The doc said that I really shouldn't have any side effects from the radiation given where they are hitting. But there will be an increase in swelling. I had noticed my sinuses have been much stuffier than usual the last week or two. So that should get worse and my right ear will seem stuffed up for quite a while.
Sounds like the worst part will be that to keep my head completely still during the treatment they will be fitting me with a tight plastic mesh that will be bolted in place to the table. Freaky! I'm not too claustrophobic but we'll see how that goes. They recommended taking ativan prior to the treatment. And the cyberknife procedure will be an HOUR on the table. Not to mention the 4 weeks of having to take time out in the middle of the day for treatments.
As far as the hip, sounds like that is looking fine. I think the tumor isn't completely gone, but they expected it would take a little while yet for it to completely work. He didn't really pay attention to the spleen tumor but he thought that he had read that it was "stable". In other words, it's not shrinking, but it hasn't gotten bigger either. The nurse said she thought that they may suspend the chemo while they do the radiation treatments... at least if the treatment involved the brain. I'm not sure that they intend to actually radiate my brain... at least not intentionally. The tumor is in the bone again.
Anyway, I don't think my oncologist has seen the films yet. I am scheduled to meet with him on the 4th but I wouldn't be surprised if he moved that up to discuss the scan results and the updated treatment plan.
I am kind of pissed off that it seems like he hasn't treated this as aggressively as he could have. I don't really understand WHY he didn't get complete CT scans done back in November after the recurrence was discovered. If tumors were found in my hip and spleen, it would seem plausible that they would be elsewhere as well... like in my head. And maybe that would be someplace that could be treated with radiation... like we're doing now. And maybe only the cyberknife would have been needed then.
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