Cyberknife Procedure Scheduled for July 1

Finally we have a date. Surprisingly, instead of the five 45 minute sessions, I'll only be doing one 1.5 hour session. I am curious about the change in the plan. I think my doc must be on vacation because she talked of another doctor being there on the day of the procedure itself.

I have my regular monthly checkup with my oncologist on July 8th. So far there is nothing new to report. Hope things stay that way for the next 2 weeks.

Insurance approves Cyberknife procedure

I went in on Friday for the fitting of my new plastic mask and learned that Group Health had authorized Cyberknife for me. That's a relief. The fitting went very quickly compared to the last one. The mask is slightly smaller and they made it tight over my forehead, but not as tight over my nose, eyes and chin. They will cut out eye holes so it won't be so claustrophobic. They also have a pad to lay on and padding under my head too so I should be more comfortable. They will call next week to set up scheduling. She said I wouldn't start next week, but probably the week after.

We're on our way to the coast (Seaside, OR) to spend some time with my sister. The weather is supposed to improve by tomorrow so it should be a pleasant trip -- just short. We're heading back on Wednesday. Then I will be leaving my current position at work temporarily to be the interim supervisor in another office division while they search for a permanent replacement for the position. It'll be a busy week getting ready to leave.

I still need to get around to posting a picture of my hair. :)

Update on cyberknife scheduling

I've had a little trouble getting the cyberknife scheduled. I understood they were going to call my Group Health PCP (primary care physician) to get the needed referral for maximum coverage. When I hadn't heard anything in a week, I called back to see what was up. They said they were waiting to hear from me. ???? They said my PCP needed to actually see me for an appointment before I could get the referral. Would have been nice to get a call telling me that.

So I scheduled an appointment as early as I could (yesterday morning). On Thursday I got a call saying they had actually gotten a referral from my PCP already. I went to the appointment yesterday anyway just so I could have a talk with the PCP about my situation and she would hopefully be more cooperative about future treatment needs. I liked her. We were definitely on the same page and I signed an ROI so she can get more of my records. I'm even considering switching to her for primary care... mostly for convenience sake. I like my regular PCP but she's up in North Seattle. This Doc is about 10 blocks away.

Anyway, we are still waiting for approval from Group Health. But they called yesterday to get my planning session set up because they are running out of spaces. Hopefully I can get in next week, then get treatment started right after we get back from our trip to Seaside, Oregon. I'll need another MRI if we have to wait until July.

Good news on the headache front. I haven't had a headache since my last post. I guess it wasn't the megace, but some kind of a bug that caused it. The fever and the headache had gone by the next day... and haven't been back. I hate to jinx it by saying anything, but I have felt pretty good this week. Other than my eye, you wouldn't know I'm carrying around 4 tumors. I have also let go of hats altogether. My hair coloring has faded to purple. I like the effect with the new hair coming in a just a hint of color. I'll try to get an updated picture posted. :)

Latest MRI

I had an MRI on June 1st and saw the Cyberknife doc on the 2nd. There had been no further shrinkage of my head tumor, [but at least it's still stable] so she advises doing the Cyberknife procedure now. I am waiting for insurance approval and then they will call to schedule the treatments. It will be one planning session, then 5 45 minute treatments 5 days in a row. She wanted to get going soon so I'm a little worried that my insurance is denying coverage since they haven't called to schedule yet.

I think I have also pinpointed the cause of my headaches to the megace. I started back on that on Thursday evening and by Saturday, and today, I'm back to intense headaches every day. I'm also feeling run down again and achy. I just took my tempurature and it was up to 100.7 so maybe I've got the flu or some other virus.