~Gamma Knife It Is, Mighty Oak~

[jones7676]

I am glad that you insisted on getting checked in a timely manner. I went out for dinner the night of my gamma knife....I hope things go as smoothly for the two of you and that you get to enjoy your vacation.

[TriciaK]

Marie and Ed, this is just another bump in the road and you've already proven you can handle anything with courage. I hope you know how much you are both admired and loved on this board. We are looking forward to hearing good news again very soon! Enjoy that cruise to the fullest! Hugs, Tricia

[Emmay]

Marie,

Sorry I am just catching up with this post, have been away for a bit... My sister has had WBR and then multiple CyberKnife treatments (a brand of Gamma Knife, I believe) at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. The CyberKnife was very effective, then a new 2-3 tiny mets would show up in new location after 2-3 months. Lesson: definitely follow-up MRI should be scheduled every 2-3 months, until there is a consistently long period when no new mets show up -- then perhaps a longer stretch between MRIs.

When she maxxed out on CyberKnife, she shifted to Tykerb+Xeloda. That didn't work for her, so she was started on Temodar+Sorafenib. That worked well for about 9 months, but she lost too much weight from medication side effects. She is now on CPT-11 (a.k.a Irinotecan)+Avastin (along with Herceptin) -- that combo has been very effective for a number of months now, and her doctors are monitoring closely with MRIs.

Hopefully the GammaKnife treatment will do the job for your husband, but just in case you need to look for something else down the road, I wanted you to know that there are other potential options out there.

[juanita]

Hope this works for Ed. You guys mean a lot to me and i hate to see you going through this.