to the experienced out there

[arati]

thanx to this site i had a brain mri today..my onc had said that there was no need to have a mri till i was symptomatic but hvg flashes and decided to hv it done before i went for some alternate therapy. two lesions more shadows ..hvnt seen the report as yet..hv to go to our capital city to find out whats going to happen but wd like advice..gamma knife or wbr or local radiation..how many days..can i go on my holiday in three weeks..for three weeks

[Christine]

Arati,
Iknow this Dx is difficut, but the Gamma-knife is a fast 1 day proceedure. It starts oput early by afixing a small helmet to the sull, with 2 pins in the side of forehead and 2 on each side of the back of the head. You will then be taken to have an Brain MRI to see the location and size of the
lesions. You may get double or triple contrast to better enhance the scan. You will be able to travel after 1day of rest. Whole BRAIN RADS, MAY BE NECESSARY LATER. You will be having routine followup scans at i-3 months to check resuts of Gamma-knife. In many cases the mets will return, so at that time you will need WBR to eliminate the possiblility of recurences. I had after 6 mos 6 mini-mets show up that led me to WBR for 20 days with 200 rads/day totaling 4000 rads. You will be very fatigued after this and I would not go on a vacation after WBR. IT WILL TAKE A FEW MONTHS TO REGAIN YOUR STRENGTH, BUT YOU WILL BE BETTER. So now it is safe for you to start with GK, IF YOU WANT TO TRAVEL WITH VERY LITTLE SIDE EFFECTS. BOTH THERAPY'S ARE ARE EFFECTINE AND YOU CAN MAKE THESE CHOICES WITH PEACE OF MIND. You will in the future be monitored at various intervals at your Ons discretion. Hope this helps. Hugs, Christine

[Christine]

Arati
I forgot to mention that you should continue taking Herceptin with the radiation therapy.
Hope you find this info helpful.
Christine