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01-19-2006, 05:58 AM

I had my consultation with Dr. Keith Black at Cedars-Sinai yesterday. He's an impressive man. I'm not normally struck speechless, (as those of you who have met me well know!) But I had to concentrate to remember my questions.

He walked into the room fully briefed on my case, proceeded to outline what he felt was the best course of action for me. In my case given that I have on lesion that is 12mm on the cerebellum, he felt that X-Knife was my best option. X-Knife is Cedars-Sinai's version of Gamma Knife.

He did not recommend WBR at this point, when on to call it "outdated" protocol to give it this early in a patient's treatment. Cited the fact that it can have significant side effects in 15% of patients, and that it can be only done once.

He said X-Knife can be performed numerous times if new lesions appear, though not on the same location, just if new lesions did show up elsewhere. He said he has great success rates with his team's treatment of BC mets lesions, they seem to respond better than lesions of other origins.

He indicated that given my age, 44, physical condition, I snow ski, water ski, motorcycle ride, etc., the size of the lesion being small, and that there was only one, my chances were high that the lesion would be taken care of with the X-knife treatment alone.

He indicated an urgency in proceeding ahead, as he said, we couldn't be sure when the lesion began to grow. My husband and I looked at each other and said, "let's get it out!" Within 15 min. Dr. Black had the next member of his team come in, Dr. Yu who would perform the X-Knife procedure, Dr. Yu was fully briefed and had seen my MRI. Immediately after that, Dr. Black had the 3rd member of team, Dr. Hakimian lined up to see me, he would be the one to do all the prep work and work with Dr. Yu on the actual X-Knife procedure.

With barely time to breathe, I was then ushered into a special Contrast MRI, before being through for the day. The next step is I go in for the X-knife procedure, next week.

Oh, yeah.....Dr. Black assured me that I would be in tip-top shape to go on my ski trip to Telluride, CO leaving on the 3rd of Feb. I was thrilled that he totally got it, that life goes on and it's not all about cancer.

We joked about fitting in the X-knife procedure between Mammoth this week-end and Telluride on the 3rd of Feb.

We did not talk prognosis, as I don't believe in them. But I honestly felt that this procedure will work for me now, and that with Dr. Black on my team I would be prepared to deal with whatever Brain Mets issues would come my way in the future. And that is PRICELESS!

Thank you Joe and Christine for this website, I found out about Dr. Black from the pictures you posted. I feel prepared to deal with this now, and get on with enjoying life soon!

01-19-2006, 05:58 AM	#1
Unregistered Guest Posts: n/a	Update on Brain Mets Options Research I had my consultation with Dr. Keith Black at Cedars-Sinai yesterday. He's an impressive man. I'm not normally struck speechless, (as those of you who have met me well know!) But I had to concentrate to remember my questions. He walked into the room fully briefed on my case, proceeded to outline what he felt was the best course of action for me. In my case given that I have on lesion that is 12mm on the cerebellum, he felt that X-Knife was my best option. X-Knife is Cedars-Sinai's version of Gamma Knife. He did not recommend WBR at this point, when on to call it "outdated" protocol to give it this early in a patient's treatment. Cited the fact that it can have significant side effects in 15% of patients, and that it can be only done once. He said X-Knife can be performed numerous times if new lesions appear, though not on the same location, just if new lesions did show up elsewhere. He said he has great success rates with his team's treatment of BC mets lesions, they seem to respond better than lesions of other origins. He indicated that given my age, 44, physical condition, I snow ski, water ski, motorcycle ride, etc., the size of the lesion being small, and that there was only one, my chances were high that the lesion would be taken care of with the X-knife treatment alone. He indicated an urgency in proceeding ahead, as he said, we couldn't be sure when the lesion began to grow. My husband and I looked at each other and said, "let's get it out!" Within 15 min. Dr. Black had the next member of his team come in, Dr. Yu who would perform the X-Knife procedure, Dr. Yu was fully briefed and had seen my MRI. Immediately after that, Dr. Black had the 3rd member of team, Dr. Hakimian lined up to see me, he would be the one to do all the prep work and work with Dr. Yu on the actual X-Knife procedure. With barely time to breathe, I was then ushered into a special Contrast MRI, before being through for the day. The next step is I go in for the X-knife procedure, next week. Oh, yeah.....Dr. Black assured me that I would be in tip-top shape to go on my ski trip to Telluride, CO leaving on the 3rd of Feb. I was thrilled that he totally got it, that life goes on and it's not all about cancer. We joked about fitting in the X-knife procedure between Mammoth this week-end and Telluride on the 3rd of Feb. We did not talk prognosis, as I don't believe in them. But I honestly felt that this procedure will work for me now, and that with Dr. Black on my team I would be prepared to deal with whatever Brain Mets issues would come my way in the future. And that is PRICELESS! Thank you Joe and Christine for this website, I found out about Dr. Black from the pictures you posted. I feel prepared to deal with this now, and get on with enjoying life soon!