Gamma Ray

If anyone wants to hear what it's like to have a Gamma Knife procedure by someone who is slightly overdramatic and exaggerative I will tell you.

They went on and on about pain medication and numbing the exo skeleton, however, pain meds or not--it felt like having someone screw four screws into your skull.

Immediately following the the screws and...head harness (roll eyes when read)...I was wheeled off to recieve a 40 minute MRI which in flashbacks was....the worst...alien abduction/mental institution in the 20's-esque. To top it off I was being tossed around like I was unconscious when I was only unsuccessfully medicated.

After that a CT Scan, followed by my Gamma Ray Laser Treatment.

Now; I had spent the day prior arranging the ultimate Jo's relaxing playlist on my ipod, and corresponding CD, which consisted of;

I'll be your man, Black Keys
Closer, Kings of Leon
Baba O'Reily, The Who
and other musical gems...

I envisioned it being a glorious spa day sailin as high as a kite. My bar was set a little too high when the drugs sucked and the assistant said they could not figure out how to turn my IPOD on. "But we have Pandora!" :)))) "Oh that's....lovely." The only time I'd tried Pandora I'd put in Yeah Yeah Yeah's and 10 Tegan and Sarah songs came up...ick. So rather than having a diva moment where I insisted they bring me my IPOD so that someone smarter than a neurosurgeon could turn it on--I said Flogging Molly. Big Mistake. My spa day was ruined by wanna-be-horribly-live Irish jig alternative tween music. There is a mic in the machine and I was very close to saying, "Please....just turn the music off...this is giving me more anxiety than this torture chamber."

And that was the day. I got screwed and they sent me home without even a IBProfin 800 prescription. While I was looking through my medical bills for 2010 the other day I couldn't help but think how much more fun it would be looking at them if they were put towards the best boob job of all time. Or even better...a vacation.

Fall Back Down

I met with my neurosurgeon last week to discuss the discovery of my recurring tumor. He is the best neurogurgeon in the state of Utah so I trusted him when he recommended that, due to it's size and position, I undergo a gamma knife treatment. I will basically be placed in a MRI like machine which positions a laser of radiation directly into the tumor which will hopefully control it's growth. The machine and my new doctor are in this video:

www.intermountainhealthcare.org/hospitals/imed/services/cancer/Pages/home.aspx

We went in to meet with the doctor in charge of my gamma knife treatment and he informed us about the risks involved in targeting radiation into a person as young as I am, and that bit of news has been a hard pill to swallow. I've been reading a book about a 17 year old boy in the 40's who had a brain tumor. After removing as much as they could they injected mustard gas into the nerves that were feeding the tumor. Figuring the tumor was 'killed' by the mustard gas they expected the tumor to expel itself through the opening they had left in the skull. WHAT?!~ Needless to say I am truly greatful that I live in a time with such amazing medical technology.

The days events include; anti-anxiety medication and sedative, having a halo screwed into my skull and being placed into the machine on a 'couch'(which is not a couch at all, but a slab), my head will then be secured into place for my hour long session. On a positive note; I will be able to listen to my own music while recieving the treatment. So what do I choose? After my 1st surgery three years ago my friend Ashley said she was going to make me a CD but could only think of one song for it; Insane in the Membrane. :) I'm going to have to come up with a few more I think.