More poking, prodding and radiation!

Kevin and I got back from Bloomington this afternoon.  Yesterday was a fun-filled day of bloodwork, x-rays and yet another MRI (with dye contrast) in preparation for the 'fiducial' placement operation today.

Instead of having the usual external 'tattoo' on the skin that goes along with radiation (indicating where the radiation beam is focused), proton therapy requires fiducials - a.k.a. markers or bb's (as in bb gun) - to even more precisely focus the beams.  These fiducials are placed on the skull and are about as big as a pin head.  I will have them for the rest of my life. They are MRI compatible and I shouldn't set off any alarms at the airport.  

So, yes, I had to go under general anesthesia again today.  3 times in 2 1/2 months.  I hope this is the last time ever!  I'm exhausted.

I was also lucky enough to have yet another CT scan (with dye contrast) after the surgery today and even more x-rays.  I think this officially puts me in the radioactive category!!  It's kind of scary.  I've had 4 MRIs since January 09 and 7 CT scans since December 08.  Most of them included the dye contrast, too.

The picture above shows 2 fiducial placements.  I have 4 all together.  While not a big deal, they are kind of sore, and in the most inconvenient places ever.  One is right behind my right ear exactly where my glasses lay.  Niiice.  And they used my previous scar from the first surgery to insert the one smack dab in the middle of my forehead.  Double niiice.  

The others are on my right side just outside the skull flap (the part of my skull that they removed in the first surgery), and the last one is actually on the left side of my skull farther above the ear and back just a little bit.

But the GREAT NEWS is that I am on closer to getting back to normal and I am just excited to get the treatments started.  We're still looking at the initial meeting with the Doc down at MPRI on May 13, with the first official treatment on May 14th.