Update:
Betty went in on Tuesday for her procedure. In all, she was there for about 4 hours. Most of the time was spent getting an MRI and getting fitted with her gamma ray head frame.

The most “invasive” part of the procedure was getting the headframe attached. They literally screwed the headframe to her head so that the possibility of a mistake occurring would be eliminated. The last thing you want are the gamma rays to destroy the wrong nerve.That would have been disastrous.

The report, from my sister Josie was that Betty started to get anxious when they were ready to place her inside of the machine. She was moving about so much that the doctors requested that Josie try to calm her down. She had to talk her through the entire procedure from another room on a microphone. (Because of the radiation exposure, only Betty was in the exam room).

It took 30 minutes for them to complete the procedure. Afterwards, Betty was free to leave. Unfortunately, she started having a really bad headache. This is part of the side effects some people feel. Some other side effects Josie was to look out for would be: blood oozing from the pin sites and vomiting. She spent the rest of the evening in bed and on Vicodin.

Yesterday, Josie told me that she was feeling much better, however, towards the evening she started feeling pain in her jaw again. Discouraged, she thought the procedure didn’t work. However, the doctors explained that it can take up to a few months before any significant type of relief is felt. Hopefully for Betty, it’ll be sooner than later.

So there you have it, that is the procedure simple and fast. I’ll do a follow up in a few months to see how she has progressed and post it here.

If you have read my previous article on Trigeminal Neuralgia, you know how devastating this disease can be to the sufferer. It has been described as the worst kind of pain, even worse than childbirth. It is also known as the “suicide-disease” because the pain is so excruciating that people actually welcome death and some have committed suicide as a result.

As stated in my previous article, my sister Josie’s mother-in-law Betty has been suffering from this horrible disease for close to 3 years now. She has gone to a handful of physicians where she lives in Northern California. Unfortunately, she only went to pain management specialists and not qualified neurosurgeons or neurologists. After some research here in San Diego, I was able to find a well-known specialist at the University of California. Dr.Alksne is a highly distinguished and published neurosurgeon at UCSD Medical Center and also a professor at the UC San Diego School of Medicine. Fortunately, Josie was able to make an appointment with Dr.Alksne, for Betty. Last week, she flew Betty down here to see him. During the consultation, he determined that Gamma Knife Surgery would be the best type of treatment for her.

Pre-Op Procedure
Fortunately, Dr.Alksne scheduled Betty for an appointment quickly. Just yesterday, she went in for her pre-op appointment.
1. She watched a video explaining the procedure and what it would do for her
2. She was given an explanation of what she would feel and exactly what side effects she may encounter. Side effects include: headaches and nausea.

Day of Procedure
Today is the BIG day for Betty. From 11:00- 3:00 PM Betty will be prepped for her procedure and ready to hopefully rid herself of this terrible ailment. Here is a general overview of what is going to happen.

• Gamma Knife Head Frame is fitted: Gamma Knife Surgery is non-invasive, which means, they aren’t going to open her up! The only “invasive” part would be to fit the head frame. Betty will be given a local anesthetic and they will screw some pins on the side of her head to keep the frame in place. It looks scary, as they’ll give her shots in her temples. However, it should be quick and painless.
• Image Test – Then, they will give Betty and MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging). Other imaging tests your doctor might give would include: CT or Angiography depending on what your diagnosis. Then, 4 doctors will review the results and determine the best way on how to attack the nerve that is causing the pain. This might take a little while, because they want to make sure that they get it right on cue.
credit:mybiomedical.blogspot.com
• Procedure- Finally, Betty will be wheeled into the Gamma Ray Knife Machine and she’ll lay down and her headframe will be attached to a collimator which will distribute the gamma rays precisely.
• Afterwards, Betty will recover for a short period. They will remove her headframe, put some bandaids on the sides of her head and she should be ready to go home later today.

Our fingers are crossed! I will post an update on how it went tommorrow.
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