On June 3rd, I had brain surgery to treat a benign tumor called a meningioma. I knew ahead of time that the surgeon wouldn’t be able to remove the entire tumor – its geography extended from my cavernous sinus to the pituitary gland to the left hemisphere of the brain and to my brain stem.

Meningioma MRI

Before and After MRI

The surgery helped preserve the sight in my left eye, cull the tumor and may protect my quality of life for the future. But I also needed highly targeted radiation therapy, also known as radiosurgery, to attempt to mutate the tumor’s DNA to stop its growth.

After getting your skull sawed open, the prospect of radiation treatment can seem anticlimactic, but it’s not simple or easy or risk-free. Fortunately, I was in good hands. Let me introduce you to Lenore, one of the key members of my radiosurgery team.

cyberknife radiosurgery

Lenore

After my first post-op MRI, Lenore was ready to get to work right away. I was scheduled for a CT scan and five subsequent radiosurgery sessions.

The MRI and CT imaging are used to target the radiation, and the precision of radiosurgery requires assistance in keeping your head stationary. To this end, the radiosurgery specialists made a mask for my face, which would be affixed to the treatment table while Lenore was at work.

The mask began as a flat plastic grid which they heated in warm water while I got used to the room, a fairly calm environment with relaxing music and starlight projected on the ceiling.

Having had anxiety with the enclosed spaces of MRIs, I wasn’t sure how it would feel to have my face stuck to a table while receiving radiation. But I felt pretty calm as they slowly pressed the warm plastic grid over my face and stretched it into a three dimensional mask.

Then they took me to the basement to the CT scanner. I’d had several CT scans after surgery and they’re short compared to MRIs so I expected it to go smoothly. But this scanner seemed smaller than the others and my head was enclosed in the mask which was attached to a small block behind it. As soon as the doctor and technicians left the room and prepared to start the test, my anxiety redlined. After two failed attempts, they asked me to step out so they could scan other patients.

I waited in the hallway searching for the meditation skills I’d learned in yoga. It helped when one of the technicians came out to acknowledge that I’d had a hard year. And, embarrassingly, it helped when I thought of one of my two cats that I’d had to put to sleep the year before at 19. Having him in mind was surprisingly comforting. Finally, before the technicians started the scan, I asked if one of them could hold my hand for ten seconds. They paused and then one of them did. And that was all that I needed to know that I could trust this person to run me through the machine while wrapped within the mask. Still, I felt a bit ashamed for having asked – it took some time to realize how human a request this was.

Within a few more days, I came for my first radiation treatment. One of the technicians shared a copy of the treatment map with me. The lines in the upper left indicate all of the directions that Lenore would send radiation at me. The colored contour maps in the other boxes showed the boundaries of the radiation treatment based on the intensity of each beam.

Cyber Knife Radiosurgery plan

Radiosurgery plan

Using the imaging, Lenore would be guided to treat the boundaries of my tumor as closely as possible, leaving healthy tissue less affected. (You can read more about radiosurgeons like Lenore at the CyberKnife FAQ.)

To pace the effects of the radiation on the body, my treatments were broken into five sessions. The exact length of the sessions isn’t known until Lenore reviews the prescribed sequencing with me on table. It turned out they were each 27 minutes.

The following images are from the end of my second or third session. That’s the treatment room. I’m on the table with my face in the mask, affixed to the table. Lenore’s in the background to the right. Small X-ray machines on the ceiling helped the specialists ensure the precise positioning of my head throughout treatment.

cyber knife

Radiosurgery room

CyberKnife radiation mask

My Radiation Mask

cyber knife mask

Another Perspective

The mask’s attachments do allow you to sit up and stop the treatment at any time but it disrupts the process and requires additional positioning X-rays to restart Lenore.

Before Lenore can go to work, the staff leaves and presses a button which closes the steel radiation door:

Radiation Door

Steel Radiation Door

This is what Lenore looks like as she moves around you to target the radiation beams. Her eye is a lens which can open and close to adjust the intensity of individual beams.

Radiosurgery Lens

Lenore’s Eye

As Lenore’s body moves around in three dimensions, she makes the sounds of heavy machinery and a slight buzz as her beam is activated for a few seconds. Some of the beams may pass through optical nerves which trigger the appearance of bright blue light within the eye.

Certainly, this process didn’t trigger the same fear as the craniotomy did for me. But the MRI, the CT scan, being attached to a table in a mask in a closed room for nearly two and a half hours of radiation – radiosurgery challenged me psychologically, in some ways more intensely than my craniotomy.

One of the most difficult initial moments for me was after they closed the door and informed that they had paged the doctor to review the positioning. No one had told me that I might need to be stuck to the table for an unknown amount of time before Lenore could even start.

The oncologist and the staff that managed the treatments helped me through all of this. From the CT technician that held my hand for a moment, to the team that greeted me every day with compassion and kindness – their support helped me through a pretty tough week. When I told them the most uncomfortable time for me was on the table waiting for the treatment to begin, one of them would sit beside me until the last possible moment.

Still, despite all my questions and reviews with doctors, I felt a bit of doubt about whether I was pursuing the right form of treatment. I could feel the radiation. It was subtle, but it was real, and I wondered what damage it might inadvertently cause. And after several days, I asked to meet with the oncologist again to assure me I was doing the right thing. He walked me through the treatment map again and helped me feel clearly we were following the right path.

And my girlfriend helped too. She came with me to the MRI and after I struggled with the CT scan, she insisted on taking me to all five radiation sessions. It was reassuring to have her there waiting outside for me each day.

Here’s a post-treatment selfie, and my girlfriend surprising me with flowers:

Kali Snowden

Graduation Day Selfie’s

And, you get to take home the mask for Halloween:

Cyberknife mask

See The Gift of Brain Surgery for Background on Glasses

Posted by Jeff Reifman

Jeff is a technology consultant based in the Pacific Northwest.

8 Comments

  1. such a sense of human-ness in your story. However, I’m not seeing any of your photos. ???

    Reply

    1. Julia – probably something with your net connection or browser filtering. Seems to work fine for others.

      Reply

  2. You are a brave man. The treatment is amazing. I hope you live a very long and happy life. One day all cancer will be far easier to eliminate. Have a great Christmas and pray that all over the world every person can get all the medical care that they need even if they are dirt poor.

    Reply

  3. This is some amazing technology at work. Just in the past 5 years alone a plethora of new treatments (Like CyberKnife) for various cancers are becoming available. Especially exciting are the various types of emerging immunotherapy treatments.

    As a side note, anyone who wants to help advance this type of science can do so by running one of the volunteer distributed computing programs like Folding@Home or Rosetta@Home which help researchers run massive computer simulations of protein folding and get a better understanding of the building blocks of many different diseases including many cancers.

    Reply

  4. Thank you for sharing this with us.

    Reply

  5. Thanks for sharing this with us.
    I found it fascinating to learn about these technologies.
    I wish you all the best of luck and hope that you defeat your tumours.

    Reply

  6. Jeff is as brave as they come, and it’s wonderful that he has shared his experience. The information here, will serve many others, in the future, possibly facing similar treatment, for brain cancer. Thank You

    Reply

  7. Jeff, Thank you for sharing this incredible challenge you faced since our paths last crossed during yoga training. You continue to amaze and inspire, as does Lenore.

    Reply

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