Gamma Knife surgery - what a breeze!

A breeze, that is, apart from getting up at 0530 to get to the hospital. After that and the usual messing around to give them the same personal details for the umpteenth time, the donning of the usual reverse robe which anyone except the wearer can tie,and the screwing of the metal frame to the skull. Ah, this last bit is different - the professor used four steel pins preceded by an ampoule of local anaesthetic per pin. Each one was screwed into the skull with considerable force, and much local anaesthetic was needed. The adjunct 'this will sting a bit' was never so true, but the frame once fixed was not going anywhere. Still, when the man was intent on frying my brain in seven locations, I was not about to complain. For those interested, the pins in question are just visible at the top of each vertical post on my forehead.

The planning MRI was done with me wearing the cradle, so that they could plot the co-ordinates precisely, shortly after which I was loaded into the linear accelerometer and treatment began. To my shame I can recall very little of the entire process, as I fell soundly asleep!

After treatment, I had to wait three hours on the ward before being discharged back to the hotel, where we relaxed for a another couple of hours before eating what for me was a healthy-sized supper of sausage and mash with a side salad. Needless to say, we were rather the talk of the kitchen, and had cause to meet most of the waiting staff during the course of the evening. On reflection, it did sound rather odd to have had brain surgery that afternoon, with nothing to show for it but a huge, relieved grin!