Photon Torpedoes to the head

I hope you enjoy Labor Day 2014.  I'm having a good day!

Thirty radiation treatments five days a week for six weeks.  I call them Photon Torpedoes as they are a form of high energy light.  I've completed 10 treatments so far. The primary purpose seems to be to slow down the spread of the cancerous glial cells (called Glioma) throughout the rest of my brain. The primary purpose of the Chemotherapy seems to be to kill fast growing Glioma in my brain as they spread.  This treatment is three pills a day for six weeks. I take them at night before bed. Small fingers of Glioma were observed in the microscope during the surgery heading out from the removed tumor. They may already be small bits of Glioma in the rest of my brain.  None is currently visible on an MRI.  The doctors say there is probably not any cancer in any other part of my body except my brain.

I then get a break from treatment for two to four weeks while they assess the effectiveness.  If nothing unusual, the standard protocol is I get to take three chemo pills every night for the next 12 months.

Oh, my sleeping is much better now. I get asked about this frequently as I went months without proper sleep.  We moved the evening steroid to noon and it helped greatly.

Here are some details about the radiation machine and the treatment.  My head is strapped down to the table with a mask over my face.  The machine then uses x-rays to align the table to 1 millimeter of the MRI image for precise aim.  Once it starts sending out rays, it follows a designed pattern to focus on the 2 cm around the removed tumor and to minimize the damage to the rest of the brain and head tissue (eyes, teeth, skin, hair, etc.).