CyberKnife started

After a few days of hectic consultations and tests, yesterday, I had my first session of radiation under CyberKnife surgery system. The session lasted around two hours and was completely painless, though it was a bit cumbersome not to be much moved during the entire session. (A mild movement during the session forces the robotic arm to stop since it cannot track the tumor!) There were no pre-requisites for the session except to have a Granicip tablet, an hour before the session.

The treatment plan for me was fixed for three days of pointed and focused radiation followed by an observation time of three months. (Yesterday's session was my first day.) Though this radiation-based treatment is somewhat similar to that of the IMRT-based radiation I had last year in Chennai, there are quite a few differences:

• IMRT affects the healthy tissues too, whereas CyberKnife is focused on the malignant tumors only
• IMRT radiation typically last for 4 to 6 weeks, while CyberKnife lasts for only 3 to 5 days
• The side-effects of having IMRT radiation are significant whereas there are minimal or no such side-effects in CyberKnife

I am excited and curious to see what CyberKnife would do to me in terms of the removal of the disease, but to know its effects completely I should wait for a PET/CT scan after three months, because the effects of the radiation would be slow on the tumors unlike those of the chemotherapy!