post treatment (one week)
today marks one week since i completed gamma knife radiosurgery at ucsf. i've felt great this past week so there's not much to report, but i'll document any and all symptoms here for future reference to anyone undergoing gkrs and searching for more information on what to expect.
i flew home from san francisco on saturday, one day after completing treatment. it felt amazing waking up that morning knowing for the first time all week that i wouldn't have to go into the hospital and wonder if i would get through treatment without any issues that day. the flight home was short and uneventful, and other than a bit of lingering nausea that day, i felt great.
quick tmi note: the zofran (anti-nausea med) i took after my third treatment and before my fourth and fifth treatments ended up making me constipated for the following few days. luckily a friend warned me about this side effect so it wasn't totally unexpected, but just sharing this warning here since my care team at the hospital mentioned nothing about this when administering the medication to me.
on sunday, i went for a short run and felt great. i told myself i'd go for as long as i could before getting tired and that i'd listen to my body and stop as soon as i felt like i was over-exerting myself at all. i thought i'd maybe make it a mile before getting tired but ended up going for 2.5 miles and felt like i could've kept going (but didn't want to push it).
starting from monday/tuesday of this week, i can honestly say that any lingering ounce of fatigue and nausea i felt during treatment is now completely gone. i continued going for long walks and short runs and pretty much going about my day as i normally would.
the only remaining symptom i have is a slight worsening of my double vision compared to pre-treatment levels. my radiation oncologist (and many other radiation oncologists and neurosurgeons i spoke with during my research phase) warned me that this could be the case, so i felt mentally prepared for it. the process of radiation can cause the tumor and tissues around it to swell, which in turn increases pressure on nearby structures like the cranial nerves, including the 6th cranial nerve that's at issue in my case.
i have a one month post-treatment appointment scheduled with my neuro-ophthalmologist in mid-october, so i'll plan to be back then for my next update. until then, thank you for supporting me on my healing journey and be well!
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