ANA Discussion Forum
Treatment Options => Radiation / Radiosurgery => Topic started by: Sue on November 18, 2008, 03:07:01 pm
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So, we were watching my husband's favorite show, Prison Break last night, and Michael, the resident hero has a wee bit of a problem with a tumor in his noggin and, when ever he gets done chasing the bad guys and has a moment to spare, he'll be getting GK treatment! His dearly beloved girlfriend, who is a doctor, was explaining the head frame to him in the episode and making it sound really bad when he gets it attached. It will have to be tightened up with a "screw driver" she says, ominously. He has a scared look in those blue eyes, and sweat on his brow, and I yell at the TV, "Oh come on, Michael, it ain't THAT bad! Ya big wuss!" He doesn't pay me any attention however, and decides to forgo the treatment until he can subdue more bad guys and scare us with his wonky head moments. So, I'm really hoping we get to see his GK treatment eventually! Cool!
Sue in Vancouver USA
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That is cool! I've never seen the show, but I might have to tune in! Too bad they didn't get our own LA David to play the part! Maybe he can play the part of the doctor in charge of the GK!
Lori
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Wow, neat about having a mention of GK on TV, but what a shame that they had to give the horror story of the head frame. I actually thought it was the easiest part....maybe I'm weird :P. When the docs where taking the pins out with the cordless drill, I remember thinking, "COOL, I wonder if it's a Craftsman!" It wasn't. Some fancy medical drill. Nancy ;D
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Seriously?
I'm not familiar with Prison Break - actually not familiar with most TV shows these days - but this is very impressive.
GK on prime time TV - very cool 8)
Jan
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ok nancy since no one else agreed with you i think i will have to...you are weird lol. the head frame coming off from me was the worst part of the treatment. maybe because they didnt use a power drill with me. calling you weird was just a joke didnt mean anything bad by it.
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Believe it or not, one of the reasons (not a big one though) I decided against GK was because I couldn't fathom having a metal frame screwed into my skull.
Not much logical here since I went on to have my skull cut open for surgery and then I opted to have it scalped and drilled for my BAHA implant. Go figure :P
Jan
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ok nancy since no one else agreed with you i think i will have to...you are weird lol.
We didn't say anything because we already figured that out about Nancy a while ago. ;D
Actually, though, the line "COOL, I wonder if it's a Craftsman!" makes me think she isn't weird, just cool in a different kind of way. 8)
Steve
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I think you guys are all "cool". ;)
Prison Break is on Fox on Monday nights at 9. Monday, if you watch any TV at all, is a busy, busy night. Lots of interesting shows to fill up a Monday night and they are all opposite of one another. Ya gotta give up a little bit of Dancing with the Stars to see it. Or tivo Prison Break or record it or tape it or whatever you do to it. But, who knows when they are going to actually show Michael's medical treatment. This is a show that likes to have everyone on the edge of their seat as the heroes teeter on the brink of destruction at every turn in the road. So they might have to drag this out a bit longer.
Fortunately for me, the head frame was not an issue for me. By the time they get you all numbed and drugged up, they could have drilled for oil and I wouldn't have cared.
Anyway, Michael the hero, started the show a couple of seasons ago, with a giant tattoo on his arms and chest and back as a guide for breaking out his brother from prison, and getting a full body tattoo would have been much more traumatic, I would think, that 10 minutes of head frame attachment. Of course, in the world of TV fiction, this character doesn't require the use of this tattoo anymore, so that's a premise that's long gone and forgotten by the writers, I guess.
Sue in Vancouver,
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Hi Sue! Thanks for the info, I'll have to check into that program, altho it runs opposite Boston Legal, when it is on, in its last season, which makes me unhappy. I wonder if they'll make the headframe application realistic, or if it will seem like a spa treatment?? Actually, it was the thought of the dreaded headframe that made me rethink surgery. It turned out to be not bad at all, and that part of the morning went off at the speed of light. I'm doing lots better now and it's becoming a fuzzy memory, which is okay with me. ~Joey
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If you go to www.fox.com/prisonbreak/ you can find out all about the program and actually post to the site. I know a few years ago the program, "Crossing Jordan" featured one of the stars having surgery for a meningioma and quite a few CK and GK patients wrote in telling the producers that they should have written radiosurgery rather than surgery into the script!!!
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Sue,
Just want to let you know that I also watched it and was amazed that they mentioned the GK approach......This is my favorite show. I even passed the last half of Dancing With The Stars so I can watch Prison Break. I think next week is the last show for the season.......
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I even passed the last half of Dancing With The Stars so I can watch Prison Break.
No, say it ain't so! ;D
Actually I hardly watch anything anymore. I'd rather be foruming...
Steve
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Hey Jan,
Did you know that they screw your head into a metal frame during surgery too? To hold it still. At least they do for translab - maybe not for retro - but I have a little round scar on my forehead from where the screw went in and another one in the back (can't see that one though!). I remember when I was in the hospital and had the big bandage on, the only part that hurt was that little spot in the front and I couldn't figure out why - then they took the bandage off and I saw the little scab on there. Who would have guessed that little thing would have hurt more than having my skull cut open with Craftman tools?
Lori
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Sue from New Hampshire, I think you're right. They are building up to a big cliff hanger and then they'll go off until Jan or Feb. Maybe we won't see Michael get his GK until next year.
Doesn't he have pretty blue eyes! He's a cutie patootie. We all watch these shows for different reasons! ;) ;D HA
Sue in Vancouver USA
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Steve,
I think COOL IN A DIFFERENT WAY is just a polite way of saying WEIRD! But, I'm OK with it! I am weird, and everyone here knows it.....what else can I say!
Perhaps the application of the head frame wasn't so bad because of the distraction. My neurosurgeon is so good looking, and I could hardly keep my eyes off of him. Plus, he and my neotologist/otologist were cutting jokes and making me laugh the whole time. Actually I was a bit disappointed when they took the head frame off because the pins sites on the back of my head didn't bleed, and they didn't have to put a gauze wrap around my head. Was hoping to milk that one for the rest of the day. My husband was actually hoping for a DeWalt drill instead of the Craftsman! ;D
Let us know, Sue, if they show a gamma knife scene on Prison Break. I agree, LADavid would have been a good choice!
Nancy
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Believe it or not, one of the reasons (not a big one though) I decided against GK was because I couldn't fathom having a metal frame screwed into my skull.
Not much logical here since I went on to have my skull cut open for surgery and then I opted to have it scalped and drilled for my BAHA implant. Go figure :P
Sue,
Now I guess I'll have another show to record on Monday nights -- you're right there are a lot of good shows on Monday night.
Jan
The head frame was one of my reasons for not having GK too -- the idea of having that thing screwed into my head just scared me too much. I rationalized having my head cut open by telling myself I would be unconcious and never know what happened. The thing that really cinched it for me though was not wanting the radiation -- I've had surgery before and figured it really couldn't be much worse as long as I didn' have any serious complications and if I did, I knew I would be able to deal with them. I was very lucly and had a great outcome. Ironically, like Jan, I have opted to have surgery for a BAHA -- I may be having a small hole drilled in my skull and having a screw and abutment implanted , but no head frame! ;D
Lori -- I guess every doctor is different with regard to using or not using a head frame. I had translab and no head frame -- no surgical hair gel either -- he just cleansed the surgical site and the skin around it with Betadine -- he didn't even get that in my hair. I was very surprised about that when he took the head wrap off. My hair was pin straight from being wrapped up in the head wrap (it's naturally curly) but just as clean as it was when I got to the hospital the morning of my surgery.
Wendy
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Victor on "The Young and The Restless" has Gamma Knife on the program right before I had it in Dec 2006. They never showed any details; they just mentioned that he had it. But it was neat that the "great" Victor had the same procedure I did. I don't believe they have ever mentioned it again.
Grace
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Lori -
I didn't have a head frame for my retrosigmoid, unless my neurotologist just used one and didn't tell me about it. He probably knew I'd freak out ;) I had no screw holes in my forehead though, plus I DO trust him, so I don't think I had the head frame.
Wendy -
I used the same logic about the hole being cut into my head during surgery - figured I'd be fast asleep so it didn't really matter. Interesting logic on both our parts, but it worked great for me and it seems to have worked great for you also.
Jan (responding from snowy Elkhart, IN. Going to ND vs Syracuse tomorrow. GO ND!!!!)
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Well, you all realize that I may just win the scar contest since I'm the only one with translab, BAHA, 7-12 AND headframe bolt scars! I hope there's a good prize for this!
Maybe it wasn't an actual head frame - it was just a regular vice grip thing from Sears. My doctor probably picked it up when he bought the drill. :D
Snow? Ugh...I'll catch the highlights of the game from the warmth of my living room!
Grace, I didn't know Victor had GK! I don't watch the show, but my mom has watched it since the beginning of time so I know who he is. Interesting.
Lori
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Lorr, Would I come in second with my mid fossa on each side, translab done twice with extra long scar down the neck more due to the nerve graft. Don't think I ever mentioned here about having a seroma between the 2006 translab and the CSF leak 2 weeks later. I had a golf ball size lump on the side of the neck at the end of the incision which had to be drained twice so think there might be a bit of scar from that. Plus the rather large indentation I now have behind my ear. You'll love to feel that next August. Nurses do get a bit morbid,don't we?
Cheryl R
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I had the retrosigmoid surgery and they immobilized my head with a "three pin Mayfield fixation" (from the operation report). I recall asking the doctor (before the surgery) how they were going to keep my head and body from moving for the (LOOOOONG) duration of the surgery. He said they would use a lot of tape and a head frame. I did later find LOTS of tape all over my body and I think I found some really small screw holes - they scabbed quickly and healed before I was stable enough to be looking at the back of my head.
BTW I'm pretty sure they gave me the forget-everything drug - think it is probably standard procedure with surgeries these days. So I have no memory of the actual frame. In fact, I have no memory of going into the surgery room, but my husband says I was awake and talking when they wheeled me off to surgery.
I don't think the frame is anything to fear. Frankly, when someone is drilling into my skull with a saw or radiation, I'd just as soon have them keep my head absolutely still. So I was glad to hear they would use the frame.
Rosemary
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I also had retrosigmoid and a head frame but I have no memory of it going on or coming off. (The holes in my head did bother me for a couple of weeks though. )They used it to immobilize my head and also to use the computer mapping MRI they had done.
M
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Cheryl,
I think I can settle for second place! I think you've got me beat! :o Boy, what some people won't do to win a contest! :D Maybe next August, you and I can have an impromptu nurses convention and swap morbid stories! And we can throw some funny ones in there too!
Rosemary, it was probably duct tape they used - that's easy to find in the Sears tool department where they seem to get all their other surgical supplies. ;) I feel the same way as you - do whatever you have to do to keep my head still while you're poking around in there. They could have put a boulder or a cinder block on my head if it worked - I wouldn't have minded.
Lori
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Lori, Think we can make it a tie for first place since most of mine are under hair except for the neck. The hair is even curly now since finally got the hair grown right and the incision safe and got a perm. My hair is so much more fine after all these surgeries and needs body.
I am sure we could both tell nursing stories. We used to joke at work that we could write quite a book.
Cheryl R
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Hi Cheryl and Lori - I've been in the medical profession for ages - management/administration - now doing transcription, and I have always said I could make more $$$ by writing a book about my real-life experiences in the field. Just as an aside and to add a chuckle - one time I was transcribing and heard water in the background. I was very friendly with the doc so I asked him where he was, and he didn't hesitate telling me he was urinating!!! Don't want to picture that one considering he had a hand-held dictation machine to hold.
Okay - back to the subject at "hand"!!!
Sheryl (too)
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one time I was transcribing and heard water in the background. I was very friendly with the doc so I asked him where he was, and he didn't hesitate telling me he was urinating!!! Don't want to picture that one considering he had a hand-held dictation machine to hold.
Yuck !! :P
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Aww, shucks. Wouldn't you know! Michael had to do some funky brain surgery thingie instead of GK, in which they stated some dumb statistic like a 13% failure rate. Huh? Oh they just had to muck about in his brain so he could have "visions" and solve some of the on-going mystery. That's TV for ya.
Sue in Vancouver USA