Getting my booty froze....

A couple of weeks ago a friend sent me some info on a procedure called Osteocool, a radiofrequency Ablation that is used to ablate tumors. She is working just outside of DC, so recommended I check around locally to see if anyone does it here in KC. She also said they are seeing great results with pain control.

RFA involves drilling a hole into the bony tumor, then inserting a probe that is heated up so hot it essentially erodes away the tumor. And by hot I mean 150-190 degrees hot.

So I text my friend, and IR Tech at KU, and asked her if they did this procedure there. And they do!! So, had my CT sent to the docs at the main campus and they called last week to tell me they reviewed them and felt they could help me out!
Today I had a consultation with Dr Brandon Custer, an Interventional Radiologist at KU. And though I had thought I would be discussing having the Osteocool RFA done, he actually feels that doing Cryoablation is more appropriate. Working the same way as RFA, except instead of using heating probes, they use cooling probes. And by cold, I mean -40 degrees. Yes MINUS 40 degrees. Think KC has been cold lately, well......this is cold.
Same process of drilling a hole and then inserting the probe. As they cool it down, it will form an ‘ice ball’ around the tumor essentially killing off the cancer cells. Yes, you read that correctly-killing. the. cancer. cells.
This is all done under CT guidance (go CT!) and they can actually SEE the ice ball form. I think I might ask one of the techs to take my phone and record that for me!? I mean, help a fellow CT sister out!?

Why cold instead of heat? He said the cooling is better for that area and he’s the expert so I’m game!
Apparently they need at least a 1cm area around the tumor to make sure they don’t affect surrounding tissue and muscle and nerves and all that good stuff and my sciatica nerve is 1.8 cm away from my ischial tuberosity. Whew!
The pic in this blog is of a pelvis, and the red areas are the ischial tuberosities-or your ‘sit bones’. Because they are literally the bones in your butt that you sit on-see other pic.

I will be under General Anesthesia due to the painful nature of it, but it’s an outpatient procedure so I get to go home that day. Oh, and the day we are doing it is none other than Valentine’s Day. Yep-Brian said “here’s your gift honey, getting your booty frozen!”
Did I mention they will be going in from the back-so yes, through my hiney.
Even better news is that they are seeing good results from people who have 8/10 pain score going down to a 2/10 and lasting longer than Radiation Therapy. Since I’m currently living daily at about 6-7/10 and on some days even 10/10, that is music to my ears! When asked how my pain is, the easiest way to explain it is like when you’re 9 months pregnant and that baby is sitting on your pelvis and you feel the pressure on your hoo-hah. And like I’m constantly sitting on a hard bicycle seat that I can’t quite get comfortable on.
PLUS-it’s not radiation to my pelvis and other surrounding structures, AND if it starts to hurt again in a year or so or more mets come back-they can do it again!!

I’m so excited to have this option available over Radiation Therapy-but if needed we could essentially add that in too. Though it doesn’t sound as if that will be needed.
And I’m so lucky we have KU right here in town that has National Cancer Institute designation. One of only 70 facilities nationwide.
I’m blessed to have caring and smart friends who thought of me for this-thank you Sheila! And I’ve always said “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know” and having my dear friend Rose as a KU IR Tech who helped facilitate all of this for me with her docs! Thanks Rose-it’s sucks you’re off that day, you don’t get to see my booty freeze.

In the meantime I started my Kisqali today and so far, so good. I’m headed to bed and have to work all weekend so I’m hoping not to have any side effects. Goodnight and sweet dreams!

Much love,
K