Karen,

I replied to your post a few days ago, but it might have been too wordy for you to read through. That being said, I will keep this one brief regarding my GK experience.

It is a very quick and relatively painless procedure. They will knock you out for a few minutes while they attach a halo to your head as they screw down to the bone. Sounds bad, but you will come around after it's over. I came around as they were wheeling to the MRI machine for a last minute check. The MRI machine feeds it's data to the GK machine for a precise target area. You will still be pretty doped up, so you will most likely be in a somewhat sleepy twilight state during the GK treatment (about 45 minutes for me as I recall). Maybe it was shorter.

There was some slight bleeding from one screw area when they removed the halo, but that was it. My face swelled up for a few days afterwards (about 4 or 5 as I remember) and then goes away. The screw points were a little sensitive during the healing, but that was it.

Hope this info helps you. Please feel free to ask me more questions if you want. BTW, I only got about 60 days of pain relief from the procedure; very disappointed. I'm having my MVD done in 5 days (March 3, 2009). I've tried everything else. Again, hope this info helps.

Good luck and God bless!

Todd