Her children were quite worried about her deteriorating condition, so they invited Doctor LIU to examine her at home. All of her symptoms were caused by the tumor in her brain. It seemed her condition was getting worse, so Doctor LIU suggested they seek help from a large hospital in Beijing or Qingdao.

On the same day, her grandson and granddaughter went to Qingdao and Beijing to consult experts about her condition. Her granddaughter got almost the same reply from hospitals in Beijing.

The grandson brought back the same news from Qingdao. The experts considered it too risky to operate on such an old patient. Some did recommend Gamma Knife Radio Surgery. She was immediately taken to Wanjie Hospital in Zibo, Shandong province, but they were disappointed to learn that the Gamma Knife might hurt her brain stem, because it was so close to the tumor.

The brain stem is extremely important because it controls several critical physiological functions. No one can survive when the brain stem is destroyed. In Gamma Knife radiosurgery, the gamma radiation beams are focused on specific tumor to generate enough energy to destroy tissue. The gamma rays work on the same theory that the sunlight focalized by a magnifying glass can lighten a match. Though they are fixed on a specific target, they might still damage other healthy brain tissue that they have gone through and may damage healthy tissue. LU CHUNQIU had a tumor quite close to her brain stem, so Gamma Knife Radiosurgery might kill her instead of saving her.

Before the surgery was conducted, the doctors had to fix a metal frame on the patient's head, which served to accurately localize the tumor inside the patient's head. The frame had to be fixed on the skull, which required anesthesia, but anesthesia is dangerous for elderly patients.