What are your experiences with brain tumors or brain cancer?

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   midget38posted 11 years ago

   What are your experiences with brain tumors or brain cancer?

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   SusieQ42posted 11 years ago

   My late husband, John, was diagnosed with a brain tumor, a low grade astrocytoma in the frontal lobe, just after his 30th birthday.  He was treated with radiation therapy and lived another 5 years.  The last year was the hardest time for us.  The tumor came back and was treated with chemotherapy.  This was in August, by November the tumor shrunk to the size of a peanut, but by Christmas the chemo was discontinued because of his low white blood cell count.  He had colds, then bronchitis two different times.  Then the neurologist tried him on Gossipol.  (not sure of the spelling) It was a Chinese experimental drug which didn't work.  He was hospitalized 3 times over the next 4 or 5 months, diagnosed as terminally ill in February and passed away in June, 1994.  It's been nearly 20 years since then!  Our children were 1 and 3 yrs. old when he was diagnosed and 6 and 8 when their dad died.  Now they're 26 and 28 and doing great.  Our youngest son, Matthew, is a Marine and his sister, Allison, is due to have her 3rd baby next month.

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   1. 83

      midget38posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Susie, thanks for sharing. That was so personal....my blessings to you and the family for having the strength to cope in such a difficult time.

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      SusieQ42posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Difficult, yes, but not impossible.  I held his hand as he took his last breath.

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3. 61

   teamrnposted 11 years ago

   From personal experience, my Mom had one kind of brain tumor, a low-grade astrocytoma. She was lucky, we were lucky as her astroytoma was low-grade enough that it made her 'pleasantly confused' (though it was hard when she didn't recognize her children (REAL HARD(, but she passed, without pain, and in her sleep.
   
   An astrocytoma, if I remember correctly is a tumor, at her low-grade stage that was confined to the brain, and in her particular case, did not affect the brain stem, meniniges, or other vital areas of the brain; or Mom could have had problems with pressure from the astrocytoma causing compromise of the brain stem, meninges.

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      SusieQ42posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      John was in a dream world the last few months.  That's the only way I can explain it.  When the tumor grew and the medication he took to decrease the swelling,  he fell asleep and didn't wake up.  This happened two times.

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      teamrnposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Mom never had the chemo or radiation that John did. The tumor grew so slowly, that all we knew, she knew nothing, was that fog. Then the lights went out. The way to go.

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      SusieQ42posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      My dad passed away from cancer of the esophagus on 2/14/08, but my mom lives on and will 84 in August.  Then my world will fall apart.  God bless, Susieq42

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4. 60

   irenemariaposted 11 years ago

   http://www.squidoo.com/glioblastoma-multiforme
   
   this is my story about my husbands brain tumor. I wrote it so others can see what this GMB IV really is

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      SusieQ42posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      My husband was given 5 years to live and that's almost exactly how long he lived.  He was diagnosed after having a seizure.

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