jenniferann Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 My mom had another PET on 1-30, which found mass in left neck, and possible one where left lung was. She started Altima and Avestan. Then, when base-line CAT of neck came back, they found 2 brain mets. So, chemo stopped, and radiation began (10 txs, then can begin chemo again). I'm exhausted from them finding something new each time. I'm praying for 6 months of finding nothing, when I should be looking forward to forever finding nothing. My mom's amazing, though. Still working, and feeling great, physically and mentally. I guess the high dose of decadron (16mg) is to be credited. So, does anyone know why brain mets must be treated before neck tumor? Also, we thought the mets would be zapped by the radiation, but it turns out they radiate the whole brain. Is this the norm? Has anyone had this experience? Hope to hear from you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanner Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 They are radiating the brain mets first because it is the one that needs to be treated first. It could grow bigger and bigger and there could be permanent brain damage if it isn't treated now. Brain mets cannot be treated with chemo - it has to be radiation. WBR should also kill off brain mets that can't be seen on the MRI rather than cyber knife which would just kill off the individual mets. But cyberknife also depends on the size of the mets. Has this helped? My brain is a jumble today. Tanner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenniferann Posted February 24, 2007 Author Share Posted February 24, 2007 Tanner, Huge help. Thank you for taking the time to clarify. Hope tomorrow is better than today - hope each tomorrow only gets better! Jennifer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vassar36 Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 Sorry that you are going though this...my mother had WBR a few months ago b/c of her brain mets. Chemo after. The reason they did the WBR on mom was b/c she had multiple brain mets, and the location of the mets was such that cyber knife etc might have caused a lot of damange to the surrounding tissues, at least that is what the doctors said. Hope that helps a bit..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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