chesney Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 Hi All - It's been awhile since I have posted, but things had been pretty stable with Mom. Since things had been ok, we had all decided to go on a family vacation the week of Sept. 23rd. Mom had been experiencing loss of use in her left hand fingers. Dr. said to call if it didn't get better. I had done some research and found that this was common among patients that have had Taxol. So we chalked it up to that. Well, she never regained use and on the 20th she went to the Dr. He ordered a Brain MRI and it came back with Mets to the brain. We are absolutely DEVASTATED! Her ONC Dr. had told us that we are fine as long as the cancer doesn't go up. And now it has. We decided to go on vacation anyways, against drs. orders. Mom kept billing this as her last vaction so we had to go. I have been reading all the posts regarding Mets to the brain and WBR just to get more info. She has an appointment for Wednesday 10/3 with the Radiation Dr. to see what the plan is going to be. Just Looking for Prayers and Support.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexan Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 lot of prayers, good things happened hugs bucky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mary colleen Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 My husband also has squamous cell cancer, diagnosed at Stage 2B a year ago. He also had a fairly large brain met in April, had brain surgery to remove it, and then follow up whole brain radiation this summer. Though we were also devastated at the development of a brain met, we have found that life goes on. Now that he is finished with the brain surgery and radiation and has had some time to truly recover, we are once again living a fairly normal day to day life. Please understand that this is a pretty common LC development, and is treatable, either with resection, focused radiation, whole brain radiation, or some combination of any of these. Don't let the term "brain mets" scare you, and know that life does go on. Keep us posted. Mary Colleen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don M Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 Yeah... brain mets are easily treatable but progression is progression and I am sorry you all have to deal with it. It seems like you cross a psychological threshold when there is spread, especially brain mets. You all have my prayers. Don M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shineladysue Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 Lots of prayers coming your way. Sue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trish2418 Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 I'm sending lots of prayers your way. Trish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leslie Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 Hi-- My dad doesn't have Squanomous Cell--but upon diagnosis of his Stage IV NSCLC, we found out that he had brain mets. Actually, 7 of them. He's had WBR and Sterostatic radiation to get rid of the mets. That was 6 months ago. Since then, some of the mets are gone and others are stable. We pray that it stays that way. I know how scary it is to hear about brain mets...but please don't lose hope. They are treatable. In strength, Leslie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharonjo Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 Chesney, Sending lots of prayers for you and mom. I understand brain mets are very responsive to treatment. Hang in there and stay strong! God Bless, Sharon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fillise Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 Chesney--I'm so sorry to hear about the progression, but as other have said, the brain mets are treatable, so take a deep breath. We will be here to answer your questions and/or to offer support and you respond to this new development. Susan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babylove91297 Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 Your mother and your family are all in my prayers. Stay strong. Bobbie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dchurchi Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 Chesney, I am very sorry your family is dealing with the news of brain mets. My husband Alan had a brain met and I was devastated when the Drs told me. Alan had a single met near his brain stem. Alan was treated with WBR and IMRT and I am happy to say that was over 2 years ago. Alan is a 2.5 year survivor of extensive small cell. I will be praying for your family. please keep us posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sally88 Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 My mom had Brain nets also. She had 10 treatment of Whole head Rad. We took her to Lexington to see Dr. B Young and had gamma knife on Aug 10th so far so good. She will have another MRI in Nov. I found this site in Dec 2006 but I just joined today. Each time I need to know something I would find the answer here. I feel like I know all of the reg posters. Now I need to learn how to post Moms treatments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 Prayers going up. Robin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesney Posted October 4, 2007 Author Share Posted October 4, 2007 UPDATE: 10/4/07 So we saw the raditaion dr. 10/3 (Wednesday) and got the low down on the Mets to the brain. Mom has 2 mets, 1 "medium" size tumor located on the left side and one very, very small one in the back of her brain. The one that we are concerned about of course is the "medium" one. It did show a considerable amount of swelling around the tumor, which of course was causing the loss of use in her left hand. They have her on 4mg Decadron 2x a day to help ease the swelling and regain use of her hand again. This time around Mom is very receptive to me going to her appointments with her, cooking for her, etc. I asked soooo many questions of the Dr. I almost think that she was getting annoyed! This board really helped me gather my thoughts and questions that I wanted to ask the doctor. We are doing 15 rounds of Whole Brain Radiation, 1x a day for 3 weeks. The Drs. seem VERY optimistic that this treatment will control and even eliminate these Mets. We haven't spoken with her Onc. Dr yet about whether or not he is going to continue with Alimta chemo treatments or stop them. We will find that out next week. Thank you to everyone for your support and prayers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shineladysue Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 Thanks for the update, Chesney. Sounds like a good plan is in place for the brain mets. Glad your mom is allowing you to go to appointments with her. This board really is a god send , isn't it? It has helped me many times in the past as well. Keep us updated and know that my prayers are with you both. Sue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beatlemike Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 You both have my prayers and support. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbf815 Posted October 6, 2007 Share Posted October 6, 2007 I have added you and your family to my prayer list. God Bless, Stephanie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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