kimblanchard Posted May 24, 2003 Share Posted May 24, 2003 Has stereotactic radiosurgery been suggested for your mother's brain mets? You said she only has two - seems like a candidate to me. Blessings to you, Peg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelliemacs Posted May 25, 2003 Share Posted May 25, 2003 Hi Peg, Yes her doctor did say that if total head radiation did not erradicate the brain mets. (By the way she has 3, for some unknown reason my mom thought telling me she had two instead of 3 would help ease my mind) that she could have the radiostatic surgery done. He said in 20% of cases full head rad. would erradicate the tumors, better than half would have reduction enough to have the radiostatic surgery. I am praying for the first but the way our luck is running I would even settle for the second. I just pray until my eyes bleen that they will not have grown or spread anywhere else. I just had a dip in my stomach even writing that last line. then he said after full head rad, we would have to wait 6-8 weeks before another MRI to see if anything happened. he said if we did another MRI too soon, we would not be able to tell if the brain is re-absorbing them or not yet. does that sound right to you??? thank you for writing me. All information helps allot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ginnyd Posted May 25, 2003 Share Posted May 25, 2003 Shelly, My husband had a craniotomy to remove 1 tumor. An MRI the day after surgery showed what the neurosurgeon said were two new tumors that were not there on the MRI taken the day before surgery. It was devatating news - I felt like my husband had a gatling gun shooting tumors in his body. The surgeon told me that while whole brain radiation could eliminate tumors - it mostly shrank them - but in some instances they did completely eradicate them. When the radiation onc. looked at the MRI he did not thing they were tumors but as a result of the surgery. Earl had 14 radiation treatments ending 11/6/02. The end of Feb visit with the neurosurgeon showed NO turmors at all. Were they really tumors - who knows, I just know that, thank God they are gone. I have an MRI sitting on the dining room table right now taken last week. We see the neurosurgeon on Tues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimblanchard Posted May 25, 2003 Author Share Posted May 25, 2003 Hi Shelley, Yes it does take time for the radiation to work and an MRI taken too soon would not show the total effect. I know that with my husband Bill the stereotactic radiosurgery will continue to work for months to come. Praying for you dear, Peg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelliemacs Posted May 26, 2003 Share Posted May 26, 2003 Peg and Ginny, I really cant thank you both enough for the hope you have both instilled in me. I am only 35 and yet I feel I have stopped living until I can get my mom clean from cancer. I have not been her for her in 11 years. I have lived overseas with my husband in the Air Force and came home just over 11 months ago. I feel like I was a bad daughter moving away and I am obsessed with making up for being away now. I have a sister who has never left home and this doesn't seem to phase her at all. I find I am crippled almost. I cant enjoy life, I dont go anywhere, I wont leave her side only to go to work. I cant see through this pea soup fog that surrounds my life now that she is sick. I dont understand what my god-fearing totally devoted catholic did to deserve this. I am so mad, sad, angry, confused, devastated, depressed, disheartened, maudlin person right now. I dont even like being around me. I am exhausted because I sit up at night and either pray or watch her sleep. I have neglested everything else in my life and cant move forward or even relas enough to enjoy a family picnic on a holiday like today. How do you both get through this. What keeps you from jumping from a bridge or sucking on a tail pipe so the grief feeling goes away. I am sorry to carry on like this. I am so very overwhelmed and tired from all this worry that I cant see straight. again I thank you for the hope and pray that your loved ones come through this as well as my mom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimblanchard Posted May 26, 2003 Author Share Posted May 26, 2003 Shelley, First of all what you are feeling is normal - terrible - but normal. After my husband was diagnosed I couldn't stop crying. I still relapse now and then but then you find the strength to pull yourself up and realize that you must be strong to help fight this dreaded disease with your loved one. Your mother did NOTHING to deserve this. No one does. Please continue to come here and post and rely on all of us to help you and your mother get through this. Blessings to you, Peg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DaveG Posted May 27, 2003 Share Posted May 27, 2003 Shelley: I have a button that reads:NO ONE DESERVES LUNG CANCERand that's exactly right. As you see I am a survivor and one who has had a set back at that. I have not given up nor do I intend to give up. All of us, no matter whether we are a survivor, care giver, or family member, have had to deal with lung cancer. I was diagnosed following a car accident, while I was being evaluated for minor injuries. So, with me, lung cancer was totally unexpected. I had no symptoms. I was not coughing, nor did I have shortness of breath. The finding of lung cancer took all the doctors by total surprise, to the point that the original CT Scan was repeated at no cost. I was devastated by the new diagnosis, in April, yes, but I knew I was going to fight this. When asked for my intention, after being told that I had systemic mets to my lymphatic system and was restaged from Stage I to Stage IV, my wife answered with: "I want my husband to be alive for our 50th Wedding Anniversary in 18 years." When asked then if that was what I wanted, I agreed. Then my oncologist just said, " we have some work to do." I am going to the University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Center for my treatment and I will continue there for as long as is necessary. I am a patient of Dr. Joan Schiller, one of the leading lung cancer oncologists in the world. She cares and is very compassionate. Her entire staff is the same. Everything and everybody are very positive. As you have found we at Lung Cancer Survivors for Change are about survival. We care for each other a great deal. We are loving, offer hope, support, and tons of faith. I know you have already found a home here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ginnyd Posted May 27, 2003 Share Posted May 27, 2003 Shelly, Devastated, depressed, constant crying, scared to death - these are just a few of the feelings I was having in the beginning of my husbands dx. But then I realized that none of us has a guarantee - that sometimes life hands us bad news. So I made a decision - I was going to work as hard as I could to do everything possible to get my husband better. Then I was going to work as hard as I could to make our lives as ordinary as possible in these circumstances. LC is always there. You live from scan to scan. BUT life continues and I BELIEVE WITH ALL MY HEART that we should live it. My husband knows that I love him totally and that I am scared to the bone about the possibility that he may not get better. BUT, we put those fears aside as much as possible and live an ordinary life. I want to laugh with him alot and only cry with him a little. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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