Whole Brain radiation

This is going to be a quick update. I just wanted to let everyone know that my week of scans did not get off to a good start. The brain MRI from yesterday showed yet another tumor growing on the right side, the 4th one since January and 3rd since June. As the frequency with which these tumors are growing is becoming shorter, my doctor has recommended that I put aside gamma knife radiation and do something to try and treat the entire brain. So, I will be starting whole brain radiation shortly.

I'll explain in detail how it works in my next post, but the hope here is that the tiny microscopic cancer cells hiding in my brain, slowly developing into tumors, will be killed. This way we can completely stop, or at the very least reduce the frequency, of tumors from growing in the future.

Not a great day for me or my family. We were hoping this day would not have to come where we would be faced with choosing this treatment, but it's not in our hands. It just seems like the harder we try to get better, the more I do to get out of this, the worse the situation gets. It's a very difficult test and it makes you question all your beliefs at one time or another. Be back this weekend...

Update

I finished my fifth cycle of chemo this morning. I will be taking a few scans next week to determine exactly where I am in terms of disease in the liver, the brain, or anywhere else in the body. Last time we checked, the liver tumor had shrunk from 5 cm to 1 cm (a very good sign), so here's hoping that next week's scan shows that it has completely disappeared.

As far as the brain goes, I completed my gamma knife radiation treatment exactly 3 weeks ago today, and outside of a few minor side effects, it went well. We still need to check the tumor markers to make sure it was successful, but it worked the first 2 times in different areas of the brain, so I don't see why this time would be any different Next week's brain mri will also reveal if anything new is growing in the brain.

As I've mentioned in my previous few posts, the chemo is really starting to catch up with me now. It has been accumulating in my body since started this regiment back in May, and many of the side effects are beginning to linger for longer periods of time, particularly those related to my nervous system.

Neuropathy in my hands and feet has been the most difficult of my health issues as it effects every single thing I do everyday. Right now it is at a manageable level where I can live my life and do mostly all the things I would normally do. If it gets worse, it would make a lot of crucial and simple tasks, like writing, typing, driving and pretty much anything requiring fine motor skills, very difficult.

I think we're getting close to the finish line, though, so hopefully I won't need to put much more chemo into my body. I want to let the healing process begin.

I'll write more next week as gather more information. Finally, I want to say how happy I am about the Michigan football team's season opening win this past Saturday. If you know me, you know I'm a huge Michigan football fan, and that game was fantastic. I haven't been able to enjoy college football the last 2 seasons because I've been in hospitals going through treatments, but hopefully this year will be different. Go Blue!