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Now on to the brain
My mom started and stopped chemo after two attempts. Chemo was way to caustic to her frail body. So on to radiation. She had a second turbot to remove the remaining tumors prior to the radiation only to find that she had grown three more tumors. I took her to her PET scan and everything looked good. My brother took her to the follow-up to read the results and set up the radiation. In the meantime, mom had some troubles walking and writting her name. When it came time for the follow-up, mom had mentioned that she had weakness, and problems with motor skills. Rad Onc sent her directly to the ER for fear she may have had a stroke. Now the fun begins.
Bladder cancer doesn’t normally spread to the brain. Mom’s two chemo treatments had stopped it from spreading to other parts of her body except that her brain had become a safe haven for cancer. The drugs used for bladder cancer did not protect the brain.
After 6 days in the hospital, 3 MRI’s and 1 EEG she was given a about 7 months to live. She now has a quarter sized tumor that is growing quickly. The docs are giving her steroids to reduce the swelling and will start Radiation immediatly to reduce the size of the tumor. However, the turmor will return with a vengence.
What makes this so hard to accept is that I was away in NC watching my daughter graduate from college and I was not able to ask questions to the doctors and my brother didn’t think to ask.
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3 Replies
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I am sorry to hear about your Mom. I am able to e-mail my Dr at john hopkins if I have any questions and he anwsers them pretty quick. You would have to have a paper signed by your Mom to talk to her drs. That is what I did when my husband had cancer , then I had access to everything and the drs were very good at talking to me .
The others are right in telling you don,t feel bad about going to your daughters graduation, you can only do what you can do . God bless . Rocky -
Sorry to hear of your Mom’s diagnosis. Congratulations to your daughter on her graduation. Don’t beat yourself up for not being able to be 2 places at one time. Sara Anne’s suggestion sounds like a good one. Hang in there.
Anita
Anita
Forum Moderator
Caregiver
I am so sorry to hear about your mother. It is heart breaking for you.
With your mother’s permission, it would be perfectly acceptable for you to arrange to talk to her doctor (in person? telephone?) so that your questions can be answered. I would suggest that you either write to him or call his nurse and explain what you want and arrange a mutually convenient time. This would be much better than just “cold-calling” and would ensure that he has time available.
Sara Anne
Diagnosis 2-08 Small papillary TCC; CIS
BCG; BCG maintenance
Vice-President, American Bladder Cancer Society
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