Hello. An introduction.

The results are in.....

2011-03-03T10:03:28Z

....And its good news.

There has been improvement and is less "fluffy" (surley a technical term ;o) ) there are still areas of high grade tumour that he is now starting Chemo for 5 days every 4 weeks.

And all of his bad symptoms recenlty have been put down to coming off the steriods.

As the Oncolgist said "I can't send you away and say everything will be ok, but I am feeling positive about the out come"

Now he is desperate to go on holiday - which is a whole other story but atleast we are moving on.

Thank you so much for the words of wisdom and help you have all given me. I don't think I would have made it through the last week without your help.

AnneMarie

xxxxxx

I might just loose it before wednesday...

2011-02-27T11:46:19Z

I am so scared.

We get the results from the scan on Wednesday, but Dave is feeling worse and worse. He is getting more and more symptoms and I can't help but fear the worse!

My rational mind says that everything is just catching up with him but a nagging little voice says I should be prepared for the worse!

I probably need a slap ;o)

As a mummy there is a mantra: "it is just a phase..." to help you get through the toddler years...

There should be one now: "Everything will be ok. We will get through this"

I hope to bring everyone good news on Wednesday.

Fingers crossed.

AnneMarie

Would you look?

2011-02-23T20:45:43Z

So I am on a roll tonight ;o)

DH had his scan on Monday to see if the chemo / radio has made his tumor smaller.

We have an appointment next wednesday for the results...

BUT..

Cause Dave is private they gave him a copy of the scan on DVD.

At first he was dead against looking at it but I caught him checking against the original scan (which we have a copy of) to see if it was smaller....

Asking for trouble ;o)

but as I keep telling myself the ongoloist is the only one who can tell us what it all means...

so step away from the PC!

AnneMarie

Lower immune and chicken poxs

2011-02-23T20:40:04Z

not sure what to do.... and not sure this is the best place to put this but here goes!

My friend (who I am suppose to see tomorrow) thinks her son "may" have chicken pox.

Dave still has a low immune system after chemo & radio therapy and my friend and I are worried that it might pass on to him.

But am I just being over protective?

He hasn't been that well since finishing his steriods this week.

Arhhhh this is so hard.

Does anyone have any advice?

AnneMarie

waiting

2011-02-17T09:27:31Z

DH has now had radio and chemo therapy (6 weeks) and we are now waiting to see if the tumour has shrunk.

But I hate waiting.

I have been ok with it this time but I can feel myself sinking and getting generally fed up with everything.

I am also feeling lonely as people have lives to get on with and don't want to here my moaning.

Not much point really, just need to get things out!

Just when you think it s safe....

2011-01-29T16:11:58Z

So Dave finished his chemo & radio and was gradually weaning himself off the steroids when out of the blue he got sick.

He had diarrhea, a high temp and hot & cold flushes and was sleeping all the time.

I was so worried but just didn't know what to do for the best!

In the end I called one of the nurses on his team at the hospital and he spoke to he registrar. She said it was probably nothing to worry about but to bring him in so that they could do a full assessment.

They were fab!

He was admitted straight away because they think he has gastroenteritis and he has perked up no end since being on a drip to re-hydrate him. So he has to stay in hospital for a few days on a drip and get antibiotics.

So panic over.

But it was still scary.

The finer details...

2011-01-25T19:23:10Z

Thank you so much everyone that answered yesterday. I was having a wobble and you really touched me xx

After my hurried explanation I thought that I had better fill in some of the finer details.

So Dave has a Grade III Astrocytoma on the rear right hand side of the brain. It is/was roughly the size of the palm of your hand and was too deep to be operated on. He had a grading scan but it could not be used for diagnostic purposes so he had to have a biopsy to grade the tumour.

TBH it has all been a bit of a roller coaster!

The brain surgeon originally said he had 5 years. He is only 39. Then after there was no clear result from the first biopsy he said that maybe the scan was wrong and it was low-grade - so hopes were risen. After the second he confirmed out worst fears and told us it was high-grade after all....

Then we meet the oncologist. He is the strangest man I have ever met but is cutting edge.

He wanted to treat Dave aggressively to (and we could hardly believe what he was saying) maybe even cure him!

But after this initial treatment (Chemo & Radio) he is going to have a scan to confirm if it has been successful in reducing the tumour.

If so Dave is going to under go upto a years worth of Chemotherapy (1 week in 4)...

And thats where we are now.

AnneMarie (Mrs Dave ;o) )

The beginning

2011-01-24T15:49:16Z

Hello everyone.

I am just starting on this "Blog" journey and I don't even know if I am doing it right! (Probably not - appologies if I am wrong).

Back in August 2010 my husband (Dave) was diagnosed with a brian tumour. It was the day before we were due to go on our annual holiday with our 3 children (14, 9, 5).

On advice from our brain surgeon we went away but it was the longest 2 weeks of my life.

When we returned Dave had a biopsy (that didn't work) and then another one 2 weeks later that proved he had a Grade III tumour.

In later 2010 Dave started Chemo & Radio therapy and we are now waiting for a scan to confirm if it has helped.

So there we are. The most stressful 5 months of my life condensed into a few sentances.

Thank you for reading