I only became aware that something was seriously wrong when I suddenly found myself unable to safely drive one winters night in the Dark& Rain just as I was about to join the M25. Somehow I got home safely and even managed to park the car precisely in my Garage. 111 said I needed an Urgent CT scan which I had at local hospital the same evening and they immediately diagnosed a mass on the Brain and was told I could not drive again (which was in itself devastating for me as driving was my passion. I was referred to Kings in London and was booked in for brain surgery within 3 weeks. This went well and I was discharged after 2 or 3 nights with a massive scar held together with 50 staples. Healed up remarkably quick and removed by district nurse without drama. and it was confirmed that I had Glioblastoma Grade 4 which was bad news and I was told I had a likely future lifespan of 18 months to 3 Years and would need Radiotherapy combined with chemotherapy for 6 weeks 5 days a week. This was a very tiring time having to walk to a rail station and travel up to London and back again for 6 weeks. An MRI scan In August revealed the bad news that there was a tiny further growth that they wanted to remove. Only needed a small incision and told the further surgery was successful so happy to hear that. All seemed well until I got an infection which meant a blues & twos journey to Kings X followed by a 3 week stay having intravenous antibiotics daily. One thing I can recommend is the food at Kings.great choice and some meals were definitely restaurant quality.
I was advised I needed to change chemo to PCV which meant up to 6 cycles of 10 days (mostly taken at home. with 32 days off to recover from the after effects which are mainly cumulative tiredness and digestion upsets. I found the anti-sickness patch rather than tablets worked well but that I had to take movicol laxatives at the same time to prevent problems at the other end!
Just finished my 4th course of PCV and needed blood transfusion of Platelets due to low level discovered in my last blood test. Current plans are if next blood test OK I will have 5 cycle of PCV chemo followed by 2nd special MRI scan to ascertain whether any tumour progression. Happy to answer any questions fellow sufferers might have
