Hi all,
My father-in-law was diagnosed with GBM end of December after a major stroke on Christmas Day caused by the tumour. He only started showing symptoms the day before when he started forgetting words and couldn’t write. He seemed so well and it came as a huge shock. He was in Norway at the time and has never returned to the UK so all his treatment will be there. They were in the process of returning to retire in Norway. The family are struggling and I am the only one who has completed much research although the oncologist give the usual 12-15month diagnosis and although he was never told this timeframe he is determined to fight it. He has recovered brilliantly physically from the stroke but still has language difficulties, aside from that he appears very well.
Its been 5 months since debulking, they say they got as much as they can with the pink drink. He has had radiation’s and chemo. Today we had his first scan results since diagnosis and although the original tumour is stable. They have found a second growth. They will continue chemo but are talking about Gamma surgery to remove new chemo. Has anyone else had this or are aware of it. I can’t find anything in search groups.
The new tumour is 2cm, is this a fast growth in 5 months? We are wondering if we should cancel all holidays booked this summer and go out to Norway for the whole summer? My partner is due to go away for 2 weeks work in SA, should this be cancelled?
This group has been so informative,
thank you.
Hi and welcome to the online community
I'm very sorry to hear that your father-in-law has been diagnosed with GBM. It must have been a huge shock to you all and it can't be easy with him in Norway and the rest of the family in the UK.
I don't have the experience you're looking for but I noticed that your post had gone unanswered. I tried putting both stereotactic radiotherapy and Gamma Knife into the search facility in this group but only very old posts came up. I don't know if you've tried searching in the main brain tumours group.
I've had a look on the Macmillan site and found this about Gamma Knife surgery for you. I know it's not the same as reading about someone's first hand experience but at least it will give you some information.
As for whether you should cancel holidays and work commitments I think that would be very hard for anyone here to be able to answer. The best people to give you this advice would be your father-in-law's hospital team. In the UK he would be assigned a cancer nurse specialist (CNS) who would be your point of contact for these sorts of questions. Do they have a similar system in Norway?
Wishing you all the best
x
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
