Terry called me this morning to tell me where this new tumor is located. She had called me Friday from her cell phone while I was at work and I got it wrong. It's not the stelium, it's the splenium! You know where that is, right? It's the back section of the corpus callosum, and it does look like a butterfly. Steve's small, 7 mm, tumor is located on the left lobe of the splenium, significantly far away from the first tumor. Steve's first, big tumor, was lower in the left parietal lobe near the speech area of the brain. This new one is up and to the right from there. What does a splenium do? What harm can it do to Steve? I've been trying to sort that out. As nearly as I can tell:
The diverse structural properties of the splenial fibers across brain areas suggest that they are involved in a variety of functions, while there are considerable variations between subjects, it implies a contribution of the splenium to plastic changes in the course of human development. One such function is figure-ground segregation, which refers to the ability of the visual system to segment images of the external world into objects and background.
Another source says, if you have a stroke which takes out the Whole splenium (a much bigger area than would affect Steve):
The resulting deficit will be pure alexia - i.e., the patient can write but cannot read (even what they have just written). Isn't that a crazy thought?
Last night, Steve took an anti-nausea pill 30 minutes before his 350mg Temodar chemotherapy pill, along with medicine for constipation prevention. So far he is feeling fine this morning. If we remember back to his prior experience with chemotherapy, usually the 3rd week was the worst out of every cycle when he had the most fatigue or nausea. We anticipate that will be the case this time, too.
Their dinner last night was wonderful and they said it was really great to see their friends.
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Tumor Recurrence
2014 started off well. Steve wasn't on any unusual medication. He went to work. He hung out with his wife and kids and worked around the house. He had an MRI at the end of January which was uneventful and had his routine blood work and doctor's appointments. His latest MRI was done yesterday, as usual every other month, followed by an appointment with his oncologist, Dr. Hu.
The news we feared was delivered by Dr. Hu. Steve has a recurrence of his glioblastoma tumor. It is 7 millimeters in diameter and located somewhere deep in the brain. Terry said she had the doctor spell the location and told me the left stelium. Unfortunately, I can't find out where that is. Terry described it as, if you picture a butterfly, the tumor is located where the spine of the butterfly would be. So, maybe that makes it somewhere along the corpus callosum? near the ventricles? I'm not sure. Anyway, there will be no surgery on this tumor. The plan is to radiate it with what is called a gamma knife.
From Wikipedia:
A Gamma Knife typically contains 201 cobalt-60 sources of approximately 30 curies (1.1 TBq), each placed in a circular array in a heavily shielded assembly. The device aims gamma radiation through a target point in the patient's brain. The patient wears a specialized helmet that is surgically fixed to the skull, so that the brain tumor remains stationary at the target point of the gamma rays. An ablative dose of radiation is thereby sent through the tumor in one treatment session, while surrounding brain tissues are relatively spared. The risks of gamma knife radiosurgery treatment are very low,[29] and complications are related to the condition being treated.
Steve is awaiting the date of his appointment to have this gamma knife radiation procedure. They expect it within the next week or two. In the meantime, Dr. Hu put Steve back on chemotherapy. Tonight he starts Temodar again, for the first time in five months. The dose will be higher, 350 mg, 5 days on, 23 days off, the same as before. They made sure he had his Zofran, anti-nausea medication ready to go, as well.
Right after the bombshell news of the new tumor happened, Steve had a work friend stop by at lunchtime without knowing about the new diagnosis. The distraction was welcome. Tonight they have good friends stopping by for dinner so they are cleaning house and cooking and looking forward to the visit. They like concentrating on their friends and family and not feeling ill.
I'll try to post current information to you on this blog when I get it. I had stopped posting last year because there wasn't anything special to say…. Steve was just living life everyday with the addition of some extra appointments which were going well. I didn't think just posting lab work was informative to most of you. Let's hope this tumor treatment goes quickly and smoothly so I run out of things to say again soon.
The news we feared was delivered by Dr. Hu. Steve has a recurrence of his glioblastoma tumor. It is 7 millimeters in diameter and located somewhere deep in the brain. Terry said she had the doctor spell the location and told me the left stelium. Unfortunately, I can't find out where that is. Terry described it as, if you picture a butterfly, the tumor is located where the spine of the butterfly would be. So, maybe that makes it somewhere along the corpus callosum? near the ventricles? I'm not sure. Anyway, there will be no surgery on this tumor. The plan is to radiate it with what is called a gamma knife.
From Wikipedia:
A Gamma Knife typically contains 201 cobalt-60 sources of approximately 30 curies (1.1 TBq), each placed in a circular array in a heavily shielded assembly. The device aims gamma radiation through a target point in the patient's brain. The patient wears a specialized helmet that is surgically fixed to the skull, so that the brain tumor remains stationary at the target point of the gamma rays. An ablative dose of radiation is thereby sent through the tumor in one treatment session, while surrounding brain tissues are relatively spared. The risks of gamma knife radiosurgery treatment are very low,[29] and complications are related to the condition being treated.
The Gamma Knife (also known as the Leksell Gamma Knife)
From the Cedars-Sinai website:
Radiation distorts the DNA in cancer cells. The cells then lose their ability to reproduce. Conventional radiotherapy usually involves the delivery of large volumes of radiation, which may affect normal brain tissue as well as cancer tissue. Gamma Knife technology allows radiation to only touch very small tumors or lesions deep within the brain, leaving healthy brain cells alone. This treatment is safe, accurate and effective. There is no “knife” in Gamma Knife: because no incisions are made, it avoids the risks and complications associated with traditional surgery. The treatment is performed in one day and usually does not require an overnight stay in the hospital.
Steve is awaiting the date of his appointment to have this gamma knife radiation procedure. They expect it within the next week or two. In the meantime, Dr. Hu put Steve back on chemotherapy. Tonight he starts Temodar again, for the first time in five months. The dose will be higher, 350 mg, 5 days on, 23 days off, the same as before. They made sure he had his Zofran, anti-nausea medication ready to go, as well.
Right after the bombshell news of the new tumor happened, Steve had a work friend stop by at lunchtime without knowing about the new diagnosis. The distraction was welcome. Tonight they have good friends stopping by for dinner so they are cleaning house and cooking and looking forward to the visit. They like concentrating on their friends and family and not feeling ill.
I'll try to post current information to you on this blog when I get it. I had stopped posting last year because there wasn't anything special to say…. Steve was just living life everyday with the addition of some extra appointments which were going well. I didn't think just posting lab work was informative to most of you. Let's hope this tumor treatment goes quickly and smoothly so I run out of things to say again soon.
A Good Year
Hi everyone!
It's been a while since I posted because there wasn't much news to report to you. Since I last posted a year ago, Steve has been doing quite well.
He continued his Temodar chemotherapy monthly with minimal side effects. April was his one year anniversary of taking monthly maintenance chemotherapy. He and Terry had a discussion with Dr. Hu and decided that, since Steve was doing well and his blood work looked good that they would continue at a lower dose of Temodar, just to provide some extra insurance against a recurrence. He had monthly blood draws, doctor's appointments and MRIs, all with good news afterwards. He was doing so well that, in October, Dr. Hu said he didn't need any more chemotherapy. Dr. Hu wanted to allow his body to fully recover it's strength and let his kidneys and blood work to get fully back to normal so he would be strong enough to fight the inevitable next tumor. October 2013 was his last Temodar dose. Then, blood work and routine appointments spread out from every month to every two months.
Throughout the year, he went to work and enjoyed his family. In July, the family traveled to Mendocino for my daughter's wedding. This is one of my favorite pictures of Steve and Terry.
It's been a while since I posted because there wasn't much news to report to you. Since I last posted a year ago, Steve has been doing quite well.
He continued his Temodar chemotherapy monthly with minimal side effects. April was his one year anniversary of taking monthly maintenance chemotherapy. He and Terry had a discussion with Dr. Hu and decided that, since Steve was doing well and his blood work looked good that they would continue at a lower dose of Temodar, just to provide some extra insurance against a recurrence. He had monthly blood draws, doctor's appointments and MRIs, all with good news afterwards. He was doing so well that, in October, Dr. Hu said he didn't need any more chemotherapy. Dr. Hu wanted to allow his body to fully recover it's strength and let his kidneys and blood work to get fully back to normal so he would be strong enough to fight the inevitable next tumor. October 2013 was his last Temodar dose. Then, blood work and routine appointments spread out from every month to every two months.
Throughout the year, he went to work and enjoyed his family. In July, the family traveled to Mendocino for my daughter's wedding. This is one of my favorite pictures of Steve and Terry.
This is the Ravenscroft siblings, Greg, Lisa, Lesley and Steve at Katie and Nick's wedding.
Christmas was at Steve and Terry's home. They have been redecorating and fixing up the house and it was nice to see the improvements. We had a lots of busy fun with everyone around. Steve was healthy and kept busy with all of the activity.
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