Brain Tumors
Yes, it just keeps getting better . . .
This is Donna again. Last Friday, March 16, I took Calvin to the Mission Outpatient Infusion Center again for 2 more units of blood. Allison came soon afterwards and stayed when I had to leave to go to work. Allison drove Calvin home when he was finished. Later that evening, at 6PM, Allison took Calvin to Asheville Radiation where he had an MRI done of his brain. Calvin called me at work at little after 8Pm to tell me that he has 2 brain tumors. But the good news is that they are treatable. They were caught early and are not very large. That explains why he has a hard time comprehending anything he reads, why his attention span is too short to watch and enjoy movies, why he stumbles and has fallen a few times, and why he is so confused and in a daze most of the time.
Monday I took him to Cancer Care for another CBC (his hemoglobin was still low at 9.0 even after receiving 4 units of blood the previous week), and he got his Procrit injection. Then we headed over to Mountain Radiation/Oncology at Mission Hospital (the same place he received the 30 radiation treatments to his prostate last summer). They did all the preliminary work to get him ready to begin radiation of his brain. Small cell cancer does not like radiation and usually responds quickly. He will receive 14 radiation treatments to his brain. Even though his entire brain will receive the radiation, they tell me that there are no bad side effects and will not harm his brain. It will only shrink the cancer. There may be some long term affects which could show up 6 months to a year after the treatments stop, and that would be that short term memory could be compromised. But without the radiation, the small cell cancer would continue to rapidly grow and spread throughout his brain.
Tuesday was Calvin's first radiation treatment. He gets a 30-second blast of radiation to one half of his brain, then it is repeated on the other half. We are in and out quickly.
Today, Wednesday, March 21, was Calvin's CT Scan at Cancer Care He had to drink 2 bottles of contrast, one right after the other over a 2-hour period, finishing up by his 11:45am appointment time. After the CT Scan it was another CBC and urinalysis. We later received a phone call that his CBC results were stable. The remaining test results would take longer and we will be called with them.
Thursday & Friday will be radiation again at 4:30pm both days. Then on Monday we will meet with Dr. Chay at Cancer Care to get the CT Scan report and talk about resuming chemo.
This is Donna again. Last Friday, March 16, I took Calvin to the Mission Outpatient Infusion Center again for 2 more units of blood. Allison came soon afterwards and stayed when I had to leave to go to work. Allison drove Calvin home when he was finished. Later that evening, at 6PM, Allison took Calvin to Asheville Radiation where he had an MRI done of his brain. Calvin called me at work at little after 8Pm to tell me that he has 2 brain tumors. But the good news is that they are treatable. They were caught early and are not very large. That explains why he has a hard time comprehending anything he reads, why his attention span is too short to watch and enjoy movies, why he stumbles and has fallen a few times, and why he is so confused and in a daze most of the time.
Monday I took him to Cancer Care for another CBC (his hemoglobin was still low at 9.0 even after receiving 4 units of blood the previous week), and he got his Procrit injection. Then we headed over to Mountain Radiation/Oncology at Mission Hospital (the same place he received the 30 radiation treatments to his prostate last summer). They did all the preliminary work to get him ready to begin radiation of his brain. Small cell cancer does not like radiation and usually responds quickly. He will receive 14 radiation treatments to his brain. Even though his entire brain will receive the radiation, they tell me that there are no bad side effects and will not harm his brain. It will only shrink the cancer. There may be some long term affects which could show up 6 months to a year after the treatments stop, and that would be that short term memory could be compromised. But without the radiation, the small cell cancer would continue to rapidly grow and spread throughout his brain.
Tuesday was Calvin's first radiation treatment. He gets a 30-second blast of radiation to one half of his brain, then it is repeated on the other half. We are in and out quickly.
Today, Wednesday, March 21, was Calvin's CT Scan at Cancer Care He had to drink 2 bottles of contrast, one right after the other over a 2-hour period, finishing up by his 11:45am appointment time. After the CT Scan it was another CBC and urinalysis. We later received a phone call that his CBC results were stable. The remaining test results would take longer and we will be called with them.
Thursday & Friday will be radiation again at 4:30pm both days. Then on Monday we will meet with Dr. Chay at Cancer Care to get the CT Scan report and talk about resuming chemo.
posted by Calvin | 9:32 PM
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