brain tumour

Off to the next radiation treatment shortly. I've had a productive morning putting all of my appointments into the computer and letting my fingers go cold. It's somewhere between 0 and -6 today apparently. Cracking. Dutchcloggie bought me a nice blanket for Christmas (with sleeves - image search for 'Slanket' if you're interested) but I haven't managed to take it out of it's bag this morning.

Just had my first radiation treatment today. It took a while to check everything but in the end it was quick and painless. It will be quicker tomorrow. Odd having the nurses say "see you tomorrow" and I was like "oh yeah great" because I forgot it was the beginning of a six week slog. They're lovely people but I don't like being there.

I have my first treatment of radiotherapy today at 4:20pm. I have been waiting for this date for quite a while now and I just want it all to start properly. I've had all of the planning appointments and have had the mask made etc etc but have been waiting for today to come for about a month or so.

JD has, according to the Oncologist, a high likelihood of her tumour being a Grade II Astrocytoma. Inoperable because it has invaded the Corpus Callosum and there are signs of invasion of the Thalamus. This sounds really scary when they say words like 'invaded' and 'inoperable' but how bad is that really when it comes to daily life?

JD has been preparing for the radio therapy which will start on January 5th. On the 23rd of December, she's having her final planning appointment an then we are ready to go.

Hats aren't really an issue to me though I have a whole set of beautiful silk scarves and no idea how to tie them so they look cool like other cancer people. My hair is growing back after two surgeries and I have got rid of the awful 80s mullet effect left after the front half of my hair had been shaved.

Yesterday JD went to hospital to have her mask fitted for the Radiotherapy. Made her look a bit like Hannibal Lecter :-)

I took pictures, much to the amazement of the technicians. Well, I need to be able to explain to my family what is going on right?

HI i am reletively new to this fantastic site and thus far have not written my own blog but i have got to a stage where i am so scared. i have had MRI yesterday and travelling to Hobart 2morra to see ONC and Surg should find out if chemo is working or if i have to have another Craniotomy. Does anyone have any suggestions for how i can deal with my anxiety it is making me sick.

I have always liked "I Run for Life" by Melissa Etheridge. It is a song about her experiences after being diagnosed with breast cancer. The song has almost become a rallying cry for women around the world, giving them hope and a sense of community, to have a major singer singing about such an intimate experience is such an inspiring way.

So we went to see the Oncologist a few days ago. And the news wasn't as nice as we had hoped. JD is now having prolonged episodes of double vision, headaches and some dizziness. The doctor felt it was time to start treating the tumour. They prefer waiting with this as long as possible because radiotherapy might actually make a benign low-grade tumour turn in to a malignant high-grade one.