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Brain Mets Sisters

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Comments

  • apple
    apple Member Posts: 1,466
    edited December 2012

    hi all.. I am really not doing very well.  I can hardly stand without wobbling.  i walk like a little old lady and simply wait for mylegs to work.  I can't get in and out of the car without my dear husband. Everyone is doing my work for me. i love it.  i need to rest rest rest.  i guess is it is the brain mets mixed with radiation.. another week or two to go.  wish i had better news.  i quit my Sunday job.. travelling down to Baldwin, even with my chaffeur was a bit too much.  i can clean the kitchen and cook, but more often than not, just wait for someone else to do it.

  • HLB
    HLB Member Posts: 740
    edited December 2012

    Very sorry to hear you're not doing well, Apple. Take advantage of your dear family and rest. XO

  • LuvRVing
    LuvRVing Member Posts: 2,409
    edited December 2012

    Oh Apple, I am so hopeful that radiation works and knocks out the brain mets.  Sending hope and love to you and your family.

  • cheryl1946
    cheryl1946 Member Posts: 62
    edited December 2012

    Oh Apple, I'm so sorry you're not feeling well.

    Just rest a lot and try to get your strength back.

  • JillThut
    JillThut Member Posts: 97
    edited December 2012

    Thanks you so much for checking in, Apple. I am grateful you have all that supportive help around you. Let them do it. Save your health and strength for what is most important to you. Take care of yourself.

  • K-Lo
    K-Lo Member Posts: 826
    edited December 2012

    Wow, Apple, thank you for touching base with us.  I am hopeful that you will bounce back as you did from WBR before.  But its not fair that you have these really bad times.   Rest because everyone who knows you wants to know you as long as possible.......

  • EnglishMajor
    EnglishMajor Member Posts: 122
    edited December 2012

    Hi Apple, we have missed your sassy self here. Sorry to hear of your latest developments. Take care.

  • alesta29
    alesta29 Member Posts: 240
    edited December 2012

    Hey Apple - missed you too! Hope you feel perkier over the holidays lx

  • JillThut
    JillThut Member Posts: 97
    edited December 2012

    Hey Alesta, Thanks for checking in too.

  • Frapp
    Frapp Member Posts: 343
    edited December 2012

    Thanks for checking in apple. WBR worked before just have yo wait and let it do its thing again. Can't wait til your back to your sassy self. May your holidays be filled with laughter.

  • alesta29
    alesta29 Member Posts: 240
    edited December 2012

    Update on Melissa (Tillycat)



    Not doing well at the mo. Finished 'conventional treatment' and recently back from clinic in Germany where she had some blood taken and given vaccine with this, alongside other treatments. Feeling very tired. Family want her to go back to clinic but she has mixed feelings as she feels so unwell and liver has been failing. (Brain mets ok) Huband and kids (25/13/11) devastated and want her to fight on. Such a difficult decision. Positive thoughts gratefully appreciated



    Lx



    Ps anyone heard from Barbara? (Banjobanjo) pm'd her. Hoping she's off on holiday somewhere!

  • K-Lo
    K-Lo Member Posts: 826
    edited December 2012

    Oh, Lx, this is so awful for you and kids.  As the BC "owners" we learn to cope over time, we know every day is a gift.  But its the people who love us and feel helpless we worry about.  I tell my DH  to let me know that its Okay if I have to go and make him promise to be happy.   I say, do the things you really want to do and thibk, "Kathy (me) would really be happy to know that I am living life to the fullest"

    Hugs and love

  • floogendad
    floogendad Member Posts: 3
    edited December 2012

    Hi all, I have been over in the caregivers forum and was hoping maybe someone here could shed some light onto craniotomies.  DW had GammaKnife back in April (for 10 spots), then WBR in August (when she was supposed to have GK round 2 but they found 41 total metastases) and now with only one lesion currently left (already been GK'd) they have recommended a craniotomy.  She will be quitting her job prior to the procedure but I think her worry is that she won't wake up.  I tell her it is no riskier than any other surgery...any votes of confidence on that one?  I appreciate any who can shed light on the procedure.

    Bryan

  • JillThut
    JillThut Member Posts: 97
    edited December 2012

    Oh so sorry for her fears..and yours. Unfortunately not at all familiar. Perhaps someone with experience will give you some input.

  • EnglishMajor
    EnglishMajor Member Posts: 122
    edited December 2012

    http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/8/topic/777581?page=1#idx_3

    Above is thread on that. (Sorry, no insight here.)

    BCBrainmets offers a lof of info: http://www.brainmetsbc.org/index.php?q=content/current-treatments-brain-metastases#BS

    Hope it helps!

  • K-Lo
    K-Lo Member Posts: 826
    edited December 2012

    For SusieMTN, here is an ongoing thread.   One rarely wants to read an entire thread like this, but you might see some similar situations......

  • DolphinSheri
    DolphinSheri Member Posts: 2
    edited December 2012

    Hi floogendad. I understand your wife's fears. I had a craniotomy in May, and even though the surgeon had assured me that the procedure was not particularly risky, it was scary to think about and the night before my surgery I wrote a letter to my 15-yr-old daughter entitled "If I should die before I wake." Obviously, my surgery went well, and my husband did not have to deliver my letter to my daughter. Frankly I was surprised at how easy the surgery itself was. Some pain, but not intense. I was smiling and talking immediately after surgery and was delighted that I recognized my husband, friend, and pastor, and could address them by name. (Just the week before, I had driven to the ER when I was suddenly unable to read, and was unable to remember my own name. It was then that scans in the hospital revealed the cancer in my brain.) I left the hospital just 4 days after my surgery.

    What surprised me was how slow recovery has been. It takes a long time for the brain to knit itself back together. Relearning how to read, write, and speak has been slow. The first few weeks I had a goofy child-like smile and laugh that was not my own. It was like you see in those with brain injuries. I am much better now, but it was a long road.

    I found the links that EnglishMajor posted above to be very informative, detailed, and helpful, and I am sure that they will be helpful as you and your wife contemplate the craniotomy.

  • apple
    apple Member Posts: 1,466
    edited December 2012

    well, i have to go to the store for food coloring and butter and sugar..

  • Frapp
    Frapp Member Posts: 343
    edited December 2012

    GREAT to hear from you Apple!!!!!

  • floogendad
    floogendad Member Posts: 3
    edited December 2012

    DolphinSherri,

    Thank you so much for the information.  I did check out the links as well.  I think for us it is just dealing with the repetitive iterations of brain stuff and the fact she knows she finally hsa to stop working (by choice which isnt so bad we have decided).  We just keep chugging along..but again thank you very much

    Bryan

  • EnglishMajor
    EnglishMajor Member Posts: 122
    edited December 2012

    This Canadian blogger has been sharing her experiences: http://notjustaboutcancer.blogspot.com/2012/11/fun-facts-about-lauries-brain-surgery.html

  • K-Lo
    K-Lo Member Posts: 826
    edited December 2012

    S**t, EngMaj, I saw your id on this thread and got ascared!

    Apple, Im gonna use premade pie crusts for cookies.  So lazy

  • SusieMTN
    SusieMTN Member Posts: 43
    edited December 2012

    Thanks K-lo I am here now and reading a bit.  Want to come back and read more later.

    Hello other ladies sadly I am joining your group! I am newly diagnosed with very small BRAIN METS (for those who didn't see my other post) I have 4 total and they range in size 2 mm, with 2 at 3 mm and one is 6mm.  All really small.

    I am currently on Navelbine (and have METS in bones, lungs, liver and now brain) I will be on Navelbine the next two weeks and will stop that while I am on Radiation (IF MEMORY SERVES).  BRAIN METS are going to be treated with SRS.  I am due to start in Jan, planning first and then will ACTUALLY start SRS in the second week. 

    Susie

  • dearjilly
    dearjilly Member Posts: 73
    edited December 2012

    SusieMTN:

    Welcome to the group that nobody wants to be apart of.  I too was diagnosed recently with brain mets(well brain met). 

    I find this thread so great for us girls. 

    To all my sisters: 

    I wanted to wish everyone a happy holiday and new year.  May this festive season treat you well and I wish you all great strength and much love.

    All my love, Jill

  • jcb51
    jcb51 Member Posts: 31
    edited December 2012

    I'm very sorry to hear you're not doing well, apple. I've missed your posts and wondered how you were doing. I hope things get better for you soon. Hope you feel well enough to enjoy Christmas with your family.

    Jan

  • LuvRVing
    LuvRVing Member Posts: 2,409
    edited December 2012

    Merry Christmas everyone!

  • K-Lo
    K-Lo Member Posts: 826
    edited December 2012

           Apple shall bounce back.....               image alt="" name="V08YwdManY0AGM:" />

  • JillThut
    JillThut Member Posts: 97
    edited December 2012

    Nice picture, K-Lo. Made me smile. Reminds me of Apple..for obvious reasons, of course. But I picture her as wholesome as American apple pie in many ways...great mom...church pianist...music teacher...avid gardener and cook! And yet very real and down to earth as evidenced in her sense of humor and her interesting past in places like Yugoslavia...not to mention her ability to dance gangnam style with her comic second son! :). Hope you had a great holiday, Apple.

  • HLB
    HLB Member Posts: 740
    edited January 2013

    I just saw the most recent post about Tillycat. Praying for her and hope she was able to have a nice Christmas. I've been wondering how she's been.

  • Tiger_Blood
    Tiger_Blood Member Posts: 83
    edited January 2013

    Just had my brain scan and all are stable. I hate those little stinkers.

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