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Non Operable Glioblastoma 4: Tips for chemotherapy and radiotherapy?
Brain Tumor | Last Active: 6 hours ago | Replies (21)Comment receiving replies
My wife was just diagnosed with an inoperable high grade tumor that is most likely a glioblastoma. She is scheduled to start Monday morning on TMZ (Temozolomide) and Radiation. Some of the genetic markers are not yet available but she is experiencing rapid cognitive decline and having difficulty with speech and mobility. We made the decision to start traditional therapy now rather than wait for another week or two for investigational therapy she may or may not qualify for. We will probably still keep an appointment with a neuro-oncologist at a University Cancer Center 2 hours drive away. The University is out of network for our insurance so don’t know how that would work financially even if she did qualify for a study. Fortunately our Oncologists collaborate with the docs at the University so I feel we are getting top notch care.
Replies to "My wife was just diagnosed with an inoperable high grade tumor that is most likely a..."
My wife had glioblastoma on the left side of her brain. TMZ and radiation contained the cancer in the original locations.
She had radiation treatment every day for 2 weeks and three cycles of TMZ treatment, then three maintenance treatments of TMZ.
After about 11 months, the cancer appeared on the right side of her brain, and neither the TMZ nor radiation treatments had any impact on the cancer's growth.
She fought a brave fight against the cancer for 17 months, but it is truly not treatable.
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I am sorry to read about your wife’s diagnosis. My husband had two GBM tumors. He was diagnosed in April of 2022. They did not remove either tumor because they said they would just grow back and they wouldn’t be able to get all of the tumors anyway. We did the TMZ and radiation. He did not have the “good” genetic markers so the TMZ didn’t help. The radiation made him much worse very quickly and we only were able to do about 9 of the 30 treatments. I don’t mean to be a downer but I just wanted to let you know what might happen. The doctors never told us much about what to expect and I was never able to find others going through the same thing to ask them about what to expect. It was all new to both of us and we had virtually no support. My best advice is to never argue anymore and just enjoy what time you have left with her. That could be a few months or a few years. Just enjoy it as much as possible. Some GBM patients are doing better with newer treatments these days that we didn’t have when he was diagnosed. My husband only lasted three months. While it was not fun watching his decline, it was my honor to take care of him in his time of need. I was with him for better or worse and I weathered the “worse” at the end and did my best to comfort him. I wish you both the best.