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Radiation for 70 yr old (glioblastomas grade 4)?
Good afternoon,
A friend of mine learned that her dad was diagnosed with glioblastomas (grade 4.) He is 70 years old. He did the surgery and the surgeon asked the family whether to proceed with the chemo and radiation.
At this moment, he can barely walk.
The radiation will be around 8 weeks and we were wondering what would be the benefit of it. Reading articles, it seems that for his age, the gain would be marginal and if it is to gain 3 months more but 2 of them (at the start) are lost in daily radiation at the hospital, is it worth it?
Also, we were wondering as one of the potential benefit would be an health improvement (after some potential difficult moment during the chemo) but we could not find whether or not it would be the case?
Finally, is there any benefit in doing only chemo (which consist in daily pills but can be done at home hence less demanding)?
Did anyone had this dilemma and what was their choice/guidance? Any (recent) article/research paper?
For me it seems the most important question instead of increasing the life expectancy, is the state he will be in during/after the treatment.
Thanks for reading and any help would be more than welcome in this difficult moment
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Would it possible to get the Harvard stem cell institute email address please.
Cheers Sheryl
My wife had surgury last March, which gave her some qulity time for 4 months after the recovery. We were planning our next rip when on a Friday when I started noticing signs. She passed way the following Thursday. One week later. We got lucky in that she had no pain, I can tell you more if you want.
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1 ReactionMy husband never really had pain at the end as long as he was lying in bed. He was bedridden the last six weeks he was alive. He would hurt when the nurses would bathe him and change him though. They sometimes sat him up in a wheel chair. He complained a lot about pain when he was sitting so they stopped doing that He had a friend who was a former nurse. She kept telling me that I needed to get him more therapy. I don’t see how therapy was going to stop the cancer from killing him. I was so amazed and shocked at some of the things people said to him near the end. His sister was telling him he was going to be all better soon as he lay in bed and could barely speak a few words and had not eaten in a week. He died four days later. I just found that to be very insensitive and rude.
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1 ReactionHello all,
Thank you for sharing your stories, I have grade 4 glioblastoma at 65 years old. I've completed radiation and chemo treatments. I also went through gamma knife radiation therapy. Now I am just going through the healing process and changing my diet somewhat to try to repair my body cells. It is a journey but I believe in God and his mission for me and keep my friends and family informed. God is good
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2 ReactionsIt sounds like you have tolerated all of the treatments very nicely, which is wonderful. Enjoy each and every day. God bless.
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2 ReactionsI am sorry to hear of her death. If you don’t mind when was your wife diagnosed with her tumour. I am interested to hear more with what sort of symptoms that she had before and after. My dad only has the left arm and his leg is not responding on his own if I ask him to use his left leg and arm, he can concentrate to use them. I would love to hear dads tumour was diagnosed the middle of this may, we thought it was Dimentia. As his short term memory was always not kept tract of it the tumour is on the right in the frontal lobe where the short term memory’s are.
I am a little bit hoping that dad does not have any pain he does not have any pain at present. He does not remember that he can not drive anymore, but he wants to try to drive the car to see if he can still drive it.
My dad 83 yr old, it was at the end of may that he was diagnosed with stage four, dad was sent to RPA TO HAVE the biopsy taken but they did another MRI and decided not to do the radiation as the tumour was growing so much ;_0op\compared to when they seen at first.HOPE YOU ARE doing well now .
Hi my mom is 71 and she was diagnosed with glioblastoma late March 2024, had surgery April 18. 4 weeks later she did a combo of radiation and chemo for 6 weeks. After that, within a month she began 12 months of a higher dose chemo (still pills she took at home). Up until November she was still managing daily tasks but slowly chemo had a cumulative effect and she has to help while walking, showering, going to bathroom. She started PT towards the end and sometimes thinks she should have started sooner so she didn’t lose what she had. She was super active before, 10k steps a day 15 floors. She has trouble finding words but sometimes she’s good. Let me be clear she has always been mentally aware and remembering things the rest of us don’t but there is a definite slow down and we are working on getting the mobility back. My step dad is really worn out as he is older than her so don’t be afraid to use home health if needed!! Laugh a lot. Try to carry on with normal things as much as possible. Mom finished the final chemo 8 weeks ago on July 4th. Next MRI in two weeks and so far it’s all been stable. We are at the 17 18 month mark so I’m hopeful. Rest is just as important as recovery and I will pray for your family and your dad. Best wishes.
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1 ReactionOh precious! I understand where you’re coming from. It’s a full time job caretaking and it’s your spouse. This is your life in this moment. I don’t know if you attended church but plugging in even on zoom these days, joining a Bible study and having people pray for you really brings me peace and they actually care. You may find people start visiting you and bringing delicious foods 😄