Surgery was not an option because the tumor crossed over. So I finally got approved after a 3rd appeal process with my insurance company for the proton treatments and temador chemo pills together for 6 weeks. I am ready to get this started the waiting has been the hardest part. I have to say I have the best support system ever in Mayo, family, friends, neighbors, work, etc. Even in our current state of events.

Hi @nelliegraywar, for my part, I was diagnosed with Glioblastoma multiform 4 (GBM) in the fall of 2018 and have been on Intra-Arterial chemotherapy (a special treatment directed directly into the brain by the carotid artery) from December 2018 to February 2020. We have just stopped chemotherapy because results are mixed. It does not seem to shrink the tumor. But it didn't put on weight either, which is extraordinary when you consider that my prognosis was, according to my doctor, less than a year.

The tumor is deep, in the center of the brain, in a sensitive area (above the hippocampus). It is not operable and cannot be irradiated by radiotherapy.

I first had chemo at Carboplatin which I endured best. I managed to live fairly normally. Last summer we then changed the poison to Melphalan and then Methotrexate which was very difficult. My tumor is typical. We advance in small steps, we observe the MRI and we adjust. Since I had been in chemo for more than a year, the results were average and my general health was deteriorating, we decided to stop the treatments and see how the tumor would react. Once again, we are advancing slowly and adjusting.

You know that the "chemo-drug" (which I call the poison!) Is used to kill the tumor but, as it travels in the blood, it also destroys the cells of other organs, particularly the rapidly reproducing cells (blood cells, intestine cells ...). We must therefore assess the benefit / cost ratio in our choices. For my part, the chemo started to damage me more and more for very little result.

Now let's see how the rest of my tumor reacts without treatment. I hope that it will not move. I try to convince myself that it will be fine, that if I leave it alone, it will leave me alone in return. After all, it is an atypical tumor. I imagine that it will give me several years to enjoy my life and spend time with my family, why not?