The New Year of 2019 started off for us with my Third Brain Surgery on Wednesday, January 9, 2019.
Here's the complete history of my journey with Glioblastoma Multiforme so far:
- Initial diagnosis and First Brain Surgery on Monday, November 14, 2016.
- Second Brain Surgery on Thursday, July 19, 2018.
- Third Brain Surgery on Wednesday, January 9, 2019.
Yes. I am a veteran Glioblastoma Patient, a Survivor, and a Thriver!
The third brush with an invasive surgical procedure went very smoothly for us. Our experiences and learnings through the three surgeries have helped us take out all of the unproductive hand-wringings, fears, and mental games leading up to the surgery, and deal with the situation just as it unfolds in front of us. Powerfully. With Choice.
We got to know of the need for surgery on Wednesday, November 28th, 2018 at our follow-up appointment with NeuroOncologist. The 2.5 cm tumor at that time grew to around 5cm by Late-December/Early-January. That necessitated a third brain surgery and, it was promptly scheduled for Wednesday, January 9th, 2019.
Everything went smoothly with the third craniotomy, and I was back home after two nights resting and recovering at the hospital. Very glad we have taken the dread and horror out of this and can treat it as a simple medical procedure - almost of the off-the-counter-nature. 😆
When I was recovering at the hospital on Thursday the day after the surgery, the attending nurse sprang a pleasant surprise on me by bringing up the topic of Genetically Engineered Bunnies. That is a reference to my previous blog-post - http://www.braincancerchronicle.com/2018/12/genetically-engineered-bunny-with-sleek.html
That was funny. And interesting that folks working on my care have read my blog.
One Key Lesson from my experiences so far for fellow GBM patients:
We missed out on the aggressive option after my second surgery and went with a maintenance treatment plan which proved to be totally useless. Now that we are back at the end of a full-resection, our plan is to start on the Standard of Care Treatments - Chemotherapy, Radiation Therapy, and Optune over the next few months to throw every available solution at the monstrous disease that Glioblastoma is.
This morning I was at able to attend the Sunday Morning Meditation and Reading Services at The Boulder County Meditation Circle, and participate in all of the activities with near-full energy. I think it is safe to say I am through with the lows of surgery and back to full health, ready to take on life!
An interesting occurrence during this period that amused me no-end is the total-disinterest my five-year-old daughter displayed all through the three days of my hospital stay. Steadfastly refusing to visit me at the hospital and keeping herself busy making plans for when her cousin visits her in the next few weeks, she made it really easy for us to go through a potential troubling time. 👶
Everything went smoothly with the third craniotomy, and I was back home after two nights resting and recovering at the hospital. Very glad we have taken the dread and horror out of this and can treat it as a simple medical procedure - almost of the off-the-counter-nature. 😆
When I was recovering at the hospital on Thursday the day after the surgery, the attending nurse sprang a pleasant surprise on me by bringing up the topic of Genetically Engineered Bunnies. That is a reference to my previous blog-post - http://www.braincancerchronicle.com/2018/12/genetically-engineered-bunny-with-sleek.html
That was funny. And interesting that folks working on my care have read my blog.
One Key Lesson from my experiences so far for fellow GBM patients:
When there is a new recurrence in a different area from the original site, it is best to treat it as another primary tumor and go through with the full SOC treatment cycle to better the odds.
We missed out on the aggressive option after my second surgery and went with a maintenance treatment plan which proved to be totally useless. Now that we are back at the end of a full-resection, our plan is to start on the Standard of Care Treatments - Chemotherapy, Radiation Therapy, and Optune over the next few months to throw every available solution at the monstrous disease that Glioblastoma is.
This morning I was at able to attend the Sunday Morning Meditation and Reading Services at The Boulder County Meditation Circle, and participate in all of the activities with near-full energy. I think it is safe to say I am through with the lows of surgery and back to full health, ready to take on life!
An interesting occurrence during this period that amused me no-end is the total-disinterest my five-year-old daughter displayed all through the three days of my hospital stay. Steadfastly refusing to visit me at the hospital and keeping herself busy making plans for when her cousin visits her in the next few weeks, she made it really easy for us to go through a potential troubling time. 👶
