Radiation is complete!

Radiation was *supposed* to be over last Friday, but due to an problem with the machine it was pushed back a few days. So yesterday was the final day of radiation. Mom will go back for a cat scan in June to see how the radiation has helped. As a side effect of the radiation mom began to loser her hair, so she decided to shave it all off.. so don't be surprised when you see her :)

Thanks again so much to everyone for helping out with rides to and from radiation and other errands. I will be coming home sometime in mid-June for about 4 weeks so hopefully I'll be of some help then.

Tomorrow mom has an appointment with a pulmonary specialist to discuss the abnormality found in the chest area on the PET scan, and to schedule a bronchioscopy. Will let you know of any more information when I have it.

Newest info, and calendar update

First and foremost it turns out that there are only 10 radiation treatments, not 14 so the last treatment will be this Friday.

Monday mom and George went to the oncologist to discuss the PET scan and the progress she's made. I'll quote from George:

We went to the Oncologist today for the results of the PET Scan. He cannot definitively say that the abnormality is a cancer tumor. Dr. Ostrovsky has asked for a bronchioscopy to be done. We have an appointment with a pulmonary specilaist on Thursday after which the oricedure wil be scheduled. It is not a dangerous procedure and is done on an outpatient basis. Dr. Ostrovsky expressed that he is not at all sure if the growth in her lung is cancer, so there is still doubt that that is what it is.

June 3rd she'll go back for another CAT scan to see how the radiation has helped (hopefully), as it generally takes 6 weeks to see results. She will also be having a biopsy of some spots on her skin just to make sure that there is no cancer there as well. Over the next couple weeks, she will be slowly reducing her steroid medication (which controls the swelling in her brain).

One more quote from George on her progress:

I beleive that your Mom's headaches have been reduced in severity and incidence and she seems more awake and responsive, so we hope that
the radiation has stopped the growth and reduced some of the pressure in her brain.

Thanks again so much to everyone for their helpfulness, love and support :)

First week of radiation is complete!

After finishing five full days of radiation, things seem to be going well. Tomorrow mom will be going to see her main oncologist, Dr. Ostrovsky to discuss the PET scan results and progress of the radiation.

The good news is the radiation treatments are quick and painless, but unfortunately mom has begun to lose some of her hair from the treatments. She's planning on a getting a short cut to make it easier to maintain as she continues to lose hair throughout the remaining 9 treatments. Thanks so much to Mary for taking her to 4 of the 5 treatments, and to everyone else for signing up on the calendar to help out over the upcoming two weeks.

Mom is also trying to maintain a nutritious diet full of protein and fruits and veggies, which is a huge step away from her normal diet of Hershey bars and hoho's :) but I step in the right direction. Every time I've spoken with her she seems in good spirits and completely lucid which is also great.

Hopefully I'll have some more info tomorrow after the Dr's appointment so check back for the latest :)

PET scan results

On Wednesday the 9th mom had a PET scan to make absolutely sure there was no other cancer in her body besides the brain. Mom and George picked up the results, but they have not yet been explained by the doctor. There was one finding besides the brain, explained as:

Findings: Within the thorax, there is a 2.5 cm FDG avid hypermetabolic focus seen the left hilar region. This appears to represent a metastatic lymph node. No other FDG avid lesions are seen within the thorax, neck, abdomen, or pelvis.

I have no idea if this means if it is cancerous or some other anomaly, but will be sure to let you know when we have further information on it.

Everything else looked clean, as explained here:

Normal cardiac, hepatic, splenic, urinary tract, bowel and bone marrow activity is seen. Incidental CT findings include evidence of a previous right parietal craniotomy and right atrial and right ventricular pacemaker leads inserted via the left subclavian vein.

Lotsa Helping Hands

LotsaHelpingHands is a great tool offered by livestrong.org that allows me to create a network of friends that are able to help with various tasks related to treatment. If you'd like to sign up to view the calendar and help out go HERE.

Mom will be having fourteen radiation treatments over the next few weeks and will be needing rides to and from the hospital for these, so check out the calendar for more info on dates and times when we may need some help. Thanks so very much :)

First Post

This blog will serve as way to share the latest info for my mom Donna as she begins treatment for brain cancer.

To get started here's a quick background I stole from my own blog post:

I'm not sure there are any scarier words you can hear than 'brain cancer'. My mom went to see her doctor for blurry vision, and he recommended a CAT scan. With the results showing numerous lesions in her brain, she had a biopsy that confirmed cancer. I really couldn't have been more shocked, and got the first flight I could back home to Pennsylvania.

After spending a week at home with my family I have many more answers. It turns out my mom has aednocarcinoma, which is a cancer that is usually found in the lungs that would then metastasize to the brain. After multiple full body CAT scans, there is no sign of cancer anywhere else in her body including the lungs (thank God), but makes for a very unusual case.

Of course the control freak that I am :) I stayed to visit with the oncologist to make sure he got my seal of approval, and researched her other doctors to make sure they were the best in their field.

Her oncologist believes this may have started as long ago as 4 years, which means the cancer is slow growing (a good thing!!) and not very aggressive (another good thing). Because of the way the cancer formed, she is stage 4 (not such a good thing). She will begin radiation as soon as possible, and after seeing how the cancer reacts to this the doctors will make further decisions. Chemotherapy is not an option for her type of cancer because of a barrier between the brain and the rest of the blood system.

I'll update with any new information as I have any. Also be sure to check out her LotsaHelpingHands calendar to see if you can help with car rides to and from treatment, I know we all appreciate any help you can give! If you want to sign up for notifications when the calendar is updated, email me at ashley@ashleybartoletti.com -- Thanks in advance.