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| Tumor w/ Surrounding "Bad Stuff" in active tissue |
(translated from Medical to English)
Malignant.
Grade 4 (worst)
The surgeon got the main tumor out.
But it's guaranteed to have a splatter effect of Bad Stuff mixed in surrounding brain tissue.
Aggressive radiation/chemo (6wks/6months respectively) will maybe beat it back.
Then, ongoing maintenance of MRI scans every couple months, and chemo when more tumors appear, for life.
I guess that's not as bad as the old school movie "Go home and die" answer, but I think these days it's about as bad as it gets folks...
On the other hand, the oncologist said that the odds of hearing benign were in the realm of "case study in a journal". I do wish they had just told me that weeks ago. I've been living with a false hope of hearing "benign" and on the hook of not knowing for weeks... Oh well.
I'm staying as positive as I can, but I'm in for a rough ride, and that's the breaks.
Thanks for all your prayers, support, and donations.
I'll try to post more on Friday 9/10. Tomorrow 9/9 is a CT scan with some kind of plastic fencing mask to map where the tumor used to be married with the old MRIs to program the linear accelerator for the radiation treatment. Or, at least, that's my layman's understanding of what the doctor said...
I think I get my staples out of my scalp tomorrow too. That's good, as the changing Autumn weather is making them hot/cold expand/contract in an annoying way. That probably sounds silly/petty in the grand scheme of things, but there it is.
Anyway, expect silence Thursday 9/9 from me, almost for sure. I don't think they let me use my laptop from inside a CT scanner :-)
I also want to thank my employer, Rasmussen who have bent over backwards throughout this ordeal to keep me "employed" and "current" in insurance coverage. I don't know what I'd do without them. If you are looking for a good place to work in the online education industry, check out the openings and tell them I sent you:
Rasmussen Employment Opportunities
They've done right by me, that's for sure!
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5 comments:
Wow, I wish I knew what to say.
I told my kids when they were really young that laughter made you live longer. They've spent their entire lives making me laugh for that very reason. They're now convinced that I will live forever.
If it's true, I know that you will have a long, long life. Keep smiling. (I'm trying to think of a good brain tumor joke to close with, but I'm stumped. . . )
Well...crap! All I can say is that I like your employer too. What a brave guy you are, Richard. Love you VERY MUCH!!!!!!!
Thanks to all of you for your prayers, good wishes and especially donations. He would never have asked for donations on his own. The donations all started because readers of the blog who did not even know my brother offered to donate to help him out. How awesome is that!!!!
Mary Lynch - Richard's sister
Richard,
I will have some time off of school on Fridays. Let me know if you have errands to run, or need to be driven somewhere.
Jeff Oliver
An elderly couple are watching the news because they are too lazy to change the channel after the Matlock rerun is over. The weatherman comes on and says, "our storms will continue tomorrow and Friday, but then it will be clear and sunny. The husband, waking up from his doze, says to his wife, "what'd he say?" She says, "It will storm until Saturday." He's hard of hearing, so he says, "What'd you say?" With growing exasperation, she says, "It will keep up until Saturday!" "What about the day?" Recognizing that for the umpteenth time, she's provided too many syllables for him to understand, she screams at the top of her lungs:
"RAIN!"
"TWO!"
"MORE!"
OK, that was way too long a journey for a really weak pun. Sorry - I just took Mindy's post as a challenge.
I am really sorry to hear your news. It especially sucks that you were misled as to the probabilities. Before I was diagnosed with MS, they told me there was a chance I was having mini-strokes. I spent 6 months on rat poison (oh, I mean blood thinners), scared to death of cuts and scrapes, before they confirmed that it was MS after all. Afterward, they told me that there was almost no chance it was anything but MS, but since they had no real treatment for MS at the time, they decided to try treating something they could treat. I was pi**ed. So, you aren't the only one who doesn't get the straight story from the doctors. :-(
Anyway, I am praying for you every day. God bless you.
Jim.
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