Just a Bump in the Road

When I first started my infusions about a year ago, a port was brought up. I knew I'd be receiving infusions for a couple of years, and so a port seemed like a viable option. For whatever reason, though, I just didn't want one. I guess it seemed to "brand" me as a cancer patient and I wasn't ready to accept that. Besides, I hadn't had any issues with IV's up to that point and it just seemed easier to me to get stabbed every time I went in. And so, I decided to not have a port put in. Fast forward a year to a few weeks ago... In the beginning, my IV's went really well. But for a while now, they've been rather annoying. There have been several times that three and four attempts at an IV has been needed. There have also been times when the IV that was placed was painful, including the last time that I had one. This last time, every time a flush was performed, it stung. Also, my IV's have been leaving bruises for weeks. In addition to these iss

This past week was a big week with a couple of visits, some new scans, and another infusion. The fallout of this last bit of radiation on my brain tumor has been quite the adventure! I haven't ever experienced something quite like this and Kim and I have sure enjoyed the unknown! Three ER trips has kept us on our toes and anxious for some sort of concrete direction on what needs to happen. On June 4th, I was able to get another brain MRI done to see where things were at with the irradiated tumor. As I mentioned in my last post, there was a fair amount of swelling around the tumor, but no new tumors and no growth of the other tumors. The belief, with regard to the irradiated tumor, is that the swelling and growth is strictly due to the tumor responding to treatment. On Tuesday, June 9th, I was able to meet with Dr. Jensen, the neurosurgeon at Huntsman, to discuss the results and to formulate a plan moving forward. He showed us some images of the scans. Here are the images:

Here's a bit of a recap... On April 2nd, I had a small tumor, that had grown in size over the course of two consecutive MRI's, irradiated. I didn't experience any issues following the treatment until April 20th. On April 20th, I experienced several small seizures that resulted in a major seizure shortly after arriving at the ER. I was then transferred to Huntsman Cancer Institute for testing and monitoring. It was determined that the tumor was likely the c ause of the seizure. Typically, tumors will swell after being irradiated as part of the dying off process. I was placed on steroids and anti seizure meds. On May 11th, a few days after getting off of the steroid, I was readmitted to the ER after struggling a few days with headaches, fever, nausea, etc. No seizures, but back on the steroid for two weeks. Now for the update... On Wednesday, May 27th, I finished up my steroids again. We wondered what would happen. Like clockwork, on Friday, I was exhaus