My pesky brain mets

[Ali b]

Hello all!
Resurfacing after months of mess.
On first day of WBR my mother accidently drove me into a wall at 60mph,Mum broke her sternum,I had serious abdo injuries,was in hospital for ages[hateful,was taken to rads daily in my bed]surgeon told me I almost died[great!]
Adhesions from surgery caused me to lose 28lbs of steriod weight HOORAY!
a CT of my head was taken on 2nd Dec,investigating my vomiting[turned out to be abdo surg]showed that the two bigger tumours had shrunk "a bit"5 small ones were "gone" and several "sparklies"had appeared[new tumours they said]everything is in parietal and occipital regions.Onc tells me original mets only there for 3 months he reckons.
He seems v gloomy abt my prognosis,hoping to keep me going "till Spring anyway"
Yesterday I got back in my car first time and drove to pool,toiled to do 1000 metres but managed.
Onc says no more WBR but said maybe gammaknife at somepoint[he said I couldn't have that at first,too many tumours]
I did my swim,I'll try to attach my latest article to this,I wrote one re my brain mets and another article named "Holy Smoke"is about me too,fame!
Thankyou for responding to Ally[the other one]when she came here seeking help for me recently.
love Ali xxxxxxx
http://www.hoolet.org.uk/43hoolet/tide.htm

[StephN]

Dear Ali -
Glad to hear from you again as I enjoyed your articles in your previous posts. (I was a champion swimmer in Jr. High and High School [still have my shoebox of medals and ribbons], but no open water swimming except for recreation in lakes and the mighty Columbia and Snake River shores here in eastern Washington State.)
So hard to hear of your brain mets again from someone with so much spirit and life force. At the outset my brain mets seem pretty easy to deal with, but these things can take many twists and turns, and I am not going into that at this point with my family and friends. One step at a time.

Wish I had some kind of new protocol to offer for your situation.
Why do they want to wait to do Gamma Knife? To see if a few more pop up and then you have too many?? This is not the logic I have been hearing from my doctors in my case during this week of intense consultations.
If you can now swim 1000 meters (the fact that this is well over a 1/2 mile is not lost on me), then you should be strong enough after your last mishap with the docs house for the radiosurgery. I just hope they have the latest helmet and contrast solutions for the best look at all the little devils.
Press on with the Gamma Knife as you do with the swimming!

[dee]

Yowsers, you are one strong lass !!!! Please hang it there! I am rooting for you.

[Lolly]

Ali, how great to hear from you again! WOW, you've been through a lot. I can't help but think you're going to surprise the heck out of your Onc, he may not realize that he's dealing with the Woman Of Steel, so you'll just have to show him. Keep asking about Gamma Knife, it seems like it should be an option for you while the new tumors are small, rather that wait for them to get too large. Don't let his gloomy attitude get you down, there are many here surviving well with brain mets. Ali, do you still have the picture of you taken after your amazing Swim? If you send it to Joe, he could fix it so it will pop up next to any of your posts. It would be an inspiration to many of us to see you with that big, triumphant grin!

Love, Lolly

[Ali b]

I did that Lolly,tho not a swim pic but me heading to do it getting on the ferry in my bug!It was warm and sunny unlike the galeforce winds on the swim day!
Thank yoy all for replying!
love Ali xxxxxxx