Does anyone have experience with anaplastic astrocytoma(brain tumor)

[alaw37]

Does anyone know of someone with anaplastic astrocytoma?  My brother has this - was painted a very grim picture two yrs. ago in Sept.  - is doig well after surgery,radiation andoral chemo .  MRI shows residual tumor is barely detectable.  Am I too quick to assume Drs. were wrong?  He has surpassed everything they said he would do.  I've researched this tumor and know how nasty it is.  Can anyone relate?....

[Majblue]

Debra, my dear sister was only 48 when she collapsed in the supermarket. The fall was the result of a bad seizure and the beginning of her long horrific fight to a horrible disease called cancer. After 6 wks of being hospitalized she was finally diagnosed with Anaplastic Astrocytoma Grade 3. The doctors informed us that it was very deep in her right temporal lobe and inoperable. I remember the doctors words, "It's like an octopus with tenticles."Treatment began, chemo and radiation. I was in denial and began my research. Although she lived in NY and I lived in Florida. I found doctors that participated in clinical studies. The hardest part was having to give into this brain tumor. This horrible monster growing inside my sisters head. I just wanted to reach in and pull it out. My sister begged to stay at home but as the steroids increased, so did her weight. She was robbed of her speech, eyesight, hearing, her ability to walk. After two years of constant care at home, we were left with no choice but to put her in hospice. The hardest part was knowing that on the outside she was failing, but also knowing that her mind was still sharp and very aware of understanding and knowing what was going on around her. She was not happy in hospice. There she remained for three more months, struggling with her fight to hold on.  I did everything I could for her, but it was not enough. I remember the call like it was yesterday, the voice on the other side of the line softly told me that it is time, that her breathing was becoming shallow. My family and I rushed to the airport taking the first available flight. We could not get a direct flight. While flying high in the sky when my mother commented on the sunset how it looked like the beautiful gates of heaven. Just as we landed minutes later to board our second flight I heard my mother scream at the back of the plane. A voicemail revealed that my sister was gone. The next flight was the longest flight ever. I begged hospice to keep my sister's body there until we arrived at 2am. There my sister lay, peaceful and free from the long endured struggle and pain of brain cancer. My sister, another victim. I pray for anyone who is battling cancer or who has a loved one that is.Never give up hope. Keep fighting until the end. Life can be filled with challenges. Look within yourself to find your strength. It's during your darkest or fearful moments, that you gather your courage and call upon your greatest strength to pull you through those days. That's when you learn to stretch your strength. Good Luck. I pray for you and your families.

[veneziana]

My brother was finally diagnosed after being hospitalised for about 6 weeks. He was an extemely fit and hard-working father of four. His only symptoms were intermittent partial seizures. These were controlled by medication but once a biopsy revealed an inoperable AA grade 3 he was sent home and given a prognosis of 18 mths to 2 yrs.
We read everything we could and he was prepared for an enormous fight, even though it seems these awful things need a combination of surgery, chemo and radiotherapy if you're to stand a chance of extending the prognosis. However, we read a lot of encouraging stories. He was scheduled to start his radiotherapy around 10 days later but suddenly had a headache which became increasingly worse over  two days and was re-hospitalized where he died very quickly - and painlessly in the end.  Basically his 2 yr prognosis turned out to be two weeks. He was 45. We need to do some real consciousness raising as it seems medicine has made excrutiatingly little progress in this field in the last twenty years or so, compared to other fields. Every case seems to be different. The only thing I can say, from the heart, is I wish you well, make the absolute most of every day and never give up hope as I'm sure miracles do happen. I pray that one day medicine will respond - too late for my adored and very brave brother, but in time for the frighteningly increasing number of innocent vitims this disease is affecting. God bless.

[niecer11]

I too can relate.  My father (61 yrs. old) was diag. last fall with a brain tumor.  Went blind because of the tumor by 1/08, surgery 2/08 diag. Anaplastic astrocytoma grade 1.  He had radiation last fall no chemo yet.  He's doing pretty good sleeps 16 hours a day is always exhausted and MRI's every three months so far are great!  My advice.....hang on pray often and breath when you can.....this disease stinks!

[niecer11]

I too can relate.  My father (61 yrs. old) was diag. last fall with a brain tumor.  Went blind because of the tumor by 1/08, surgery 2/08 diag. Anaplastic astrocytoma grade 1.  He had radiation last fall no chemo yet.  He's doing pretty good sleeps 16 hours a day is always exhausted and MRI's every three months so far are great!  My advice.....hang on pray often and breath when you can.....this disease *****!

[monique58]

I can relate.  My husband was diagnosed with an anaplastic astrocytoma Grade 3 in October 2006.  Everything was fine for a year and a half, but very difficult for him and our family.  One year after his surgery, 10 months after radiation, and during his 7th round of chemo his MRI is no longer clear.  just last week we saw the beginning of a possibly terrible situation arise  

We attend a monthly brain tumor support group and they help us relate to other in our situation and get through this with great support.

To learn more about our situation go to http://ericottpbwiki.com