Question about my mother with brain cancer

[sciguy]

My mother was diagnosed with brain cancer a little over a year ago (glioblastoma, grade IV, in the very front, right portion of the brain- slightly center). She had surgery, then chemo and radiation, then another surgery after it returned about 5 months ago. All of the MRI's since have been clear. After the radiation and surgeries, she recovered fairly well and fairly quickly. Her main issue was just a lack of energy. She could walk and talk just fine- maybe some minor memory issues, but nothing too drastic. A couple months ago, she started getting a lot of dizziness, throwing up constantly, and lost any ability to balance and walk. Then she became severly confused. The doctors at the hospital told us it was from a urinary tract infection and gave her antibiotics and sent her on her way. The problem is, she never really recovered from this. Her confusion persists, despite physical therapy at the nersing home she is now in, she still can't walk or use her hands with any real ability, and her short term memory is gone. I don't know if it is just a part of the "confusion" or not, but she seems to see a lot of things that don't exist.

My question is this: Will she ever recover from this? What kind of time period could be expected if she does? I didn't understand how a urinary tract infection could cause all this, so I did some reading on the internet, and I saw that confusion is common, especially in elderly patients, with such infections. But from what I read, it sounded like most people go back to normal after the infection is dealt with... so why might she still be as she is? Is there any hope for the future?

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

[Londres70]

Glioblastomas are nasty ones; terrible and it has a high reoccurence rate.  Has she had a recent scan of her head?  

Secondly, UTIs can cause some of the symptoms you stated your mother has, especially in the elderly.  How long has this been going on?  Still taking antibiotics or finished?  

[heartfluttersflyawayplz]

so sorry to hear about your mom sounds like shes really been throught a lot, and you with her. its very hard and so heart breaking to watch our moms go throught these parts of life.   my mom does not have cancer of the brain, but she has had cancer and its so hard , but i can tell you she has had a lot of U.T.I and yes they can do all of that. my mom will be real confused and talk out of her head, she falls alot her legs just get so weak with a UTI that her legs dont work, she gets very sick at stomack, and dont remember anything, my mom just got out of hospital with one , her bp was 70/45 when we got her to hospital, it came on fast, she has bladder damange from the radation they gave her when she had cancer, so she keeps uti only thing we can do is make her drink 3-5 glasses of water a day or anything you can get down her it helps to flush out the bladder to keep uti away.  my mom has gotton better after the uti but not the same. make sure your moms is gone they need test her again, i will pray for ya and i hope things turn around for her . Barbara