A Wife’s perspective

My Husband of 34 years was diagnosed with an Astrocytoma inoperable Brain Tumor stage 2 on July 27, 2012. He had a grand-mal seizure at work that day. After spending 9 days in the hospital being poked and scanned he learned that the tumor was massive and would not be operable. The good news was it’s a slow growing low-grade tumor.

The bad news, it’s terminal and there is no cure, but treatments are available. He spent the next 3.5 years having to endure increasing seizures and increasing medication to control the seizures. MRIs were done every 6 months. He decided it was time to go ahead with the doctors advice to start radiation.

Robert had 30 radiation treatments over 7 weeks during January 2016-March 2016. Fortunately, the treatments worked better than expected. No seizures and no complications thankfully during radiation. The tumor was now smaller than when they found it in 2012.
T
oday, June 5th, 2019, Robert is doing really well.

He is back driving and even working part-time. He does have some memory loss and anxiety. He gets tired, but overall he is doing well. Next month it will be seven years since his diagnosis. He will be getting an MRI at 3 months this time because a new spot had been found on April’s MRI.

As his wife, I patiently wait between MRIs never knowing what they will find. Thankfully, since radiation each MRI has shown the tumor to be stable.

At first I thought he would only live about 4 years. I set out to make them the best 4 years I could. Robert was on disability, and it was hard financially, but we managed to take several trips every year and lots of day trips too. We have been trying to enjoy life the best we can.

There have been times when Robert has been anxious and upset, but mostly positive and accepting. He has a strong Faith in Christ, and we lean on our God. More often Robert has more strength than I, and he usually encourages me.

The journey continues and we live this precious Life one day at a time.

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Opinions expressed within this story belong solely to the author and do not reflect the views or opinions of the National Brain Tumor Society.