Hope

My husband story is like many here. He had headaches for a long time and would fight through it as much as possible. In August 2022, he came home from a long camping trip. I noticed immediately that he just didn’t look right. Of course, he said his neck and head hurt because he slept in a tent.

For the next two weeks, he had limited activity. He spent a lot of time listening to music and waking me up in the middle of the night to have me listen to a songs. This was so unusual of him. I told him that he needed to see a doctor. He made an appointment, but the weekend before our grandson had an event for his school senior project. It was this time when myself and others noticed that he was out of sorts. 

His doctor’s appointment was on that Monday, but I asked him to go to the ER prior to that. He said, “No, I’ll just wait and go to my doctor.” That morning when we woke up, he really was not himself. My son ended up taking him to urgent care. They told him it was more of a migraine and to see his care provider the next day. The next day I couldn’t get them out of bed. I had to get my son to come and practically pack him out of bed. Into the car we went to his care provider, and they also thought it was more of a migraine and that they would schedule an MRI for two days later. 

My son and I both knew this was not a migraine, so we ended up taking him to the ER. Immediately they did an MRI, and the result was a mass on his brain. From then, they try to find a hospital in the Pacific Northwest to take him. He was sent to St. Alphonsos in Boise Idaho, as they said they would take him as a patient. 

This is when our lives changed completely. Within two days of arriving in Boise hospital, he had surgery to remove the mess. The results: grade 4 glioblastoma.

My husband continues to say that his neurosurgeon gave us the worst news you could ever receive, but yet he gave us hope. And because of that, my husband’s chemotherapy and radiation treatment have so far proven to be a success. MRIs also are showing no growth. In addition, he started Optune, a new treatment for patients with his diagnosis.

We continue to live with the diagnosis with hope that he will not be one that has a short lifespan due to his cancer.

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