My mom and ex-stepdad divorced when I was 21, but, while I am closer to my real dad, he raised me since I was 3, so I have stayed in touch (not to mention he is the father of my brother and my sister).
Anyway, a couple weeks ago he had a stroke with a seizure. Each time he had a stroke he temporarily lost speech with partial paralysis on the left side and his tongue and jaw seizured. He is NOT high risk for a stroke (healthy blood pressure) and the doctors were perplexed by the seizure that accompanied the stroke. Luckily he had one episode in front of the doctor...very convenient. Well, over the last few weeks, they determined it was a brain growth of some sort, but had to do a biopsy to find out if it was cancer. It is deep in the motor skills portion of the brain and the doctors were trying to avoid surgery, but ultimately they had to go in. They said they got enough to biopsy, but given the high risk area, they got in and got out. Even though he was at a good hospital, he still had problems. He has lost most of his motor skills. He can barely talk or write and says he feels retarded because he knows what he wants to say, but can't get his mouth to work. How frustrating that must be....
Well, they determined that the brain tumor did not originate in the brain (cancerous, but not of typical brain cancer cells). Several tests later, it was determined that he has Stage 4 Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma that has spread to the brain (the brain tumor caused the stroke/seizure). They will do radation on the brain tumor and will treat the NHL with Chemo.
What type of NHL? What are his chance of survival? How aggressive? Will he get his motor skills back? Maybe 75%? 50%? No idea.... He has the doctor's telling his GF of 2 years (and they live together, so she is as close to a wife as she's gonna get minus the paper). She calls me to explain what she thinks the doctor said and asks me to explain it because she doesn't understand anything medical. I have asked the doctor to call me to explain it to me. My stepdad understands the doc, but he can't explain it to us due to the brain damage (temporary hopefully). Supposedly, the GF has told the doc to call me too. But, nothing so far and he was discharged yesterday, so I don't expect one. Frustrating.... The doc would do his rounds in the morning and I work an hour away from there, so taking off work to catch the doc in person means taking a 1/2 day from work....that wasn't gonna happen (not to mention I was out of town for work all last week).
So....since I am limited to what the GF can pass on...anyone have experience with this and give me some insight as to what we can expect? I am familiar with NHL and know that there are various kinds....some worse than others. I also know what to expect with chemo, but being stage 4 and spread to the brain, it seems like a long shot to me. Supposedly the doc said he can treat it, but the GF is in denial about it all to begin with, so if he said it is possible, though slim, she will run with it.
I really do like his GF...they are perfect for each other, but in these matters, it makes it really difficult that she is talking to the doc. I know she is the one there, but a phone call from the doc would be SO much easier since she hasn't a clue what to ask and doesn't understand what the doc tells her.
Anyway, a couple weeks ago he had a stroke with a seizure. Each time he had a stroke he temporarily lost speech with partial paralysis on the left side and his tongue and jaw seizured. He is NOT high risk for a stroke (healthy blood pressure) and the doctors were perplexed by the seizure that accompanied the stroke. Luckily he had one episode in front of the doctor...very convenient. Well, over the last few weeks, they determined it was a brain growth of some sort, but had to do a biopsy to find out if it was cancer. It is deep in the motor skills portion of the brain and the doctors were trying to avoid surgery, but ultimately they had to go in. They said they got enough to biopsy, but given the high risk area, they got in and got out. Even though he was at a good hospital, he still had problems. He has lost most of his motor skills. He can barely talk or write and says he feels retarded because he knows what he wants to say, but can't get his mouth to work. How frustrating that must be....
Well, they determined that the brain tumor did not originate in the brain (cancerous, but not of typical brain cancer cells). Several tests later, it was determined that he has Stage 4 Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma that has spread to the brain (the brain tumor caused the stroke/seizure). They will do radation on the brain tumor and will treat the NHL with Chemo.
What type of NHL? What are his chance of survival? How aggressive? Will he get his motor skills back? Maybe 75%? 50%? No idea.... He has the doctor's telling his GF of 2 years (and they live together, so she is as close to a wife as she's gonna get minus the paper). She calls me to explain what she thinks the doctor said and asks me to explain it because she doesn't understand anything medical. I have asked the doctor to call me to explain it to me. My stepdad understands the doc, but he can't explain it to us due to the brain damage (temporary hopefully). Supposedly, the GF has told the doc to call me too. But, nothing so far and he was discharged yesterday, so I don't expect one. Frustrating.... The doc would do his rounds in the morning and I work an hour away from there, so taking off work to catch the doc in person means taking a 1/2 day from work....that wasn't gonna happen (not to mention I was out of town for work all last week).
So....since I am limited to what the GF can pass on...anyone have experience with this and give me some insight as to what we can expect? I am familiar with NHL and know that there are various kinds....some worse than others. I also know what to expect with chemo, but being stage 4 and spread to the brain, it seems like a long shot to me. Supposedly the doc said he can treat it, but the GF is in denial about it all to begin with, so if he said it is possible, though slim, she will run with it.
I really do like his GF...they are perfect for each other, but in these matters, it makes it really difficult that she is talking to the doc. I know she is the one there, but a phone call from the doc would be SO much easier since she hasn't a clue what to ask and doesn't understand what the doc tells her.
