My mom's journey
Hi, posting again and the last time I do before I leave this subreddit.
My mother, 52, passed away on 25th of April after around 4 months after she was diagnosed with stage 4 glioblastoma IDH wild-type unmethylated.
This is how it went, so people know how her journey went.
First week of November she started having daily headaches, some insignificant, some quite strong. On 16th of December we found out she has a brain tumor the size of half a fist, right side front lobe, paired with cerebral edema (source of headaches). Her situation declined rather fast that week, getting to the point where she was not able to get out of the hospital bed. On 22nd of December she was transferred to a neurosurgery clinic. That day we talked with the neurosurgeon and he said "we need to take the tumor out or she dies fast" and in the morning of 24th of December she had the surgery. At 6 pm that day she called and she was talking normally, remembering clearly plans and things to do from before her decline. Her recovery was excellent, after 3 weeks she was home.
We were told that the histology results will come 30 after the surgery, and we began calling the clinic daily for updates at the end of January. First part of the results (even though we knew, this confirmed 100% it is a stage 4 glioblastoma) came the first week of February, the second part (this told us if it is methylated or unmethylated) mid February. Right after the results we went and got new scans (CT & MRI) and went to the oncologist. The oncologist said that we need to go back to the neurosurgeon because the tumor reoccurred in 2 places, the initial spot and along the right side of the brain as well. It took 2 weeks to get her admitted again and beginning of second week of March she had her second surgery.
The conversations with the doctor that period of time went like this:
First talk: "it is sinister what is inside her brain"
Second talk (after surgery): "Things look better, I tried to remove everything but there are still some small remnants inside. If the tumor regrows in the same area there is nothing else I can do, I can't remove more"
Third talk: "cerebral fluid is building up and without a drainage tube she can't keep it under control"
Fourth talk: "we will transfer her to another hospital closer to where you live and she'll be under palliative care"
Between the second and third talk with the doctor she had a seizure and went into a coma. She was transferred to the ICU where she stayed for 2 weeks. Fortunately she woke up 2 days later but she was different, her mind was a mess, combining memories and events, thinking she was somewhere else, etc.
After 2 weeks in ICU, she remained at the neurosurgery clinic until the 14th of April when she was transferred to a hospital closer to us and with longer visit hours.
She was almost unconscious, barely respoding to stimuli, barely moving her lips, barely opening her eyes, but she was alive. On the 19th of April she went into another coma from which she didn't not wake up. At 2am on the 25th of April she passed away, without pain or more suffering.
Rereading what I wrote I see a lot of "2" - 2 surgeries, 2 days, 2 weeks, 2am. Her birthday number summed up to the number 2, and she passed away on 25 at the age of 52, interesting little things.
I will leave this subreddit and I wish everyone going through this unfair situation or have someone they love go through this, strength, keep loving them, be there for them, cherish as much as you can the moments you have with them.
Take care.
PS: we live in Romania.