Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Third Times a Charm!- CarePages

Third Times a Charm!

Posted Jan 18, 2012 10:12am

Edit: REPOSTED FROM CAREPAGES

Today Sean and I went to UCLA to meet with Dr Liau, a Neurosurgeon about my treatment options. We were happy to find out that UCLA has a brain tumor board that meets every Wednesday to discuss their patients. Dr. Lai, who referred me to Dr Liau, is on that board and brought my case there to be discussed. Dr. Liau told us that the consensus of the board was for me to have another surgery. They did discuss the pros, cons, and other options and all (other neurosurgeons, oncologists, and radiologists) came to the conclusion that I should have another surgery to try to get most, if not all of the tumor out.
My other options are to have chemo and/or radiation, do nothing and monitor it every 3 months or have another surgery. I can always get chemo and radiation later if we choose to or if the tumor grows or changes into a higher stage.
Dr. Liau is also one of the doctors who is behind the brain tumor vaccine and just this year they started allowing those with low grade tumors in the clinical trials, so I would qualify for this if I have another surgery.
Sean and I both really felt that this is the best option for me. She can do the surgery and then use the tumor and my white blood cells for the vaccine, which I will be injected with every month for 3 months.
We also had a great weekend camping in Julian our new RV. The boys fished and caught many leaves! They also rode their bikes. We sat around the campfire, went into town and had a great family time. I'm looking forward to this summer when we drive across the US!

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