Irregularly Irregular

I've come to realize that I bunch you don't know how the treatment process is supposed to work. Please allow me to explain. We'll use a completely normal Glioblastoma Multiforme in the Sylvian Fissure to explain it first and then we'll move on up into mine.

The Sylvian Fissure is the groove that runs horizontally along either size of your head. It separates several of the lobes of the your head from the temporal lobe. Most importantly, it ends towards the back end in the Broca's Area. Inside the Sylvian Fissure if you go deeply, you'll find the middle cerebral artery, any one of the branches of which can cause a major stroke. Back to this shortly....

Now, imagine yourself hopping along one day and you have a funny feeling in your arm. It doesn't hurt; it isn't numb; it's just this kindof strange sensation. Furthermore, it just lasts 15 or so seconds then goes away. It happens two or three times a day. You embarrassingly go to your doctor, quite sure that this is a problem about your tests coming up in December but you're scared enough that you want to talk to him anyway. He gives you a thorough exam and he tells you that he does't think he should do something now, but if you have more problems come back in roughly a month. I can't imagine anywhere he could have done better.

A month later he sends you off into neurology clinic. Here's where I'll deviate from my story a little bit. All the drama happens just like mine, but on Wed. they decide to go ahead and take the tumor out. The tumor is clean and they appear to have all of it and they close the head back up. The patient continues to go on radiation as well as chemo and after one month the MRI appears good. This patient will still continue on 23 days off and 5 day on temodar pulses for the forseeable future. The pulse is double and/or triple what the temodar was during the radiation.

During the patient's surgery, the tumor appeared to be before the MCA and entirely within the Sylvian Fissure. That made it super easy to take out. Mine, unfortunatly, is below the MCA, is large, and is difficult to take out. It has several groups receive branches from the MCA, which it's behind. In order to take it out, you'd have to split that fissure wide and risk damaging Broca Area, as well as taking the chance or damaging or stroking the MCA.

I haven't found which direction I'm going to go. I didn't have the surgery, but I did have the radiation and the chemotherepy. I even had my first pulse! I can have the surgery if I wan't to... but I just don't know yet. I probably repeated everthing I said before, but I really don't care... maybe this is just a good way to go out and vent!

Peace,

Mike