The Wage Mage and Her Yia Yia

(This post was edited 8/19/2009 to remove family member references. If you know me, you know anyways.)

"Her book is lying on the bed,
The two of hearts to mark her page,
Now who could ever walk away,
With so much left undone?"
- Tim McGraw

Somewhere in the bowels of $HOSPITAL, the pathologists took a look at the lump of brain tissue they removed from my YiaYia's head. They poked it and prodded it, and looked at slices under a microscope. And some doctor who doesn't know my family wrote something on a piece of paper that will affect my family for a long time.

Grade 4 Astrocytoma. Also known as glioblastoma multiforme. Really big words for very bad brain tumor.

The doctors say if she doesn't do chemo and radiation, she has three months. Tops. If she goes through radiation, she has maybe a year and a half. She decided to go through chemo and radiation. She won't be going through the IV chemo, they're going to give her some kind of pill that I can't find the name of. It's something that crosses the blood / brain barrier, as regular IV chemo does not for some reason I am researching now. She's also getting radiation. She said she wasn't ready to leave in 3 months, so she's going to give this a try. She's going to see her family first in Ohio, which is a good thing in itself, and before they start radiation, they have to wait for the wound to heal up.

She went to rehab today. The docs are surprised that she's doing as well as she is. She's really motivated to get the heck out of the hospital. I was very happy to see her as well as she is.

I'd like to thank her neurosurgeon for giving it his absolute damndest try to get the entire brain tumor, and being such a darn good suturer. He also has been excellent to my family during this time. I'd also like to thank her hospitalist for being a good doctor and putting up with my family. I'd also like to thank the ICU nurses at $HOSPITAL for taking good care of her.


I want to thank everyone who has sent good energy to my yia yia. I ask that you just pray for her to be happy and free of suffering, no matter WHAT that entails. That is truly all I can ask for.