05.11.10
Canada AM segment on brain tumours
The week of May 10th-13th, 2010, CTV’s Canada AM is featuring a segment on brain tumours. It airs at approximately 07:45 each morning, but is also available on the web here.
03.21.10
Well I guess it’s an annual update!
It’s been a while since I’ve been able to update the website. For anyone who is still interested, I’m still around and surviving quite well. Life on the farm suits me…I just wish I could be there more often, as work means I have to stay in this apartment in Toronto most of the time, only going home about every two weeks. Here is a link to the farm website.
09.03.08
Moving farther away (or not)
At the end of June we moved away from Bowmanville, Ontario (where my brain tumour story started) to a hobby farm about 125 km farther east. Simultaneously I rented an apartment in Toronto so that I could eliminate the lengthy commute. So now I live Monday-Friday in Toronto and weekends at the farm. There’s lots of work to be done on the farm and renovations to make to the farm house. I have started a pictorial blog showing our progress which can be found here
A new diagnosis
Some time ago I posted about the search for a differential diagnosis after I experienced symptoms that might have been TIA/stroke, seizure or perhaps classical migraine with neurological symptoms. Recently I went to see a neurologist for a consult at the suggestion of my family doctor. My medical specialists now seem to have agreed that the most likely explanation for my symptoms (which have not recurred in the last six months) is migraine.
An interesting thing came out when I visited the neurologist…my neuro-oncologist had sent him a report on my case in which he described my tumour as an anaplastic oligodendroglioma. Since I’d not heard that from Dr Mason directly, I now had some questions for my next clinic appointment. That clinic appointment was last week. So I asked Dr. Mason, if this diagnosis made any difference after eleven years of survival. He replied in typical fashion, (paraphrasing) “well you’re still here aren’t you?” The clear implication being that if I’d really had a gbm then I wouldn’t have survived this long. Now that’s something I have long suspected, but that’s the first time I heard it from my neuro-onc.
By the way, when I asked if the diagnosis made a difference, I wanted to know if it made any difference to my treatment options if the tumour came back. Dr Mason said it would make little difference.