The War Begins Now!

At Mulu cave Resort at 5 July 2007

The Diagnosis.

On the 14th Nov. 2007 my husband Norman had a right sided facial fit followed by numbness of the right hand. It lasted 2 mins. and he went back to sleep. 2 days later I took him to Pantai hospital to see a neurologist. An MRI was done and the x-ray showed a massive brain tumor on the left temporal side. The neurologist said it was a malignant tumor!! Our whole world collapse before us!! We could not believe it, could not accept it and definitely not ready for this bombshell. How could it be? Norman was fit as a fiddle, He doesn’t drink or smoke, Has no hypertension or any kind of illness. He treks up Mount KK, Sabah like an arrow and even climb up the vertical Pinnacle, Mulu, in Kuching on the 7th of July 2007!! And all this while he had a tumor growing inside his head!. The learned Dr guess that the tumor could have been growing for at least 6 months! Maybe he got the wrong X-ray ya? No, unfortunately, it was Norman’s X-ray and the diagnosis….GLIOBLASTOMA MULTIFORME. It was like being pass the death sentence when you are innocent.
[ The prognosis of this deadly tumor is 3-6 months if untreated ] We cried and cried and we hug each other and we cried and cried…..


The Surgery – 21st November, 2007

The tumor is very aggressive and need to be removed as soon as possible. There was gross oedema in the brain causing him speech impairment, memory loss and fits! We need a very competent neurosurgeon to operate and we need it fast! After consulting 2 neurosurgeons, we decided on Dr Lee Foo Chiang at Sunway Medical Center. On the 21st November ‘07, the evil beast was excised after a two and a half hour (2 ½) surgery. Norman was wheeled into ICU for 24 hour monitoring and nursing care, Dr lee told me that the tumor is a grade 4 tumor! My world came crashing down again! Brain tumors are graded according to malignancy, grade 1 being the most benign and grade 4 the most malignant.

Norman recovers amazingly well. There was no surgical side effects like seizures, loss of memory, further speech impairment, infection and excessive bleeding. Praise god! We came home on the 3rd post op day. It was like the nightmare was over but in fact the battle has just begun!! The long road to recovery lies ahead and we are not ready… yet!

Radiotherapy and Chemotherapy-17th December, 2007

Getting ready for radiotheraphy

Complete surgical removal of GBM is not possible. Even after the most successful surgery, residual microscopic tumor remains. Dr Lee managed to remove more than 90% of Norman’s tumor. He is a brilliant Neuro surgeon. The prognosis of survival depends very much on maximal removal of the tumor. The aim now is to kill off the remaining cancer cells by conformal radiotherapy [RT] and chemotherapy. After seeing 3 oncologists we decided to choose Dr Foo Yoke Ching at SJMC for our RT. A total of 60 Gy of radiation [30 fractions] is given daily, Monday to Friday over 6-7 weeks. Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays are off days. Each fraction last about 1-2 minutes only as the brain is too delicate to receive too high doses of radiation. Daily Temozolomide [temodar] 120mg is taken orally before radiation. Temodar is a radiation sensitizer drug. Clinical studies have proven that the addiction of Temodar to RT improves long term survival benefits with minimal side effects.
Common side effects of RT are hair loss, nausea, vomiting, fatigue and loss of appetite. So far, Norman haven’t experience any of these effects yet. Praise God! Radiation necrosis [total destruction of nearby healthy brain tissue] occurs in 25% of patient treated with RT. Additional surgery might be needed to remove necrotic tissue if it causes severe reduction in mental functions. According to schedule, Norman will finish his treatment on the 31st january, 2008. Estimated cost of RT and chemo is a whooping $80,000.

Dear friends, your comments and suggestion will be a great encouragement to norman and myself. As this is the first time I am creating a blog, please excuse any mistakes in my blog. Please feel free to pen a few words as it will greatly encourage me.

Quote of the day:

A friend is one who sings loudly witn you on the mountain top but walk quietly with you in the deep valley