Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
General health

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Original poster

DH has a brain tumour.

101 replies

onlyjoking9329 · 24/01/2007 13:01

hubby was told this morning he has a brain tumour, don't know what sort as he is waiting for a biopsy. i am just going to the hospital having sorted out child care for my three. anybody with any positive stories of brain tumours?

OP posts:
Original poster
onlyjoking9329 · 27/01/2007 20:16

Steve is home, they decided it was more of a risk to do a biopsy when he currently seems stable, they want him to go back in three months for further scans to check if any growth, doctor said we can't go on holiday and will review at next appt . steve will have to go back in if his condition gets worse. As steve hates hospitals i doubt he will tell me if he feels worse. Steve does understand that he has a tumour and MS but when he is confused he says he hasn't got one.
so it's a case of wait and see and cancel the holiday that we could really do with right now. we didn't want to have two weeks in lanzarote anyway, got to sort out with the insurance and see if we can at least get some of the money back.

OP posts:
gingermonkey · 27/01/2007 21:03

My best friend has a tumour on her pituitory gland (sorry,really bad sp!) It was discovered when she was 18, she's 35 and is driving, has a job, a daughter, is perfectly normal and perfectly well, pretty much anyway, only prob is ulcers from meds and she can get a bit dizzy sometimes. She has regular check ups (about once a year or so) and so far (touch wood) she's fine. I hope that makes you feel a little positive. So sorry for your worrying news, must be awful x

Original poster
onlyjoking9329 · 27/01/2007 21:06

thanks that sounds positive,DH tumour is on his right temporal lobe, which is my he is confused and has memory loss.

OP posts:
Original poster
onlyjoking9329 · 27/01/2007 21:09

Hubby has been told he can't drive as showing first signs of epilepsy, funny tastes and smells. i have to hide his car keys cos he gets confused and is convinced he is fine.

OP posts:
Spidermama · 28/01/2007 17:20

Sorry you're having to cancel your holiday OJ. So they'll do nothing for three months? Does that mean it's stable?

I didn't realise he gets so confused. That must be really tough for you. Has it come on suddenly or has he been building up to it?

Is there any talk of trying to remove the tumour or is it in too inaccesable a place?

God sorry about the holiday. What a shame. I hope you're bearing up alright.

ProfYaffle · 28/01/2007 17:31

Sorry to hear your news OJ. My dh had a brain tumour removed 2.5yrs ago (when dd was 8 weeks old) he is now fully recovered with only a fine scar and shoddy sense of smell to show for the experience.

I know how horrible the waiting is, hope you get a result as good as ours. It's a good sign that they're reviewing after 3 months though, have they any idea what type of tumour it is? Dh's was a meningioma, I have links to a few support sites if they would be any use to you.

By the way, check your mortgage for critical illness insurance. Ours paid our mortgage off for us.

Original poster
onlyjoking9329 · 28/01/2007 19:03

all we have been told is that the tumour is in his right temporal lobe, they think he has had it for a long time, he has been confused & forgetful for a few weeks. he went into hospital with a severe headache on the 10th, they sent him home on the 5th with DX of migraine back in via ambulance on 10th as confused headache vomitting, was supposed to have emergency brain scan but as he was confused he forgot what he was there for and got discharged the next day, went and had scan 5.30 18th, phone call next morning re abnormalities so he was taken back in where he was DX
not sure about the mortgage insurance i claimed on it when i had to give up work with slipped disc but we don't owe much and we won't have to struggle at all

OP posts:
ProfYaffle · 28/01/2007 19:13

Sounds very like dh's symptoms. He had diagnosis of migraine at first, his gp uttered the immortal words 'don't worry, this is not a brain tumour'. He also had headache, vomiting and acute confusion. They reckoned he'd had his for 10 or 15 years before it produced symptoms (meningiomas are very slow growing) Can't believe they let your dh go because he was confused at to why he was there though, that's shocking.

Critical illness cover is different to normal illness cover. Our mortgage wasn't huge but we were still pleased to pay it off.

this is a good website on general brain and spine injuries, there's a really good leaflet on there explaining various brain tumour treatments.

this is a specific meningioma website but has good info on treatments and a talkboard as well.

hth.

Original poster
onlyjoking9329 · 28/01/2007 19:24

thanks for that info, it is scary looking stuff up , so links are useful, they say his tumour is slow growing but not a reg shape it is different shapes from different angles

OP posts:
ProfYaffle · 28/01/2007 19:41

Slow growing is good. If it was a meningioma I think they'd be able to tell straight away from the scan (they could with dh anyway).

I obsessively trawled the net after dh's dx, knowing what to expect helped me cope, well, that and liberal amounts of Pinot Grigio!

Original poster
onlyjoking9329 · 28/01/2007 19:48

i think the diffficulty they have is that he also has MS and they are not used to dealing with them both together

OP posts:
jenwa · 28/01/2007 19:56

You are having hard time. Must be difficult especially with having 3 children who need extra care too.
Must be hard with husands confussion. mightbe helpful for you to get him a diary and make him read it several times daily. With a problem in frontal lobe causing confussion it does sometimes help to keep using the brain to send signals back to get things working again. Maybe using a diary daily will allow him to process information and help memorise daily tasks and even writting in about the tumour and ms so he is aware.
I hope all goes well.

ProfYaffle · 28/01/2007 19:59

Yes, I can imagine that makes things far more complicated for you. Can some of his symptoms be explained by the ms then?

Original poster
onlyjoking9329 · 28/01/2007 20:26

he has been writing on the calendar, which is how i found out he had been out for a drive, car keys now hidden!
i am not sure about whats the MS they only told him he had it on thursday they said they could tell on the scan but i am not sure how they can tell and with so much info to take in and process i didn't ask. again i haven't dared look into MS too much as am scared what i might read, i could do with a basic non scary site.

OP posts:
Original poster
onlyjoking9329 · 28/01/2007 22:49

if anybody knows anything about MS and how they can DX from a brain scan that would be useful.

OP posts:
mummytosteven · 28/01/2007 23:00

sorry to hear about your DH's health problems onlyjoking.

Sorry I can't do a proper link, but there are various organisations that provide internet/telephone support and info about brain tumours, details of which are on the page below:-

www.patient.co.uk/showdoc/27000744/

possibly they may be able to help you with information/support

mummylin2495 · 28/01/2007 23:13

my grand mother had a brain tumour in her sixties ,she had an operation to remove it and she then lived till she was 84 !! think positive

SisterOfSoapbox · 28/01/2007 23:49

OnlyJoking...

You asked about the diagnosis of MS - here is a small factual explanation for you - the MRI Scan is how they identify the lesions which are referred to:

MS is a disease of the central nervous system. The central nervous system consists of the brain, spinal cord, and the optic nerves. Surrounding and protecting the nerve fibers (or axons) of the central nervous system is a fatty tissue called myelin, which helps nerve fibers conduct electrical impulses.

In MS, myelin is lost in multiple areas, leaving scar tissue called sclerosis. These damaged areas are also known as plaques or lesions. Sometimes the underlying nerve fiber (or axon) is also damaged or broken.

When myelin or the nerve fiber is destroyed or damaged, the ability of the nerves to conduct electrical impulses to and from the brain is disrupted, and this produces the various symptoms of MS.

Now - on a positive note - take a look at this site which is the blog of a woman with MS and who has not let it stop her living life to the full - it is a great inspiration and just shows that the outlook doesn't always need to be bleak ...

living

Hope things work out well for you and your husband...

Original poster
onlyjoking9329 · 29/01/2007 09:41

thanks for the info its useful to have stuff to read, i know theres lots of stuff out there but some stuff is more scary than helpful.

OP posts:
bubblerock · 29/01/2007 20:16

OJ, have just seen this! Gosh what a shock for you all, I don't have any experience of either but having met you and your lovely family I couldn't not post. How unfair for you to have to go through this, you've adapted your lives so much already.

Original poster
onlyjoking9329 · 29/01/2007 20:51

thanks bubblerock, still trying to carry on with the day to day stuff for the kids sake you know what they are like routine, routine, routine. in some ways it's a blessing that they are unaware of whats happening but in other ways that is hard too.
All the kids were upset that we have had to cancel our feb trip to lanzarote, they think a winne the pooh plaster it all that is needed to make daddy better.

OP posts:
jalopy · 29/01/2007 21:02

Onlyjoking, really sorry to hear about your husband. Thinking of you and your family.

Original poster
onlyjoking9329 · 29/01/2007 23:02

Thanks for your good wishes it means a lot to me, Steve has been mostly ok today but fell asleep at five and is still asleep, i suspect he has been in pain today but he is not admiting it as he knows he will be back in hospital.He just wants to be at home with his family, this all just so hard, and to think that i thought most of our difficult times were behind us.

OP posts:
AnAngelWithin · 29/01/2007 23:23

thinking of you and you family. must be so hard for you. take care x x x

Original poster
onlyjoking9329 · 29/01/2007 23:27

we are just taking things one day at a time, i think it's harder cos i don't have any family to support me.

OP posts: