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Brain tumour prognosis?

6 replies

Ishacoco · 09/06/2022 22:30

I know there's no one answer to this, but my dd grandmother (paternal, my ex partner) is very ill.

She started behaving oddly about two years ago, diagnosed with a brain tumour, was in surgery within a couple of days. Tests showed it was cancerous. Further treatment didn't do anything and now there's a second tumour developing in frontal lobe (??).

She's very frail, can't go shopping any more or leave the house without her husband. She doesn't cook any more, doesn't really hold conversations properly, is always a bit vacant and has multiple absence seizures per day where she's completely unresponsive for 30 seconds or so.

She was such a strong, dynamic woman who was always running around helping people and very involved with her grandchildren, etc. I haven't personally seen her for a few years but it sounds like such a dramatic deterioration from the lovely lady I knew 😞

How long is it likely that she'll live for? Family think less than a year but no specifics. I'm posting this because my dd needs support from me more than her father and I'm a bit clueless.

OP posts:
Ishacoco · 10/06/2022 00:44

Anyone?

OP posts:
GillianSLT · 10/06/2022 00:50

As you've said, there's no one answer but this information from the NHS website might help? www.nhs.uk/conditions/malignant-brain-tumour/ It includes a link to the Cancer Research website page on survival rates.

PlantPhoenix · 12/06/2022 21:11

In my experience, until they're under palliative care you don't ever really get a time line. And even then, probably when they're down to months. The trouble is that everybody's brains and all tumours are different and affect people on different ways. My husband's tumour should, in theory, have impacted him a lot more when it was first discovered 8 years ago but because it had grown so slowly, his brain had managed to reroute the pathways around the tumour.

PlantPhoenix · 12/06/2022 21:12

Sorry, that's not particularly helpful, but if she under palliative care they might be able to give you an idea but it's generally still guesswork.

Ishacoco · 01/10/2022 00:14

She continued to deteriorate with falls and things, seizures got worse and she was eventually admitted to a hospice, where she still is now (been there 4-6 weeks).

She's now confused all the time, insisting she's going swimming and getting upset when she can't find her costume and things like that 😞 She's completely bedbound, can't feed herself and though her long term memory is good, her short term is basically non-existent.

Typing all that out, even to me it looks perfectly obvious that she's on a clear downward spiral. I'd like to visit her but I don't know if it would be appropriate or whether it would cause her any distress, if she didn't know me and was confused by my presence.

Anyone got any similar experiences??

OP posts:
Mentalblip · 01/10/2022 00:30

It depends on the type of brain tumour. Is it a meningioma (less of an issue) or glioblastoma? It's also possible there are other issues at play (eg falls, cognitive impairment due to epilepsy, meds, pain, delirium, possible dementia?)
Go see her. She will value it and will likely recognise you. Most of our fears about seeing someone with brain damage are our own (how will we respond seeing someone being different) but she's the same person she's always been. These brain changes are affecting her yes, but it doesn't change who she is

Speaking as a professional and relative

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