Blogging about brain cancer, self-advocacy, travel, mental health, and wellness.
Diffuse astrocytomas are tumors of the Central Nervous System (CNS). The presence of the blood–brain barrier (BBB) and tumor barrier, make these cancers poorly responsive to all kinds of currently available therapies. Most standard treatments aim to slow progression of the cancer rather than stop or eliminate it. New treatments are always being explored and…
A cancer diagnosis not only hits the patient pretty hard, but their loved ones as well. It can be hard to know the best ways to offer encouragement and show your support. There isn’t one right way to show your love and support. I want to share some of the many ways I’ve received support.…
Along the way there have been several tough decisions I’ve been faced with. These aren’t your usual decisions; they take thought, energy, and careful consideration. The first bigger decision I had to make back in January was how much I wanted to pursue my concerns. My primary doctor was not concerned after meeting with me…
Back in July I had a tough decision to make: do I start treatment immediately or do I delay treatments and carry out my summer as planned? I knew my life would change drastically once treatments began, and even once treatments were complete it wouldn’t be an immediate shift back to the normal. I consulted…
There is no one correct way to cope. As I mentioned in Digesting the Diagnosis, I don’t believe there are right and wrong ways of coping. I think there are destructive and healthy ways of coping. I’ve been able to find comfort in many different things throughout this and wanted to share what’s in my…
I first heard the term Astrocytoma when a nurse called me the week following my surgery in which they took a sample of brain tissue for a biopsy. At the time of the call they were able to confirm that we were dealing with a Grade 2 Astrocytoma. What we didn’t know at that time…
You can try to imagine how you personally might react when faced with the news of a brain cancer diagnosis, especially a life limiting one. But this isn’t something you can truly fathom until it happens, and when it does, you never react quite the way you would have thought. June 23rd Was the Day…
Introducing Kiss My Astrocytoma – a personal blogging site. I created this blog site to write about my experiences leading up to and after receiving my diagnosis of brain cancer – more specifically – Grade II Astrocytoma brain cancer. Throughout my blogs I will spread awareness, share any lessons learned, and document my experiences –…