Jan 01/2017 scan - surgery now necessary
Hey guys, life is okay atm, i have fairly frequent head symptoms, (dizzyness, headaches etc) but a lack of seizures so in balance its all good. my life is still plodding along as close to normal as i can keep which was the plan all along. anyway, i had a scan on 01/01/17 in my home department in wales and recently got the results in London from my neurologist. i could have the results a lot sooner considering i had the scans on a disc a month ago. but i didn't want to look at them until i had too.
so the scan results show more growth again. i'll throw the comparisons down here like last time because i found that helpful. 6 months comparison from the sagittal and 2/3 years on the axial to show you. not sure if the one the right is 2015 or 14.
Last time i left the blog saying i can chose when to have elective surgery (which clearly, i chickened out of), my neurologist this time is concerned with its rate of growth and surgery is highly recommended soon, rather than at my leisure like last time. Rationalizing this has been difficult but with my prognosis and then the genetics suggesting i should fall towards the lower end of the survival curve for LG-Astrocytomas, this isn't particularly surprising at all. But time just goes so fast when your working to a deadline. its been 3 and a half years now since diagnosis. this time 3 years ago i was still in my ward bed post surgery having my catheter and head drain painfully removed, 2 things im not looking forward to going through again this year, alongside the side effects i had from the anesthesia and opiates.
I feel like i should talk a bit about my lack of dedication to the cause now. When i was diagnosed and subsequently after surgery i did so much research into how best to help myself and prolong my lifespan. After all this concluding that a low protein and more specifically Methionine (vegan) and calorie restrictive diet to inhibit growth hormones, blood sugar and accessible carbon substrates for growth of the tumour and therefore potentially inhibiting growth of the tumour itself (in theory). Now this along with a variety of expensive and for the most part relatively well scientifically studied supplements i maintained for probably 12 months post surgery in which no detectable growth occurred (although this is the least likely period for growth to appear). the subsequent 6 months i rebuilt my strength with weightlifting and raised my protein intake and calories a bit whilst remaining vegan, this time growth occured, although i wasnt aware of it atm, having not seen the scans myself and being told 'slight white matter enhancement' which can mean anything/nothing to someone who cant see the scans. at this point in my job started which required my IBS to be good for perfect attendance. This demanded a total change in my diet. out with the quantities of veggies and beans/lentils to remove large quantities of healthful fibre from diet and in with bread and rice and less helpful foods - growth occured.
following this for some reason i became so good at living life and not thinking about the fact i had a tumour growing in my brain that i succumbed to the pressure of enjoying life (meals out were a pain, and food choices in general on such a restrictive diet. my diet and supplementation completely slipped. i ate junk food, and fish (but not meat) and stopped calorie and protein restricting. i put on 2 of the 4 stone i lost post steroid treatment. if im giving healthy tissues enough energy to grow then my tumour was bound to grow wasnt it? i have to rebuke myself. speeding up growth with this reckless and needless diet is frustrating for myself. i was doing well for a year, but deciding not to live in the shadow of a tumour and just enjoying myself meant letting it back into my life all over again. i'm unsure as to how anyone who has gone down this route like me finds the balance between living life in ignorant bliss and living it being fearfully cautious.
So im going back to my original plan of attack, or defense. after re-reading literature about methionine i discovered that fish actually had a significantly higher methionine to other amino acid ration than anything else. i thought (assumed) fish would be less damaging of the meats. anyway, i'll report back when i have a date to see my surgeon again. at least im assuming it'll be the same surgeon.
so the scan results show more growth again. i'll throw the comparisons down here like last time because i found that helpful. 6 months comparison from the sagittal and 2/3 years on the axial to show you. not sure if the one the right is 2015 or 14.
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| January T2 axial scans from 2017 on left too 2014/15 on right. |
As you can see the anterior portion in the frontal lobe has grown significantly this year, despite its appearance the posterior growth is more worrying as this is the growth thats into the motor cortex and is more likely unoperable and symptomatically more damage i suppose. below is a coronal slice of this anterior tumour so you can picture just how deep its penetrating now.
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| Coronal of Anterior Portion |
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| T2 sagital comparison showing 6 month progession, Newer scan on the right this time. |
I feel like i should talk a bit about my lack of dedication to the cause now. When i was diagnosed and subsequently after surgery i did so much research into how best to help myself and prolong my lifespan. After all this concluding that a low protein and more specifically Methionine (vegan) and calorie restrictive diet to inhibit growth hormones, blood sugar and accessible carbon substrates for growth of the tumour and therefore potentially inhibiting growth of the tumour itself (in theory). Now this along with a variety of expensive and for the most part relatively well scientifically studied supplements i maintained for probably 12 months post surgery in which no detectable growth occurred (although this is the least likely period for growth to appear). the subsequent 6 months i rebuilt my strength with weightlifting and raised my protein intake and calories a bit whilst remaining vegan, this time growth occured, although i wasnt aware of it atm, having not seen the scans myself and being told 'slight white matter enhancement' which can mean anything/nothing to someone who cant see the scans. at this point in my job started which required my IBS to be good for perfect attendance. This demanded a total change in my diet. out with the quantities of veggies and beans/lentils to remove large quantities of healthful fibre from diet and in with bread and rice and less helpful foods - growth occured.
following this for some reason i became so good at living life and not thinking about the fact i had a tumour growing in my brain that i succumbed to the pressure of enjoying life (meals out were a pain, and food choices in general on such a restrictive diet. my diet and supplementation completely slipped. i ate junk food, and fish (but not meat) and stopped calorie and protein restricting. i put on 2 of the 4 stone i lost post steroid treatment. if im giving healthy tissues enough energy to grow then my tumour was bound to grow wasnt it? i have to rebuke myself. speeding up growth with this reckless and needless diet is frustrating for myself. i was doing well for a year, but deciding not to live in the shadow of a tumour and just enjoying myself meant letting it back into my life all over again. i'm unsure as to how anyone who has gone down this route like me finds the balance between living life in ignorant bliss and living it being fearfully cautious.
So im going back to my original plan of attack, or defense. after re-reading literature about methionine i discovered that fish actually had a significantly higher methionine to other amino acid ration than anything else. i thought (assumed) fish would be less damaging of the meats. anyway, i'll report back when i have a date to see my surgeon again. at least im assuming it'll be the same surgeon.
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