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They found a brain tumor.
I was only one week into my second quarter of college in Chicago when my dad called to tell me that my mom had a brain tumor. It very shocking and unexpected.
Her tumor was in her right frontal lobe and was about the size of a golf ball. They said it had grown 4 centimeters in 4 months. -
Craniotomy #1
After my dad informed me that my mom had a brain tumor, he told me that she would be going into surgery in a couple days. I was ready to go home to California for the surgery, but my mom insisted that she'd rather I'd stay in Chicago for school. So on the day of the surgery, I went to my classes like any other day. Let's just say it was incredibly difficult to get through my classes. -
Diagnosis
The next day I flew home to see my mom. Little did I know, that I would never be returning to Chicago for school. When I arrived at the hospital, my dad told me that the surgery had been successful. The entire tumor was removed. But it was malignant and it had been diagnosed as something called Glioblastoma Multiforme. -
What to do about College
I spent the next week going back and forth whether or not to return to Chicago or stay home. It was a very difficult decision. I hadn't been in college very long, so it wouldn't be too difficult to leave. But I also loved going to school in Chicago.
In the end I decided to move back home for my mom. And I began taking classes at the local community college so I would not fall behind in school. -
Bay Area Brain Tumor Walk
My family and I participated in the Bay Area Brain Tumor Walk! I was a lot of fun and several of my mom's friends also came along. I was team captain, but my mom picked the team name: Team Rainbow! Because, according to my mom, "rainbows make me happy." -
Movin' Out
By June, I was starting to get fed up with how I was being treated at home. I was expected to stay home and run the household. I felt like no one bothered to consider how I was feeling. I was being treated like a child. So I decided to move in with my boyfriend in Oakland. It was a tough decision to make. But I decided that in order to at least try to keep myself emotionally and mentally healthy, I needed to get out of my parents house. -
Mills College
I began school at Mills College. After months on trying to decide between Univeristy of San Francisco, St. Mary's College, and Santa Clara University, I discovered Mills College. There was no question that Mills College would be the best choice for me. -
Mother-Daughter Trip
My mom and I went on a short trip to the coast and stayed in a lovely bed & breakfast. It was a really nice trip. -
Craniotomy #2 and Re-Diagnosis
My mom's tumor recurred and she had to go in for a second craniotomy. They were supposed to remove her tumor and have it sent to Boston to create a vaccine out of it to give to her as part of a clinical trial. But to everyone's surprise, her cancer was re-diagnosed as Gliosarcoma, and therefore was not allowed to be part of the clinical trial. -
Clinical Trial Surgery
My mom got on to another clinical trial after the last two hadn't been successful. This one involved drilling into her skull and injecting her tumor with a vaccine. The clinical trial is through a company called Tocagen (www.tocagen.com). We have to wait about 3 months before we find out if it worked or not. -
Seizure
My mom had her first seizure. It was definitely scary when I heard the news from my dad. Seizures are quite common for Brain Cancer patients and it was a miracle that my mom hadn't had a seizure yet. But it was still very scary. -
Emergency Hospital Visit
My mom suddenly became very lethargic and was having trouble walking and talking. And then she became very nauseous and began vomitting. So my dad decided to take her to the hospital. She was there for 2 nights and she had a CT Scan and an MRI to figure out what was going on. The MRI showed that the tumor had began to spread in several directions from the right frontal lobe.
