brain met and decadrone

lindadanis
lindadanis Member Posts: 235
edited March 2014 in Brain Cancer #1
my husband has a brain tumor that has met from his esphogeal cancer. He has been on decadrone for the past month while doing whole brain radiation. The doctor says he will be weaning his off this steroid within a week, I thought you stay on it as a maintence dose to prevent swelling of the brain, can anyone answer this for me and also what complications can arise from 15 treatments of whole brain radiation.
They are not doing another mri of his brain for eight weeks, is this normal


Linda

Comments

  • stayingcalm
    stayingcalm Member Posts: 650 Member
    #2
    Steroids
    I had mets to the brain, too, and 20 treatments of WBR. I stayed on steroids for most of the treatment, but they made my feet swell up so much I could hardly totter around on them! Not to mention my face - real chipmunk cheeks ;) I began weaning off of them towards the end of treatment. Your oncologist is doing the right thing, I believe.

    WBR can cause some short-term memory delay, mine didn't seem to start until quite some time afterwards - I have trouble focusing and at the same time I have a problem with multi-tasking. If I don't write things down when they're told to me (new names, numbers, directions, etc.) I will forget them. All of this can be compensated for - by writing things down, setting alarms, asking people to remind you to do stuff. I was blaming the WBR for some loss of hearing, until I noted that Cisplatin can cause hearing loss. Cisplatin was my first line of chemo ;) Probably the WBR exacerbated it. In any case, my hearing seems to be coming back somewhat, and my short-term memory is either getting better or I've perfected the art of note-taking ;)

    Probably your doctor doesn't want to get false positives because of inflammation, and that's why he's giving him eight weeks. You could call and ask him.

    Best of luck to you and your husband,
    stayingcalm
  • hope0310
    hope0310 Member Posts: 320
    #3
    stayingcalm said:

    Steroids
    I had mets to the brain, too, and 20 treatments of WBR. I stayed on steroids for most of the treatment, but they made my feet swell up so much I could hardly totter around on them! Not to mention my face - real chipmunk cheeks ;) I began weaning off of them towards the end of treatment. Your oncologist is doing the right thing, I believe.

    WBR can cause some short-term memory delay, mine didn't seem to start until quite some time afterwards - I have trouble focusing and at the same time I have a problem with multi-tasking. If I don't write things down when they're told to me (new names, numbers, directions, etc.) I will forget them. All of this can be compensated for - by writing things down, setting alarms, asking people to remind you to do stuff. I was blaming the WBR for some loss of hearing, until I noted that Cisplatin can cause hearing loss. Cisplatin was my first line of chemo ;) Probably the WBR exacerbated it. In any case, my hearing seems to be coming back somewhat, and my short-term memory is either getting better or I've perfected the art of note-taking ;)

    Probably your doctor doesn't want to get false positives because of inflammation, and that's why he's giving him eight weeks. You could call and ask him.

    Best of luck to you and your husband,
    stayingcalm

    Same here....
    My mom had 20 met to brain from SCLC. She was on decadrone for about a month and then started a weaning regime. Most def need to wean, not just stop the steriods.


    She had 12 treatments, the last was March 19th and they did not rescan until late May....the radiation effects keep working long after the final treatment. In her case, it worked, all tummors were either gone, or calicified with no evidence of cancer.
  • starrfillednights2011
    starrfillednights2011 Member Posts: 1
    #4
    Hi Everyone,

    I am new here from Inspire. I just registered. My mother is 74 with lung cancer. She has two brain mets. One is suspicious, the other an inch and a half in the bottom side of her head. I am looking for support and longevity on this. We just went to see a very negative radiologist oncologist that said his patients with brain mets live only 6-8 months. I read some posts on here and other sites when many have multiple mets and have been living with them for many many years. She has had cancer for 1.5 years now. Her former Oncologist just retired. He told her to just watch because hers was growing at a slower rate. He thought.. she had BAC. The new Oncologist is confused because her cancer in her lungs six months ago reversed. But..he does not want to take another chest Xray until she takes care of the two mets first. We have to travel for the Gamma Knife a little further.. because they don't have one anywhere in my area.
  • djackson748
    djackson748 Member Posts: 8
    #5
    starrfillednights2011 said:

    Hi Everyone,

    I am new here from Inspire. I just registered. My mother is 74 with lung cancer. She has two brain mets. One is suspicious, the other an inch and a half in the bottom side of her head. I am looking for support and longevity on this. We just went to see a very negative radiologist oncologist that said his patients with brain mets live only 6-8 months. I read some posts on here and other sites when many have multiple mets and have been living with them for many many years. She has had cancer for 1.5 years now. Her former Oncologist just retired. He told her to just watch because hers was growing at a slower rate. He thought.. she had BAC. The new Oncologist is confused because her cancer in her lungs six months ago reversed. But..he does not want to take another chest Xray until she takes care of the two mets first. We have to travel for the Gamma Knife a little further.. because they don't have one anywhere in my area.

    brain mets too
    I had 9 brain mets from colon cancer. All were treated with Gamma Knife and it worked very well. As near as I can tell, I have had NO side effects from that treatment. Did Folfox for the mets in the liver and 1 lung. Those tumors seem to be shrinking too. The latest MRI shows 2 of the brain mets need to be treated again. Will either do Cyber Knife or whole brain radiation. Some chance of side effects from both, so hard decision to make within the next 2-3 days. Mostly I wanted to say DO NOT listen to the negative attitude of anyone. Positive attitude and faith can mean so much. Numbers are just numbers and your mother does not have to be one of them. If you can make the trip for Gamma Knife or Cyber Knife, I would recommend that from my personal experience. As I said before, I have had NO ill effects from the Gamma Knife. I've been told that whole brain radiation always results in short term memory loss and some loss of calculatory function. I have also read of lots of worse side effects even though the odds are pretty low. These sometimes come about years after. My best to you and your mother. This is a tough journey and each person reacts differently to the chemo, treatments and with their attitude. I have attributed much if not all of my success to positive attitude and faith. Don't let anyone infect you or your mother with negativity. It does absolutely no good. If you expect a miracle it CAN happen. If you expect the worst it just may happen.
    Wishing you success, comfort and peace.
    Dave

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