How I discovered that Gary the Glioma is now my ‘forever Friend’.

This week I had a follow up appointment to my recent Craniotomy & De-bulking of Gary the Glioma.

I was told by my Neurosurgeon right back at the start of this journey that Gliomas are infiltrative and that he would not be able to completely remove all of the bad cells, however part of me still hoped that Mr Mathew would say ‘got it all’ as was the case with my Meningioma, which in theory at least, should never return, but true to his initial assessment, he pointed out that they had got a good margin around my tumour which gives me a good chance and that it was a Grade 2 Oligodendroglioma.

So in summary here are the reasons that I am still feeling positive about the future.

1. It is a low grade tumour
2. It was very slow growing so it could be 10 years before it needs dealing with again (so I will be 70).
3. Because of where it was (my right frontal lobe) I can have repeat operations without much risk of harm to my brain.
4. I can have repeat operations. As Mr Mathew said, if it comes back I will take it out again (he has a patient on a 3rd operation)
5. I’m still here, I could have had a grade of tumour that would have taken me out by now, let alone in a few years.

So it looks like Gary & Mr Mathew will feature in my life for many years (Mr Mathew is fine, not so keen on Gary sticking around) and Gary may well be what finally kills me but something has to. As long as he never changes grade then he might not be my mortal enemy in the end.

With all that said, I might just as well pack as much fun into my life as possible because it all serves to remind me of how precious (and sometimes short) life can be and I am not going to waste it on Gary the Glioma, anymore than is absolutely necessary.

One thing that Mr Mathew did say was that in his 16 years as a Neurosurgeon he had not seen a patient who had both a Glioma and Meningioma. I Guess I’m just lucky that way lol