Old man has a brain tumor at the rear of brain, how fucked is he?

[Thaleia]

Waiting for MRI results, in the meantime, getting old fucking sucks. Dad has been having problems finding words when talking for the last few months and generally forgetful. Today it got worse real bad real fast, he went to the hospital with paramedics suspecting a minor stroke, Stroke Dr says it looks like a tumor.

No other details yet.

Anyone go through this?

I know it's not good, but anyone been through this? Don't get old people.

[sfotex]

Wife is going thru it, looking more like MS then a brain tumor right now. All I can say is when it's the brain, things are going to go a lot slower then you want - the biopsy the fuck out of it as step 1 goes out the window + get to love the MRI machine.

[iceman]

Prognosis depends on what type of tumor it is, don't get ahead of yourself. My brother in law had a benign brain tumor that had to be removed, he's in good health now although he lost his hearing in the ear on that side (a poster here had the same exact thing, and the same result), so a "tumor" is not necessarily a death sentence. Even if it's cancer there's different types and a range of different possibilities. Get information, get good doctors, and keep your chin up. Good luck mang.

[old goat]

Prognosis depends on what type of tumor it is, don't get ahead of yourself. My brother in law had a benign brain tumor that had to be removed, he's in good health now although he lost his hearing in the ear on that side (a poster here had the same exact thing, and the same result), so a "tumor" is not necessarily a death sentence. Even if it's cancer there's different types and a range of different possibilities. Get information, get good doctors, and keep your chin up. Good luck mang.

I'd echo this. Until you have a lot more information there's nothing anyone can tell you, except that the range of possibilities and outcomes is very large. A lot depends on his age and overall state of health as well. Waiting for information and a better idea of what to expect is enormously difficult, I know.

[jm2e]

Like Ice said, it depends on the type of tumor and where exactly it is. The back of the brain is complicated and the closer to the skull base you get the trickier it can be. If it's down in and or around the brainstem you'll want to dig around to find a neurosurgeon (and possibly ENT) who specialize in skull base tumors. As with all surgeons, if the one you're talking to doesn't do a lot of that particular surgery they might not even tell you it's an option or tell you that there's someone else who could do it better. If you're in NC or CO I could give you a couple recs.

[GeezerSteve]

Vibes to your dad. Yeah, more info is necessary for an informed opinion. There are many kinds of brain tumors.

A client/friend had a large benign brain tumor. Brain surgery saved his life but he lost his sense of taste and smell, and eventually went blind. But he's alive and his speaking and cognitive abilities have returned. He's a tough guy, a survivor and eternal optimist.

Don't get old people.

Time passes, aging happens. I had a benign finger-shape/size tumor (acoustic neuroma) on my CN-8, similar to iceman's BIL, although no two ANs are alike. My tumor was removed Jan 2013 per translabyrinthine approach surgery. My tumor was unusually large (nearly "giant" in medical nomenclature) for an AN and had grown closer to my brain stem than most ANs. Surgery was successful. I'm single side deaf (and was before surgery) and single side vestibular (balance), which is a goddam PITA skiing in bad viz conditions and climbing/scrambling on steeper terrain, but AFAIK I've adapted better than 95%+ of post-translab patients.

[highangle]

Not an expert, just vibes to you OP and especially your Dad.

[Elkhound Odin]

In 2000, my wife had a quarter sized Meningioma removed from the right side of her brain, just behind the ear. It was found by accident when the docs were searching for cause of her nerve pain. It was benign and she had no ill effects.

Best wishes for your dad.

[SB]

hang in there

[yeahman]

My younger bro had a benign brain tumor discovered ih high school. Two surgeries and chemo. Been 30 years now and he is great. So stay positive, it is not a death sentence by any means.

Cancerous tumors are a different story, I'm afraid.

[DeepHelmet]

Wife had an acoustic neuroma removed from against her brain stem on the left side a year and a half ago. Deaf on the left side now, but otherwise doing well. I'm hoping for a similar conclusion for your pops. Brain tumors are fucking scary.

[Thaleia]

Thanks everyone for your words of support and advice. Big respect to the neuroradiologist who pm'ed - that really means a lot, thank you kindly.

What I've learned through the course of today - MRI confirmed we're dealing with a 3-4 cm tumour in is left occipital lobe. Doc at the time suspected glioblastoma.

They operated for 1.5 hours and the Dr is confident it was all removed. He also mentioned he now thinks it could be low grade glioma. Biopsy to determine will take 2 weeks (wtf).

Dad looks like hell but is in slightly better spirits. He was joking around and his speech was slightly better but still had a hard time performing simple things like 'push down on the left foot' or raise your right arm etc.

I know it's far too early to really gain much insight into what to expect in terms of recovery but that's where we're at here.

Thanks again guys.

[iceman]

Man that was fast. Best wishes to him.

[The Reverend Floater]

One love.

[Adolf Allerbush]

Thoughts are with you and yours.

[::: :::]

Good vibes for the recovery!

[axebiker]

Vibes. Cancer is a bastard. Hope he beats it!

[TBS]

Good news on the surgery front.
FWIW, a colleagues father was recently diagnosed with a tumor on his lung. He isn't a smoker. Son got him started on RSO about a month before they decided to operate. Did a final scan just before the operation and tumor had shrunk to almost nothing.
Yes, sample size of one in uncontrolled experiment. YMMV
Best of luck for your dad. And if there's a lady in his life, know that she is going thru hell too.

[jono]

Good luck. Love and hate it when they move so fast, but hoping for the best. Mine wasn't brain but I still found the movie Surviving Terminal Cancer to be really helpful. Streams free at survivingterminalcancer.com

[DasBlunt]

I know a guy, had a brain tumor, they lifted his brain up slightly to get at it, and he is alive and normal as normal is.
modern medicine is awesome and scary all at once.

[jm2e]

Glad to hear the surgery went as well as could be expected. Gliomas are scary. Start thinking in terms of getting as much good out of life as you and your old man can pull off over the next couple years.