Offensive Thinking

Brain tumors suck. Hi, I'm Patrick btw. This is my cancer blog. My "normal" stuff is over here.

Radiotherapy The Sequel: MRI Results

Yes, a lighthouse I took a picture of in Canada. It's symbolic, for, uhmm, me feeling well and the treatment having done what it should? Like a well-working lighthouse? Hey, I'm running out of meaningful blog pictures here, cut me some slack...
Yes, a lighthouse I took a picture of in Canada. It's symbolic, for, uhmm, me feeling well and the treatment having done what it should? Like a well-working lighthouse? Hey, I'm running out of meaningful blog pictures here, cut me some slack...

After about two months, it was time to go to Heidelberg for my first post-radiotherapy MRI. To make a long story short: everything worked out as we hoped, i.e. the remaining tumor regressed. This is great news, as we were especially concerned about the remaining tumor tissue that wasn’t removed during surgery, in the lower part of the resection hole (I’ll post some pictures someday, I just never come around to prepare some decent ones).

I’m now back on track for my usual four months interval of checkups, which makes me happy. Now we hope that this was the last time I needed to actively do something for a very long time. Or at least until they found the magical treatment that makes my cancer a chronic disease without killing me eventually :).

I also stopped taking Lacosamid (Vimpat), as I haven’t had any seizures since mid-June. The dosage of 100mg/day was already low anyway, so my oncologist suggested to just remove it again. Remember, we’ve added Lacosamid to the Levetiracetam I’m already taking because I’ve had minor seizures about once a month before I started radiation. Now of course, as we’ve changed two variables at about the same time, we don’t know whether the radiation or the Lacosamid are responsible for the seizures not happening anymore. Maybe both. So I’ll just stop taking Vimpat and we’ll see what happens, in the spirit of the one true scientific method, trial and error ;). In the long run, I might even reduce (or completely get rid of) the Keppra I’m taking.

Now for the important things in life: I’m growing some thin, fuzzy hair back on my head! It’s not too much, and I’ll keep the shaved head for the time being, but it’s a start. I’m still not too concerned about having my hair back, but it would be nice to lose the weird shape of the completely bald spot where the radiation beam went through. It always looks as if I’m too incompetent to shave my head properly. But hey, first world problems.