Skip to main content

First Week of Optune

Matt started his next phase of treatment last week, which is a fairly new device for glioblastomas called Optune

Optune works by creating low-intensity electric fields, called Tumor Treating Fields, or TTFields, which help slow or stop glioblastoma cancer cells from dividing and may also cause some of them to die.

He has to wear these transducer arrays on his head, which are connected to a battery pack. It has to be worn at least 18 hours a day. It was a bit of a hassle at first having to carry the pack around constantly and all the cords and everything, but now that it's been over a week he's getting used to it. The arrays have to be changed out every 2-3 days, and his head has to be shaved bald so that the arrays will stay on.

Even though it took a few days to get used to, he's still able to go about his daily activities and live life without it being too much of a hassle. So far in this first week we went cruising in the Jeep...



Out to dinner at Qdoba (for a keto approved meal)...

Took a  walk through a pretty trail at the park...

And he's still getting in his workouts, of course!
His keto diet is still going well. He actually says he really enjoys it...as long as I keep making him yummy treats on the weekend! :) He's been doing well on the chemo as well. He sometimes has to take a nap during the day and gets tired if he does too much in a day, but overall he's doing really good. 

We're still looking into some alternative treatments, such as supplements and essential oils, which we hope to get him started on soon. We just wanna try to hit this thing from all angles, and if it doesn't hurt, we'll try anything. The next MRI is in October, so until then we just keep living in the moment and taking it day by day.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

People always said That time would heal the pain But how can that be When mine still remains? The tears still fall At just the thought of you So I know that what they say Just can't be true As the years go by I miss you so much still  No matter how much time passes I know I always will How are you not here To ease my hurting heart? Never could I have imagined We would ever be apart My world has been shattered A piece of me is gone And all I can do is pray For strength to live on I know that one day soon I will see you again I just have to try to suffer through And make it until then

Putting My Heart Out There

Hey guys. Here's where we're at right now: Matt finished his radiation treatments last week. Did they help? I don't know. He's sleeping a lot more. Having trouble chewing and swallowing. Not eating much. Not talking much, at least not in full sentences. It's just been a slow, steady decline for the last few months. I think it was really too late for radiation....But who knows, maybe it is delaying things. We went in last Tuesday for his infusion and talked with his neuro-oncologist about everything that we've been seeing with Matt, and he decided that we're at the point now where we should discontinue treatments...I feel like it's the right decision, even though it breaks my heart knowing that there is nothing else we can do. But I feel like we've done everything. All the supplements, the diet, the chemo, the radiation... Matt has fought hard. He never gave up hope. He kept the faith. He never complained through any of this. Not once did I hea...

One Year...

One year ago today... the day it all changed. It was a Tuesday. I got the call from Matt around 3:00. I remember I was sitting at the computer at home. Matt told me that he was at the hospital, and that Bob Scott, his boss, had driven him there. Then he said those 4 words I never expected to hear: “The tumor came back.”  My heart stopped. Matt had gone in that morning for an MRI, as he has done numerous times in the past 10 years. He was now at the point where he had an MRI just yearly now, and that one was done in February, which showed that everything was fine. There was no sign of tumor growth, which had been the case for the last 10 years, praise God. But because Matt had been having some seizure activity for the last few months, they suggested he go in for another MRI in July. We then decided we should move up the appointment, because he had been having a headache every day for the past week. Good thing we did.... After I hung up with Matt,  I immediately brok...