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Hello everyone, my name is Josh.
On 9/12/14 my girlfriend of several years Teresa McCauley, was diagnosed with a grade 4 glioblastoma brain tumor on the front right side of her brain, about the size of a clementine. She was immediately scheduled to have surgery on 9/15/14 at the University of Minnesota, Fairview Hospital by Neurosurgeon, Dr. Andrew W. Grande.
After what seemed to be an eternity (nearly 9 hours), she was finally out of surgery and ready to start her long road to recovery. Dr. Grande was able to remove about 95% of the tumor, the only remaining parts are what we believe to be microcells that are likely embedded deeper in the normal brain tissue, which wouldn't/doesn't show up on an MRI. Teresa will still have to do radiation and chemotherapy during her road to recovery to ensure that we kill the remaining tissue that could possibly allow the tumor to come back and continue to grow.
Teresa was only in the ICU for less than 24 hours, then she was moved into a regular hospital room, that's how well she responded to the surgery. Unfortunately, along with the surgery because of where the tumor was located, she had paralysis on the left side of her body. This was something that we were prepared for, so it wasn't a huge surprise, but she is expected to make a full recovery with physical therapy.
After a few days in the regular room, she was transferred over to an acute rehabilitation facility located within the Fairview campus. After what had seemed to be very good improvement in a short period of time, she was going to be released to go home on 9/29, but the morning of (3-4ish am) she started getting really bad headaches along with being nauseous, and was vomiting along side of that, so her doctors ordered a CT scan and a chest X-ray to try to figure out what was going on. Because she wasn't feeling well they admitted her back to the hospital to do testing. They suspected that it may be meningitis. The following day we confirmed that she had contracted bacterial meningitis from the spinal tap and the bloodwork that was done Monday night. After confirming the meningitis, she was put back into the ICU. After her condition stabalized a bit she went back into a regular hospital room, and was once again scheduled to be released on 10/3. Once again she wasn't feeling so great the day of that she was supposed to be relased, so she stayed until Saturday afternoon (10/4) when she was finally released to go home.
Because of her meningitis, and because she is also susceptible to falling, she requires 24/7 supervision, so she is currently staying with her parents, as my job is not as lenient to time off. She has a permanent IV for the time being, and needs to receive antibiotics that are injected through several ports that are in her arm twice a day.
She was originally scheduled to start radiation and chemotherapy mid October, but because of the meningitis, and the antibiotics that she needs to have admisinistered, that got pushed back. Furthermore, we do not have any children, so she has to have eggs harvested beforehand because of the chemotherapy toxins. We are currently going through the process of the paperwork to figure out when we can do this, so radiation and chemo could be pushed back even further until this is done.
When Teresa does start radiation, she will be doing it every day M-F for 6 weeks, alongside a smaller dose of chemo because of them both happening at the same time. After she is finished with radiation, she will be going on one of the more aggressive types of chemotherapy because she's young and healthy and her body should be able to withstand it. That will go on for a little less than a year, with MRI's every two months to moniter the progress of the treatment, and she will be having blood work done weekly to moniter her white blood cell count.
At this time, this is all the information that we have on what her treatment should be like.
As far as her current condition, she's doing very well. She has since regained mobility of her left side, although it is still very weak as compared to her right side. She is able to walk on her own with the assistance of a cane, although the cane is more just a precaution, as she is not having to actually use it all that much. She isn't experiencing much pain, just headaches for the most part. She in good spirits, and is able to function just like any other person, but needs to be monitered just incase something were to happen.
The support we have received has been overwhelming. We've had quite a few people inquire as to if we've had a caringbridge or a donation set up so that they could help. We decided to set up a GoFundMe page for anyone that would like to contribute to what will be a long road to recovery ahead.
Please keep us and her family in your thoughts and prayers, and we will continue to update everyone on her progress, and any information that we receive.
On 9/12/14 my girlfriend of several years Teresa McCauley, was diagnosed with a grade 4 glioblastoma brain tumor on the front right side of her brain, about the size of a clementine. She was immediately scheduled to have surgery on 9/15/14 at the University of Minnesota, Fairview Hospital by Neurosurgeon, Dr. Andrew W. Grande.
After what seemed to be an eternity (nearly 9 hours), she was finally out of surgery and ready to start her long road to recovery. Dr. Grande was able to remove about 95% of the tumor, the only remaining parts are what we believe to be microcells that are likely embedded deeper in the normal brain tissue, which wouldn't/doesn't show up on an MRI. Teresa will still have to do radiation and chemotherapy during her road to recovery to ensure that we kill the remaining tissue that could possibly allow the tumor to come back and continue to grow.
Teresa was only in the ICU for less than 24 hours, then she was moved into a regular hospital room, that's how well she responded to the surgery. Unfortunately, along with the surgery because of where the tumor was located, she had paralysis on the left side of her body. This was something that we were prepared for, so it wasn't a huge surprise, but she is expected to make a full recovery with physical therapy.
After a few days in the regular room, she was transferred over to an acute rehabilitation facility located within the Fairview campus. After what had seemed to be very good improvement in a short period of time, she was going to be released to go home on 9/29, but the morning of (3-4ish am) she started getting really bad headaches along with being nauseous, and was vomiting along side of that, so her doctors ordered a CT scan and a chest X-ray to try to figure out what was going on. Because she wasn't feeling well they admitted her back to the hospital to do testing. They suspected that it may be meningitis. The following day we confirmed that she had contracted bacterial meningitis from the spinal tap and the bloodwork that was done Monday night. After confirming the meningitis, she was put back into the ICU. After her condition stabalized a bit she went back into a regular hospital room, and was once again scheduled to be released on 10/3. Once again she wasn't feeling so great the day of that she was supposed to be relased, so she stayed until Saturday afternoon (10/4) when she was finally released to go home.
Because of her meningitis, and because she is also susceptible to falling, she requires 24/7 supervision, so she is currently staying with her parents, as my job is not as lenient to time off. She has a permanent IV for the time being, and needs to receive antibiotics that are injected through several ports that are in her arm twice a day.
She was originally scheduled to start radiation and chemotherapy mid October, but because of the meningitis, and the antibiotics that she needs to have admisinistered, that got pushed back. Furthermore, we do not have any children, so she has to have eggs harvested beforehand because of the chemotherapy toxins. We are currently going through the process of the paperwork to figure out when we can do this, so radiation and chemo could be pushed back even further until this is done.
When Teresa does start radiation, she will be doing it every day M-F for 6 weeks, alongside a smaller dose of chemo because of them both happening at the same time. After she is finished with radiation, she will be going on one of the more aggressive types of chemotherapy because she's young and healthy and her body should be able to withstand it. That will go on for a little less than a year, with MRI's every two months to moniter the progress of the treatment, and she will be having blood work done weekly to moniter her white blood cell count.
At this time, this is all the information that we have on what her treatment should be like.
As far as her current condition, she's doing very well. She has since regained mobility of her left side, although it is still very weak as compared to her right side. She is able to walk on her own with the assistance of a cane, although the cane is more just a precaution, as she is not having to actually use it all that much. She isn't experiencing much pain, just headaches for the most part. She in good spirits, and is able to function just like any other person, but needs to be monitered just incase something were to happen.
The support we have received has been overwhelming. We've had quite a few people inquire as to if we've had a caringbridge or a donation set up so that they could help. We decided to set up a GoFundMe page for anyone that would like to contribute to what will be a long road to recovery ahead.
Please keep us and her family in your thoughts and prayers, and we will continue to update everyone on her progress, and any information that we receive.