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Pam's Brain Tumor Journey

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Anyone who has had the pleasure of meeting Pam knows that she is the most kindest, loving person. Always wanting to help anyone, anyway possible. She is head strong and has overcome many obstacles in her life. She has a strong sense of perseverance and strives to live the best life she possibly can.
The last month has been very hard. She has been experiences confusion and mobilty/coordination difficulties. She began to fall, a lot. Everyday tasks became impossible. Behavior and personality changes as well. These symptoms were worsening everyday.
Monday August 28th, an ambulance had to be called. She was taken to the hospital and after many tests and scans, we were given the news that the scans showed masses on her brain. The image below is a picture of Pam's CT of her brain. I have circled the masses.
The hospital told us that they were not equipped to give her the care she needed, so they started working on finding another placement for her. UC Davis accepted her and she was transfered there by helicopter.
Tuesday, August 29th, we met neurosurgeon Dr. Bloch. He explained that the masses are located on the parietal and occipital lobes of the brain (right and back side of brain)
These lobes control memory, vision, and coordination among other things. His physical evaluation of her showed significant deficit on her entire left side, including weakness, sensation loss , coordination and vision. She currently has no left peripheral vision, little to no use of her left arm, hand, leg, and foot. She is extremely confused and very forgetful, often repeating conversations without knowledge.
He told us they did full body scans and no other tumors were found. He is calling this a primary brain tumor, meaning it started in the brain, and will not spread to other places. He does suspect this is cancerous, however a biopsy will confirm and let us know exactly what it is.
First step of treatment is surgery to remove the tumors. His prognosis is good. He said most likely there has already been some damage to the brain, which could cause some of her current symptoms to stay or linger, however he said that she will be better than her current state.

Wednesday August 30th is surgery day. They will be removing the cluster of tumors. She will be in the ICU here at UC Davis for a few days, getting physical and occupational therapy.
Their plan from there is to transfer her to a rehabilitation center near home for several weeks to continue getting the physical and occupational therapies.
Chemotherapy and Radiation therapy will follow if pathology confirms this is cancerous.

Pam and her husband Pete live 40+ minutes from the town at which the rehab, physical therapy, and cancer treatment facilities will be. They are both permanantly disabled, on a fixed income, and already have financial instability.
They will need support for daily travel expenses, medical supplies, mobility devices and ramps, treatment and medication costs, etc.

Updates:

Aug 31, 2023.

Pam made it through surgery well. Her spirits are high and she is optimistic. Said she is going to work as hard as she can to get better.
She was assessed by physical and occupational therapy today. The sensation and vision issues still remain on her left side. They are recommending intense physical and occupational therapy at an inpatient rehabilitation center. They will be visiting with her several times today.

We are so blessed for the team here at UC Davis and all the thoughts and prayers from family, friends, and the community.

September 1, 2023

Bandages were removed. Approx. 80 staples to close the incision.
Right side

Back of head on right side.


September 2, 2023

Drainage tube has been removed. PT says she is doing well. Most therapy for her will be learning to acknowledge her left side and vision, as it's not getting all the signals from the brain. She is still having a lot of pain. Her problem solving is getting better and the math skills are coming back. She is anxious to go to rehab so she is closer to home and start her rehabilitation journey. 
They said we will most likely be sent to oncology in a couple weeks, once they get all the pathology results back. In the meantime they will be working her hard with physical and occupational therapy.
We are waiting to hear from the case manager for a status update on the transfer. Unfortunately it is a holiday weekend, so I'm not sure how soon the actual transfer will be.

She would like to thank everyone that is thinking about her, donating, praying and sharing her story. She says she is going to work hard to get better.

September 6, 2023

We finally got good news! Pam will be transferring to a Rehabilitation Facility back in Redding. They are picking her up this afternoon and will be bringing her to Quartz Hill Post Acute by ambulance.

September 12, 2023

Pam is starting to settle into the Rehab facility. It is not home, and she is so homesick. We are looking forward to making the trip back to UC Davis for her Post-Op appointment with the Neuro Clinic this Friday the 15th. She will be getting all those staples removed and hopefully the pathology results and our next steps to recovery revealed.

September 15, 2023

Traveled back to UC Davis to met with the neurosurgery team for post op.

Pathology showed our worst case scenario; Glioblastoma Multiforme or GBM for short.

Glioblastoma (GBM), is a fast-growing and aggressive brain tumor. Automatically stage 4 at diagnosis because it is incurable.
Good news is that it is TREATABLE. The use of Radiation and Chemotherapy can help keep the tumors from growing rapidly, can help keep symptoms low, and will prolong life.
A referral was sent to Oncology, and we will be calling first thing Monday to schedule an appt. Pam wants to start treatments as soon as possible. She is taking this one day at a time and has a positive outlook.

September 18, 2023

Pam is doing really well with all her therapies. She is starting to get pins and needles in her left hand; where she has had no sensation since before surgery!  She is making great progress.
She wants to go home so badly, however before we can get her home a lot of work needs to happen to make it safe for her to be home. Our main concern right now is getting her into the house. The deck needs repaired and ramps need to be installed. They live in the mountains and the ground is uneven with rocks. We will need to level out the ground and have a cement area made for the car so she has a safe way to get to the ramp and into the house.
If anyone knows of any resources to help with this, please reach out. Any and all help right now is appreciated.

September 26, 2023
Chemotherapy Oncology Consult.

Met with Dr Ali with Mercy Oncology. His plan is oral Chemotherapy in conjunction with localized Radiation therapy for 6 weeks. A referral for Radiation Oncology has been placed. Labs were done today and a follow up appt is scheduled for October 10, 2023.
The medication is called Temodar or also known as Temozolomide. You can learn more about this medication here through webmd:
This medication is prescribed through a specialty pharmacy and is delivered through the mail. 
Following Radiation therapy, Dr Ali said that he will give her a 4 week break before starting the next phase of treatment with the use of Optune device therapy for 6 months. You can learn more about Optune therapy here: https://www.optune.com/




September 27, 2023

Received a call from Dr. Torossian's office and scheduled the Radiation Oncology Consult for Friday September 29, 2023.

September 28, 2023

Received a call from the specialty pharmacy regarding the Chemotherapy medication. Due to Pam still residing at the Post Acute Rehab, they had to figure out billing prior to setting up delivery. They obtained all the contact Information for the facility and said they would call back once billing was settled.

September 29, 2023



Met with Dr. Torossian for the Radiation Consultation. Radiation will consist of treatments 5 days a week Monday thru Friday for 6 weeks. So 30 treatment sessions. Each session will last approximately 10 to 15 minutes.
Some side effects he said would be tiredness, brain fog, headache, nausea with or without vomiting, and hair loss.
They made a mold of her head and face, calling it a mask. This will attach the the bed during treatment and help to position and stabilize her head for accurate localized Radiation treatment. A CT scan was also done with the mask on so they can map out exactly were Radiation will target. 
MRI was brought up again, however I am unable to get ahold of the physician to schedule removal of her neurostimulator. I have left messages everyday as they never answer their phone, however no call backs have been received.

I have arranged her discharge from the Rehab facility for Monday October 2, as insurance will not pay for both Rehab and treatments. She will be staying with me (Jennifer) while we work on making her home safe and accessible.

She is progressing so much with Physical and Occupational therapies. We will continue to work with the therapies through IHSS. 

Updated picture of her surgical scar. Her hair is growing back and the itchiness is driving her crazy.


October 21, 2023

Thanks to the amazing compassion and kindness of friends, the deck was finished and the ramp was Installed. We are forever grateful for the time and effort that these great people put into making Pam's home safe and accessible for her.
Deck before:

Deck after:


October 22, 2023

Pam continues her treatment of Radiation and Chemotherapy. She is tolerating it well. Where the nausea, fatigue, and brain fog is daily, she has only became violently ill a couple of times. With the increase of her steroid to help with the brain swelling it also helps with cognitive functioning and mobility/coordination too. 

Tonight after Pam's shower, while combing her hair, the side effects of the Chemotherapy reared it's ugly head.


At this point Pam decided it was time to cut off the length. When offered to take her to the salon, she declined and allowed me to just pull up a chair in the kitchen and do my best.


So this is it until the day comes to grab the buzzer. We don't think it will be to far off.

October 24, 2023

Tonight was the night. Pam's hair was falling out with every slight touch, so she decided to let go of her hair.

Shawn volunteered to buzz his head too in support. 

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    Organizer

    Jennifer Schell
    Organizer
    Redding, CA

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