Don Christman's brain cancer

11-27-23

Don and I hope everyone had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving.

Since the beginning of September, Don has been admitted to the hospital 4 times for horrific headaches and pain. The last time, he was discharged on a Tuesday and felt so bad, his Oncologist re-admitted him on Thursday and stayed for another week. This time, the doctors asked me to stay with him in the room day and night to keep a very close eye on him. Believe me, it was needed. He couldn’t even walk to the bathroom. Aside from the severe headaches and pressure behind his eyes, he started having really severe dizzy spells. It affected him when standing and was even worse when he tried to lay down flat.

In early November, another tumor was found in the corpus callosum which is the back of the brain where the 2 sides of the brain communicate. On the last MRI, it has gotten a little larger. The treatment is back on chemo once every 6 weeks and radiation. The radiation was only for 5 days but he got the equivalent of 3 treatments each day. This has caused some nasty side effects.

So with the bad headaches, a lot of time was spent going to the ER and getting admitted from there. One night, I had to call 911 as I couldn’t get him out of the bed. The doctors thought it could be a leak in his spinal fluid caused by a fall on his back and getting a compression fracture in his lower spine. So 3 of the hospitalizations, they did a blood patch which is supposed to seal off any leaks. The 4th time we went to Kaiser Santa Clara to a specialist and he had a myelogram to check for leaks but all was fine. Thank goodness.

With all the hospital stays, medications, labs, MRI’s, etc. you wouldn’t even want to imagine what our costs out of pocket are. More and more now I’m not able to work as he needs full care at home and in the hospital. I have used up all my time off and now am not getting paid for the days I miss. Don is on Social Security Disability but they pay almost nothing. We are almost not able to pay rent and more than a few bills are delinquent. The struggle is real and sleep is non-existent.

I would like to Thank everyone that has helped us with the grocery gift cards. Without them, we would not be able to buy groceries, except maybe Ramen. There is nothing I hate more than having to ask for help, but have had to move past that. There comes a time when desperation outweighs embarrassment. We are selling what we can to help, Anyone need a fish tank or trombone? If anyone can help us just a small amount with some of the medical bills, we would be more than grateful. We still have our “Go Fund Me” account under Don Christman, Venmo or a check is fine.

A huge, giant Thank You, Love and Prayers to you all!!!

Don and Claire Christman

10-6-23

Hello Everyone,

I haven’t updated for awhile and wanted to catch everyone up. Just a re-cap, I was diagnosed with a brain mass on 7/26/22 and had surgery on 7/29/22 which turned out to be Glioblastoma, Stage 4 brain cancer. The Doctor was not able to remove all of the tumor and I have not been able to work since all this started.

One month after surgery I started chemotherapy and radiation. The radiation lasted for 30 days and the chemo was 42 days. Then I got a 3 week break and started chemo again for another 6 months. The doctor decided to extend the chemo for another 6 months. I finished this in August 2023. Since all this started, I get an MRI and labs every 8 weeks which up until now has showed no growth of the tumor.

In August 2023 I got really dizzy and had a fall landing on my back. This caused a compression fracture in my lower spine. I started having pressure and severe headaches with vision changes. The pain level would go up to 12 out of 10. After our 3rd trip to the ER, I was admitted for 5 days. They discovered a leak in the spinal cord that was causing all the pain. They did a procedure called a blood patch and I felt immediately better and was discharged home. 10 days later, the pressure and headaches were back up to 12 out of 10 again so we back to the ER and was admitted to the ICU for 4 days and another 2 days in a regular room. Another blood patch was done, this one much more intense and was discharged the next day, Tuesday, 10/3 home. I was doing ok, laying flat and not moving around much. In the last few days, I’ve been very dizzy, the pressure is back and vision changes and had to start using a cane for support when walking.

This coming Monday, 10/9 is a full day of MRI, labs, meeting the Oncologist, meeting the Palliative Care team and Avastin infusion that I get every 3 weeks. We are really nervous about this MRI and hoping it still shows no growth of the tumor.

The last few months have been a real struggle. My EDD ran out and we had to scramble to get on Social Security Disability. We were told this could take up to 6 months but got lucky and got on in 2 months. We are hopeful that the rest of 2023 will improve.