Here is exactly what she said:  Yes, we discussed your case at our brain tumor board meeting earlier today.  The final pathology was officially read as a Grade III oligastrocytoma.   The pathologist said that the majority of the specimen was a grade II, but there were some small areas with a somewhat higher proliferation index. He said that this was likely on the border of a grade II transforming to a grade III.Our tumor board recommendation was that you proceed with radiation therapy at this point. Radiation therapy is relatively standard, so I would just suggest that you find a good radiation oncologist close to your home. The treatments are daily for 6 weeks, so you don’t want to have to travel long distances for it. You should then get a follow-up MRI scan about 3 weeks after radiation. At that point, we can decide whether or not to proceed with chemotherapy after the radiation.

We weren’t exactly expecting the recommendation of radiation right away. This is a troubling decision for us, because you can only do radiation one time. So if this tumor were ever to recur and upgrade, once again, we wouldn’t have this option down the road, even though it’s not going to come back as I’m killing it with wholesome goodness. So we have some big decisions to make. I have questioned her about trying the chemo option first, but have yet to hear back. She’s in surgery today, so hopefully tonight. We are going to Maui in May, so all of this will need to get going sooner than later, or else we’ll overlap that trip, and I’m pretty sure we will all need that trip at that time. So please pray for wisdom and guidance, to know what our next step shall be. If my tumor excretes enough protein, which we’ll know in a couple of weeks, then I might qualify for the brain tumor vaccine. What this is, is that my tumor cells are cultivated with my white blood cells, and then re-injected into my body over a period of time. They have had great success with this, mostly with patients who have a higher grade tumor, though. So please pray that that might be an option, too. Until then, happy healthy eating. I can beat this beast!! Otherwise, all is well here. Thank you so much for your comments of love and encouragement, and especially for all of your prayers. We covet them all!! We’ll keep you informed…