Incontinence

My husband has anaplastic oliogligioma(sorry for the spelling).  He completed his radiation therapy December 14, 2012, and will begin tremador tomorrow.

This is my question, how do you know if the tumor is growing again?  My husband's second tumor was not resected at all, and is very large.  He has severe cognitive and physical disabilites due to his tumor.  He has recently began being incontinent, mostly bladder, but occasionally bowels (and seems not to even care).  Is this normal?  I'm really worried that his tumor has started to grow again.  We won't have an MRI until next month, but he seems to be getting worse daily.  Can you share your experience with me?

sorry, Temador

 

wow, i just wrote a long and thoughtful response and when i hit 'post' an error message came up and deleted my answer.  ugh.

long story short.  my husband had bladder issues (holding it long) in the hospital - depends 'underwear' helped a lot.  i think the bladder weakness was from brain swelling because he got control over it again just from steroids - the tumors shunk somewhat months later.  so, they were still there and big when he regained bladder strength.

talk to his doc and tell him/her - any change is important.  maybe he just needs more steroids?  just a thought...  good luck and let us know!

I did speak with the Dr. yesterday, and he feels it is due to increased brain swelling.  He is doubling his decadron again.

Hopefully, this will help.

On Jan 15, 2013 11:11 AM slacy40 wrote:

I did speak with the Dr. yesterday, and he feels it is due to increased brain swelling.  He is doubling his decadron again.

Hopefully, this will help.

omg i was right???  lol 

that's awesome news and hopefully a quick enough fix.  please remember to give it some time - it takes about a week for my husband to 'recover' and get back to himself after we've increased the steroids to where they need to be.  so just be patient and hopefully in a few days you'll see great results.  

ps - what dose will he be on?  my husband just went up to 8 mg...

On Jan 14, 2013 3:07 AM slacy40 wrote:

My husband has anaplastic oliogligioma(sorry for the spelling).  He completed his radiation therapy December 14, 2012, and will begin tremador tomorrow.

This is my question, how do you know if the tumor is growing again?  My husband's second tumor was not resected at all, and is very large.  He has severe cognitive and physical disabilites due to his tumor.  He has recently began being incontinent, mostly bladder, but occasionally bowels (and seems not to even care).  Is this normal?  I'm really worried that his tumor has started to grow again.  We won't have an MRI until next month, but he seems to be getting worse daily.  Can you share your experience with me?

Hey, how are things going?  Any better since upping the steroids?...

PS - I just reread your post again.  Are you sure the cognitive difficulties are from the tumor?  My husband was relatively fine, even with his tumor - it was the radiation that caused him horrible cognitive difficulties...  if only we could go back in time...  :(

How does the incontinence begin? Does it happen all of a sudden or is it an occasional accident, at first and then increase. Sometimes my Donnie will empty his bladder then 30 minutes later, think that he has to go again. I'll hold the urinal for him sometimes 15minutes and then agree that we will try later. He voided in the bed twice last week. He didn't even realize it the first time. I dismissed it, to him, as a spilled drink. The second time, when I blamed the drink cup again, he said, "No, I think it's pee". 3months ago, he would have been mortified, but he was pretty matter of fact and never thought about it again. I'm trying to have him empty his bladder, when I think about it, to avoid future accidents. Although, the nights will be difficult. Most of the time, he lets me know and we can get to the urinal in plenty of time. He has only had the 2i incidents. The last 2 MRIs have shown progression. Thank you for all of your insight. Nancy

Hi Nancy,

Hmmm I'm trying to remember how my husband's started...  I'm pretty sure it was occasional and then became more frequent.  His problem was mainly realizing he had to go "all of a sudden" and then, being in the hospital, the nurses never came quick enough.  He just also didn't have the strength to hold it.  Thankfully, that ended...

One thing that REALLY helped was the Depends "underwear" - they're in a black box I think and look like gray briefs.  When the nurses saw them, they were sooo excited and impressed, lol, and commented how they wanted to get them for members of their own families.  :)   Really, they helped a lot.  Your son will still have "accidents" but at least they'll be contained, there won't be any "clean up" and he'll definitely feel better about himself as well.  I hope this helps!

Sarahgrey, thank you for your response. We were kind of rockin along with the Avastin keeping things stable and are, now going into another phase, I fear. I refer, often, to brain hospice for symptoms to expect. I know incontinence will be a factor. I appreciate your voice of experience. Nancy

hi nancy,

funny how we all become 'experts' after only a few months with this beast...  :(

is brain hospice that website that tells you what to expect in the final months, weeks, days?...  if so, oh goodness pleeease stay off it.  that damn website had me burying my husband months ago in my mind!

i think that's based on one person's experience and everyone is different.  but really, try not to be too freaked out by what you read there, if that is the site you're talking about...

may i ask how old your son is and what he has?...   :(