My mother (61 years old) was also diagnosed with Astrocytoma grade 4 last October. The tumor was 2.9cm November 28th she had Gama Knife surgery (radio Therapy), The tumor came back to the same size by Early February and we took her to Memorial Sloan Ketering in Manhattan for surgery. The tumor then cam back again and in April 13th my mom went through with yet another surgery. In late June an MRI showed the tumor back again and the surgeons at Memorial decided no more surgeries, they gave her 1 dose of chymo CNU and sent us home. It has been almost a year now since her initial diagnosis and she is on Hospice home care. Memorial Sloan Kettering www.mskcc.com has so much information on alternative medicines available and trials, My Mother's Neuralogist was Dr Nolan and her surgeon was Dr Gutin both great doctors. Unfortunatly in my Mom's case it was too late to do anything. Good luck, you will get through this.