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See Glioblastoma general resources about the disease.
Latest Updates (Rolling Updates)
Chronology: Just the Facts
May 19:
Big spaz event which is still giving me residual processing issues.
May 4:
Had another round of labs (to ensure my numbers support starting Round 4 of chemo).
Took my last (and lower) round of steroids.
Got the all-clear and started the cycle.
April 28: We met with the department head and his team to review results.
In short, we got the results we wanted: New growth could not be confirmed.
April 26: Had our MRIs (with and without contrast).
(See Critical Dates & Prognosis at the end of this page for more about how we got here and what to expect.)
What’s Next
June 20: MRI scheduled.
June 1: Scheduled bloodwork. If labs come back good, Chemo round 5 five strarts.
May 4-8: Chemo treatment.
June 1: Labs and a visit with a member of my Neuro-Oncologist team.
June 20: MRI
How are You Feeling?
May 28: In short, the past few weeks have been challenging. My last round of chemo was May 2-8. I have delt with exhaustion and processing issues. While the fatigue his been challenging, aphasia has been the most challenging issue. I had some minor challenges earlier in the month but then I had an extreme issue on the 19th and I am still not back to 100%.
I am frustrated by being unable to read or write to any significant amount, especially writing. Today is the first day in weeks that I can manage to read and write to any significant amount, but it is slow and tying to proofreading my writing is,,,oof,,,not great.
Still, even a poor creation is better than no writing.
We are scheduled to meet with the doc on June 1 and perhaps we’ll find ways to find some better ways to manage/find alternatives to when my aphasia goes off the rails.
April 30: The steroids were much more enjoyable than the withdraw I experienced on the 28th (2nd day off them). I am taking a week on a low does to make it easier. Othan than that, still good. I’m not as sharp and energetic as I have been BUT I have been working on my walking/jogging and that’s going well.
April 26: Feeling better than I have in at least a year.
Critical Dates & Prognosis
Critical Dates
💫2025, July 9: “The Incident”
The strange experience I had while driving.
☑️July 10 - September 16: The “It’s probably a one-and-done” period.
MRIs showed a 1.7 cm lesion on my brain. I went through dizzying amounts of tests and passed of them with flying colors.
With being otherwise in great health and nothing to suggest any ongoing issues, this appeared to be something that would just heal and I would go back to work.
💥🤯 September 17: “Well, that escalated quickly”: The Seizure that led to surgery.
A new MRI showed that, within 3 weeks of the last MRI, the mass increased 67%.
📅 September 19, 2025 — Diagnosis & Surgery
Brain surgery performed
Diagnosis confirmed: Grade 4 Glioblastoma
🧪December 22: Last Day of a (roughly month) of Radiation.
🧠🔥January 2026–April 30:
Had to deal with swelling in my brain from the radiation. In short, my MRI on March 23 made it look like my cancer was back. However, the head of Neuro-Oncology said it looked more like swelling from the radiation.
I took a steroid to reduce the swelling and so we could confirm.
On April 26, I took another MRI and on April 28, there was no sign of new growth.
🔁May 1 to Present
We are in a wash-rinse-repeat mode until recurrence happens. It’s a case of “don’t fix it if it’s working”.
Prognosis
September 19, 2025: Date of Diagnosis.
Survival Rates: Grade 4 Glioblastoma has a median Life Expectancy of 15-18 months from diagnosis (per MD Anderson).
Survival Rates commonly cited sources beyond MD Anderson:
12 Months: 50-60% Alive
18 Months: 30-40% Alive
24 Months: 20-30% Alive
5 Years: 5-7% Alive
My Calendar:
June-September 2026: The cancer typically comes back 6-9 months after my last radiation treatment. This means MRIs show and are confirmed to be new growth.
As of this writing, I am in early May 2026.
Estimated Lifespan by Months from Diganosis
12 Month’s from Diagnosis Mark: September 19, 2026.
15 Month Mark: December 19, 2026
18 Month Mark: March 19, 2027
24 Month Mark: September 19, 2027
Context
I am in otherwise excellent health and caught it “early” meaning it had not grown so much or otherwise such that I could not have virtually “all” of the tumor removed. (See the “Glioblastoma” section for more information about the disease.)
Given that, 18 months is a relatively safe “goal”.
However, because of the nature of the disease, there is absolutely nothing that guarantees rapid progression is unlikely.
If live until March 19th, 2027, I will have outlived 60-70% of those who have it.
Can anything change my odds?
As of right now, this is 100% fatal.
My goal is to get into a trial. One of the requirements to any trial I may be able to get into is that the cancer has to be back. As note earlier, that event is statistically imminent.
While I have done some preliminary research on trials and am curious about some, I will not share anything until I have decided on a trial and can share what I know of it. Cart horse and all that.