Living with Brain Cancer

I am from Australia and would like to alert others to our experience with brain cancer My 67 year old husband passed away suddenly just 2 months ago.

He had been feeling very tired for around 6 months. He had a regular blood test that came back quote as “essentially normal”. He was then advised to take a course of vitamins. He had a history of melanoma and hypertension Over the 6 month period of feeling of fatigued,he also had an episode of blurred vision and dizziness ( which the doctor recommended only a regular eye test for new glasses),occasional numbness in one leg and weight gain which had caused his navel to protrude. He had become increasingly irritable and withdrawn and according to the doctor, he also had been experiencing severe headaches, which my husband did not mention to any of the family. Each new symptom obviously did not ring any alarm bells with our Doctor as no other tests were ever ordered.

My husband was an active man and was still working at the time he became critically ill.He became increasingly aggressive and also had developed reflux , was short of breath and had a vomiting episode which was very unusual for him.The day following this I went with him to our GP and basically begged for some help for us. The GP still stuck to the original diagnosis of depression , male menopause and “wind” in the stomach and gave my husband 2 days off work . We were given medication to treat these conditions and although I still felt very worried I was willing for him to give the tablets a try if it would improve his condition . Within two days my husband had become extremely confused and was showing symptoms of a stroke We took him to hospital where on his arrival he had a CAT scan,and was diagnosed with a brain tumour. A subsequent MRI showed multiple brain tumours and cancer in most of the rest of his body. The only treatment offered was palliative care because of the extent of his disease , which apparently was caused by the re-appearance of the melanoma that had been surgically removed 7 years before .He had regular check ups for 6 years after this and had been given the all clear.

My husband passed away 2 weeks after being told it was just depression. We are devastated by his suffering, our loss and by the fact that his condition was undiagnosed until it was too late for him to at least receive some treatment in the early stages of his illness. Depression has almost become the “Buzz” word of the 21st century and while it certainly exists, surely there must be some guidelines set down to rule out underlying physical causes before sample packs of pills are handed out with the advice to just come back in 3 weeks, especially with a medical history such as that of my husband.