A Sense of Tumour: Pathology

Its been a while since I’ve talked to you guys about Brady’s brain stuff. Lots of reasons for that. Lots of waiting for us means lots of waiting for you guys, I suppose! But we’re here now with some information that we’re ready to share. 

*deep breath in*

So much like last time, we have differing opinions about the level of malignancy for Brady’s tumour. 

With Brady’s spinal tumour, it showed up like a patchwork quilt of grades. The surgeon said there were portions that had visible cancer cells upon removal, but some places that looked old and stagnant. Saskatoon wanted to call it low grade, but they sent it on a hot holiday to San Diego where they labeled it as high grade. So we treated it as high grade. Unfortunately, we’re in a similar position this time. 

This time around, Brady’s brain tumour looked nicely low grade, but with his history, they decided to send the tissue on another vacation, though we stayed domestic this time, sending it to Toronto. While the tumour looked better than the last one, their testing revealed similar molecular markers than the previous one. With that, they’ve decided to call it a high grade mass. A grade four glioma. Or, a glioblastoma. Which is kind of a big title.

We had a pretty good idea that Brady’s brain mass was cancerous the day it was removed. His surgeon informed us that the tumour had fuzzy edges, which suggests spreading. However, we didn’t want to share more information until we had yet further information. And that information is what cancer treatment will look like. Which we now know. 

More on that soon. Tomorrow or the next day. Its a lot to share really close together. But how else can our people pray if they don’t know the happs?! So. Now that we know them. You will, too. 

*breathes out*