I heard back from Jude’s oncologist with answers to all my questions and finally understand why she wants Jude to undergo proton radiation treatment since his tumor has recurred. I wanted to not take such a step unless the tumor came back a 3rd time after this next resection because of the risks of radiation — potential vision loss, hearing loss, cognitive problems, growth problems and secondary cancer — and because such treatment is 6 weeks long and not available in Minnesota.Â
Apparently she doesn’t want to mess around with this because if the ependymoma spreads to the spinal fluid, it will coat the whole surface of the brain and go to the spinal cord and then surgery alone is not curative. Instead, surgery, chemotherapy, radiation of the whole brain and spine would be required in a last ditch effort to save his life. In other words, the prognosis of metastatic ependymoma is very poor and most likely would result in his death.
This is a very difficult decision indeed.Â