Date: November 10, 2022 at 10:32:17 PM PST
Dear Friends,
This is an update on our situation with Betsy. I apologize to those of you who have written to me and have not gotten a reply. It’s been a full time job responding to needs here. For those of you who are new to this list, Betsy has a brain tumor. What happened was that a sudden numbness in the right side of her body on October 22nd led us to the emergency room. There, an MRI was performed and the tumor was discovered. There was no clue prior to this that anything was amiss. The numbness occurred as we were packing here in San Diego for a trip to Colorado and Arizona.
While the MRI showed the tumor to be in the shape of a lump, which led the surgeon at Sharp Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa to believe he could simply go in there and take it out, he found it to be in the shape of an octopus when he actually went in surgically on October 26th. Thus, even though she was in the operating room for 7 hours he was only able to take out a small amount of the tumor because the metaphoric octopus’ tentacles are entangled with Betsy’s brain. Taking out any more than he did would have left Betsy paralyzed as well as risking the loss of her ability to speak. The surgeon, Dr. Tyrone Hardy, is a very compassionate and skill neurosurgeon with 51 years experience.
What we discovered from what he did take out is that the tumor is malignant (cancerous), it is inoperable (it can’t be removed surgically), it originated in the brain (at least 6 months ago), it won’t spread beyond the brain, and it is what is called a high grade astrocytoma.
After 4 more days at Sharp Grossmont Hospital, we had a consult with the Medical Director of Neurotrauma of Scripps Hospital in La Jolla, Dr. Frank Coufal, to get more input (the proverbial 2nd doctor’s opinion). He verified that Dr. Hardy had done an excellent job with the surgery and had made the right choices as to what he did and did not take out. After doing a thorough neurological exam, he determined that Betsy’s brain is working just the way a normal person’s brain works. If only Betsy was a normal person. (just kidding Betsy!) No, seriously, Betsy is doing really well - no brain functions were diminished as a result of the surgery so she’s got all her faculties and personality and she’s in great spirits.
Bringing the story to its current status, we just had our follow up meeting with Dr. Hardy, who was going to share with us what the pathology report revealed. Unfortunately, that report is still not finished. We had hoped to have new information to share but , alas, we don’t. He reiterated what he had already told us and in addition we did hear from him that because of the “grade” of the cancer, it is called an anaplastic astrocytoma or glioblastoma. I wish I had more to share and I am sharing this little bit of an update because so many people have asked. Stay tuned as we do learn more.
The suggested plan of treatment is radiation and chemotherapy. While the octopus in her brain is “inoperable”, radiation can shrink it and chemo can at least slow it down. A reason the pathology report took so long is that they did genetic studies which enable oncologists to give Betsy chemotherapy that will target just those cells in her body that have the same genetic structure as the tumor. While chemo and radiation or any modality that introduces or exposes Betsy to toxins go against the grain of our lifestyle, we are open to expert input and direction regarding all approaches that have efficacy, both traditional and alternative.
Betsy’s committed to doing what it takes to live as long as she can. What’s supporting our (and hopefully your) reasons to be optimistic are that she has a great attitude about it, is taking good care of herself relative to current diet, she has no problem saying no to such things as sugar and alcohol and anything that would run counter to keeping her healthy, she has a long history of having a very healthy lifestyle and diet (as one ER doc pointed out after going over her bloodwork), and we have an incredible support system. Aside from the fact that we’re staying with friends in La Jolla who are taking very good care of both of us and feeding us only healthy organic food expertly and lovingly prepared by our dear friend and host, Rachel Herman, we have the integrated medical support of our “sisters”, Meredith Lowry and Ilene Spector, both doctors of Osteopathy whose years of training and practice stretch far beyond the straight and narrow such that they are very grounded in integrated medicine. Ilene specializes in brain injuries and Meredith once taught homeopathy to medical students at Harvard.
The doctors have recommended that we stay in the area and we’re in the process of determining if we’re better off in Los Angeles (where Jess and Phil and our 4 month old granddaughter, Story, live), or in the San Diego area, where we enjoy a nice connection with the ocean and latino culture.
We’re looking forward to Thanksgiving here at the Herman house. Jessica, Phil, and Story are coming down. And Cassidy, who in the past 4 months has been to Scotland, Ireland, Berlin, Athens, and is now in London, is flying here next week. Thanksgiving at Casa de Herman is quite special. Josh and Rachel met in culinary school and what the two of them put together is quite a delectable feast. Josh rotisserie-roasts the turkey and Rachel gives life - in beauty and taste - to the plainest of traditional holiday side dishes. Rachel’s mother is quite the cook, too, and they all are even more health-conscious than Betsy and I are. And it’s always a treat to spend time with Rachel’s folks.
But back to Betsy… As I shared in my previous update, she is doing great and feeling great. She is feeling very much alive, purposeful, and positive. Through this situation, she has been peeling back layers of identities imposed on her by those who influenced her when she was young. She is going through that process with her eyes wide open and loving every moment of it. The whole thing is a bit ecstatic for her. I believe she is grounded in reality (but I’m tracking that moment to moment given her state of elation being so incongruent to the facts) and this is truly an integrating experience for her.
She appreciates, as do I, all the love and support and positive energy coming her way. Please continue to hold this beautiful soul in your hearts. She is very much at home right there.
With love for you and respect for this river of life - and of love - that flows through us all,
Jimmy and Betsy
Here’s Betsy today, as we were leaving to go to the surgical follow up, wearing her hat to cover up her punk bald spot
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