Mary White

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.
     Several weeks ago Mary started having some strange symptoms that didn't make much sense.  For example, she was feeling hypersensitive to the touch;  especially her fingers had a burning sensation.  She developed a metallic taste in her mouth and her Worcester accent from childhood mysteriously returned.  On September 11 she began exhibiting signs of a stroke.  Fortunately, she was at her orthopedist at the time and she quickly recognized what was happening and called an ambulance.  Scans at the hospital revealed that Mary had a brain tumor that was bleeding,  which caused the stroke.  She was stabilized and scheduled for surgery the following Monday.  
     The surgeon was able to remove most of the tumor, they biopsied it and then gave us the devasting news that she had a glioblastoma, a malignant form of brain cancer.  As you can imagine, this has been hard news for us to digest.  At least it is a less aggressive form of glioblastoma. 
     Mary begins a 6-week protocol of radiation and chemotherapy next week.  They tell us the chemo can be taken in pill form and it won't cause her hair to fall out.  In 6 weeks she will be reevaluated and then we will decide on the next course of action.
     While we are devasted by this news, we are pleased that Mary has recovered quickly from the stroke and brain surgery.  The slurred speech and slow cognitive processing that was seen before the surgery has totally dissipated. Mary is fully mobile and just using a hiking stick for minimal support. 
     While Mary is often up for visits and company, text first to see if she is up for it.  She is thoroughly enjoying food, especially sweets and traditional New England comfort food.  
    If you want to provide a meal or help out in another way, we will set up a calendar on this website soon. If you have questions about how Mary is doing or what she may need, please ask on this site or check in with Mike.  We don't want to overly burden Kira with being the conduit for information.  We have a great medical team supporting us, so no need for medical suggestions at this time. 
   Thank you for all of the cards, flowers, and well wishes.  If you wish to stay abreast of what is happening with Mary, please be sure to click that you want to "follow" this site.  You will get an email telling you if we have posted something new.   It is great to know that we have such a loving community surrounding us as we face this new reality.  Thank you for being here with us, Mary, Mike, and Kira