Hello friends and family,

Our approach has been to send new developments on my GBM  diagnosis through Caring Bridge. Yesterday’s scheduled 6 week MRI showed serious and somewhat unusual progression of the tumor.  

Based on an initial review with our neuro-oncologist, the results were unexpected, unfortunately. The cancer has shown some atypical (though not unheard of) and aggressive changes, with both nodular growth in the existing surgical cavity and some generalized spread around the perimeter of the right brain hemisphere - too complicated to attempt to explain through this site. 

The prognosis is dire. She will be further reviewing with rest of the medical team over the weekend; tumor board at Penn meets next Thursday to confirm what they see and evaluate treatment options, which will likely be limited and perhaps not worth subjecting my body to any more treatments in order to maintain quality of life at this time. We should hear more this week.

Heavy news to come to terms with, but we'll do our best, as always and do our best to follow our "do what brings you joy" creed, hopefully including more travel in the short-term. Fortunately for now, no new symptoms based on progression - that may change...

Best from Philly,

Ken and Michele