Glioblastoma and Stage IV Ovarian Cancer
Apologies for the long post-
My mother, now 59, was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer Nov. 2020. She fought it hard for many years even being cancer free for a year. It came back Nov. 2023 and since then she has had different forms of treatment, surgery and after a failing kidney they put in a nephrotomy bag Sept of 2025, on her left kidney. It's truly been a horrific experience for all of us and on top of that we live in Puerto Rico where the medical system is even slower than that in the states.
In January of 2026 she spent the first two weeks of the year with difficulty being able to communicate effectively. She would stutter her words, forget what she wanted to say, repeat back exactly what she would read or was being said to her. It was incredibly odd but with everything else going on with her Ovarian Cancer and at the time deep depression, we dismissed it as a side effect of her medicines and depression. I live full-time in MA and wasn't able to witness these symptoms for myself until I came to visit the week of the 19th to Puerto Rico. By the 22nd of January, two ish weeks after first signs of the complications with speech, we contacted her doctors. They told us to rush her to the hospital where they found a mass on the left side of her brain. They kept her in the hospital, they gave her keppra and decadrone, to prevent seizures lower inflammation and on January 26th, her 59th birthday, she had surgery to remove it.
Post Surgery- She stayed in the ICU for a few days. It was some of the worst days of my life. I'm an only child, and although having a large family I felt so alone and scared and I hated seeing my mom in that state. She was in the hospital for a few days and then we brought her home. She recovered well and slowly gained back strenght and about 95% of her speech back. I came back to visit very 2-3 ish weeks.
Glioblastoma- About two-three weeks after her surgery they called us to let us know that it was a malignant glioblastoma on the left side of her brain. They explained our options and let us know her treatment from Ovarian Cancer had to stop and that the glioblastoma woudl be treated first. We waited about a month or so for radiation and chemo to be approved but after a week of her starting it she decided to stop.
Seizures- Around mid-march she started having seizures. They started it out small and short but over time they got worse. Mid April she was having them every 5 min but thankfully we were able to get her a higher dose of her meds and since then she is talking again.. somewhat talking... and has no more seizures.
Hospice- After deciding to stop radiation and chemo for her glioblastoma we began the process of hospice. It took about two weeks for it to get approved and this was all happening at the same time she was having seizures every 5 min. I arrived during this period and it was so horrible to watch. A few days ago I was talking to her and a few days later she couldn't even say a word. We have had her in hospice since. She has good days and bad. Sleeps about 20 hours a day. Her speech is getting worse again but thankfully no seizures. She is at peace with her choice which is what keeps me somewhat calm. Time has passed so quickly but also seems to pass so slow. Its been an exhausting past 6 years and I am still processing the past few months. I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around this diagnosis even though its been 4 months. I've been reading this thread and I feel less alone in all of this. Every day she is a bit weaker and has a harder time communicating.
Any advice or thoughts would be great. Apologies if any of this is confusing, the timeline of it all has escaped me and I have a hard time remembering the past few months and honestly years. I may use this post as a way to update and maybe keep myself grounded a bit. This all happened so quickly I just wish I could talk to her again like I used it