How Much Does Brain Tumor Treatment Cost? A Real Breakdown Three days after her husband’s glioblastoma diagnosis, my colleague sat at her kitchen table with a legal pad and tried to figure out what the next year was going to cost. She had decent insurance. They had some savings. Her husband had a good … Read more
What Causes Brain Tumors? Risk Factors Explained After my colleague’s husband received a glioblastoma diagnosis, the question she asked first wasn’t about treatment. It was: “Why did this happen to him?” He was 47. He exercised regularly. He didn’t smoke. He ate reasonably well. There was no cancer in his immediate family. Nothing in his … Read more
Mobile Phones and Brain Tumors: What the Research Actually Shows I’ve had this conversation more times than I can count. Someone hears about a brain tumor diagnosis — a friend’s parent, a colleague, a celebrity — and the first thing they say is: “It was probably from the phone, wasn’t it?” The assumption is so … Read more
How to Reduce Your Brain Tumor Risk After writing about brain tumors for some time, the question I receive most from readers is some version of this: “What can I do to make sure this doesn’t happen to me?” It’s a completely understandable question. Brain tumor diagnoses are frightening. The desire to do something — … Read more
Foods That May Increase Brain Tumor Risk: What Research Shows A patient I know told me she’d thrown out everything in her pantry after her husband’s brain tumor diagnosis. Processed snacks. Canned foods. Anything with preservatives. She’d read online that these things “cause brain tumors” and felt she had to do something — both to … Read more
Stress and Brain Tumors: Is There a Real Connection? After her glioblastoma diagnosis, the first thing my neighbor said to her husband was: “It’s the stress, isn’t it? From work. I knew it was going to catch up with me.” She had spent fifteen years managing a demanding team, working long hours, rarely switching off. … Read more
Brain Tumor Headache vs Normal Headache: How to Tell the Difference Every time my sister gets a bad headache, she goes quiet for a moment and then asks the question she’s been asking for three years. “Do you think this one is something serious?” She’s not someone who catastrophizes generally. She’s a rational person with … Read more
Natural Treatment for Brain Tumors: What’s Real and What’s Dangerous After her mother’s glioblastoma diagnosis, a colleague of mine spent two weeks doing nothing but research.She wasn’t looking for surgery or radiation information. She was looking for something else — something gentler, something that felt less violent than the treatments the doctors proposed. She found … Read more
Gamma Knife Surgery: What It Is, How It Works, and Who Needs It The name is genuinely confusing.Gamma Knife surgery. The word “knife” suggests cutting. The word “surgery” suggests an operating room, an anesthetic, a recovery ward. It suggests something that happens inside your body while you’re unconscious. None of that is accurate. Gamma Knife … Read more
Chemotherapy and Brain Tumors: How It Works and What to Expect When my neighbor was prescribed chemotherapy for his glioblastoma, his first question surprised his oncologist. “Will I lose all my hair?” It’s the question most people ask first. And the honest answer — for the most common brain tumor chemotherapy drug — is no. … Read more