Looking forward to taking a Christmas vacation to Mexico with her immediate family, Jill Peterson talks about her bout with a brain tumor the size of a baseball in a very matter of fact, very calm, even almost nonchalant tone of voice.
In fact, as she talks, there is no outward sign that the Bothell woman, 44, battled an extremely aggressive type of brain cancer that only a still-new drug — experimental when Peterson began using it — helped her defeat.
In April ‘07, Peterson began suffering from what she believes were “the most ridiculous headaches” anyone had ever had.
When she eventually ended up in the emergency room, the doctors figured her problem was a migraine and sent her home. Her regular doctor thought pretty much the same thing. The pain eased and Peterson thought maybe the doctors were right. Then she took a walk, including up the hill in front of her home.
“The pain came back tenfold,” she said.
Further tests revealed the real problem and Peterson said she wasn’t even all that surprised.
“There’s kind of a sense of relief that you at least know what is going on,” she said. “I never pushed the panic button throughout the whole process of being a cancer patient… I had a very vague sense of calm.”
Married and the mother of three teens, Peterson said the situation may have been tougher on her family than on her.
“I wasn’t ready to leave them, there’s way too much coming up,” Peterson said, referring to everything from high-school graduations to, eventually, grandkids. “That was the biggest irritation to me, that this wasn’t what I had planned.”
Peterson said the surgery to remove the tumor went as expected, that the growth was taken out cleanly with no complications. Still, the radiation and chemotherapy treatments that followed may have been worse than the surgery. During treatment, the radiation caused her to see lights and pick up on smells that weren’t there. As is often the case, the treatments also left her weak and ill.
“I honestly think the point of chemo is to just about kill you and hopefully the cancer, then bring you back,” Peterson said.
Mark Peterson set up a Web site/blog about his wife (www.getwelljill.com) and her experiences. That Web site turned out to be a big part of his wife’s salvation. The site offered visitors the chance to help by taking Jill Peterson to her treatments or by bringing dinner for the family. From the Peterson’s church and from her children’s schools, people responded and then some.
“There’s been so many reminders about how great people can be,” Peterson said.
On the day of her last radiation treatment, Peterson celebrated with a big lunch and her health seemed great. Almost predictably, that changed. Just about a year after the first tumor was found, doctors found another. They zapped it with a laser and put her back on medication, but of a different kind.
“I don’t know if I realized at the time how cutting edge the treatment was,” said Peterson, who had nothing but great things to say about the University of Washington doctors who helped treat her. The drug they gave her, Avastin, wasn’t even formally approved for the treatment of brain tumors until May of this year. Peterson said other patients in this area had to fly to different parts of the country to receive the drug.
According to Genentech, the manufacturer of Avastin, the drug is not chemotherapy, but what’s termed targeted therapy. When used for cancer treatment, the drug is meant to reduce blood flow to tumors.
Since her treatment with Avastin, Peterson said she has been cancer free since May 2008. She readily admits there have been some lingering effects from her illness. For example, her short-term memory sometimes isn’t very good.
“That’s just a scary fact,” Peterson said.
Still, she’s anxious for the holidays to start. The family talked about a couple of different scenarios as to how to spend the holidays before deciding on the trip to Mexico, something they’ve done in the past.
“It’ll be the just the five of us,” Peterson. “Just the family together, enjoying one another’s company and making memories.”
