BESIDE YOU IN TIME

Brain Cancer: perspective of a nurse practitioner, wife, and now widow

Hi, my name is Nicole and thanks for stopping by! If you’re looking for my blog, click here. If you want to be notified of any new blog posts you can subscribe at the bottom of this page.

In July of 2018, my husband was diagnosed with brain cancer. Unfortunately, Dustin died and became a ghost (or so I hope) on March 15th, 2022 only six days after his 38th birthday.

Our lives changed were forever changed when his first seizure that notified us of his ginormous brain tumor invading his beautiful brain. We were both in our mid 30’s, enjoying the fruits of our successful careers. Brain cancer is rare especially for young adults which made navigating that part of our lives so much more difficult. There are few people who truly understand what such a diagnosis does to someone who hasn’t yet lived a very full life. You become separated from your peers in ways that are difficult to understand or share with people who “don’t get it.”

There are so few stories out there for young adults. I want to share our story in case it helps someone else navigate whatever tough journey they are experiencing. So this is our story of love and brain cancer, through my perspective as a nurse practitioner, wife, and now widow. The story will be posted as a series of posts under the blog section. I’ve also compiled a list of resources under the “helpful resources” tab. It’s not a comprehensive list or even exclusive to brain cancer. Just some stuff I’ve found helpful throughout this experience. Not everything may be helpful to you or your exact circumstances but it’s there in case it is.

As you’d expect, there are likely many people who experienced their own versions of these events with us and they may recall them differently than I do. However, that is their and that is their story of how they experienced these events not my experience. This is our story, as I experienced it. Some of the events are recalled from memory, journal entries, or medical records.

Thanks for stopping by and hope you’ll find something helpful along the way!

xo,

Nicole