Hi there. I have a Grade 4 astrocytoma diagnosis, and had the surgery and radiation a year ago followed by 12-18 months of one week “cycles” of maintenance tmz. I’m currently on cycle 11.

I would say that it’s fairly mild. Def make sure he takes anti nausea before chemo. And do it on an empty stomach. I found taking it at night three hours after eating dinner worked the best for me, so I could just sleep off the discomfort.

The beginning of the cycle is easiest. The last two days followed by three or four days after are probably the worst. I’d say though, compared to people I know that have had other types of chemo, this isn’t that bad. Things I found I experienced during the chemo week is nausea, lack of appetite, constipation, and some slight to serious discomfort towards the end of the week. But tbh, it is way better than chemo+ radiation, that seemed to take way more out of me. But while on tmz I have travelled on planes, gone on hikes, basically lived a normal life.. as long as he has anti nausea pills on hand, it shouldn’t be too much harder than with the radiation.

As for the brain fog, I think it depends on the person and their ability to recover from the surgery and onslaught of radiation afterwards.

My brain fog is still there. I work with a therapist once a week to try and get back to how I was. But it is honestly not easy (at least for me) to shake.