Brain cancer is...

Wednesday 3/23/16 10:30 a.m.

  ...looking beyond "treatment" phase to the (very) next step.

Darrell is officially into the back half of his chemo and radiation treatment.  "Maintenance phase" is no longer a "we'll cross that bridge when we get there" abstraction.  Stuff has gotten real.  The hair loss is real.  The side effects for the anti nausea medication are real.  The consideration of the maintenance phase chemo regimen is real.  The adjuvant treatment that we--while still in the hospital long ago--called "tinfoil hat therapy" is so real we can touch it.  In the photo, above, Nurse Julie explained the Optune therapy to Darrell during our post-radiation visit to Dr. Dolkar today.

Four white (don't get me started about white) bandages, each with sticky stuff and six transducers, just like the one above, would be stuck to Darrell's shaved skull.  A ponytail of electrical leads (one from each bandage) would connect to a battery in a backpack that is, as Charlene points out, a stylish grey.  Darrell would plug in the device for at least 18 hours a day.  Patient compliance is tough...particularly for a guy who thinks the color blue would call unnecessary attention to him...so it's a big decision.  Darrell's thinking about it.

We are thankful for friends and family and the distraction y'all provide (of course in addition to the unfailing support).  Today Gail and Melanie hosted a steak and lobster barbecue, with brownies, berries and real cream for dessert.  We had the privilege of having many Munns family members together (including a vast majority of kid cousins, with Maddii and Katrina). We said good-bye to Mer, Matt, Nolan and Eva.  We tried hard not to ask ourselves that Life 2.0 question, "How many more times..." as we drove off.

It was an incredible week.  Thanks, Family and Friends, for all of it.