Gooey Sticky Snowman Head

Reader's Advisory:  Gooey images ahead.

Brain cancer is...

See the sticky goo?

 ...scared by the gooey sticky snowman head.

Some Team D members wanted to know more about the gooey sticky snowman head we mentioned on Monday.  (Hey!  Now that I think about it, I think it's the same Team D members who liked Darrell's stitches way back when.)  

Today we had a repeat of the gooey sticky snowman head, so we were able to catch it on camera. Hurrah for the So Cal Snowman that has brain cancer on the run!

In case you wanted more technical details (yes, you, Roene), here are a couple shots of the goo process at different stages.

1.  Here's what an array looks like before we put it on Darrell's scalp. It's skin-side-up.  If you look closely, you might see that the circles and surrounding "bars" are coated with a fairly solid gel.  (Those circles are the contacts through which the tumor treating fields are delivered to his scalp, by the way.)

2.  Over time, regardless of conditions, that gel eventually breaks down and liquefies. That compromises the contact, and we change the arrays--if we had not yet.  Our heat and Darrell's high activity levels have hastened that breakdown as of late.  See the melted gel oozing out?

 

We changed Darrell's arrays shortly after this goo escape. The bright side about frequent changes (every two days) is that Darrell's head doesn't get any sores on it.  (Typically he gets some minor "hot spots" under some of the circles, particularly on the irradiated skin right over the tumor.) 

The negative side of changing arrays is that it briefly stops treatment, jeopardizing Darrell's 93+% compliance stats.  

But it's not that much of a hassle.  We know that people in hot, sweaty places like Florida need to change their arrays daily. 

We love you, gooey sticky snowman head!  We love you, Weekend!  Enjoy yours, Team D.