So Far, So Good!

Brain cancer is...

 ...holding steady, it appears.

Darrell and Zach handled Darrell's scan like the bosses they are.  The first sentence of the radiologist's impression, above, says that there is no evidence of progression of disease.  Hurrah! 

The second sentence in the impression refers to the "brain muck" ("T2 abnormality, previously described").  It is "not well appreciated in this exam."  What the?  Of course brain muck is not appreciated, right?

Dr. Alex says that "not well appreciated," means, in this context, that the spot isn't clear in this exam.  Alex says that this is acceptable news because there's no evidence that it is obviously changed from last scan.   Not perfectly out of the woods yet, but we are certainly edging in that direction.  Dr. Park will give his interpretation tomorrow, and we will see UCLA's Dr. Cloughesy this Friday.

Thank you so much for sticking with Darrell through yet another scan!  You know we appreciate you, right?

Block 22 and I are off and running in our explorations of the fascinating topic of how humans learn.  It was certainly nice to see them (you) face-to-face after reading all those Easter Egg messages.  I'm looking forward to Block 21's faces tomorrow.

Darrell and I were at the park, bugging the birds, by 3:30.

You know what Darrell says:  "Today is a great day."  Thanks for being a part of it.

PS:  For the detail-oriented readers:  The radiologist said "left anterior temporal lobe" instead of "right" in describing the muck. It's on the right side.  Dr. Cloughesy said, at last visit, that such an error is common because radiologists focus all their efforts on finding and interpreting details.  Good thing we have an entire medical team.