Thursday, February 11, 2016  2:25 p.m.

Brain cancer is...

...a reason to practice some important life hacks.

It's not just in Law and Order, friends.  At some point someone in your life really will ask you to count backwards from 100 by sevens.  It can't be done, brain cancer or no.  We started practicing shortly after failing this test.  Here are our notes.  If you can read them, take a few minutes.  Find the pattern.  Or just memorize.  It's only 14 numbers for goodness sake.  No need to thank us.

Thursday, February 11, 2016 12:47 p.m.

Brain cancer is...

...a reason to throw away the squishy ones.

Enough said.  We liked the rest of them, Dad.  Thanks.

Tuesday, February 9, 2016 6:00 p.m.

Brain cancer is...

...a reason to be awed by the world's beauty.

This is the view from Darrell's room in the CCU, post surgery.  We appreciated turning our faces just 90 degrees, away from all the IV lines, monitors, and flashing things to remember how big and gorgeous the world truly is.  My friend Ruth and I text each other photos of the beauty of daily life on the regs.  Here's to the heightened awareness that comes with sharp contrast.

Saturday, February 5, 2016  1:03 p.m.

Brain cancer is...

...a bolt out of the blue.  

We hiked five miles at Big Bear Lake the day before we headed down the mountain to the Emergency Room.

By phone consult, my little sister, Melanie, convinced Darrell that slurred speech was a really good reason to go straight to the hospital. ("Monday?"  "Today.")   She met us there.

Brain cancer is a bolt out of the blue...except it's not.  I looked at other brain cancer blog posts and it appears that we're all surprised.  BRAIN CANCER?  What? THAT'S not in the family!  Who's ever heard of THAT?  Brain cancer is uncommon.  However, GBM (Darrell's cancer) has a checklist that reads like an invitation:  Midlife?  Check.  Male?  Check.  White or Asian?  Check.  You're in.  Welcome to the adventure. 

Hello.
My name is Andrea and my bigger half (forget the math), Darrell, was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) on Tuesday, February 9, 2016.  I hope to capture our cancer adventures through images and words through this blog.

Either you know this personally or you will learn through this blog (if I can do it right): In the Top Five list of Darrell characteristics is humor.  Hence the name of this blog:  Brain Cancer Is...

The day after surgery to remove what could be removed of the tumor, Darrell met with the speech therapist.  One of the assessments she gave Darrell was a "complete the sentence" task where he he finished, in writing, a number of sentences given brief prompts.  For instance, test says, "Yesterday..."  Darrell writes, "...all my troubles seemed so far away."  Test says, "Babies are..." Darrell writes, "...evil."  Hence the format of this blog.  For now, I plan for each post to complete the sentence, "Brain cancer is..."

Thanks for reading.  It helps to share.