New Things

Brain cancer is...

...continuing to bring new things.

Darrell's MRI went fine today, and it brought new information and experiences.

We checked in at the Cancer Center, and they told us that Darrell's scan would be at the hospital because he was getting an additional test today.  News to us!  So we walked over this bridge for the first time ever:

 In the stairwell, we found this wonderful, joyous mosaic:

It's by the same artists as the parrots (Katherine England and FSD students).  Can you read what the largest circle says? Here's a close up.

What a treat.  When we checked in at Admitting, I got this badge:

When did personalized visitor ID badges happen?  We haven't been gone that long!

Perfusion MRI

After an hour's wait, which added a bit of anxiety, Darrell sailed through the 45-minute procedure.  He says the hardest thing is to hold completely still the whole time.  MRIs in the Optune days mean that we remove the arrays just before he goes in, and we change them as soon as we get home.

The additional test was a perfusion MRI.  New word!  Perfusion!  Darrell had his typical scans with and without contrast (dye) too.  What we learned today is that those "typical" scans are considered static; the tumor cavity will always look "abnormal" (brighter than surrounding tissue). It can't be determined through those scans whether the abnormalities are due to necrosis (expected tissue death caused by treatment) or tumor regrowth.

A perfusion scan is a dynamic test.  They inject a different (nuclear) contrast into Darrell's arm and then scan his brain as the now-marked blood travels through it.  This is helpful because brain tumors are highly vascular (lots of blood vessels), much more vascular than the surrounding brain.  So the perfusion scan detects the presence of blood vessels, which can signal tumor regrowth instead of necrosis.

We learned all this before noon!

Darrell's next appointment with Dr. Park is in a week, to coincide with the next round of double dose chemo.  Dr. Park will read the scan then.

The radiologist's report of the scan will probably appear in Darrell's patient portal before then.  To read or not to read... 

Thanks for your good wishes and selfie kisses.  We hope you are enjoying your Tuesday.