MRI? Check!

Brain cancer is...

Darrell celebrates with a sticky bun while we wait for the CD.

 ...celebrating another scan down.

Thanks for your prayers and good wishes!  Success!

No results yet.

Andi's MRI Story

In the hospital, we were greeted by a new tech who smiled and led us back, asking over her shoulder of me, "Are you going to be in the room?"

Darrell's neck snapped to stare back at me.  There was horror in his eyes, and his facial expression said it all:  "Halt!  Your place is in the waiting room!"

I, being, the faster talker of the two, answered, "Yes!  I am going to be in the room!"  I had whipped off the angel charms and removed my wedding rings before Darrell could compose a sentence.

And thus I found myself sitting in Danger! MRI Zone 4 throughout Darrell's MRI. 

Don't worry; I was cleared.  However, because this was my first time in Zone 4, I had no idea how loud the process is.  For those Team D members who have not yet had an MRI or been allowed into Zone 4, use the ear plugs they give you.  It's so loud that the whole room seems to vibrate, and it seems impossible to locate the source of the noise. 

This YouTube video gives you a sense of it.  Turn your speakers up all the way for the true experience.

I also didn't realize that, although the tube looks open and spacious, Darrell's head is bolted down, as was the case during radiation.  No wonder no one loves an MRI.

Scanxiety Revisited

This was one of the many times that sharing something with you in the blog allowed us to process an experience.  We made some real scanxiety progress on two counts:

1. Yesterday's quote about the source of scanxiety being the remembering has held true for us.  Being back at the site of the trauma, where we ended Life 1.0 and launched Life 2.0, has been difficult with past scans.  Now that we've named the experience, we are better able to attack it head on and take evasive action.
2. The second source of scanxiety is the jitters that come with waiting for the results.  We read one tip online that was very helpful to us.  It stated that, whatever the scan results, they are useful.  Either they bring a sigh of relief, or they launch the next stage of planning in the GBM battle.  This tip helped us to understand that the scan doesn't change whatever is occurring in Darrell's head, it just gives us a window into his lovely cranium.

Thanks for being there!  Your weekend is just around the corner!

Bonus Content:  Doughnut-Free Day 10

Darrell's last doughnut was the morning after the Guillaume family birthday party.  We've kept this big news from you.  Because the cafeteria was out of glazed this morning, Darrell maintains his doughnut-free status.