Fine

Brain cancer is...

 

...fine. 

Today was Darrell's Big Day Off.

It was good.

Couples' Weekend Finale

Brain cancer is...

 

...only good things.

We crammed much fun and happiness (purple--see shirt) into less than 48 hours.  A great finale to couples' weekend.  Above is lunch, and above lunch is brother-in-law trying to kill Darrell.  (Just kidding.)

Before lunch? Pirate ship!  Yar!

Yes, Darrell finished chemo for September.  Yar. 

We learned that the lake was created to water the groves in San Bernardino, at the bottom of the mountain.

We had a great dinner at Stubriks with Alex and Tiana, and we ended the night with darts.

Happy Saturday (for real this time--yesterday was Friday, I guess)!
Cheers to the finale!

Couples' Weekend

Brain cancer is...

...enjoying our Couples' Weekend tradition. 

Meridyth, Matt, Darrell and Andi have a tradition of couples' weekends, which began long before kids were born and now continues with kids grown.

We are enjoying Big Bear and the cabin.

Hiking.

Darrell the mountain lion. Rrrow!

Here's hoping you're hanging with the mountain lions you love on this beautiful Friday night!

Purple

Brain cancer is...

 ...highly colorful.

Over breakfast, I asked Darrell what his mood was.  Without hesitation, he said, "Purple!"  He told me that purple is a synonym for "happy."  He likes purple, as you can see in the newest luggage he selected.

Color is on our mind frequently these days.  Perhaps we've told you of Darrell's new "color rounding" theory.  As a minimalist, he has determined that there are only about 10 colors.  Turquoise?  Not a color.  Round to green.  Salmon?  Not a color.  Round to orange.

But let's get back to purple and happy.  Happiness is also on our minds frequently, probably more often than color rounding theory.  Many loved ones wonder and are hopeful that we are finding happiness in life.

Because life 2.0 is much more self-aware and reflective than Life 1.0, I am glad to report that, yes, we are distinctly happy often.  In fact, most days, most of the time, we feel noticeably happy. 

This surprised me some, so the other day, I kept a count of how many times Darrell and I laughed out loud together. I didn't count polite chuckles.  I only counted that laugh-out-loud, surprise-your-own-ears kind of laugh.  We were at 9 laughs by 10:00 a.m.  I think that's pretty purple.

So much good in life and in the world, so many things to be happy about.  For instance, our current rounds in darts typically look like this:

Better, right?

Here's hoping you're having a purple day too!

Spider Spears and the Allure of Alex World

Brain cancer is...

 ...being drawn in by the allure of Alex world.

Today Darrell and Alex invented a duster that could hit the ceiling spaces where the spider webs gather.  Alex re-envisioned the duster as a spider spear.  Of course! Then he drew his father into the magical, mystical Alex World of spider spears.

Cancer Eradication Updates 

• This week is chemo week.  Days 1 and 2 went fine for Darrell.  What a champ!  After today, he has just two days left before the typical three-week break. 
• Darrell is taking 3 instead of 4 mg of steroids daily this week, his first week of "taper."  It's going well.  No side effects.
• Yesterday Darrell's Optune system was alarming frequently.  None of the usual troubleshooting efforts did the trick.  We changed his arrays a couple days early, and the alarming stopped.  We discovered, thus, that the arrays can be bad.  Problem solved.
• Finally the radiologist's report analyzing last week's MRI scans was posted. The radiologist concurred--as directly as any Lord of Hedge can possibly concur--that there are no changes from last month.  Yussss! (MRI fist pump.)

Happy Hump Day, Team D!

Pupdates

Brain cancer is...

...enjoying blossoming pup relationships.

You may recall that, upon introductions, Beowulf was less than enamored of Mousse's puppish charms:

Fortunately, given time, their relationship is progressing.  Now Beowulf is happy to see Mousse every morning, and we increasingly find them enjoying each other's company:

Synchronized couch snoozing

Mousse also had a great time meeting Bradley.  Bradley belongs to Team D members, the Rodas Family.

Tyler and Zach have been good friends since kindergarten.  You can see Tyler's smile, which is almost as broad as the dogs' smiles:

Zach and Tyler appreciated the symmetry of dog relationships.  Years ago, our lab Lilah taught Bradley how to play as a pup.  Now Bradley taught Zach's Mousse to have some fun.

Here's to all forms of happiness, and to longstanding friendships.

Bonus Content

Four Guillaume experienced one of those unexpected and sweet occasions to be together:  Lunch today.  What better opportunity to take really bad selfies?

It's all for you, Team D.

Phew!

Brain cancer is...

Victory breakfast at Tiverton House

...stable, UCLA confirmed.  Phew.

Dr. Cloughesy confirmed that the tumor is not growing.  The edema is about the same.


Darrell went in with the plan of hoping to up the steroid dosage a bit.  Alex said that our negotiation skills were sadly lacking because, instead of increasing the dosage slightly, we left with directions on how to taper off of them, with the eventual goal of Darrell taking no steroids at all.


That's just tongue-in-cheek.  It's healthier not to be on steroids, and it's encouraging that that should be our current course of action.  Bye, bye, Doughnut Darrell.  Good thing we went to Stan's yesterday.  It will help with quality sleep as well.


Here are a couple more pics of the morning:


Dr. Cloughesy demonstrating similarity in tumor size, July and August.

Dr. Cloughesy and Alex, talking residency program shop




Once again we experience profound gratitude for the many members of Team D., and for their varied strengths.  That's you.  Thank you for your continued support on this journey.