UW Radiology Report

University of Washington just emailed me my radiology report, and since I can easily copy and paste, I thought I would post it here in case it might be helpful to others. UCLA doesn't provide a radiology report at their Tumor Board, however in the last post I included their opinion on my brain scan (hint: they think my tumor is growing). Now, because of the differences in opinion, we wait for the private third party review from Iris Radiology to determine if I'm in the early stages of a recurrence or whether the differences in findings are more a matter of MRI reading techniques.

Narrative

EXAMINATION:
MRI BRAIN WO/W CONT

CLINICAL INDICATION:
History of left parietal infiltrating astrocytoma status post resection.

TECHNIQUE:
MRI Head Tumor (Primary) contrast plus post GD SAG T1 (Glioma /GBM)(B 2PT)

Non-contrast Head: Axial T1, axial T2, axial diffusion.
Post-contrast Head: 3D FLAIR (Sag, Ax, & Cor), axial diffusion. Axial, coronal
& sagittal T1.

CONTRAST:
Prohance 15 ml 10/24/2015 08:10 AM INTRAVENOUS


COMPARISON:
Multiple prior MRIs of the brain, most recent dated 3/22/2015.

FINDINGS:
Post surgical changes compatible with left parietal craniotomy and tumor
resection again noted. Surrounding FLAIR hyperintensity is unchanged. There is
no evidence of new areas of enhancement at the resection site or elsewhere in
the brain parenchyma. A right frontal developmental venous anomaly is noted.

Incidental note of small intracranial right vertebral artery flow void again
noted and unchanged from 3/22/2015. Otherwise, the major vascular flow voids
through the circle of Willis are patent.

The ventricles and sulci are unchanged in size. There is stable ex vacuo
dilatation of the left lateral ventricle due to volume loss.

Orbital structures and extracranial soft tissues are normal.

ATTENDING RADIOLOGIST AND PAGER NUMBER

##############

A Film Crew?

Hey Guys! Thank you for all of the birthday comments, texts, and emails, and phone calls, and Facebook messages! You guys all make me feel deeply loved.

On my birthday Dan surprised me by taking me on a bike ride along the Burke Gilman, which I have run but never rode. Riding bikes on the BG is awesome! I's mostly flat and you can literally ride for miles and miles. It's stunning.

But that's not even the biggest news. One part of the big news is that I am flying back to New York next week, the 19th, for an attempt at another immunotherapy shot. It should be fine though, I'm expecting smooth sailing so to speak. 

The next part is that in 24 hours or so, SoulPancake a media/production company ("We create stuff that matters. That opens your heart. That makes you think. Our mission is to help you and your audience figure out what it means to be human and feel damn good doing it. Our brain batter of art, culture, science, philosophy, spirituality, and humor is designed to get people talking, sharing, and engaging with this crazy, exciting, creative journey that is life."), along with WayFarer Entertainment, is sending out a crew to film Danny and I for an episode of a series about people who get diagnosed with cancer. It's kinda crazy, and a huge honor to get to share what we've gone through, and share how we live our lives. My hope is that we can make others feel more comfortable about what they're going through, or have experienced. And that goes for people who have been diagnosed with cancer, and those who haven't. 

We all have hard things that pop up in life, and personal stories always help me, so I'm hoping to inspire others and put them at ease. People often ask me how I've been able to do what I've done (defy odds, find new opportunities health wise to live longer, relearn talking, reading, and moving my body) and all I can think of is how important it has been to be stubborn/strong willed, curious, passionate, easily inspired, and easy to laugh. That combo has been a saving grace. I always say this because there are no guarantees, but this type of cancer, the infiltrating astrocytoma is invasive and virtually impossible to survive solely by conventional methods. And since I'm not as hard core as I once was, there is always the possibility that the cancer is growing inside me. It's a very real, very scary reality. But if I just panic and miss the beauty in life, constantly living in complete fear, then what was the point in life? What was the point of me being on Earth? So I try to keep things in perspective. I try to maintain a balance between enjoying life and maintaining my health; constantly oscillating between two worlds. Sometimes they overlap, but often times it is an exercise in control and depravation. 

I'm nervous for the film crew, but also excited. It's very surreal, and terrifying letting people come into your life, your home, to see exactly who you are, your mannerisms, your quirks. Clearly I've been doing it for awhile, but it's different when I'm doing the blog. With the blog, I have complete control over editing on what I choose to share in my life. In this situation, I don't. I'm also not a fan of watching myself on video (hence the lack of video blogs). I'm an emoter, a sharer, an open book, but I tend to express myself verbally with the written word. I keep reminding myself that this is only through Sunday, and after that it will all be over. So I need to be in the moment, and have fun and enjoy the oddity that will be getting filmed. I will blink and it will be over. But what will last will the memories, and the documentation of when the show airs. That will be a beautiful treasure.