RIP Steroids, You Will Not Be Missed

Today has been my "let's see how this tumor is doing" day (that is a direct quote from Dr. O).  First, I had an MRI this morning at 8:00am.  It was thirty minutes long, which may seem like awhile, but goes much quicker when you enjoy the view from inside the machine.  There is a mirror above your head that gives you a reflective view of the parking lot out of the window, where there are plenty of cars.  I've discovered that if you imagine the cars animated like in the movie Cars, time goes much faster (and it really makes you wonder about your own car does when it is left alone in the garage).

After the MRI, I traveled a couple blocks away to see Dr. O and his resulting analysis of my MRI.  This was a really important MRI; the big thing that Dr. O was looking for was any visible sign of the tumor's returning presence.  If it looked like my James Dean was being stubborn and was regrowing, then this whole brain tumor removal process that started in November would begin all over again, except a lot more aggressively.  I am very happy to say that based on the MRI I took this morning that are no signs of tumor regrowth.  YEAH!  With the release of pressure inside my left lobe, my brain stem has happily returned to its normal location, my left optic nerve is no longer swollen, and the empty space in my left lobe left from the tumor removal has mostly refilled itself as the nerves on the left side relax with the increase in space.  Based on what Dr. O saw, he has now taken me off of all of my steroids and says that he hopes he doesn't have to see me at all for six months when I will do another MRI. I'm pretty happy about that since according to Dr. O today he removed 7cm worth of tumor.  That is big!  Now I can maybe begin reclaiming my jawline since my steroids are going on permanent vacation.

On another note, my hair is growing back in a very interesting fashion.  So far the only sections that are growing back are sections that never fell out in the first place during radiation.  My husband had much fun marking that out on my head.

 He wanted to use a permanent marker, but I put my foot down and said that I would only accept eye liner as his artistic tool.  He tried to draw a smiley face as well on my scalp, but his unconscious giggling gave it away. I am happy to say that even coming off radiation/chemo, I can still run faster than he can. So far the rest of my head that Chris did not outline is staying bald.  I figure I'll keep my cow-spot areas shaved short until the rest of my hair comes in.  Until then I'll just keep using hats and scarves to keep it mostly covered.

Oh, and here is a random bit of coolness with scarves . . . there are hangers that are created only to hold scarves!  That was a very fun find, since before this all of the scarves I was wrapping my head in were stored in a garbage bag stuck in the corner of my closet.

My next mission, to find a scarf I could wear as a head scarf on Pi Day (March 14th).  Now this will be a fun hunt!